Getting started

General Real Estate Investing
1

Hey guys, my name is Adam and I’m 17 years old. I will be going to college in the fall and want to major in Real Estate. I want to be a Real Estate Investor. Currently I’m reading Real Estate Investing for Dummies and I can’t get enough of it. I have a question for you guys if you don’t mind.

When I get out of college I want to start investing in real estate, my dad said he would help me make my first down payment, but obviously that won’t give me enough cash flow to even live. My question is this, would it be best for me to find a job doing something else in real estate until I build enough capital?

Also, any tips or books that are good to read for beginners would be great!

Thanks,

Adam

2

check out the bronchick articles here on this site.

yes, getting involved in a mortgage company or even better, becoming a realtor would help you learn. but be careful, if you want to be an investor, you have to do more than just learn to be a realtor.

get your degree in business and minor in marketing.

take as many computer courses as you can.

oh and if you don’t know how to type - take typing.

take the minimum amount of BS courses in the humanities - make them all pysch courses if you can. do not waste your time in anthropology and crap like that. a sociology course may help too, but that’s it.

business, marketing, computers. done.

get a job and save as much money as you can while you’re in college - try and put together 10 grand or so - stay away from CREDIT CARDS!!! get one or two CC and use monthly - paying it off every other month to build good credit. hit the books hard and while everyone else is out getting drunk and/or high - focus on developing your mind. get drunk once a month (all work and no play makes serio a dull boy/girl [ don’t know your gender].

you are young - that’s great. use your time wisely. alot of re investors are guys/gals with no college education. they just went out and did it, but if you use college to your advantage - it can pay off in spades - you’ll probably become financially successful much quicker than the uneducated investor. otherwise, college is a HUGE waste of time.

put things in perspective too. when you look at your professor behind their desk - ask yourself this question:

“how much should i listen to this person who’s only gone so far in life?”

if they start telling you to take this or that, put it in perspective.

i respect everyone’s opinions, but now, i’ve just realized that i’d rather take the advice of someone who’s ridiculously wealthy and smart with money, family and friends, than someone who’s book smart about the humanities.

listen, learn, and move on - but learn from everyone.

oh and most important - go to church on Sundays - seriously!

3

Don’t just spend your time in college reading textbooks and getting hammered like everyone else. If it takes you 4 years to learn about RE before you make a move, you may be hopeless. Student housing would be the perfect place for you to start while your in college.

Your dad is already willing to give you money for a down payment and I assume he’s putting you through college. That’s much more help than most people get. See what kind of money you can squeeze out of the rest of your family to fund your first property. It’s not rocket science and doesn’t take a degree to be competent. By the time people my age were graduating college, I was making more in a year than the average person with a bachelor degree would make in their entire life.

Check out books on distressed properties and rehabbing. They are easier to get at disproportionate discounts compared to the work needed thus much easier to finance. Your friends will make excellent laborers when it’s time to renovate as well. A 6-8 unit building that’s in total disrepair or mostly vacant would be an easy thing to finance- renovate- and rent to your friends.

If all else fails, you can always sell yourself to science!

4

I’d educate myself on your local college market. Talk to other investors, realtors, property inspectors and get a feel as to what area is in demand around the universaty.
Learn to do some repairs, even minor. Learn the cost of repairs. Befriend a property inspector and ask if you can tag along for a day if you buy him lunch. Your education will be priceless and you’ll know what to look for when you walk into property.
Read and grasp some creative real estate strategies so when a 3-4 bdrm house in your college town goes up for sale (or better yet, before it goes on the market), buy it and lease it out to other students who’ll make your house payment while you build up equity. You don’t want Animal House but if you can rent to medical students or legal students studying for law, students who have to constantly cram, you’ll have a lot less hassles w/ unruly tenants.
And if you can read between the lines, get a bumper sticker that says “Buy Real Estate - Get A Lot While Your Young”

Good luck to ya

5

Adam here are a few avenues that you could take.

1.) If you want to be a “cashflow” type of investor or someone who buys properties/real estate investments that will provide you a monthly source of income than I would major in Finance and take as many real estate related courses as possible.

2.) If you want to “develop” your own properties than there are a few colleges that provide a degree in Urban Planning and Real Estate Development. This is a great major and could help you land a job in many fields. The University of Michigan is one school that I know of that offers this program.

Either route you take I will tell you that a minor in marketing would be extremely beneficial. Many of the youths today think that they will get a major in business, finance, or civil engineering as long as they don’t have to sell anything. I will tell you this much, I don’t care what field of study that you choose, every job requires some type of selling. Learn to be a great salesperson in your field and you will be 10 steps ahead of the next joe graduate.

Good Luck,
Cap