What Should a 17 YO Do To Setup Themselves for Commerical REI

[Brett Abamonte]

Hello everyone on BP, I am 17 years old and hungry to invest in Real Estate. I’ve been consuming books and articles on real estate investing and money. But I was wondering what suggestions people who’ve gone through it would give if they were 17 and looking to invest in MF and commercial real estate. Financially, lifestyle, anything I appreciate your responses!

[Stephanie P.]

Originally posted by @Brett Abamonte:

Hello everyone on BP, I am 17 years old and hungry to invest in Real Estate. I’ve been consuming books and articles on real estate investing and money. But I was wondering what suggestions people who’ve gone through it would give if they were 17 and looking to invest in MF and commercial real estate. Financially, lifestyle, anything

I appreciate your responses!

 Hey Brett

Nicely done on your career path.  I'm going to take a different tack on this and say that you should either stay in school through college (learn accounting or become a lawyer to hone your logical thinking skills) or learn a solid trade (electrician, plumber, carpenter).  Both of those paths require some money and time.  While you're doing that, you can house hack (if you have a job and the reason to learn a trade or go to college) so you can build your wealth with a solid foundation; not to mention being a landlord means you have to have a basic understanding of finance, law and many facets of construction.

Don't spend too much on college.  Community colleges are significantly cheaper than 4 year schools unless you get a scholarship or grant and you transfer to get your degree and for your purposes, a cheap law school will get you to pass the bar.  It just depends on which way you want to go and what you're good at.  I have a kid who's interested in real estate and he got a job working in the closing department at a large lender.  Now he's in law school and is leaning toward real estate law.  He would be a terrible electrician/plumber or carpenter, but he thinks like a lawyer.  Do what you're good at.  Read books on predictive indices and there's a great book by the Gallup organization called Strength's Finder.  Helps you to focus on what you're good at and leave the other stuff to others.

Best of luck

Stephanie