Getting My Foot in the Door

[Matthew Hartzel]

Hey everyone. I'm currently studying Econ at UCLA, but will be graduating in about a year. I wanted to reach out to the BP community and see what some of you did while in college (or just simply prior to investing) that helped get you prepared for your plunge into real estate. I'm thinking something more hands on than just reading book after book and browsing the forums. I'm not looking for a substitute to reading/researching (I love reading real estate related books), but something to supplement it, like a part-time job or something similar. I'm really enjoying the learning process, but at the same time I feel unsatiated by the fact that I'm not able to apply anything I've learned since I'm not currently able to begin investing.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

On a side note, I did inherit a property that my sisters and I are renting out. I was younger and not interested in real estate when I inherited the property, so my older sister handled everything. She hired the PM company, and has basically been hands off with the property since. She doesn't know the details or numbers behind the whole situation and has been difficult to get information from, so I've been pretty much left in the dark regarding that property. I'm doing my best to get involved with this property, but it's been a very slow and difficult process. Being that my sister is ten years older than me, she's got the older sibling complex engraved within her and has been reluctant to let me get too involved. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can start making small steps to work my way into a decision making position?