Everyone on here recommends getting mentored frequently.
I have been looking to get in with a real estate company of some sorts for a while. However, I have been unsuccessful so far. I currently work for my local Dept. of Planning which is good insight and knowledge as well, but I would leave to work at the above.
What is the best way to seek out/find a mentor, cause I feel like I am coming up dry.
Thanks-
If you want something bad enough, you can get it on your own. You don’t need to rely on anyone else. Sure, you might have questions along the way and this forum is wonderful for those times.
Success is made when people “do it”. Trying to find a mentor first, is just an excuse to dely YOUR success. You CAN do this on your own. Study and learn all you can on investing then do it. Don’t let too much time pass before you go out and buy your investment properties. You will/can never learn enough what you will with hands on experience. That’s why you need to do it! ;D
Good luck to your future
Diane,
As I was sitting here feeling pretty angry and disappointed at myself for not acting sooner, I came here and read this post, and it was like a kick in the crotch. Possibly a deperately needed kick in the crotch.
I have read as much as I think I can read on the topic of RE Investing, I have read Carlton Sheets, Robert Kiyosaki, Russ Whitney, Dolf de Roos, Ron LeGrand, Robert Allen, Ken McElroy, among others… and I STILL, for some reason, wake up in the morning wondering what I would be doing today if I KNEW how to be a Real Estate Investor.
I feel like after all the books I have read, I understand the theory of why REI is so goo… but, damned if I know how to make the first move. I dont have money or credit, I dont know anyone personally who is a real estate investor…
If tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life, if you were me…
… what is the thing you would do tomorrow morning when you woke up??
Thanks!
There are quite a few properties I have looked at and really thought they were great. But when you are talking about you first deal involving tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars you wnat to make sure you know what you are doing and it is quite intimidating.
I have tried to read as much as I can on this board and I am going to try and purchase The millionaire real estate investor book everyone recommends.
The main reason I want to have a mentor is to learn about Short sales, pre foreclosures etc. I have no knowledge of those and I believe 1st hand knowledge working with an investor would be much more efficient and educational than trying to read about it for months.
But I do hope to get my feet wet soon 
Phatman5
Nothing takes the place of Action.
I too spent thousands on classes and book and seminars in the past.
The thing I learned was who ever you seek for a “mentor” make sure they are walking the walk (doing deals themselves) and not just talking the talk.
I mean I had training wheels on my first bike and shortly there after I was riding on my own.
You may make 25 offers to get one good deal, but at least you will be moving forward to your goal as an investor.
It does not happen overnight and it is not all that easy, but I feel it is worth it.
I have a list of local investor clubs all over the USA. If I knew the city you were in I could provide you with contact info to go to a meeting.
Most let you go for no charge at first and the one I belong to as well has a small fee to cover cost.
I wish you success.
wallace thanks!
I am in Baltimore City if you have any contacts around this way.
Going to meetings may be tough as I work 2 full time jobs. Hopefully the clubs hold meetings on the nights I do not work.
Phatman,
Mentors are an incredible source of information for the new investor, BUT....... its hard to find someone that you will trust to become your mentor. Take one second and look at what the concept of having a mentor involve:
-Meeting an individual with information you don’t have.
-Creating a “comfortable” relationship with that person
-Identifying benefits to each party involved
-Eventually ending the realtionship and being “self-employed”
Granted a mentor is a wealth of knowledge and a “real-life” education that you can’t find in books, but keep in mind NOBODY does anything for free (unless they’re family then MAYBE). It’s either a trade, or a fee. You would start out bird-dogging and either split the profits or get a small percentage. Now, Think about the process above and what it sounds similar to…I’m not sure if its just me, but it sounds an AWFUL lot like the process you want to create with your sellers doesn’t it? With that being said, the balls in your court…spend your time getting to know someone to MAKE THEM A PROFIT, or spend time EDUCATING YOURSELF AND GETTING TO KNOW YOUR SELLER TO MAKE YOURSELF A PROFIT. Same process but which would you choose?
The education will be enlightening and easy (though long and tedious), Talking to the seller will be the hardest thing because you’ll feel like you don’t know what your doing until your done, and cashing that check will make it seem liberating. Keep in mind that your basically starting your own business. If you take a walk down your street how many of the business owners will say someone walked them through the process?
Fear is one of our best motivators, use it your advantage. Good Luck!
I think the thing that stops alot of people from moving forward with any dream is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure. That’s what seperates the doers from the dreamers. How bad do you want it? What motivates you? Channel that energy, use it to move forward. Do your homework, investigate, crunch the numbers and ,then, when you find the right deal, ACT.
It really is liberating, becoming your own boss.
Of course , I (we) are getting away from the point of this thread, which is mentors. Looking back, I wish I had a mentor. In a way I did. More like a positive influence. My Father, who owned several rental homes. Too bad he had passed before I got into real estate. None the less, perhaps mentors are overrated.
I think this forum is just as goos as any mentor, perhaps better!
Hey,
Lot of excuses offered but no reasons (and I offered a lot of excuses to myself). Just do it. It costs NO money to send a letter of intent to purchase. The last contract I sent cost me $10 earnest money (I used one of the outs I put into the contract, “unable to find financing”, when I couldn’t find a buyer for a quick flip before I closed. Learned a lot, grew some more hair on my ba__s. Found a $500,000 deal with 5 properties and saw there was no way I could pull it off the way the owners wanted. Forwarded to a partner. Get out and do it. You are just making excuses. That’s it, period.
Peace,
Richard
those are some great comments guys thanks alot.
And ive been trying to learn as much as I can from here trust me… thats why I came here
Im meeting with my partner tonight and we are going to go over some stuff, and hopefully take a few more steps towards actually getting that 1st place!
Go out and look for an investment, work the #s and if all looks good make an offer. One of the posters mentioned fear. I think that is what stops people from going for their dreams too.
You might have fear on your firsr deal but you need to get that behind you. If you have read all that, you have PLENTY material to go on.
Go out and DO IT then let us know how it went
Regards
If you want to find a good mentor, join a REI club and start networking with a few of them. Then you will know who is reliable and what kind of business they produce.
I had the same problem where I took a seminar, read many books but still didn’t know how to take the first step. But then, I actually did make a first step and it was by joining a club which the seminar I attended recommended.
I met an investor who is showing me the ropes and how to look for good deals, negotiate deals and complete deals. I’m in the process of doing 2 preforeclosure deals and I’ve only been in the business for about 2 months (the first month was spent on reading and learning so it’s in the second month where I found 2 deals). I won’t be making as much money from them as I would be ($5k per deal ain’t so bad, especially being part-time) if I was doing them on my own BUT I have to start somewhere and once I have learned exactly how things are done, then I can make more later on.
But, don’t be too money hungry. Not willing to give up a good deal to a mentor can stop a lot of people from actually completing a deal so in order to gain invaluable experience, you must be willing to not get paid as much on a few deals upfront. Besides, once you have learned enough, you can then be able to take further steps on your own and make more in the future.
It’s scary but not after you join a REI club and meet a competent investor.
I responded to an ad today about working with a real estate investor and getting a percent or fee.
Anyway I emailed the person and they emailed me back, hopefully something will come of it, and I can learn and continue looking for deals till one presents itself.
The posts on this thread have been really great… esp the fear ones, they have motivated me to look and persue potential deals even harder.
Thanks again guys
Just be careful who you’re dealing with. Everybody and their cousin says they are a “mentor”. Get to know the people who go to the REIAs and other clubs you attend, and make sure you GET REFERRALS from several sources that have had good results.
Generally, club orgnaizers want to maintain a good reputation-- so make sure you talk to them directly about these folks. Remember-- you’re interviewing THEM as you will be the client. Ask to see results, and CHECK UP on their information.
Check with local business organizations, and the web for compliments and complaints (if any) and even check with law enforcement.
For example there’s a guy here that ran a company that is now being sued, and in big trouble with the law for mortgage fraud. His “mentoring” program was little more than getting his “students” to put their names on mortgages so he could get more properties, pump the appraisals working in concert with a crooked appraiser, and a crooked RE agent (related to him) and they basically pocketed thousands in fees, and real estate commissions and half the equity of these “deals” and the ones they couldn’t pump and dump-- they left the “students” hanging with their names on the mortgages.
There’s another guy out west who used to be all over another forum offering “mentoring” and he is wanted for taking between $2K and $5K from students and then never providing any help. In addition to fraud, he’s wanted for back child support, too. Apparently stealing $2K to $5K wasn’t enough to pay his child support.
While looking for a Mentor also keep in mind you need to find someone that is doing what you want to do. There are hundreds if not thousands of investment styles out there.
There are old Investors and there are bold Investors…
It is just hard to find a OLD BOLD INVESTOR!
Some take risk’s that others will not.
While others will teach you things that some will not.
If you want to do Sub-2. There is no point in working with someone that only buys 30% below market. It would be a waste of time.
Just my thoughts on this!
If you want to do Sub-2. There is no point in working with someone that only buys 30% below market. It would be a waste of time.
You shouldn’t hire a one-trick-pony period. You can also consider “adopting” a mentor. I “adopted” a very high-profile person as a mentor by simply finding out what makes him tick and HELPING him with that. Turns out, it was a charity. So, I worked with someone else and we’re raising a couple hundred thousand dollars this year for the charity. Guess who returns our phone calls?
I hope this will help. If you require mentoring, contact the following:
www.score.org
or your local SBA office Small Business Administration
Score has retired business owners that offer free mentoring in all areas.
Where are you located at? I might have a suggestion as far as a mentor and getting started.
SCORE was decent for my first business which was more of a traditional business.
What I’ve discovered since that time is that mindset is everything. I didn’t meet entrepreneurs at SCORE. I met Jack Welch types-- which God bless 'em they had been successful to a degree, but not a one of them ever took a big risk. Not one of them ever had to take money from their personal account to make payroll.
To a certain degree they managed, and had responsibility for a great deal-- but the buck never stopped at any of them.
As a result, it was difficult to get any serious advice-- or I should say meaningful advice from SCORE.
They aren’t cut from the same mold as entrepreneurs. They took on responsibility, but rarely did any of the ones I met take on RISK.