Not sure where to post this

So, I’ve been reading and watching and analyzing real-estate for a bit over a year now. It would seem that there is good money to be had in real-estate and I believe that I could be very interested in working out real-estate deals with people. (As opposed to aboslutely no interest in selling insurance policies to people). I have a friend who is a real-estate agent, and he is predicting his first $1 million dollar (gross profit) this year. He’s been working as a real-estate agent for a few years now. I’m not sure I want to be a real-estate agent, though.
From what I’ve discovered, it would appear that there are some tricks-of-the-trade with real-estate that can be very tricky at times. Now, I could just got out and trial-and-error this stuff, but why waste that time when I can have someone point out the pitfalls to me? So, I’m looking for a mentor or someone to partner with. Yes, I know that I probably just violated one of the posting rules, but I’m not trying to circumvent the rules. I’m not looking to market or sales-pitch some program or organization. I’m truly trying to find a like-minded person (or 2) that I can work with to get this entrepreneurial type career change off and going (I currently work in the computer industry). Going it alone can oftentimes be very boring. I like the idea of being able to do this because I want to and not because a boss or company is making me do it (quite a prevalent mindset in my current computer work industry).
I live in Utah and have been going to some real-estate group meetings and clubs, but all they seem to do is talk about what is possible with real-estate and what they would like to do with real-estate, but they don’t seem to colaborate on actually doing something with real-estate. While real-estate success does seem to be an individual undertaking (Donald Trump, et. al.), I’ve known some very successful partnerships succeed with real-estate and I’d like to do the same. I’ve become somewhat frustrated, though, with lots of people talking about lots of dreams about lots of money, but little money being deposited into checking accounts. While big dreams really are great things, big dreams alone don’t put food on the table and they don’t pay bills.
Like I said, I live in Utah and I’m not trying to circumvent the posting rules, so I won’t post my contact information. I guess you can leave me a message on this bulletin board system. I don’t know how else to get in touch with people without breaking the posting rules, but I think some good people can be found here. Or you can post something here about where I might find some help. I’d really like to find someone to work with, though, rather than just hear some motivational catch phrases. Thanks all.

Dean

Here is a list of REI clubs in Utah
http://www.reiclub.com/real-estate-clubs/Utah.html

I would go to a meeting there and get to know the investors.

To tell you the honest truth, as soon as anyone tells me that are looking for a mentor, or a partner, my reaction is to think that they are looking for someone who is going to do all the work and make them rich while they cruise along and do nothing.

I get it endlessly: people who see me working hard and making money and they think maybe I will work hard and make them money, too.

If you seriously want to learn how it is done by someone who is successful, pick someone you would like to learn from and offer to do their legwork and grunt work for free, just to be able to hang around and see what they are doing that works so well.

You run to the xerox machine, take papers to escrow, and fetch coffee until it looks like you are serious, and then you will get told things.

You want to see how to flip a house? Go and haul trash and power a pain brush. Be there to open the house for the electrician to get bids. Crawl under the house and look for termite damage.

It’s hard work to be successful in real estate and no investor needs to be carrying dead weight on his back while he goes through the day. Bit if you can show that you are willing to work for what you get and you show that you are geneuinely interested, most investors would love to have a protege.

I can see where you’re coming from tatertot. I myself hate it when someone else tries to get a free ride on my coattails. I’m not sure how to convince someone of my carrying my own weight unless someone just gives me a shot to see what I’m capable of. I do believe that I can be very interested in the real-estate investor world, and I believe that would keep me motivated to get done what needs to be done.

If you seriously want to learn how it is done by someone who is successful, pick someone you would like to learn from
This is my biggest problem so far - I'm not finding anyone that I would like to learn from. I hear a lot of people (in my local area) talking about a lot of real-estate and a lot of money to be had from real-estate, but I'm not seeing anyone putting actual money into their bank account from said available money from said real-estate possibilities. As I thought about this more, I realized that if I helped out a mentor, I would probably be filling out bunches of forms and running them down to the county courthouse of FedEx'ing them. I can handle that type of work to get started. I figured with a more-or-less equal partner, we could learn as we go and at the very least have someting common to talk about on weekends. Anyways, if anybody is interested, don't hesitate to get in touch with me. Thanks.

Dean

I live in Utah and have been going to some real-estate group meetings and clubs, but all they seem to do is talk about what is possible with real-estate and what they would like to do with real-estate, but they don't seem to colaborate on actually doing something with real-estate.

Dean,

Here’s the problem. The vast majority of newbies that you see at your local REIA will never do a deal. Most of those that do a deal will fail and not do a second. Even if you could find another newbie that actually wanted to do a deal, then all you would have is two newbies trying to do something - A VERY POOR COMBINATION>

On the other hand, most of the successful investors at your REIA won’t be taking on partners and certainly not a newbie as a partner (I know I wouldn’t). After all, if you already know how to make money, why in the world would you take on a newbie as a partner? What could they bring to the table? I certainly wouldn’t partner with a newbie and share the profits.

So, I don’t find it surprising at all that you’re having problems finding a partner. Moreover, you’re probably lucky that you haven’t found a partner. There have been at least a couple of posts lately where a newbie was taken by a scammer pretending to be a partner. In one case, the newbie was taken for more than $100,000.

I've become somewhat frustrated, though, with lots of people talking about lots of dreams about lots of money, but little money being deposited into checking accounts. While big dreams really are great things, big dreams alone don't put food on the table and they don't pay bills.

You’re doing exactly the same thing. You’re dreaming and talking about REI, but you aren’t doing deals or making money. What is holding YOU back?

I would suggest doing WHATEVER IT TAKES to learn the business. Read books and ask questions on this forum. There are people here who make a living in the REI business and others who successfully do it part time. Meet the SUCCESSFUL investors at your local REIA and make friends with them. Your new FRIENDS will be happy to help. After you’ve learned the business, then do a deal yourself. This isn’t rocket science.

Good Luck,

Mike

Thanks for the heads up on scammers. I am, by nature, an extremely skeptical person, so I scrutinize things over rigorously before jumping in.
I guess I should say that I’m not a total beginner to real-estate investing. I currently have a house that I rent which brings in a few hundred dollars net each month. I have a second house that I was renting, but its not worth it anymore to rent, so I’m in the process of selling. Like I said, I’ve read and studied a lot of real-estate and am familiar enough with lease options and subject-to to try and sell the house that way. In addition to all that, I’m part of a loan servicing company that provides hard money lending to other investors’ real-estate projects. So, it could be said that I’ve gotten my feet wet.
So far, all of these projects have been quite minimal in direct man-hour involvement, thus I have plenty of extra time to devote to other projects. On top of it all, my current real-estate investing is rather dull. chuckle I’d like to get more involved in additional projects and truly work towards making this what puts food on my table. Two heads are better than one, four eyes can see more than two, there’s only so many hours in a day, you can only be at so many places at one time, so on and so forth you get the idea. That’s the very least that I could bring to the table for a partner/mentor. My brother sells sporting goods on eBay and makes a successful living out of it. He has grown himself to the point of where he needs more man power to continue to grow his business (its not my thing, though). I was hoping that I might find another real-estate investor that was looking for the same thing, and we could join up to expand.

Dean

Go to the active investors at your REIA and ask them exactly what they are looking for. Then go find it for them.

If your local REIA does not have any active investors then you need to find one that does.