What mentors are looking for?

Question

Hi, I'm moving my question from another thread because it really belongs here.

I'm new to REI but have some cash to work with and want to learn the business. I made a contact with a local pre-foreclosure wholesale investor in CA who has more business that he can handle and is willing to take an apprentice. Can someone please tell me what mentors are typically looking for to make it worthwhile for them?

Rob Gillespie · Answer

that is a great question, is going to be different from person-to-person. Personally, the people that I mentor just need to bring something to the table. Either they will pay me for my time up front, or bring deals to the table that we can split profits on. I know it sounds clichÃ©, but it has to be a win-win situation for all parties involved or it just won't work.

With that said, I consider mentoring a very time-consuming process with anybody you are trying to teach. This is why the mentor needs to be compensated. Now on the other hand, just giving somebody a few minutes the device to help them to a deal for free is a far cry from mentoring. There are many folks on the bigger pockets website, myself included, that are more than willing to look over deals via e-mail or talk about them on the phone to help a newbie get a good start.(free of charge!)you can also post the deal on forums here on bigger pockets, and get many perspectives from experienced investors.I wish there was a site like this when I got started 15 years ago, it would've saved me a lot of headaches and even more money! LOL

Whomever you choose, I would absolutely want to speak with someone that they had previously mentored before paying a hefty fee upfront. Best of luck to you my friend, just work hard, take massive action, and I am sure you will be a huge success!

Vikram C. · Answer

Sophia, wholesaling is a very tough business and pretty much every wholesaler I know is a failure in business.  Most of them quit after a while because (a) they cannot find buyers, (b) they cannot find properties or (c) they cannot find the right margins.  It appears as if your mentor candidate has a couple of these problems.  As long as you do not invest your cash in it, there is no harm in giving it a shot.  Most likely, it will not work out but you will at least learn something from the experience.

I prefer the idea that someone had mentioned in your other thread - making hard money loans.  It has its own learning curve, but it is easier for a new person to figure out who is worth lending to than to figure out how to run the underlying business.

Robert Pickett · Answer

I Learned 10 Fold More From BP Then Any MENTOR :D ... I'm Not Saying That All Mentors Are Not GOOD... Educate Yourself, Ask Good Questions And Take Action... You Will Be Running With The Ball Before You Know It... The Secret To BP Is Use The SEARCH BAR, almost Any Question You Can Think Of HAS Already BEEN ASKED and ANSWERED.... When You Take Action You Will Find Your MENTOR... I Have About 5 Seasoned Wholesalers, I Can Call Anytime and Ask Them Any Question I Don't KNOW For FREE :help:... When I First Started I Thought I Needed A Mentor, Until I Heard A Podcast By Peter Giardini About How He Fired His MENTOR... That's When The Light Bulb Went Off  :idea: ... One Thing I Did LEARN From A So Call MENTOR... WAS WHAT NOT TO DO...YES, I FIRED Him  :cry: ... BTW Thanks Peter, For That AHA Moment  :lol:

Chris Martin · Answer

As I am sure you know, this is a tough business to be in. I buy foreclosures at the courthouse and have, on and off, tried dealing with owners of property in 'pre-foreclosure', meaning contacting them before the sale. As counter intuitive as it may seem, these owners are almost always unapproachable and almost always a very difficult client. Those that aren't have unrealistic expectations for their property valuations. And if you are really going to wholesale these properties, you'll need property with good equity and, yes, someone is going to crawl under buildings at some point.

If I were you, I'd do some checking into how well this local pre-foreclosure wholesale investor is doing. Track records, etc. I'm in somewhat the same position as you, in that I have SDIRA funds that I would lend in the right scenario. Sometimes people inflate their success... (see http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/268/topics/59117-need-3-cash-investors-in-wake-county for an example) and occasionally you find out that a person who sounds like a potential borrower has a long history of defaults and foreclosures under an assumed name or another entity. I'd find out what "has more business that he can handle" means. To me that means there will be some trails (possibly courthouse records, etc.) to document his success. Example: Last week I wholesaled property X in pre-foreclosure with courthouse record file 09SP3232... and here are the closing documents... and here is the property card for parcel 176-05-232-47... He should have all this readily available, since he needs it for tax purposes (or his accountant) anyway. I know I do... for banks, the accountant firm, my managing partners, and for future funding (debt) partners.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Sounded to me like he was hiring someone, not that you were hiring a "mentor". Saying if he had more money he could sell on line sounds to me like he's not that big of a hitter! Sounds like he needs you more than you need him. Don't sell yourself short, RE is not rocket science!

Rachel H. · Answer

In most cases, I find the mentor/mentee relationship works best when it's a win/win situation that helps to benefit both parties. It's also important that both the mentor and mentee can work together personality wise. Hope that helps!  :D

Chris Martin · Answer

I'm glad he seems to be doing well. I'm sure you will too.

Sophia Maler · Answer

My contact seems to be doing well - he has a lot of buyers contacting him for contracts, and he needs either

1) Get extra help finding more deals to satisfy the demand OR
2) Make more on each deal he finds by reaching out to a larger buyers community via online auctions, etc.

Since I have more experience in online sales/marketing I could probably help him more in targeting buyers rather then sellers. I'm not suspecting he is after my cash because we never discussed money, just extra help he needs.

Sophia Maler · Answer

The latter.

Chris Martin · Answer

You say "pre-foreclosure wholesaling". So is the local investor you talk about assigning the winning bids from trustee sales? Or is he focused on contacting property owners in default and trying to wholesale those properties before the trustee sale?

What mentors are looking for?

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