Seeking Advice on REI

[N/A N/A]

Hello everyone my name is Will and I would like to say that I really like this forum and thank you for helping people who are just starting out or are thinking about starting like me.

Well, not long ago I was in a dilemma between taking Animation or Real Estate, well that is no more for I have decided to go for REI, I am a full-time legal clerk I work for my parents managing their immigration business here in LA despite the love* I get from older employees/co-workers I manage and everything is under control.

Now what I was wondering is how can you get started in REI since I work full-time and I can't leave my job cause if I do there will be no one to watch out for the business, thing is I want to see how much you would need to start investing after learning the process that is, if say I had $5,000 or even $10,000 in hard cash which I know is not much, but is there any way and I mean any way one could start investing with that kind of money off the bat?

Also what do you guys think about this one person I know he is 54 he is a client of ours and he is a contractor, he says he wouldn’t mind teaching me even more he encourages me to get into it, by taking me to his work place and start teaching me what a house needs how to find it etc. though I really like the idea of learning from him I was wondering what you guys think?

Thanks for any suggestions and happy new year!
And by the way I am 23 years old and live in Northridge CA