All Forum Posts by: Kenny Banuelos

Hey everyone,

I'm 18 years old and about to graduate high school in a few weeks. Over the past couple of years, I've worked part-time and managed to save around $30k in a CD, $3K in a Roth IRA, and about $2K in a money market. I've done this only making 20k each year from saving my W-2 income.

I’ve been studying personal finance and real estate for a while now, and my goal is to house hack my first property in the next year. I live in Taylorsville, Utah, where real estate is fairly expensive, and qualifying for a mortgage on my own right now isn’t realistic with the amount of money I’m making so realistically it might take me more like 2 years.

Here’s what I’m currently working on:

Interviewing for a bank job at $19/hr

Planning to become an electrician apprentice soon after, which would increase my income to ~$21/hr and lead to solid W-2 income within a few years

Committed to saving aggressively and maintaining low expenses

High interest in real estate (especially house hacking and wholesaling)

Open to building semi-passive income through content creation or real estate investing

Here’s where I’m stuck:

• I know going the W-2 route helps me qualify for financing, but I don’t want to be stuck trading time for money forever.
• I’m interested in wholesaling and documenting my journey online, but I’m a little shy about getting myself out there and not sure how to get started.
• I want to be smart with my savings—don’t want to lose it, but I also want to generate more than just 4% interest.

I’m just looking for advice from people who’ve walked this road—whether you started young, got into house hacking, or combined a trade job with real estate.

• What would you do if you were 18 again and in my shoes?
• Any recommendations for getting started in wholesaling or building an online presence around this journey?
• Should I wait a few years for my first house hack or pursue creative financing sooner?

Thanks for any guidance—I really appreciate it!

 Wale, thank you very much for you golden nugget I will definitely spend the right of highschool preparing as best as I can for the future!

Alecia I appreciate you for the time you took to write this reply I aspire to be a business owner like you someday! I will keep investing in my Roth consistently being young is an advantage if I stay disciplined I will learn that from you thank you I will always keep investing and building my dreams!!

Nathan, thank you for the advice I am going to talk to a lender with my dad and see what happens! I believe if I can’t qualify it’s still a benefit for me to be able to save more money and better prepare myself! 

Darius, thank you very much for that advice! I am serious about this and I have the ambition and drive but I have learned to be patient. 
As far as my strategy I do find that In my market (Salt lake city, Utah) the housing prices are pretty expensive. I do have my buying range in mind and I agree with you 100% getting pre qualified would help out a lot determining if that is actually realistic as well as gives me opportunity to start analyzing more deals that are attainable for me. 
As for getting my realtors license, I am still in high school and I am not sure if I can start the course to get my license since I'm 18 or if I have to be graduated to start, I will further look into it because having access to the MLS is extremely helpful as investor.
I definitely want to build my credibility in my community so that people start to know I am serious about this by going to real estate meet ups! 

HEY BP FAM! This is my story, an 18 year old anxious to invest!
About 3 years ago my freshman year of high school I was told if I was to house hack after high school I could own 5 properties in 10 year's.

I took that to heart and have been saving money since then reading books and listening to podcasts about finance, business and real estate. I have also taken a lot of classes throughout high school further developing my understanding.

I have had this goal of buying my first duplex and have talked to real estate investors, realtors, lenders, appraisers and have been encouraged so much to where I am anxious to dive into this.

Now that I am 18 I have absolutely no debt, a credit score of 727, I have 28k sitting in a certificate of deposit, a couple years of working consistently under my belt, I've also been investing in my Roth IRA, I feel very blessed to be in this situation.

I am still in high school, I know it wouldn’t be smart to buy a house right now but something in me is so anxious to buy this house I know I have to have patience but I don’t know if I should start the process of getting pre approved, finding a good investor friendly realtor, lender, preparing my documents or if I should just wait.

When analyzing deals in my market I have crystal clear real estate deal criteria my strategy is house hacking a duplex, price range of 500,000-600,00 in Salt lake, Utah! 

Any advice, suggestions or golden nuggets are appreciated I’m 18 but I’m serious about this and I am willing to talk to anyone curious about this information! 

I have been saving since I was 14 years old, and I am on Track to buy my first Duplex (house hack) while still being a senior in high school with my Parents cosign, I turn 18 In a few months. Since this has been a goal of mine for years, I am really eager to move in and start my real estate journey. I really want to jump into it as soon as possible but I know an emotional purchase is not smart.

I would love some advice of what you would do in my shoes BP FAM!

Thanks for the help!

I appreciate the effort to help me understand in your answer, thank you for the response!