HELP! Young potential Protege looking for an Honest Mentor (local/online) in the Chicago-land suburbs, REI Club suggestions and ADVICE please

[Joe Ward]

Hi guys I just made my first post below and again am very excited about becoming a member of your group and getting help from you guys until one day when I can return the favor to others.

First off I am 28 yrs old and own my own General Contracting Business that is doing well in Bartlett, Illinois. I am very motivated about becoming a successful real estate investor with the profit from my construction company. I have read a few books and just finished
the 3 day Rich Dad Education Real Estate seminar. I did learn some stuff from the seminar but felt it was more of a sly sales pitch and decided against spending the $40 thousand dollars to go through their advanced training and Mentor system. Don't get me wrong, I do feel it would have been beneficial in teaching me and others what we need to know in depth, and the mentor would have probably been a big help with starting me out on the right path, but not for $40,000 when there are people like you guys and forums like this.

Right now I have been focusing on 3-flat units that are primarily Short Sales. My 1st goal at this point is to purchase a fully rented 3-flat for under FMV that has a positive cash from of around $750-$1000 a month (this is what I calculated cashflow-wise on the 2 properties I am planning to make offers on). For this investment I plan to hold on to it for 5 years give or take making a nice monthly cash flow and betting on the value to go back up. (they were worth $200k or so more back in say 2006).
But I am also interested in learning more about; Wholesale buying, much more in depth about Short Sales/Foreclosures/REO's, Lease options, Creative Financing Ideas, Commercial, Mobile homes/Park investments, and Asset protection and Tax Relief (which I'm sure my lawyer will help me with as well when I meet him this week in setting up a LLC/trust) but tips from Seasoned vets are just as valuable if not more to me.

I know a little bit about all of this stuff and will continue reading and doing what I can, but would love some recomendations on:
* local REI Clubs where I can learn and meet people.
* Get recommendations for training classes that teach these types of investments that are not ridiculously expensive and scammish feeling.
* Meet someone or multiple vets here at bigger pockets that will help me with questions.
* And most importantly I would love to work with a Seasoned Successful Real Estate Investor who has been in the game for many years and would be interested in having a young motivated protege to help build into a successful Real Estate Investor. I know it would mainly have to be someone who just wants to give back to the world for good karma and to feel good about helping out someone out. And maybe enjoy watching your young protege grow into a successful investor because you were a generous enough person to help start him out in the right direction. Then maybe even have a Investment partner in the near future. I also wouldn't expect not to give something as well in this relationship, from helping out the Mentor in doing things for their own investement business and helping them do their own analyzing and due diligence to even some sort of payment to you from me for your help and time wouldn't be out of the question either..

Thank you to all of you in advance for any help you can give me from just answering my questions here and in the future, giving me recommendations for other things, and someone who would truly like to help me start my journey by being my online or local mentor.

Sincerely...Joe Ward

[Michael Rossi]

Joe,

You said that you are a successful General Contractor. I'm wondering if you paid a mentor to help you learn that business? If not, why not?

The dirty little secret about the real estate investing business is that it's one of the many get-rich-quick schemes (along with MLM, stock trading, currency trading, etc). As such, you have a bunch of self-described "gurus" that pretend to have the "SECRET" to success in this business. The truth is THERE IS NO SECRET!!! None! Nada! Zilch!

Real estate investing is a VERY SIMPLE BUSINESS! Just like contracting or any other business, it does require a lot of work to build a successful business, but it is simple. If you can run a successful General Contracting business, you can certainly run a successful real estate investing business.

My suggestion is to start by reading everything you can on this forum - starting with the 50% Rule (see the sticky threads in the General and in the Landlording forums). Then, join your local REIA and make friends with the SUCCESSFUL investors in your area. Making friends with these people is the key!!! You won't have to pay a single penny to a "mentor" and you'll get excellent advice from local investors.

There's a saying from one of the wisest investors on this site (Jeff):

Those that can - DO!
Those that can't - GURU!

Good Luck,

Mike