Do you have some good advice for me, as a 17 year old. What would you recommend I do to have a successful real estate career. I.E what books did you read? What skills did you learn? How did you get started?
Austin, TX · Member since 2019 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
6y
1) Read Rich Dad poor Dad
2) Get the best paying job you can (two jobs are better than one) (wait until the Corona Virus is over). Waiters at Olive Garden seem to make pretty good money.
3) Save 100% of what you earn in an FDIC bank account. Accumulate $50,000 as fast as you can in the account.
4) Read the "Education" links at the top of this site (when you are not working).
Austin, TX · Member since 2019 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
6y
1) Read Rich Dad poor Dad
2) Get the best paying job you can (two jobs are better than one) (wait until the Corona Virus is over). Waiters at Olive Garden seem to make pretty good money.
3) Save 100% of what you earn in an FDIC bank account. Accumulate $50,000 as fast as you can in the account.
4) Read the "Education" links at the top of this site (when you are not working).
Flipper/Rehabber · Pittsburgh · Member since 2018 · 6k+ posts · 5k+ votes
6y
Hi @Olivier Meijer - you got fantastic advice from @Scott Mac. Accumulating savings is critically important and underrated. You will not fall behind somehow by learning and saving, being patient, and getting a good deal when the time is right.
Some excellent books that will broaden your perspective:
Investor · Bellbrook, OH · Member since 2016 · 63 posts · 39 votes
6y
Here are a couple tips:
The ABC's of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy. If you follow his directions you'll make good decisions.
Trust the numbers, not your emotions.
Older people love to give advice. Find experienced real estate pros and ask them questions.
Find someone who is doing what you want to do and work with them (even if they can't pay you). The knowledge and connections will be worth infinitely more than any job you'll get. You might have to work a completely different job to fund it, but that's a great investment into yourself.
Real Estate Agent · Tewksbury, MA · Member since 2020 · 494 posts · 284 votes
6y
@Olivier Meijer
Hi Olivier,
I know exactly where you are coming from, I am only 2 years older than you.
There is much information to be learned in this industry and many different pathways, but don’t get stressed out and take one thing at a time. This is one thing that I still struggle with, but try to pick one area of the industry like “househacking” or a specific area of real estate investing and learn everything you can about it.
I also highly recommend saving as much of your income as possible while still enjoying time with your friends ect.
Also,
Read rich dad poor dad 2 or 3 times,
Track all of your expenses to see how much you are spending monthly and making.
Try to learn one thing about real estate investing every day, (it helps to listen to the @biggerpockets podcast in the car on the way to work :) )
Read up on househacking and consider trying something like that for your first property. This is what I will be doing for my first property in a few years, and you can get an owner occupied FHA loan for 3.5% down!
Good luck man!
Welcome to the real estate investing world Olivier! We are here if you need anything!
Rental Property Investor · TN · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
Learn how to be assertive without being aggressive.
Learn how to negotiate so that you get what you want, but the other party also gets what they want. You will need to be able to do this to buy property, but also with your longer term relationships like with contractors, tradesmen, banks, insurance agents, and tenants if you become a landlord. Its a skill to determine what is important to people when negotiating, sometimes its time/schedule, sometimes its money, sometimes its flexibility, sometimes its emotional values, whatever. Being able to identify those needs in others in relationships is valuable. Try it with your friends...
Learn how to manage money, follow a budget. Earn some money, it helps to have some to do much of anything. Learn about accounting and investments.
Learn how construction works. You may not want to do a repair, but it helps to know if its a big, complex job or fast and easy to know what the value of the work is. Property will always need something, and if you do not know much about how it is put together (wood, pipes, wires) you can get shoddy work at high cost.
Explore what in real estate you want to do, construction, trades work, landlord, flips, funding, realtor, whatever. Look into the day to day work of these different positions and what it takes to be successful, and decide what you want--what matches your interest and skills.
I wish I would have gotten started at your age! Find a mentor that you can hang out with/help with day to day stuff. Do it when you have free time and learn everything you can. I don't know who wouldn't want an eager student to help with things. All the Best!!!
If you truly have the go get it attitude, you can do great even with limited resources at a young age. However, I'm not one of those people and the quickest thing that accelerated my real estate is having high streams of income after graduation. I see a ton of posts that says I want to skip college or a real career and go straight to real estate investing....It is much much easier to invest in real estate once you have some money. My wife and I had a few small businesses and I worked corporate for a while. Besides some traveling, we saved probably 75% of our income which gave us a nice battle chest. we did luck out a bit since we got into real estate in 2010 which was prime buying times.
Working the trades is also nice. Good pay...you understand homes better...always in demand and low education cost.
If you can find a mentor to shadow, that would also be a good place to learn.
@Mya Toohey thank you for your answer, I think that a mentor will play a vital role in my real estate career, But that begs the question, how do I find one?! :)
@Eric X. Jup, that’s true. Therefore I started my own Social Media Marketing agency, not much work so I can focus on school and my “self-education” but I earn way more than the average 17YO. I put 70% in savings and 30% in fun experiences/weekends with friends. So money wise I think I’m good on the way. As regards my study, I want to study Law, especially real estate law, in the Netherlands you don’t have those crazy high college debts. College here is basically “free”. I think that law is a good foundation for everything.
Nijmegen, GE · Member since 2019 · 62 posts · 25 votes
6y
@Olivier Meijer
Welkom Olivier! Leuk dat je hier op jouw leeftijd al iets post.
Now on to English, so everybody can follow. In regards to your education: why do law? If you want to start investing in real estate a.s.a.p., you need a job where the amount you make is not dependent on the time you work. Law isn't one of those jobs per se. Unless you get your own firm, but that will be a few years along the road, in which you will most likely already have your portfolio build up.
Why not choose something that helps you in your social media endeavor? If that makes you more money now, build on that. See if you can have the company work for you instead of working in it.
If you love law, you should go ahead an do it. But don't do it because of real estate. You would be better off getting knowledge in the field. Something like a "makelaar" education. That way you learn about real estate, make money working in it, and get the possibilities for deals.
Good luck with finding your path man! And be sure to attend the Dutch meetups, so you can already start building your network.
Real Estate Agent · Memphis, TN · Member since 2019 · 261 posts · 253 votes
6y
I think it's important to understand perspective as well; I would consider reading Keller's Millionaire Real Estate Investor AND Agent books to understand how you'll likely operate one day. Actionable, very readable, and contains stuff to live by, not just a checklist and a chunk of to-dos. On top of that, Never Split the Difference can help in some negotiation situations or at least give you an idea of the motivations of the people on the other side of the situation. Another Kiyosaki book on top of Rich Dad, Poor Dad is The Cashflow Quadrant. Everyone I know that's read it gets fired up for investing!
Developer · Panama City Beach, FL · Member since 2013 · 130 posts · 88 votes
6y
@Olivier Meijer Don't forget to open a Roth IRA and max it out every year into a broad based index fund. When you are 60 you'll have a **** ton of tax free money.
Rental Property Investor · Tacoma, WA · Member since 2019 · 11 posts · 0 votes
6y
@Olivier Meijer I have great advice finish school lol When I was 16 or 17 I piggy backed off a friend that had great credit so when I turned 18 I had multiple credit cards with 0% come in mail one after another. What I didn’t do is be responsible or be smart and all the opportunity’s we had to invest because I turned 18 in 2008 when we had the recession. Long story short it took me years to get my credit back So best of luck and hope you will be responsible