Rental Property Investor · Fargo, ND · Member since 2016 · 136 posts · 112 votes
Is it just me or are about 25% of all real estate investors, also engineers? As an Engineer myself I could be biased but curious if anyone has insight. I know folks usually have professional background like IT, accounting, dr but would be going out on a limb to say engineers cover the majority of all real estate investors?
I did the eng gig until REI proved to be way more profitable. It's paid off in so many ways allowing me to do 'permitted' electrical (took that minor in elect.), opening & replacing walls with LVL beams, HVAC installs, on-demand HW (elect & NG) etc etc. It's a discipline that opened so many cost saving opportunities & you don't get snowed by contractors, home or building inspectors. Biggest job 'permitted' by my town was the complete design, install & wiring/flow rate monitoring of complete fire sprinkler system for a 6 unit. They allowed me 6 months & did it all myself.
But then again I remember our final exams forbade the use of calculators, slide rules were the only device allowed as were card punched software solutions in our lab finals.
@Adam Zach I’ve been around plenty of my fellow engineers who are fine engineers per se, but constantly got involved with dopey investment schemes and get rich quick plans. Intelligence != wisdom, and wisdom is far more important to business success than raw intelligence.
I certainly agree that engineers can bring a lot of strengths to real estate, and much of that value I believe stems from the ability to answer the underlying question of "Does it make sense?" Just as it is critical to make sure a part makes sense within the context of the larger assembly and the assembly makes sense for the application given the constraints, so too is it critical to determine whether or not a deal makes sense, or even if real estate investing makes sense for our goals (it does for likely all of us here).
@Adam Zach I've worked with a lot of engineer clients over the years. The best combo investing wise are engineers who do not overthink things, but rather use their analytical abilities to accurately assess risk and know when to pounce on a good deal when the situation presents itself. Add that, they are typically not intimidated by a place that needs a little bit of work and it is a good recipe for success.
Industrial Systems Engineering degree from Virginia Tech! It provides an amazing background on analytics and critical thinking, but now full time real estate.
Software/DevOps Engineer here! I know when I first got started interested in real estate, my older coworkers who are also software engineers told me that they had been investing in real estate for years. I def believe there is a correlation between engineers and real estate investing. At the end of the day engineers are problem solvers and every real estate investor is using data to solve a unique problem regarding properties.
My job title is "Product Engineer". I do not have an Engineering degree, per se. My degree comes from the school of hard knocks. I design towable RV's for a major RV manufacturer. i am new to real estate investing, but hope that my background will be helpful. A big part about designing RV's is providing a quality product as cost efficiently as possible.
I've done Network/Systems Engineer, Cybersecurity and Risk Management Engineer. Now my title is Senior Cybersecurity Consultant. Instead of building things, nowadays I tell other people they're doing it wrong. :)
@Adam Zach I haven’t seen any stats but it certainly seems that way. I am a high volume agent, IT and Engineer is the day job that I most often hear when I make small talk with my clients about day jobs.
Yes, I think so. We are both engineers. I think it is helpful because in our careers we were well versed in risk management, as well as a broad swath of technical issues.
Currently a Broadcast Engineer primarily working in sports television but also do many entertainment shows. Unfortunately now is not a good time for my industry.
@Adam Zach Civil Engineer here just starting out. Just bought pro this week and starting to look in my local area around columbia-elkridge forme first house hack. Can't wait to get my first property.