What can a college kid do? Real estate internships??

Question

Hi guys,

My name's Adrian, I'm a sophomore studying finance at UMASS Amherst and have been obsessed with real estate recently! I've been constantly reading up on real estate books, scrolling through forums, listening to the BP Podcast, etc. and have found this industry super interesting. Being a student, I don't have the capital to go out and get any skin in the game quite yet, but any ideas on how I can get some experience? Are there any companies I should be looking at for internship opportunities? Feel like a decent number of people have been in my shoes so let me know what you think!!

Joshua Noth · Answer

Hey @Adrian Palmesano.  Hope your sophomore year is going well so far.  As everyone else is saying, wholesaling and becoming an agent are great ways to get that experience.  Obviously, I'm biased towards the agent side: access to the MLS is huge for you as an investor, you learn various tricks through the process, and you can make solid money just like wholesaling.

Antonio Cucciniello · Answer

@Adrian Palmesano Hey! There are few ways to get some real estate experience without investing yourself.

1. Work with an investor. Its not easy, but you need to offer value for the investor enough for them to want to work with you.

2. Become an agent. You will learn alot about how buying homes works and can make some money

3. Start Wholesaling. You can really learn how investors think.

Aigo Pyles · Answer

Have you heard about wholesaling?

Jonathan Bombaci · Answer

@Adrian Palmesano you can get your real estate license and do rentals or sales part-time. You’ll learn a ton and the license is inexpensive to get. If you do 1 rental per month or 1 sale per quarter will earn way more than a traditional internship.

Stephen Keighery · Answer

@Adrian Palmesano I would research wholesaling and learn how to find deals for established investors to close on. It's a great skill to learn that will help you in the future and allow you make good cash while you do it.

Kyle Marsh · Answer

What's up Adrian,

I am also a sophomore at UMass Amherst studying finance. Have you checked out the Real Estate Club at UMass? They focus a little more on career-related commercial real estate investing, but you will definitely find a lot of like-minded people. With regards to gaining experience, you're doing the right thing by reaching out and trying to network. Keep searching for investors who are in need of a birddog, help with property management, or other things in return for education. I met a real estate investor from Boston after posting a similar ad on craigslist, and I've been working with him over the past few months. I saved up a good amount of money while learning online due to covid, so I'm hoping to purchase my first rental property by house hacking later this year. Definitely feel free to send me a message and we can talk some more. Best of luck.