Career guidance for a newcomer

[Brandon Strehle]

Hello everyone, I didn’t think i’d ever be posting on here but I find myself between a rock and a hard place.

My name is Brandon, i’m 32 now and i’m a grinder and a hard worker. I grew up in an auto body shop learning the ropes with my dad who was the third generation owner and operator, but sadly we had to shut it down when covid hit. Shortly after this he passed away. Since then i’ve been scrambling to try every job under the sun to find something that feels OK with the goal of capturing enough revenue to eventually move into property investing and land lording. I’ve renovated 3 homes that my family managed to hold onto from my grandparents, great grandparents and my mom and dads starter home. I had to step in and locate tenants to fill the vacancy of the body shop my family still owns because the real estate agent locked in a deal with my dad before he passed and was doing next to nothing to fill that vacancy, however this was a blessing in disguise because I realized that I am absolutely obsessed with the work and every stage of the process of being a landlord (with the exception of paying tax).

I recently moved to Arizona and have been searching for work for about a year now, unfortunately I can’t seem to get the work I was already well qualified for. So after hearing so many no’s I adjusted my trajectory to what I thought was a foolproof venture, studied and aced the state exam to became a licensed insurance adjuster. However after months of applying I found that it wasn’t so foolproof after all. So i’m torn, I have sidelined doing what I want to do in life time and time again and now I find myself here again, stuck between ruthlessly hunting down some dead-end 9-5 or taking the risk and moving into real estate in any way shape or form with the goal of becoming my own investor/landlord. I just worry if I get licensed and become more proficient in real estate, that I will still face the same issue i’m having now; sprinting into closed doors.

(Additional info that I thought would be relevant to my questions) At some point in my life (hopefully not soon) I will inherit those 4 rental properties, I truly don’t want that to be my first encounter with rental ownership. I want to build something of my own so that I can move forward with the confidence that comes with competence and the pride of knowing I will be adding to and not just building off of this inheritance. Which brings me here.

My extremely long winded question(s) for this amazing community would be

-What would you do in my position with the goal of getting into property management/ownership (if you had the experience and wisdom you earned today)? 

-Should I give up hunting for a random job and fully pursue property investing/ find any job in real estate?/ What jobs should I be looking for? 

-How should/can i enter the realm of real estate as someone with very little formal experience on paper and should I get my real estate license or will that run me into the same wall that getting my adjusters license got me?

-What should I be doing every day to prepare myself to become a successful property investor/owner? 

-And finally are there any good resources (aside from this gold mine) that I could utilize as a roadmap to becoming competent and effective in this field?

I am so grateful for this forum, the resources and the amazing people on here. Listening to the podcast and reading all of your comments gives me something I can’t get from just opening a book. So thank you in advance for your replies, any feedback or advice you take the time to share with me goes right into my bigger pockets notebook as I understand the value of peoples wisdom even if it only took a minute to share, it comes from a lifetime of growth and experience.

Thank you in advance,

Brandon