Hi Everyone,
I am relatively new to REI but over the last 10 months I have been doing a lot of studying, research, and learning and have decided that it is what I want to do. I get out of the military in a few months and plan on going into it full steam ahead. I have posted a few topics already about different things and the responses and advice has been very satisfying so I appreciate that. On my last post I quickly realized that REI education companies are not too popular here so I don’t even want to talk about them.
I would like to hear your guys’ thoughts about finding a mentor/teacher. I want to market myself for a mentor instead of going out and paying for one which is what I was planning on doing till I did more due diligence on it. One small problem I am running into is I have not been able to find a local REI group in the market I am going to. So going to a local investment meeting is probably out of the question, unless I find one of course. I find it hard to believe that there are no investors where I am going so that leaves me with the question how do I find them? Any creative ideas on how to get my name out there? I dont want to run into the problem where I market myself as investor to meet other investors but dont know much about it.
I dont have a lot cash or experience to offer but I do have a lot time (not working a full time job), I definitely have drive and eagerness to learn and succeed, and I have a work ethic that I learned at a young age and reinforced it in the military. So to any mentors out there or people who have received mentoring if you have any thoughts, opinions, or ideas I would love to hear them. Thanks in advance!
I wanted to get into REI many years ago, but didn’t really have the means to do it. When my wife and I finally started a few years ago, we received very little help up front. We found our apt building and checked into it. We’re pretty realistic with numbers on things so we looked at potential income vs known expenses and things looked promising. The Realtor we used for that deal had been doing REI with rentals on the side for many many years (about 30 if I remember right). I asked him a few general questions about rentals and asked if I could view/adopt parts of his lease. His lease was only two pages long so I went thru it and used what I wanted. Over 3 yrs later, things are going well and we have many more units now.
My points to you:
You don’t have to find someone to mentor you for a fee or a prolonged period of time.
Local Realtors know someone who owns a few properties there. Get the names and look up what they own on the county tax assessor’s website. See if they’ll talk to you about their experiences.
If you are reasonably decent (and realistic) about running some numbers on a deal, you can probably figure out if it’s a deal or not. If there are major repairs necessary, get estimates and figure that in.
You already have a great resource I didn’t have at the time (this website…I didn’t find this til about 8 months after we got started).
The hardest part is getting your “system” set up. Replication is no big deal.
By your system, I mean:
Who are you going to use for financing?
What kind of property are you targeting?
Who will you use for repairs (roof, plumbing, electrical, HVAC)?
Who will you use and what kind of coverage for insurance?
Who will you use for title search/closing?
What will you put in your lease?
How will you do tenant screening?
Who will do your accounting?
What is your market rent?
My suggestion is to not go into a deal running the numbers on a 30 yr mortgage. You may not get a bank to go out that far. On a 30 yr loan, you pay mostly interest for several years. Do you really want to own a property for several years with very little principal paydown? Find something that works on a 15 yr or even a 10 yr mortgage.
Don’t know that you’re going to have much success finding someone to teach you the business for free. First of all, it’s not something to be learned in a day or a week or even a month. So it will prove to be time consuming for the investor. Human nature being what it is, I suspect you’ll be asked what’s in it for them.
Maybe you have already checked this site, but I’ll throw it out anyway. Take a look at meetup.com for some smaller REI groups in your area.
A couple of other thoughts…
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This board is full of people who will help you, let the board members be your mentor. Anytime you have a question just ask it here and you are sure to get an intelligent answer that will help you.
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Start talking to everyone you know about Real Estate Investing. You never know who knows someone that is an investor. You really just have to find one person and they will open you up to others.
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Don’t wait, get started now! Start sending out mailers, putting out bandit signs and get some leads coming in. If you’ve been researching for 10 months you have a good idea have how the game works (generally speaking). Find a motivated seller, see if you can put an option on the house and try to market it.
Hope that helps some
This forum really helps those who are newbies and just know a little!
You may also want to check out richdad.com forums to find investors and learn more about getting started
I agree with all that has been said, especially the post about don’t expect someone to mentor you unless there’s something in it for them. Time is money, especially to those who are successful in whatever it is they do for a living.
Before finding a mentor it really would help you a ton if you had the basics already covered (meaning have a basic, focused education in how to do this business). Sorry to say this but no matter how “down” some people are on here about REI education, the fact is you’re GOING to get it one way or another…either from a course of some kind or the “school of hard knocks.” And lemme tell you, the tuition for a good course is MUCH cheaper.
Thanks for tips. I am new in Real Estate. Your tips will really help me.