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Updated over 2 years ago, 05/30/2022

User Stats

4
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3
Votes
Michael Mancuso
3
Votes |
4
Posts

Best Path to Take after Graduating from College ?

Michael Mancuso
Posted

Hey Everyone,

I just finished up my Junior year at the University of Alabama and I am trying to figure out what the best post grad path would be to learn the most about investing in Real Estate.

I am an Econ/Finance major with a Real Estate minor and have great grades and solid work experiences.  These experiences include interning for a phenomenal student housing developer in Birmingham and currently interning for a really solid bank in their Real Estate group in Dallas.  I am hoping with this body of work I should have my options open.

I definitely want to start investing pretty quickly after I graduate and want to find the best opportunity with the most learning opportunities to prepare me for doing so.


Any suggestions?


User Stats

4,985
Posts
5,044
Votes
Scott Mac
  • Austin, TX
5,044
Votes |
4,985
Posts
Scott Mac
  • Austin, TX
Replied

Make as much money as you can as quickly as you can.

Lean how much you need to have in CASH to buy what you want.

User Stats

3,673
Posts
3,447
Votes
Steven Foster Wilson
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbus, OH
3,447
Votes |
3,673
Posts
Steven Foster Wilson
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Columbus, OH
Replied
Quote from @Michael Mancuso:

Hey Everyone,

I just finished up my Junior year at the University of Alabama and I am trying to figure out what the best post grad path would be to learn the most about investing in Real Estate.

I am an Econ/Finance major with a Real Estate minor and have great grades and solid work experiences.  These experiences include interning for a phenomenal student housing developer in Birmingham and currently interning for a really solid bank in their Real Estate group in Dallas.  I am hoping with this body of work I should have my options open.

I definitely want to start investing pretty quickly after I graduate and want to find the best opportunity with the most learning opportunities to prepare me for doing so.


Any suggestions?



 What part of RE are you passionate about? Do you have partners that you could partner with to buy some properties? If not get a W2 job and buy a few properties. Then follow what you really want to do in RE. 

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User Stats

4
Posts
3
Votes
Michael Mancuso
3
Votes |
4
Posts
Michael Mancuso
Replied
Quote from @Steven Foster Wilson:
Quote from @Michael Mancuso:

Hey Everyone,

I just finished up my Junior year at the University of Alabama and I am trying to figure out what the best post grad path would be to learn the most about investing in Real Estate.

I am an Econ/Finance major with a Real Estate minor and have great grades and solid work experiences.  These experiences include interning for a phenomenal student housing developer in Birmingham and currently interning for a really solid bank in their Real Estate group in Dallas.  I am hoping with this body of work I should have my options open.

I definitely want to start investing pretty quickly after I graduate and want to find the best opportunity with the most learning opportunities to prepare me for doing so.


Any suggestions?



 What part of RE are you passionate about? Do you have partners that you could partner with to buy some properties? If not get a W2 job and buy a few properties. Then follow what you really want to do in RE. 


I wouldn’t say I am passionate about a particular sector yet, but I am definitely am really interested in multi-family and would like to purchase a rental property as quickly as possible.  I definitely have some friends I would partner with eventually, but we will likely all need W2 jobs before doing so in order to build up enough capital.  I think what I am curious about is: what would the best W2 job be to gain knowledge for a future investing career?

User Stats

113
Posts
117
Votes
Jared Prevost
  • Lender
  • Tampa, Fl
117
Votes |
113
Posts
Jared Prevost
  • Lender
  • Tampa, Fl
Replied

@Michael Mancuso

I graduated a year ago with a finance major, econ minor and was in a very similar situation my junior year asking the same question.

In my personal opinion, having your W-2 in real estate to start is fantastic as you get paid to learn real estate and build your network in the industry. I also interned for a developer and working in the development space can be very exciting, but doesn't always draw great parallels into the SFH and small multi-family investing world.

I think there are two approaches here:

1) Work somewhere in the development/banking with the highest base salary, this will really help you qualify for a solid first home you can house hack.

2) Work somewhere that is commission-based, but you can learn how to find good off-market deals and get creative financing so you don't have to get a traditional mortgage product. This would likely mean working for a wholesale company or as a realtor

If you're passionate about finance and want to learn about doing big deals, I would stick to the world of development. A lot of this will carry over to syndication if you ever want to go into that space.

Hope this helps! Feel free to message me if you ever want to talk

User Stats

17
Posts
14
Votes
Cal Martin
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Moscow, ID
14
Votes |
17
Posts
Cal Martin
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Moscow, ID
Replied

Hey Micheal! Personally I would say that regardless of what avenue of real estate you are most passionate about, house hacking is most likely the best method to get started, being able to put even more of your soon to be large income with addition to any cash flow you have back into the RE game will be huge! Let me know if you are unfamiliar with the concept, but since you are on bigger pockets I highly doubt that haha.

Have a great day!

User Stats

352
Posts
295
Votes
Scott Krone
Pro Member
  • Investor
  • Northbrook, IL
295
Votes |
352
Posts
Scott Krone
Pro Member
  • Investor
  • Northbrook, IL
Replied

@Michael Mancuso - have the firms you interned with expressed interest in offering a full time position?

That would seem to be your best lead.

  • Scott Krone
  • User Stats

    6,500
    Posts
    3,172
    Votes
    Ali Boone
    • Real Estate Coach
    • Venice Beach, CA
    3,172
    Votes |
    6,500
    Posts
    Ali Boone
    • Real Estate Coach
    • Venice Beach, CA
    Replied
    Most importantly... ROLL TIDE! Second, it kind of depends on what you want to do in REI as far as what the best next steps would be. There's soi many different ways to invest, you'd want to find a gig that is somewhat related to what you want to learn. Any ideas on what that is?