22 Year Old Aspiring Investor, Looking to Learn More
HI all,
Let me preface this by stating I've utilized the search function to go through threads for kids similar age as me who want to get into Real Estate Investing. Despite this, I'm a bit ahead of the curve and am looking for guidance as to where to go next.
Currently, I work for a luxury brokerage out of San Diego as an assistant to a top producer providing marketing and management of all digital platforms; I received this opportunity through DMing multiple agents on Instagram hoping to get a job after my return from a study abroad as a way to learn about real estate. I did this because I have aspirations to invest internationally in several locations in central and south America and didn't want to just talk the talk or be a wantrepreneur, rather put myself in the field and put the building blocks together myself..
I am currently waiting for the CA Bureau to approve my license application so I can take the test to receive my RE license (completed the course work in Spring of 2018 while going to school full time, working part time). I have full access to the MLS, have a general understanding of how to utilize it, and currently walk properties almost every Tuesday to get a feel for my market demographic and what's selling. I also network with various agents on these caravan tours.
Well all of this is great, a lot of social media real estate "gurus" are peddling the "get rich through real estate" scheme via Wholesaling. Obviously, this has caught my eye as well, as both the Instagram ads and various investors I follow, are really pushing their exorbitantly priced online courses to learn XYZ. I've even had several interactions with these individuals via social media and one in person meet up, but was turned off by their general demeanor and the lack of willingness to share basic tips in return for my own knowledge on digital platforms.
I've come here to seek knowledge and guidance from various individuals on the investing side in tandem with my mentorship/job on the residential luxury side. Besides introducing myself, I'm looking to network with individuals both my age or older who are active on these forums to build a young investors/RE professionals group in Socal. If such groups already exist, any arrows pointing to the right links or directions would be greatly appreciated but based off my searches on Google, I've come up empty handed.
Looking forward to learning, networking, and hopefully meeting more invididuals! :)
Most Popular Reply
Jack,
Hi, and welcome to bigger pockets. It sounds like you've already done quite a bit with real estate already. Believe it or not, there are quite a few individuals who are under 25 and are doing very well in real estate. I think you are on the right track finding individuals and mentors who can help you on your journey and learn what you need to know, however it is important to figure out what you want to do and pick a mentor based on both of your interests. Personally, I went through a couple different 'mentors' before finding someone who's interests aligned with my own. Unfortunately, building these relationships doesn't happen overnight, they take time and trust to form. After initial contact, I've offered to take people out for lunch or property/project tours to network and build a relationship. Often, these contacts will then introduce you to other contacts who are legit players in RE. I've found almost all my contacts through meetups on meetups.com or through a local REIA meeting. I've found it very difficult to get to know someone online without any face to face contact. I've had maybe a 1:10 ratio of people who are legit in RE to people I don't want to network with. Many of these people aren't flashy and don't need to advertise who they are and what they do.
Since you mentioned you are in school, it may be worth trying to find a group of students to start a RE investing club and bring in speakers from the industry to give talks. It helps if you can leverage your school's name to meet new speakers and will also grow your network. I know someone here who runs one of these clubs very successfully.
I've never attended a RE guru seminar, but from the snippets I've seen, its the same content as in the books and the BP podcasts, but dressed up in a funny story or some other fun form. I haven't spent a dime on RE education other than paying for meals as networking events are sometimes hosted at restaurants.
Best of luck, this game is persistence and hard work!