Real estate investing at a young age? Seeking advice

[Rachel Ewald]

Hello all! I'm a young adult (just turned 20) and college student entering my last year of college this fall. I have considered for several years the importance of general investing, but recently have become increasingly interested in real estate investing. As a current college student, I obviously have little cash available to me at this time but have been dedicating my free time to reading and listening to podcasts on the topic in order to educate myself. I live in the NE Ohio area about an hour south of Cleveland, but also spend a great deal of time in NW Ohio for college. My parents both were entrepreneurs and also were both tenants and landlords in life, but I wouldn't call them real estate investors. Essentially I am looking for some guidance. I have no structured means to learn about this business, and currently reading forums such as this, watching videos, and listening to podcasts are my means of learning. I am motivated to get started as soon as I can and more than willing and able to put in whatever work needed, but am struggling with conceiving how I can start. I know many people recommend finding a mentor, but I am not even sure how to find someone near me that might be willing to advise me. Simply put, I am more than eager to learn as much as I can and begin moving forward with this, but am not quite sure how. Any advice, tips, or input otherwise would be greatly appreciated. 

[James Wise]

Originally posted by @Rachel Ewald:

Hello all! I'm a young adult (just turned 20) and college student entering my last year of college this fall. I have considered for several years the importance of general investing, but recently have become increasingly interested in real estate investing. As a current college student, I obviously have little cash available to me at this time but have been dedicating my free time to reading and listening to podcasts on the topic in order to educate myself. I live in the NE Ohio area about an hour south of Cleveland, but also spend a great deal of time in NW Ohio for college. My parents both were entrepreneurs and also were both tenants and landlords in life, but I wouldn't call them real estate investors. Essentially I am looking for some guidance. I have no structured means to learn about this business, and currently reading forums such as this, watching videos, and listening to podcasts are my means of learning. I am motivated to get started as soon as I can and more than willing and able to put in whatever work needed, but am struggling with conceiving how I can start. I know many people recommend finding a mentor, but I am not even sure how to find someone near me that might be willing to advise me. Simply put, I am more than eager to learn as much as I can and begin moving forward with this, but am not quite sure how. Any advice, tips, or input otherwise would be greatly appreciated. 

 Welcome to the site Rachel.

1st thing you need to do is save up some capital to work with. You can do that by working 2 or 3 jobs. If you want those jobs to have real estate experience I recommend working as an agent. Once you have enough cash saved up the 1st move i'd make would be to house hack a 2-4 unit building. Rinse & repeat.