Just Starting - Looking for a Mentor

[Nicholas Lisauskas]

Hello,

I'm 22 and just started a full time job in Chicago. I am looking to pursue real estate investing on the side and hopefully someday as my full time occupation. I am wondering what would be the best way to get started in the world of real estate investing and curious as to what would be the best route for finding a good mentor in my area. Thanks for any help!

[Wendell De Guzman]

Originally posted by @Nicholas Lisauskas:

Hello,

I'm 22 and just started a full time job in Chicago. I am looking to pursue real estate investing on the side and hopefully someday as my full time occupation. I am wondering what would be the best way to get started in the world of real estate investing and curious as to what would be the best route for finding a good mentor in my area. Thanks for any help!

Nicholas, 

First off, you need to network with other real estate investors. There are many BP meetups all over Chicago. @Shelly F. is launching a BP Meetup for Northwest Chicagoland suburbs. You can also attend different real estate investors associations. A good one is in Lisle - CAREIA. The objective of networking is to meet as many real estate people as you can. Just by networking you will meet buyers, sellers, lenders, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, real estate attorneys, etc. And through networking offline and online, you will find your mentor.

Second, to find a good real estate mentor, you have to find out first if he is doing what you want to be doing. If you want to learn how to wholesale properties, you want to be mentored by someone who wholesales most of the properties that he gets and he does volume - he wholesales at least 1 house a week. Or if you want to learn rehabbing, don't go with a guy who rehabs 1-2 houses a year. Go with someone who rehabs 60 houses a year. If you want to learn landlording, go with someone with at least 100 rental units not someone with only 4 units. You get the point.

Lastly, provide value. Be willing to provide value to your mentor AND to the real estate community (whether offline or online - e.g., here on Biggerpockets). Don't be like the majority of BP members who will post several postings and all the postings are requests for help (but they don't post anything of value). When people perceive that you are in the business for the long term and you're not after your own self interest only, they will want to do business with you.