My journey to becoming a Realestate investor at 18

[Kevin O'Brien]

Hello all, 

For the past 9 months, I have been working my butt off to purchase my first rental property. The first deal I tried buying was a townhouse in Indianapolis for 120K the property was a short sale and needed to be repainted and spruced up. Approx ~ $3,000 in improvements. The property would have rented for $1500 a month. I offered list price with 20% down and to do the deal through the selling agent because I felt I was buying the property significantly under market (I valued it at $220,000 if completely rehabbed) and my mother hadn't been able to transfer her license to Indiana by then. Long story short 3-month later the bank refused the short sale and told me I would need to pay $165K because they received an appraisal for $165K. I cancelled after going through the entire mortgage process and being approved. 

Property #2 - The next deal I agreed to was for the purchase of 2 houses with 2 additional lots and a four-car garage for $138K with the same 20% down. I estimated the properties to rent for a total of $2250 a month. The property was listed as residential and according to the seller was owned with an FHA residential loan. Fast forward 2 weeks to my bank calling me to tell me that the property was in fact zoned as commercial and that I would need a different loan along with 25% down and several thousand in appraisal fees. This was obviously not going to work for me so I canceled the deal.

Property #3 - As cookie cutter as possible. At this point, I decided I was going to find the most boring property possible that still met my cash flow requirements of 1.5% a month. This property is located in Northwest Indiana about 30 minutes away from Chicago. We settled on $72,000 ($8,000 under list) with a 20% downpayment and the deal through selling agent. I estimate the property to need $3,000 in cosmetic work which I will do myself (LVP, Painting, Bathtub shower stall) and will rent for $1275 a month. Last week while looking through listings I realized that the market was hot with entering into spring and I now plan on flipping the property and putting in more work to do a new kitchen. I estimate it to sell for around a $25,000 profit. We are set to close in 2 weeks.

This property will cost approximately half of my savings for the downpayment and work. My plan is to use this profit along with the leftover savings to purchase a larger apartment building in the $400,000 to $500,000 range. I hope to buy an 8 to 12 unit building in the midwest in an area like Kansas City, Indy, Cincinnati, or wherever else a worthwhile deal presents itself that will make me around $3,000 to $4,000 a month.

This will be my career I have known that since I was 7 while going to the project sites that my parents run and hearing everything from the good to the bad (I will never forget going through 2009-2012 and the sacrifices my parents made). I am bored at college and don't feel challenged. Part of me really wants to drop out and find a job that I can do to help add to my savings ability to put back into real estate (even if it's a $12 or $15 an hour gig). I am enrolled in a 4-year college for construction management and see the value to this but also know I can work my butt off for the next 7 years and be very financially secure. At the same time, this is an incredibly difficult decision and one my parents would rather I not make. I do not know of anyone in this situation which is really hard for me because there isn't anyone I can really ask about my situation and I routinely get the "college is the best time of your life, stick with it" responses. I am introverted and while I do force social interaction through joining a fraternity and clubs the whole college partying, chill life isn't really my style nor do I find most classes more interesting than doing RE research. I'm used to working 40+ hours a week through various other business I've started and have never felt more unporductive in my life. My questions are:

For those of you with construction experience. Would switching to an associates degree at a community college that's close to home (allowing me to be a bum a little longer) while still receiving a construction management degree make sense?

How can I get more involved with other investors and build some sweat equity for deals? I do not want to wholesale. (But I would be open to just about anything else)

Anyone looking for the hardest working 18-year-old in the NWI or Chicago area to work for you and make YOU money?

Sorry for this being a rant but I felt this was the best way to provide a glimpse into my situation. I will greatly appreciate any advice offered. Thanks.