Hello BiggerPockets community,

My name is Brett Abamonte and I'm 17 years old almost 18 and I am looking to learn everything I can about multi-family investing. I live in Rochester, NY and would like to find an investor or connect with one who I can work for as an intern just for free. Anything you need me to do I can assist you with, I would just love to consume as much knowledge as I can about multi-family investing and help you with your business!

Hey Brett, Im not QUITE at the stage of needing an intern for this, but im currently syndicating a large apt complex in Wisconsin but have you checked out all the resources on BP as well as @Michael Blank book on "Financial Freedom With Real Estate Investing" ? Itd help you tremendously!

@Brett Abamonte There are some local meetups in Rochester and I believe a conference specific to multi-family on March 2nd hosted by @Martin Grizzanti that may be of interest to you. Networking and meeting other investors will be your best bet to finding a mentor as well as bringing a specific value to one instead of just saying "anything".  Examples could be making spreadsheets, helping with paperwork, finding deals, etc... something to make there lives easier. 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/real-estate-investors-summit-no-pitching-all-education-no-bs-tickets-55707391307?aff=efbeventtix&fbclid=IwAR2hh4lvjI1maTZpfa6oLisnaQZLDpMNJ9PqKfx2zrzPp_n4CbzENWonJbU

@Jake Stuttgen I have not, read a couple of other books but I'll make sure to definitely give that one a read! 

@Joe West Thank you very much! I am planning on attending the conference as long as someone can take my work shift. Thanks for the tips on what to offer people as well, I wasn't sure what to put down so I put down anything. I'll definitely be offering specific help that you mentioned to investors so that know exactly what value they would be getting from me.

Hi Brett,

As an additional line of attack, you might want to make sure to attend as many real estate meetups in your area as you can.

If you want to be taken seriously, dress respectfully for the adults that attend so you will be respected by them, but don't over do it. You want to fit in with the group. It's not high school. A business type dress shirt and nice pants should suffice to be taken seriously.

Have some business cards made up and hand them out as you meet people there.

At first just focus on meeting everyone there and finding out what they do vs trying to get them to work with you.

Plan on going to as many meetings as you can regularly over the year.

Then after you see them a few time ask about helping them, and if you have to spend a lot of gas money doing something for someone, ask them to cover it.

Just my thoughts,

Good Luck!

@Brett Abamonte

Another avenue to get your feet wet would be to call commercial brokers that specialize in multifamily and talk with them about lead generation.

As a broker myself, I know that a great deal of time is spent databasing and creating proposals. As an intern, you obviously wouldn't be paid on the front end but a lot of times brokers will break you off a percentage of their commission for any leads you create that ends in a deal.

Doing this will get you into the CRE space and allow you to speak with active investors as well as help you understand how the whole process works. It will also educate you on how the markets work as well as how to source deals.

The biggest advantage of working with a broker over a single investor is the level of exposure that you would have to a variety of investment deals. So instead of shadowing a smaller investor, who would only really work at most 2 or 3 deals a year, you could be exposed to dozens of deals of all different sizes and scope. Rarely will you find a local smaller investor who spends more than a few million on a property whereas shadowing a broker would expose you to anywhere from a $1M deal up to and over $20M deals.

Send me a PM and we can talk about it more.

@Brett Abamonte thank you for reaching out! You should definitely check out the conference that @Martin Grizzanti @Brett Iwanowicz and I are putting on. If you can’t make it. No big deal.

We do host a weekly investors coffee club every Wednesday 7:30am at east Ave Wegmans cafe seating area.

Become a fly on the wall, listen, and start to recognize where active investors pain points might be. Like @David Greene says, the worst way to have a active investor take you on as a mentee is to ask “what can I help you with?” I get asked this all the time by new investors and I know it’s not sincere. Taking on a mentee is a lot of work so you have to figure out how you can add more value than what you take. It’s hard but you’ll figure this out if you just listen and be patient.

@Matthew Drouin Thank you for the input! I wasn't sure how to approach investors and your response has definitely clarified what I should be doing. 

@Scott Mac I will definitely dress appropriately for the occasion and ensure that I present myself in a professional manner.

@Brett Abamonte , nice too meet another Brett!! Like some others have said, you need to network, its like air in your lungs. If you ask for things, you will be let down, sounds weird right, but in reality you need to prove to people you have value, so how do you do that?  

The best way to build trust, rapport, and credibility is to serve, find investors and ask how you can help.  This follows along with reputation before revenue, and adding value, I would focus all your time here.  Keep this in mind, there is no quick way to make money, its a long, rough at times, slow ride. I just posted the other day on my instagram account @i.solve.realestate.problems, you should follow me, wink wink...lol, about passive income.  Gary V. says there is no such thing, and  the 1% who claim to have all the answers prey on those who fall for these scams. We all want to work from the beach, who wouldn't want to do that, but the reality is if your not willing to double, triple down on your investments in people, you will never see that beach.  

@Brett Abamonte . I’m not local to you and I’m not large enough to need an intern but I just wanted to give you kudos for doing this. This is a brilliant idea. I’d recommend you do this with someone local.

@Brett Iwanowicz Thank you very much for the response! It's also nice to see another Brett in the Rochester area! I can't agree more with what you have said, I've learned that wealth is built with patience, trust, commitment, and networking. I greatly appreciate your response, the BiggerPocket community is amazing and I can't wait to continue my learning. 

@Caleb Heimsoth Thank you Caleb!

@Brett Abamonte here's an idea you can actually act on. 

1. Gather a list of syndicators and email each one. Tell them you're conducting a survey of all the top syndicators and need their help.  Ask them "What is the biggest pain point you have right now in your business?" Mention you will share with them the results upon the completion of the survey.

2. Compile the Data and see if you notice the same result's over and over.

3. Get back in touch with all the syndicators with the results of your survey and while doing so, tell them how you plan to help alleviate their problem.

**You've now done a couple of things: 

1. You've shown resourcefulness  and you can think on your feet 

2. You solve problems 

3. You can provide actual value. 

Best of luck. I hope this helps. DM me if you need more suggestions, I've got many more. 

Cheers:)

@Matthew Baltzell That’s an amazing suggestion! I should have thought of that. I will definetly act on that! Discovering what syndicators have problems with and being able to provide them with that help will be mutually beneficial.

Thank you!

Hey Brett. 

I would call a property management company here locally and ask them if you can help them. Typically, I feel that multifamily investors use property managers to free up time. You could take calls, show units, or help them with maintenance requests. Just being around a business that specializes in the management of what you're interested may go a long way in establishing a knowledge base. 

Hope that helps. Best of luck. 

@Matt Honeyford Thanks for the input Matt! I always thought about working alongside an investor but property management would give me a unique perspective into the day to day management of multi-family properties.

@Brett Abamonte

Hey Brett I have been thinking of mentoring someone for sometime now and this would be a great way of me teaching you the ropes and also give back to the community. Let’s connect this week and strategized on what are you looking to get out of this and some timelines. PM me and we can chat.

@Aqil Dharamsey Definitely will!