Young Investor Trying to get Reps in Analyzing Deals

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Young Investor Trying to get Reps in Analyzing Deals

Kayden Wahl
New to Real Estate · Paducah, KY · Member since 2026 · 15 posts · 10 votes

Hey!! I'm 18 and have been working with real estate for the past year in forms of doing BRRRR's with a fellow investor who actually has the capital to do these deals and just expanding my mind to the mindset of how to use RE as a safe and powerful form of investing, as well as expanding my financial mind in general across the board.

Of course I'm eager to get into the game, but I don't yet have the capital to immediately get into the game. I'm in the process of getting into the lenders around my areas criteria to be able to get an FHA loan for a duplex as well as their commercial lending criteria for me to expand eventually.

With that said you now know that I can't actually get out there and buy a deal. I have been advised to learn how to analyze properties quickly and continue to expand my financial literacy. I'm in the process of doing so but I've came across a problem. Which is the main reason I'm going to the forums for even more advice!!


Do y'all think I should be going and seeing these properties in person to help with me analyzing these deals even though I'm not quiet in the situation to be able to go buy these deals. I feel I struggle to see exactly what I should put into my analysis on the property for repairs if I haven't actually been there to see it for myself. But with that said every time I reach out to a realtor, I feel that I shouldn't be doing this and wasting their time just for me to go see this property. But I feel it would help with the reps of me being able to analyze properties effectively for when I do start to scale on my own in the next couple of years.


Any advice is very much appreciated!!!

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JD MartinBusiness Member
Moderator
Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 17k+ votes
4mo

It's a good question. No realtor worth their salt is going to take an unqualified client around to view properties for the client's learning benefit. You are better served by finding someone who is active and accompanying them as they look at properties. You say you've been working with someone who actually has capital to do deals, so I would imagine S/he should be looking at properties in some aspect.

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  • JD MartinBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 17k+ votes
    4mo

    It's a good question. No realtor worth their salt is going to take an unqualified client around to view properties for the client's learning benefit. You are better served by finding someone who is active and accompanying them as they look at properties. You say you've been working with someone who actually has capital to do deals, so I would imagine S/he should be looking at properties in some aspect.

    Podcast Guest on Show #243
    Skyline Properties
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    1Reply
    • Kayden Wahl
      OP
      New to Real Estate · Paducah, KY · Member since 2026 · 15 posts · 10 votes
      4mo
      Quote from @JD Martin:

      It's a good question. No realtor worth their salt is going to take an unqualified client around to view properties for the client's learning benefit. You are better served by finding someone who is active and accompanying them as they look at properties. You say you've been working with someone who actually has capital to do deals, so I would imagine S/he should be looking at properties in some aspect.




      My current investor and I are currently doing a full rehab down to stud. The only problem is I feel I can't get any deals analyzed without seeing these properties in person to actually see what I think the repair cost should be. So, I am currently working with this investor but were just not in the process of looking at deals and won't be for a long period of time. After this BRRRR we are immediately moving to make the 2500 square foot garage on the property a duplex so I'm not getting any experience in looking at deals because we are doing projects hands on at the moment.

      Do you have any advice I should take?

      Maybe just not go see the properties and try to analyze to the best of my ability?

      Or do I just see these realtors and do the walkthrough of the property without being able to buy it( This just makes me feel a bit embarrassed)?

      I feel I need to get better at deal finding in general. 

      Any advice is much appreciated!!

      0Reply
  • Georgii Grigoriants
    Real Estate Consultant · Member since 2025 · 133 posts · 85 votes
    4mo

    JD makes a good point about getting reps alongside active investors.

    One thing I'd add: don't just study the deals that look good. Study the ones that fall apart.

    We recently analyzed a value-add opportunity where the market data, neighborhood, comps, and exit scenarios were straightforward on paper. The bottleneck wasn't underwriting the property; it was determining whether the renovation costs, timelines, and execution assumptions were actually realistic.

    That experience taught me something important: finding a deal is often easier than figuring out whether it can actually be executed the way it looks on paper.

    If I were starting at 18, I'd spend less time trying to find the "perfect" spreadsheet deal and more time reviewing 50-100 actual listings, writing down exactly why I would buy or pass on them.

    The goal at your stage isn't just to learn how to find opportunities. It's to learn how to aggressively eliminate the bad ones.

    1Reply
    • Kayden Wahl
      OP
      New to Real Estate · Paducah, KY · Member since 2026 · 15 posts · 10 votes
      4mo
      Quote from @Georgii Grigoriants:

      JD makes a good point about getting reps alongside active investors.

      One thing I'd add: don't just study the deals that look good. Study the ones that fall apart.

      We recently analyzed a value-add opportunity where the market data, neighborhood, comps, and exit scenarios were straightforward on paper. The bottleneck wasn't underwriting the property; it was determining whether the renovation costs, timelines, and execution assumptions were actually realistic.

      That experience taught me something important: finding a deal is often easier than figuring out whether it can actually be executed the way it looks on paper.

      If I were starting at 18, I'd spend less time trying to find the "perfect" spreadsheet deal and more time reviewing 50-100 actual listings, writing down exactly why I would buy or pass on them.

      The goal at your stage isn't just to learn how to find opportunities. It's to learn how to aggressively eliminate the bad ones.


      My current investor and I are currently doing a full rehab down to stud. The only problem is I feel I can't get any deals analyzed without seeing these properties in person to actually see what I think the repair cost should be. So, I am currently working with this investor but were just not in the process of looking at deals and won't be for a long period of time. After this BRRRR we are immediately moving to make the 2500 square foot garage on the property a duplex so I'm not getting any experience in looking at deals because we are doing projects hands on at the moment.

      Do you have any advice I should take?

      Maybe just not go see the properties and try to analyze to the best of my ability?

      Or do I just see these realtors and do the walkthrough of the property without being able to buy it( This just makes me feel a bit embarrassed)?

      0Reply
    • Georgii Grigoriants
      Real Estate Consultant · Member since 2025 · 133 posts · 85 votes
      4mo

      @Kayden Wahl 

      If I were in your position, I’d analyze every deal I could get my hands on, even if I never planned to buy it.

      Then I’d compare my assumptions to what actually happened months later.

      The goal isn’t to be right. The goal is to build pattern recognition.

      Walking properties helps, but tracking your predictions against real outcomes is what turns analysis into experience.

      0Reply
  • Crystal SmithPro Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Chicago, IL · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    4mo
    Quote from @Kayden Wahl:

    Hey!! I'm 18 and have been working with real estate for the past year in forms of doing BRRRR's with a fellow investor who actually has the capital to do these deals and just expanding my mind to the mindset of how to use RE as a safe and powerful form of investing, as well as expanding my financial mind in general across the board.

    Of course I'm eager to get into the game, but I don't yet have the capital to immediately get into the game. I'm in the process of getting into the lenders around my areas criteria to be able to get an FHA loan for a duplex as well as their commercial lending criteria for me to expand eventually.

    With that said you now know that I can't actually get out there and buy a deal. I have been advised to learn how to analyze properties quickly and continue to expand my financial literacy. I'm in the process of doing so but I've came across a problem. Which is the main reason I'm going to the forums for even more advice!!


    Do y'all think I should be going and seeing these properties in person to help with me analyzing these deals even though I'm not quiet in the situation to be able to go buy these deals. I feel I struggle to see exactly what I should put into my analysis on the property for repairs if I haven't actually been there to see it for myself. But with that said every time I reach out to a realtor, I feel that I shouldn't be doing this and wasting their time just for me to go see this property. But I feel it would help with the reps of me being able to analyze properties effectively for when I do start to scale on my own in the next couple of years.


    Any advice is very much appreciated!!!


     An idea- We a few "bird dogs" who send us properties & there are times we have properties that we need to put eyes on to calculate the potential cost to update, but we don't have time to do it.  So we pay someone like one of our birdogs to take pictures, videos,.....  from which we can then make some decisions.  The idea- Either find an investor or an agent that may be working with investors and offer them a service to take pictures when they do not have the time to do it themselves.  With pictures in hand you can then start working with a contractor and/or handyman to determine the cost to renovate.  Just an idea

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  • Account Closed
    Flipper/Rehabber · Member since 2026 · 10 posts · 3 votes
    4mo

    when doing your deals always have a conservative number for ARV, it'll save you from taking bad deals. A bad deal is worse than no deal. There's a lot of money at stake so just be smart and take it slow. Learn to say no!

    1Reply
    • Kayden Wahl
      OP
      New to Real Estate · Paducah, KY · Member since 2026 · 15 posts · 10 votes
      4mo

      @Account Closed Thank you sm for the advice!! Will definitely take implement this into my underwriting!!

      0Reply
  • Tyler Ruppert
    CO · Member since 2019 · 22 posts · 5 votes
    4mo

    You don't need to walk a property to get the reps. Pull listings, run the numbers, and estimate rehab from the photos and the agent's remarks. The down-to-studs rehab you're on right now is the best place to learn the repair side. Track what each piece really costs as you go, and you'll ballpark rehabs from a listing photo faster than any showing would teach you.

    0Reply
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