Are You Looking For A Mentor?

Question

Over the years, I have seen sooo many posts about people wanting mentors. These folks are so hungry for hands on education that they are willing to do almost anything to gain the knowledge. I recently read a thread where someone was looking to pay to be mentored. There were a lot of posts requesting the same thing and there were even more posts of people that had paid mentors but were taken advantage of.

What are your thoughts about having a local mentorship program or having an apprenticeship program?

Shiloh Lundahl · Answer

Hey @Jay Hinrichs it's always great to read your posts. @Adam Bartomeo for me a mentor and a coach are different things. A mentor is an organic relationship that is built over time. Asking for a mentor or to be mentored doesn't seem to work very much in my opinion. For example, I would say that I have mentors that I look up to on BiggerPockets like Jay or @Mike Dymski, or several others whom I will talk with on occasion to help me figure things out. The relationships are mutually beneficial - although I would say I feel I benefit more from them. But these people may or may not know that I look up to them as mentors and they have no obligation to do anything for me.Coaching, on the other hand, has a specific purpose - to help you get better results then you would be able to get on your own. Most coaching programs have a cost because the relationship is not organic. it is for a specific purpose. There are good coaching and some that are not so good. I would say that if someone wants to get better results than they would get on their own and they don't personally know someone who will willingly "take them under their wing," then hiring a good coach is better than asking random people to be their mentor.

James Breese · Answer

@Adam Bartomeo my wife and I are early in our real estate ventures, but the handful of things we have done, we were lucky enough to have some mentors that gave us advice. Worked out heavily in our favor. We recently paid for a coach/mentor for some newer RE ventures. We have not made any moves yet, as we just have not found a deal; but the money we have saved by him keeping us from making a poor decision has been invaluable.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

ya know in the day.. Real Estate agents use to hold weekly meetings for first time homebuyers and how to buy a home.. My wife used to teach one when she ran a C 21 office. she also was a trianer for Floyd Wickman.. Agents dont seem to be doing these any more.. Maybe its time.. you advertise for a weekly 2 hour meeting on how to buy investment properties.. you will get attendance .. you do it for free.you get buyers that way and probably some sellers as well.When I worked for a Syndicator ( consultant not employee) they got all their leads ( this was the 80s) by doing work shops each week in the evening on how to buy MF and small apartments. they built a billion dollar portfolio with this method.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

I dont know about that meetups are still pretty popular.. if someone takes the time to go to one they are more serious than those sitting behind a key board. I speak often at meetups LA SF PDX Oakland etc. invited to mid west ones but schedules usually dont work. and these will have 50 to 100 participants.. I did one in PDX a few years back and pulled a 2 million dollar investor from it.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

I know U are I am talking about all these BP folks that contact us weekly looking for mentors.. I got my license at 18 in 1975 LOL.. been through all the ups and downs and wars etc.. being in the game in the industry taught me a lot and continues to teach me everyday.. I help folks by being their JV partners and funding deals for them mainly BRRRS . I have been to your neck of the woods once way back in the mid 80s to lehigh acres on a fact finding missions with state of CA on what to do with antiquated subdivisions.. IE Lots created in the 40s and 50s that if they were built out today there is no way the infrastructure could handle it.. Lehigh was the poster child.. CA has million platted lots literally as well. I also funded foreclosures in Lehigh for investors in 08 09 picking them up for 30 to 50k for brand new homes !!! thats a shoulda woulda coulda story for me personally I had an offer in on 100 of them from a builder that went bust.. but was tough time to raise capital.

Eliott Elias · Answer

Every one i've been to ended up turning to networking events, with little to no substance in education.

Eliott Elias · Answer

These free seminars are not attractive anymore. There are an abundance of them virtually, and by big time investors. Newbies need to get away from resorting to mentors right away and learn from real scenarios.

James Breese · Answer

For sure. We haven't made any moves because the markets we were originally looking into, ended up not looking as good as we thought once our coach got involved with evaluation. They were not trending well and he told us that he would not personally invest in those areas based upon our criteria and business model. Since then, we've begun our search into a few other areas. Found some promising ones with our new knowledge. He affirmed our thoughts in our most recent meeting and gave us direction to further evaluate. So, we are currently narrowing down our search, getting detailed numbers, and becoming more and more familiar with those markets.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

I think we have to also look at reality. A week does not go by without me getting at least 2 to 3 request to Mentor a new BP investor. I am humbled they would reach out to me. And I return each request with a polite reply and if there is a little nugget I can impart I will. However whats the reality of me personally being a mentor.. I don't know these folks Never met them have no clue as to their skill levels anything about their personalities or their ability to transact. Not sure what others would do but I have no clue how I would help them unless I wanted to make a business out of consulting/coaching. So for me being invited to events to give my presentations on what I like to do in the business and what has worked for me over the decades is appealing and a way of giving back and then by product is someone in the Audience will be a accredited investor who would like to learn more about my Home building business or my JV funding for BRRR's in the 8 states I do this in. There is no selling or pitching these folks approach me. Everyone is in this industry for one reason and that is to create income to live on and to be self employed which has its benefits and has its harsh realities. In real estate there is really only a few ways to make spendable income.1. Commissions on transactional deals IE Agent Lender leasing agent short term house flipper etc.2. Income properties3. Long term RE flipper IE home building Rehab resell either to homeowners or investors . 4. Land speculation and land development commercial and residential development.5. Timber Minerals Oil water rights conservation easements etc etc. This is a basic list. For me personally I have done all of them except Oil and Minerals and have tried to do some conservation easements but have not pulled it off. Everything else I have done in and around being a licensed agent or licensed lender and I am a GC . However it all started with that license to make commission income way back in the day. And by working in that industry and meeting so many different clients and other RE folks you learn it as you do it.. Thats really all the mentoring I have to give .. And while its been some great times I also worked through 3 really crappy market constrictions and those were not so fun 08 09 being very humbling and basically a reset like so many of my peers. Along with very little collage basically just a high school diploma however when I started I will say I had a gift for sales and thats where it starts. My first year in RE sales I made just shy of 50k. ( 1975) When 10 bucks an hour was a great job. And at that Point I knew commission was the way to go for me given my back ground and lack of collage education. Along with Zero trade skills :)

Adam Bartomeo · Answer

I somewhat agree with you but it is a good way for someone that is ready to dip a toe in, to get comfortable. I disagree with you about going away from mentors. I think that the word "mentor" has gotten a bad rap. I am talking about a true mentor, someone that takes you "under their wing" and works with you in real life scenarios. Not some paid program where you get online coaching. An apprenticeship seems like a great way to go because you learn using OPM.