@Blake Ramsey
Yours is a personal question, so I will ask you some questions and also add some random thoughts. Don't answer any of them on this forum.
a. What is your GPA? Sophomore in Engineering is the cull time in most programs. If your grades aren't up to the JrSr years, then switch degrees or directions. Two of our friends' kids just switched out of engineering going into their Junior year. 30 ACT scores. Curriculum is tough.
b. What is your college financing? Can you make it, or are you tired of eating Ramen noodles?
c. Finish your associates. If you don't and wait too long, you lose all of your credits. Plus, an Associates is better than no degree. Shows commitment.
d. Other than young people coming back from World War 2 into the economy, this is the greatest time to be a young person joining the work force. A lot of Baby Boomers leaving the workforce causing a vacuum. There literally aren't enough technical young workers and we don't have an immigration system to add to that work force.
e. Scalability- whatever you do in REI has to be scalable to your personal aspirations or lifestyle. Build a map, before you even go down the path. You will see other people on this post asking the question you will ask in 10 years. And it is scalability. They did BRRRR, hack, flip, etc. Life style- number of kids, college, home $$$ size, wife's career, cars, boats, RVs, Lake house, financial freedom. Define that and then determine your REI path to get there.
f. Scalability math- adjust the figures. Let's say you get a job making $90,000 per year as someone mentioned. After taxes and living frugally (don't buy a new vehicle, worst financial decision I made coming out of college), you have $40,000 after taxes. How many rentals do you need at $100 after taxes per month to hit that? 12 x $100= $1,200. $40,000/$1,200= 33 doors. Build a road map to 33 doors. Financing, legal, maintenance, management, your market will it handle it, etc. At some number of doors, you have to add an office manager, maintenance person, etc. This increases your 33 to a higher number.
g. Risk tolerance- Which has the greater risk? The job making $90,000 or the road map to 33 doors or greater? This is also the wage or salary trap, keeping your away from REI. Actually, my friend is a Fireman and has a great REI portfolio.
h. Graduate with an associate degree. Get a job as a project manager for a real estate development company. Get them to pay for your remaining years. Will take longer, but you're not paying for it and you're in Real Estate on someone else's dime, learning for free.
i. Join the military ROTC. Get them to pay for your remaining school. Learn BAH Base Allowance Housing. Use this as the backbone of your REI venture. You get out of the military and go into Civil Service with the Military. Go to Italy or Korea and get "GIVEN" $50,000 (GS 15) cash in lump sum for your BAH. Live there for 2 to 3 years, investing $100,000 to $150,000 before you sell it. Even if it doesn't appreciate you lived there rent free and made $100,000 to $150,000 with Uncle Sam.
j. REI Map- Read through all of your posts. Use your Engineering background to attack REI. Like most people you are asking several different avenues of questions and probably reading and watching several avenues of podcasts. STOP. If 33 above is your scalability number, start developing a plan to get there. As you need more info to fill in the plan, then seek out info. This will give you a STRUCTURED approach to learning REI. Like most people you will find 33 SFH units is tough and start to look at MFH. After you get into MFH, you might then decide to look at Commercial or Syndication. See the Path before you get there and invest the years into it. Example: How do you finance your BRRRR? How do you finance your 10th SFH? etc.
k. Look at the Macro world. Baby boomers will become Retirement home residents. Not enough Retirement homes, not enough workers, pay scale is not sustainable. Come up with a solution.
l. TAXES. If you live in your primary residence for two consecutive years out of 5, and then sale, you pay no taxes. If your BRRRRing, try to stay there for two years. You have to sale within the 5-year period from when you moved there. You can start your Second and even Third BRRRR's living in each of them, by the end of the 5th year on the first one, and still sale the first one. Why is this important? If you do a Flip. You're taking the cash out via a sale, if its less than one-year, ordinary income (30%???), greater than one year (talk with your accountant about construction/rehab period) then Capital gain tax rate (20%). BRRRR, you have to refinance to get your cash out and probably doesn't fit, living there for 2 years on a BRRRR then doing your next project.
m. You're living at home, so this doesn't apply as much unless you're paying rent and utilities. But it you had a house and were paying utilities and P/I. Buy or build a self-storage location. Build a caretaker's house there, sell your house, use those funds for this deal. Utilities, property tax, insurance, etc get used as expenses.
n. Seed money- want to do Real Estate, plus learn REI. Try land development. If there is a shortage of houses in your area, then there is greater demand for lots. Plus, you're a bedroom community for Springfield. Google Nixa, MO land for sale. 1. A. Look at 6.36-acre lot on West Hickory Drive for $135,000. Do a deal analysis on this property. Research zoning. Can you split it. See lot to the right of it, looks half the size. Property was listed for $100,000 in 2020, pulled from market after 1 month. Put back on market at $135,000 in August and has been on market. The trees are great. Don't like the Long Lot going backwards, prefer long lots horizontal to the road or roads on multiple sides of the property, for more entrances and splits. Make an offer for $70,000 subject to financing. Do your due diligence up front. See if you can split. B. Split and sale for $70,000 per 3 acre lot. Makes no sense right? Spend $5,000 and in the back build a 2 acre pond covering both properties. Take advantage of that long lot, that I and most people don't like. People love water. They also like trees. Contact Delaware House tree farm in Nixa and ask if you can buy White Pines (not the others, beetles will kill them), if they know someone with a tree spade. Strategically place on both sides of your new divided property line (not on the line) to provide a visual break. Between where you think people will build on these lots. People love trees.
Do the above same approach with other properties in Nixa and nearby. Look for the worst property in the area. Ones that have been on the market the longest. Bring value to them. Keep doing analysis. Keep making offers. They reject. So, what. On each deal calculate your "Failure". Most people never make the leap, because the imagined Failure in their head is too great. Stare down your Boogey Man.
o. Seed Money- Trailer park at English Village. Either Trailer hack or BRRR. Money normally is in the lot rental and not owning a Trailer. See if you can own a lot and not live there. See if you can BRRRR an existing trailer.
Key behind all the thoughts above is there are a lot of angles you can take. Build a starting point of who you are now, interests, finances, etc. to what you want to be, Lifestyle, finances, see the world or stay local (which is great, I came from a Creek bottom, saw the world and can tell you my piece of dirt is the greatest place). You have lots of opportunities right where you are at. Just need to get the snowball going, and yes it never starts fast enough.
But I do have to tell you. Other than marrying my wife and having our son. The happiest moment of my life I had $300 in my pocket, sack of clothes, box of books, my old flatbed ford, and just received my diploma. World here I come. As many have said, enjoy the ride. Treat each failure as a lesson. Take a moment to enjoy the successes.
Start small and Make Your Big Mistakes Early.