From Agent to Investor - What Now?

[Mateo Duba]

Good morning BiggerPockets Forum,

My name is Mateo; I'm 22 years old and have been in real estate for about three years now. The majority of my experience has been working as an agent in the Miami Beach, FL area where I grew up. Last year, I worked at a wholesaling company, calling warm leads for about 10 hours a day over the span of five months. I'd say I got pretty comfortable making offers, but when the Fed hiked rates in July of 2022, all the hedge funds we assigned our contracts to got cold feet, and we lost the majority of the deals we had worked so hard for.

I left the wholesaling company and ended up working alongside one of the top luxury brokers at Douglas Elliman. I learned many skills and philosophies on how to structure a real estate business, particularly as a luxury agent. While I was exposed to the grandiose lifestyle wealthy people have when purchasing $10M+ properties, I soon realized that the luxury agent path was not for me. I'm personally more interested in the wholesaling/investment aspect of the real estate business.

I've changed paths now and decided to work a remote sales job that pays a salary plus commission while investing money and time on the side to learn how to do creative finance, wholesale, and fixer-upper deals.

My question to all seasoned investors is this: What is the best way to find a mentor on investing in real estate? Should I continue to invest in my real estate investing education on the side while working a salaried sales job, or should I remain on the path as a real estate agent?

P.S. I'm only 22 years old and still live with my parents (unfortunately haha).