How do I find a mentor?

[Brande Gilbert]

How do I find a mentor? I live fairly close to Philadelphia and have been searching for events in that area to attend. I haven’t found anything yet. I’m a beginner and while I save money I’m trying to learn all that I can. I’m reading books and listening to podcasts but I learn best by doing and seeing.

It would be awesome if I can find someone who I can shadow for a day from time to time to see what they do when they go to look at properties, run numbers, etc. Where can I look to find a mentor or a group of investors willing to help in my area?

[Shiloh Lundahl]

Meetup.com is a great place to look for groups of people who meet to talk about real estate investing. Also, clicking the network tab at the top of this page will bring up a picture of the country with BP meetups happening all over. Then you search your area for one near you.

Those are some ways to be around people who are actively involved in real estate. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you will find someone at one of those meetings who is going to volunteer or accept the request to be your mentor. Going to meetings often, offering to take out other investors to lunch, and establishing relationships is a great way to start the process of finding a mentor. 

It honestly may take a few years to really find a good mentor. But along the way you can make a lot of friends and you can learn from a lot of different people several different ways to invest in real estate.

Over time, with associating with other investors, you may start to look up to some as mentors without them ever knowing that they are your mentor. There is no ritual or ceremony to begin an organic mentorship, it really just happens naturally over time as you associate with the right people, the people who are actively doing what you would like to do.