This is in response to the popular post regarding 10 tips to start out in real estate.
Quick sketch of me: had my own retail business, tried being a realtor, have fixed up properties many years ago, for the past 20 years was a secretary. I’m desperately trying to break out of the employee mentality. Have been a professional student of real estate for about the past 4 years, now I need to do it.
Where do you find a mentor?
Thank you!
You can find mentors in a number of places…
You might have luck at your local REIA club (check the links section on this site for clubs in your area)
Many of the national Gurus also offer mentoring, too (This is where I’ll shamelessly plug our website at the bottom of this reply) But of course, there are others… I’m sure the Real Estate Products available from this site also have follow-on coaching/mentoring programs.
You could argue what’s better: a national Mentor or a local Mentor. What really matters is if your Mentor motivates you, holds you accountable, and gets your butt in gear to close deals.
Are you certain that finding a mentor to tell you exactly what to do isn’t just more of your employee mentality?
You have enough experience that you should be able to go out and do it. But to be the boss, you have to be prepared to take some risk.
You can get good advice right here.
I get people wanting me to mentor them, and, without exception, what they want is for me to do it for them. If you want a mentor (not a guru who is going to charge you a lot of money), figure out what you are going to do for the mentor that is going to make it worth his time and effort to train you. Don’t expect a stranger to make you rich for free and no effort on your part.
I find myself wanting to do the same, search for a mentor, that is. I don’t think it’s because I want anyone to do it for me, but I think you hit the nail on the head about “being the boss and taking the risk”…
I struggle with this. I don’t struggle with the risk itself…I just worry that I don’t know enough, although I have the concept down and have been researching things for about two years.
But, to your point about what can you offer the mentor…well, I have offered to do leg work, research, basically doing whatever they tell me to do. My only objective would to see one deal from start to finish. This of course I offered without any compensation…but I haven’t got a bite so far…
Try your local REI Club, the president and/or find an experienced real estate investor. You may find they are your competitor and are buying homes you are interested in or offering on. You do not necessarily have to have one mentor. It is always good to surround yourself with experienced experts who can give you good advice. Offer them a free lunch and pick their brain. You can always offer to partner with them or the possibility of bringing them deals. Some will not help, some will be happy to help. There are tons of real estate investment groups on LinkedIN, Facebook, MySpace, BiggerPockets, Meetup.com, etc. Build a relationship and don’t be afraid to consult others.
Although I agree that you don’t technically need a mentor, it never hurts to have at least one person you can run to whenever you find yourself stuck. Maybe a better word for this would be coach?
You see, I started out working with 2 different mentors, and one eventually became my business partner. I no longer consider him to be my mentor, but because he is so advanced in experience, I still look to him when I need some answers.
Therefore, it may help to find someone who is already succeeding big time in your chosen niche. You can pick their brain every month or so, and help them out once in a while in return.
If you stick around long enough you will meet people who are very good at certain aspects of investing (private money, locating properties, rehabs, selling properties,etc.). These people can be your “mentors” per say. You can go to each one depending on what you need help with.
To be honest that actually sounds exactly like this forum 
There are a bunch of people here who would be glad to help you when you have questions. Just keep moving forward, start marketing for leads now!