All Forum Posts by: Aaron Ray

Hello Bigger Pockets community! (I hope you take the time to read through my message) 

I have been a member here for about 3-4 months now and have been waiting to post something until I have had the opportunity to read articles posted to the blog, listen to many of the podcasts, and browse through the discussions. Now that I have done so, I feel a little more comfortable putting myself out there.

As a new member and amateur, some things that I have already learned are: This business is not easy, it is time consuming, it is not a get rich quick process and it requires a lot of hard work and motivation. (And with that being said, I applaud all of those who have had success). I have also learned, one of the best ways to get started is to find a mentor. However, I've been told that most just ask for help and want a mentor to show them exactly how to do everything and majority of the time these people are too lazy and not willing to work hard enough to get where they want to be, or have nothing beneficial to offer a mentor.

A goal of mine is to eventually find someone who will mentor me and in return I can provide some sort of service to them. A quick background on myself... I just recently graduated this May from Penn State with a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering, but no longer want much to do with design engineering lol. My interests are much more closer to the business side of things, architecture, and all things to do with real estate. I decided to not pursue a career path directly related to Mechanical Engineering, so I now work for a large contracting company in the Washington D.C. area known as Whiting-Turner (the closest I could get to have anything to do with REI). I am a project engineer and our work consists of building large projects from beginning to end such as hospitals, hotels, airports, university buildings, etc.. Because of my work and schooling my strengths are data analysis, numbers, communication, project management, hiring sub-contractors, and much more.

So to conclude, I am a 22 year old recent college grad and I just moved to the Washington D.C. Area and I happen to really want to start investing into real estate, but to be completely honest, I don't know what my first step should be... If you took the time to read all of this, I thank you very much, and would greatly appreciate any conversation! And feel free to ask me ANY questions, I left a lot out of this.

Thanks!

Wow!!! Congratulations! You must have studied hard and worked even harder! Sounds like it was much deserved! Very inspiring. I'll be graduating from Penn State as a mechanical engineer this May and I hope to soon begin my own journey in REI. What did you do to get your foot in the door? My thought is to buy a duplex with an FHA loan and live in the other half for the first year.