Should I get another temporary high paying job before investing?

[Dan D.]

Hey guys,

I have a problem I hope you can help me with.

Currently, I am working a job I am speculating will end some time in the next month or so (maybe sooner but who knows). I am making $42/hr with no benefits (being taught pipefitting for the union, but God this job sucks). This job, though admittedly pays well ($5200/mo after taxes), does not help me towards my goals of learning about house flipping/BRRRR.

Once this job ends, I might have an opportunity to go back to California (that's where I'm from) and work another dead end job (doing the same thing) for $55/hr for another couple of months, but unsure if it'll pan out.

Currently I am studying all I can to educate myself to (hopefully soon) purchase my first investment.

Hypothetically, if I were to take a job in RE (property management for example), my estimated hourly rate would be $15/hr., which would equal approximately $1800/mo working full time. In order to make ends meet, I would have to flip a house and have at least $15,000 profit every 4 months.

So, the question is, should I more so consider working in the RE field (i.e. property management team, working in a bank, etc) or just do these temp jobs to build a little more capital before beginning?

[Matt K.]

How many deals have you lost out on because you were just to busy doing your pipefitter job? Probably, 0. You're going to have a much easier time being able to actually follow through with this goal if you have a source of income.....

Go find a job in area (midwest for example) that has low cost to buy houses, then buy one and do a live in flip. Do not move back to CA for 13/hr more and expect that you'd be able to flip a house....

Once you get a track record, prove that you know what you're doing and can actually do it, and show investors you can pay them back, then you can quit.