My Future?

I’m a fourteen year old living in QLD, Australia, with plans to go into real estate investing and business when I’m older.

My question is… If I would like to combine the two (hire people for my business and teach them to flip, rehab, etc), what way to get started would you recommend?

University: Yes/No?

Real estate licence: Yes/No? (if anybody knows of something like the MLS, except for Australia, please tell me!)

Pay off my debt before business? Yes/No?

Etcetera. Basically, if you were still in high school and wanted to start a business based on real estate (I have it all planned out already), how would you go about ensuring you got the right education/skills to do it to the best of your ability?

Thankyou so much.

TheLightofSpeed,
Nice to meet you, and welcome to the message board.

Education first!

Doesn’t have to be University. It could be a lot of trial and error, but continuous education! Learn from all of the top notch people from here, start by just reading all of their post, then get books, lots of it.

Also start by doing something small, I mean really… really small. When I was in High School, I was into art, but I didn’t do art, I sold art. I started selling stuff other people wanted, like when someone wanted a tatoo idea, a logo idea, or just graffiti of their name, I sold them all.

I later went to selling artwork from up and coming artist. I also started my own online art biz, and I thought I had made it big… WRONG! I didn’t have the proper knowledge to take it further. Unfortunately for me, I had financed most of this by using credit cards that were 16% interest rates, and was only making my minimum payments, I got into a lot of debt, because I didn’t know how to manage THAT DEBT.

To answer you questions:
University: Just get educated in any form possible.
Real Estate License: Read what others have to say about this, I can’t help you on that.
Pay off my debt before business: Um, YEAH! If your living with your parents, you should get a small part time job, I would allocate a good chunk of that money into paying off the debt first, and save a little for your start up cost.

Etcetera. Keep thinking of ways to make money on the side, whether selling stuff on eBay, Craigslist, or the likes, but don’t be limited to your big goals, start small, then big.

-Edgar

Thanks for the response!

I agree about education… I’ve read plenty of business books, and am starting to read real estate books. I’ve read lots of the articles on this site, as well.

I was thinking the same thing about debt… I plan to start off flipping and so will have a minimal start up cost, but I plan to overcompensate for advertising costs and unexpected expenses (there always are).

As for starting small… I’ve done small business things before, but can you recommend anything small involving real estate? I LOVE hands-on education more than anything else, but real estate is really expensive in Australia, and I doubt I’d be able to flip at my age. I could try though…

Anyway, I really appreciate the input! Cheers.

The Internet is so full of wonderful information. I think education is important. Do you need a formal education to succeed in this business? No. Does it hurt? No. Nothing wrong with doing both. Surround yourself with successful people who think this business is possible. Read blogs, listen to great podcasts, and find a mentor that makes this business work.

How would you go about finding a good mentor at my age? I know most suitable investors would be too busy to teach a fourteen year old, so how do I find the ones that aren’t?

At fourteen years old with this much ambition I think you could become a poster child for many of the top Gurus.

I know Ron Legrand mentioned he had a fourteen year old doing deals as a student of his.

Local REIA presidents would love to parade you in front of their group for all to see…and motivate them to get out of their seminar junkie mode and start doing something.

Search google for real estate investment club [your city or county]

Also, send a picture along with a one page letter to ALL of the major gurus. I had your ambition when I was 15 and my family was into real estate…BUT…my Dad never let me participate.

I went on to run one of the most successful real estate wholesaling operations in the United States. Do not let anyone tell you NO…it won’t be easy but stick to it.

Good luck! You are in the right business