Starting Out
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback
Updated over 8 years ago, 03/17/2016
"Green" Looking to Switch Career Engineer to REI Tampa, Florida.
Hello BP, My name is Julian Le. I am a 23 year old engineer with a degree in Manufacturing Engineering Technology. I currently work at an engineering consulting firm. Starting out I am making around 52K. I’ve done relative well in school, earning the honor for cumulative. Right now I have 2 opportunities to work for a larger corporation where my pay will increase without a doubt to 66k. But the work is not challenging and my fellow co-workers have instructed me to slow down on numerous occasion. I have been looking for Real Estate Investment for the past few years. I am currently torn as I am very interested in REI. I have been working since the age 15 so I have a decent amount saved up as I am paying my minimum on my student loan payment.
My ultimate goal is to achieve as much I can while I am still able. I want to become a CPA as it caters to self-employment of a Real Estate Career where I would obtain client through one services and be able to recommend them to another ex. Financial Advisement, Files Taxes, Real Estate Investment. If I were to be ambitious I have the option to open a Brokerage firm/Finance Advisory (or tax filing) services. I also plan doing flips and property management during this time for passive income.
I’m currently residing in Illinois but wishes to relocate to Florida to invest (Escape from the COLD).
6 Year plan.
1. REL. While work for the next few month I’ll pursue a Florida real estate License. (In Process)
3/2016 – 8/2016
2. Moved down to Florida
I will try to either get an:
A) Engineering job which pays well enough for me to cover my expenses and fund my REI.
B) Real Estate Agent where I won’t make much but will learn about the market and the inner workings of the art of the deal and evaluation of homes. I will also have time to pursue my other goals as I work on my own time?(My Preferred Option)
3. GMAT. After settling in with the job and adjust somewhat to the learning curve. I will start studying for the GMAT. Which I have heard is quite difficult. I am giving myself a year to study.
9/2016-8/2017
4. MBA. At this time I will have been a resident in Florida for a year which hopefully qualify me for instate tuition.
I will a lot myself 4 month to finish up Pre-requisite module and 2 year to complete an MBA part-time.
9/2017-1/2020
5. CPA. Once finish with my MBA I will start studying for the CPA license. Which I’ve heard is even harder.
2/2020-12/2021
6. REB. Get Real Estate Brokerage license
Requires me to have a real estate license for 5 year and practice the last 2 year prior to getting the brokerage license.
12/2021-3/2022
| Real Estate Licensing FEE(does not include REALTOR Or BROKERAGE FEE) | |
| Real Estate Class (Audio books, Extras) | 299 |
| Application Fee | 89 |
| Fingerprinting | 60 |
| Practice Test | 20 |
| Test Fee | 32 |
| Post Test Class | 119 |
| Subtotal | 619 |
| GMAT | |
| Book | 144 |
| Test | 250 |
| Subtotal | 394 |
| MBA | |
| Pre-requisite module | 3000 |
| In-state Tuition | 16617.24 |
| Online Class Fee | 1800 |
| Documentation Fee | 100 |
| Subtotal | 21517.24 |
| CPA | |
| Self-Study Review Course | 1300 |
| Apply for 2 section AUD + BEC | 536.60 |
| Apply for 2 section FAR + REG | 536.60 |
| Reapply For REG (Retake Exam) | 271.25 |
| Self-Study ethics exam | 125 |
| Initial CPA certificate application | 165 |
| Subtotal | 2934.45 |
| Real Estate License | 619 |
| GMAT | 394 |
| MBA | 21517.24 |
| CPA | 2934.45 |
| Real Estate Brokerage License | ------ |
| Subtotal | 25464.69 |
So this is my plan thus far. I'm not sure how far I'll be able to get in regards to finishing this list as everything is contingent on a previous task.
How was this written? Any tips and pointers greatly appreciated.
I am looking to move to Tampa, Florida this fall and would greatly appreciate if someone is willing share with me on my career goals, Housing market, and Real Estate Knowledge.
It would be nice to have a Season REI teach this "green" the ways of the world.
Welcome @Julian Le!
don't think i've ever seen such a detailed first post but welcome to BP lol
hi Julian,
Great plan! I am from Tampa, happy to connect you with some RE investors, investment groups, brokers, and just some fun places of interest to live, eat, or visit. Don't forget the sunscreen and best of luck!
Hello Julian!
Great plan, and I see it's pretty well mapped out. I would calculate how much you can live off of what you saved. Not that I am an expert in real estate (yet) but I am very conscious of risks. Moving down and pursuing a career in real estate can be extremely difficult work at first, and income may not even be a fraction of what you anticipated.
However, I am sure you thought of this already seeing you have everything else planned! Good work, and keep on going full steam.
Holy $*#! That was an amazing read with some really great goals.
I am in Illinois as well, and I understand wanting to leave the cold. I spent the last 2 January's in Thailand, and I definitely missed the warm sandy beaches this year.
Since you are already an engineer professionally, why not start on the MBA now?
Then when you make your move to Florida you can concentrate on real estate and not having to study for an additional degree then.
If you get a Florida license now, wont you have annual dues to pay while not making money in real estate?
Don't forget when you want to get someones attention use the @ symbol and start to write their name.
When someone writes something you find helpful give them a vote to show you agree with them or like what they said.
Welcome to BP @Julian Le.
Good luck investing and with your plans!
First of all, love your awesome first post and welcome to BP.
Second, screw your fellow co-workers that's instructing you to slow down. Your ambition is what's going to separate you from them. As one seasoned investor in my community always says... You can't steal in slow motion! I'm also a firm believer of your "achieve as much as I can while I am still able" philosophy.
Here's my two cents on your situation...
While your goals and plans are very sound on the credentials you want to get, perhaps you might want to think more about what you want to accomplish with those credentials. What are your financial goals? What are you trying to build into your empire? What are the components you want to be hands on with? What can you outsource? Who should you be networking with now? Who will you need in your team?
Just coming out of the school may have you stuck in the "study mode". However, plenty of investors would tell you that they don't need an MBA, CPA, RE License to accomplish what they need to do. Don't get me wrong though, I don't mean they're going to hurt you either. In fact, having a great job can be helpful when you go to lenders to get the first few loans toward investing. My point is, there are things you can also be doing right now without those credentials to get your feet wet. If investing is what you set out to do after the 6 year study plan, why not start now? Since there aren't much going on at the investing side yet, I would take that 66K job and try to get your feet wet with real estate while you do the things you set out to accomplish.
Good luck with everything, I'd love to stay connected.
I agree with @Jimmy Chou I would take the bigger paying job and pay down the student loans first. If you are paying down the minimum only you are not really making a dent in it. The interest they are making off you is something you probably don't want to carry with you when you move to Florida because the cost of living is lower here but generally so are the salaries. What happens if we go into a deep recession, (Which is never out of the question) and you lose your job? Getting your financial house in order is important before you start investing.
Other then that very good plan and I wish you the best in all of your endeavors!
@Julian Le that was an amazing first post. It's quite obvious that you have an engineering background! So... for me I think you have EVERYTHING WRONG!!!! I think its an amazing detailed plan, but I think it's the wrong plan. The only way that I can say that with certainty is if I can ask you one question!
1. What is your end goal? Is your end goal to be a real estate investor?
So, if the answer to this question is, YES.... than I think your "road map to life" is way over complicated. You should go straight from X --> Y, to me it sounds like you're going from X ---> A ------> B ------> C ----->D ------> Y. So in my opinion why go to A, B, C, D if your goal is to go to "Y".
Julian, it's obvious that you are a very very intelligent person that is very very driven.... I think you should turn in your resignation Monday morning and begin putting all of this intelligence and ambition into investing right away. I think you can be very successful at it, and you shouldn't wait another day to get started.
Good Luck, but, I don't think that you need it!
@JulianLe it looks like you have your plan! Welcome to BP!
I'm not trying to sway you away from REI, but as someone still getting my feet wet too, be careful of shiny object syndrome. If you haven't already take the time to learn what's involved in being in real estate, because there is a lot of hype around how lucrative it is, but not as much about the blood, sweat, and tears. Just my two cents from another newbie.
#2 New Member Introductions Contributor
- Specialist
- Rockland, MA
- 2,248
- Votes |
- 7,730
- Posts
#2 New Member Introductions Contributor
- Specialist
- Rockland, MA
Welcome. Ambitious plan good luck. Fill in the foundation below.
Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere
Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.
Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice. And you get the benefit of having over 100 past ones to catch up on.
Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info. Here you will meet wholesalers who provide deals and rehabbers (cash buyers). Find them through Google and meetup.com
Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses, The Book on Estimating ReHab Costs http://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook
Consider checking out HUD homes for small multi's owner occupied gets first crack.
You might consider Niche or Specialized Housing like student housing. Rents can be 2-4 times more. Remember you don't have to own a property to control it.
Download BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10. Real Estate Rewind Starting over
Good Luck
Paul
As a former Engineer who retired, got an MBA, and opened a Brokerage... I can relate.
Don't forget to write an "official" business plan, it will help explain your goals after you get to Florida and begin assembling your Rolodex of support infrastructure.
We are a Brokerage of investors and do a large amount of HUD business all across Florida as we all work from home.
We should talk...
John Rogers
awesome thread
Welcome Julie! Two big takeaways for me after reading your post:
1) While having a plan is an important, the greater skill you have in abundance is the ability to think strategically and long term about your future and how one action builds on the other towards a larger goal. You're clearly exceptional at that and that will serve you well in life and your career.
However, as Mike Tyson famously said about the way he destroyed opponent after opponent in the ring- "Everyone has a plan, until they get hit." Once they got thrown off their gameplan, fear, confusion, anger, and panic set in. And that's when Mike would pounce.
Other attributes like tenacity, creativity, the ability to improvise, knowing how to manage and inspire people, being a great communicator, networking, an ability to bounce back after failures and setbacks (and there will be many!), attitude, salesmanship, and a dozen other attributes and skills are, at least I think, much more essential to your long-term success as a REI.
2) You didn't say much about what kind of REI you want to be. What will be your focus? Flipper? Rehabber? Wholesaler? Buy and hold? What kind of properties- single family, multifamily, complexes, etc. do you want to work with? Do you have skills/interest to do rehab work yourself?
THE most important thing is just to start, somehow, in some way in real estate.
Long story short (cliche alert!)-- Experience is the best teacher.
DISCLAIMER: I'm just a newbie, so take everything I say as just one guy's crappy opinion.
Firstly, welcome. You came to the right place!
@Jimmy Chou nailed it pretty well.
I implore you to forget completely about the "how".
I'm going to crush your current strategy, and I apologize in advance.
But what I'm about to tell you is more valuable than any MBA.
Everything you have outlined comes down to one critical thing:
Creating cash flow.
This is the single most important (and also most misunderstood) concept.
Consider your expenses. Moving, house payment, insurance, basic living, and your student loan payment. Add 30% buffer for discretionary spending (fun money).
Let's go wild and consider that $10k month.
That's all that you need to focus on. Creating at least $10k in positive cash flow.
It's unlikely to get that from a J.O.B. (Just Over Broke). You need to create assets that pay you, whether you work or not.
The real estate business (whether as an agent, investor, or any other role in the industry) is one of many paths. You can take more than one, and at the same time. Most millionaires have about 7 streams of income.
Then you can put that energy and drive into different pursuits.
Like getting a pilot's license and flying down to stay at your Caribbean villa, simply because it's Tuesday and you feel like it.
If you haven't read them yet, invest a small amount of time into the books Rich Dad Poor Dad, and the 4 Hour Work Week (specifically the sections on Dreamlining and Muse Business).
Ignore the naysayers, they will never understand.
Welcome Julian. One thought I had after reading your post is did you put a lot of thought into "why" you want to achieve these goals before you went into detailed planning mode? Also, have you talked to experts in these areas to ensure before you get very specific and go long here, that this is the right path that fits your temperament, what are the risks, opportunities and trends in this particular industry / niche? What are you good at doing and what are you not/ what do you like / don't like to do? I can speak for myself that I got a degree in financial planning then found out I absolutely hated sales. I spent too little time talking to anyone in the industry to really understand the key essentials for success.
People spend a lot of time w/details, planning and climbing the ladder and then find out later they are climbing up the wrong tree. You spent no doubt a lot of time getting your education in engineering, you have a decent paying job and now you may be thinking of tossing that out the window because your job currently is not challenging? So, you spent a lot of time going up the wrong tree once or have spent maybe too little time thinking about other companies that could use your skill set and challenge you. This is not unique and many have experienced this, but just stating the fact that you may want to really do more research on the why and not just because you want to move "away" from something more importantly than rather "going to" something for the right reason and the sole reason shouldn't be because I can make more money.
Real estate is a great field and one that you can do on the side while you have a good start to a paying career. You will need that W2 when you apply for loans to purchase investments property. If REI is your passion, go for it, but don't think it has to be a full time (give up my career) thing to have a lot of success. Mine BP, engage, learn and share. Go to local meetups where you end up, meet people in various niches, learn. Wish you the best.
Originally posted by @Rob Hayes:
@Julian Le that was an amazing first post. It's quite obvious that you have an engineering background! So... for me I think you have EVERYTHING WRONG!!!! I think its an amazing detailed plan, but I think it's the wrong plan. The only way that I can say that with certainty is if I can ask you one question!
1. What is your end goal? Is your end goal to be a real estate investor?
So, if the answer to this question is, YES.... than I think your "road map to life" is way over complicated. You should go straight from X --> Y, to me it sounds like you're going from X ---> A ------> B ------> C ----->D ------> Y. So in my opinion why go to A, B, C, D if your goal is to go to "Y".
Julian, it's obvious that you are a very very intelligent person that is very very driven.... I think you should turn in your resignation Monday morning and begin putting all of this intelligence and ambition into investing right away. I think you can be very successful at it, and you shouldn't wait another day to get started.
Good Luck, but, I don't think that you need it!
I agree with Rob. You are very intelligent and that is causing you to over complicate this whole investing thing. I think instead of trying to get all these titles and degrees you should focus on changing your mindset. You are looking at all this though the eyes of an employee, in that world titles and degrees are king. I have degrees myself and I wish I would have learned about investing and business first. I owe student loans for degrees that I barely used. I knew I was an entrepreneur but I didn't listen to my inner voice and learned more in trenches of business that in all my years of former education combined. I would start by reading the most basic book everyone should read in interested in investing: "Rich Dad Poor Dad", followed by "Why A Students Work for C Students: And B Students Work for the Government". Those two books will teach you more than any degrees ever will. I guarantee you would look at the world in different eyes. After those I would start digging into some investing specific books, podcast, groups. Good Luck
Welcome @Julian Le and good luck.
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.
I’ve planned on buying a duplex and using the rental income to minimize my living expenses. After the purchase of the duplex I should have enough money to last me 6 months without a job or tenant. I’m only paying a down payment of 20% of course.
The idea of moving to Florida early on was to get experience in the real estate market and qualifying for in state tuition for USFSP which is ranked at 22nd MBA online program.
I want to get a jump start on invest and learn more about the field and do not want to wait any longer than I have to in fear of eventually becoming complacent.
I don't think I will have to pay any dues while possessing a license. I however will need to pay the dues when I join the NAR and activate my licenses by working under a broker, which then fees are due to him.
The idea of going back to attain Degrees and Certification was to verify to myself that I am qualified for any position and finishing my educational experience. From some investor I have talked to they've seem to have wanted to go back to school but other obligation took precedence. More than anything these degrees and licenses are for myself. If I were to make it one day I could see myself yearning for those academic goal. If I were on a regular engineer career course I would have followed this pattern. I feel getting these qualification can open doors for me and help me network. I understand that this is a roundabout way to start REI and that investing well is governed by experience.
So, my student loan is my oldest credit line and I was under the impression that I should keep that open as long as possible. The length of credit history affects credit score. I choose to not pay off these loans because they can be deferred if I plan on continuing education.
Thanks for your vote of confidences. But I am currently working to makes sure I have enough back up cash so I can maintain my living expenses if I dare to choose the real estate profession route.
Thanks for your input. I do realize that and I’m hoping to be challenge and I don’t plan on waiting for hand-out. Unless someone is willing to offer. ;)
Thanks for the recommendation and tips. I will definitely review all of them.
Oh wow it’s nice to see someone who’s already where I am trying to get. Thanks for the tip.
Yes, I would love too.
Yes, I have thought about this quite a bit and that why I decide I would love to do real estate. It covers every aspect of work. I could do hands on work and fix up house myself or I could hire someone if I please. I could just design and decorate. I can do research and analysis the market while doing cost analysis on repairs. I can follow lead and “wheel and deal” with the best of them.
I would like to rent out multifamily units and complexes while doing flips to acquire funds.
“THE most important thing is just to start, somehow, in some way in real estate.
Long story short (cliche alert!)-- Experience is the best teacher. “
I have the same idea that why I want to start as soon as possible. I’m just trying to get my duck in a row first.
Yes I have thought about that. My friend and I are starting up a small business which should not be too troublesome. We don’t expect much revenue from it but it more of an opportunity to learn.
I have also thought about getting a duplex to start off with. I planned on doing many other things like flipping and so on.
Thanks for advice and tips.
Thanks for the recommendation. And yes I know that I don’t need these title or degree they are more or less for me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think I will pursue a job in either Financing or Engineering as a primary source of income and do real estate on the side. I am currently revising my resume and will try to get them out soon.
Thanks everyone for the encouragement, tips and information.
If you do go for an MBA while working, find an employer with tuition reimbursement that requires you to stay for the least amount of time without having to pay them back for the degree. This should not be your only decision in choosing an employer, but can save you money to use for investments, etc.
