Starting Out
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback
Updated about 3 years ago, 09/13/2021
Thoughts on college?
As a young and eager investor I consider myself very blessed and fortunate to be where I am and have the people around me that I do. I currently live in San Antonio, but just finished my first year of College up in Utah. I have a mentor who has found tremendous success from flipping,renting and investing down here. My goal is to soak up as much information, from him and other sources, as possible before I start investing on my own. He has not only offered me a job to help me truly understand how things work in this field but has even offered to help finance my first investment when that time comes. This individual did not attend college because it didn’t really fit him and fortunately, like I mentioned, he has found a lot of success and wealth. Currently my plans are still to attend and finish up College, hopefully getting a degree in the field of real estate. I wish to make a full time living out of flipping and investing. The issue is I can’t help but wonder if college is really the “right” path. I have done a lot of thinking about the pros and the cons of both paths. The main pro of finishing College would be the coveted degree I could attain that would hopefully provide a safety net incase disaster struck, however, college is expensive and many will get a degree only to realize it isn’t doing them much good. I think the biggest Pros of not finishing college currently are the time and freedom I have (no obligations to family or spouse) along with the resources I have available, the biggest con is obviously the lack of a backup plan.
Sorry for the lengthy backstory but I am curious to hear from you guys about the paths you took and what you would recommend! Did you attend college? If so, were you happy that you did? If you didn’t, do you wish you would have? Thanks so much!
First and foremost I’d just like to say wow and thank you all! I’m completely blown away by the willingness of all of you who have taken time to throw in your opinions and thoughts! It’s nice to have this type of community!
There are truly a lot of great insights and thoughts on here that I hadn’t thought about. It’s cool to be able to hear all these different angles from so many different backgrounds and paths taken! It’s exactly what I was looking for! Even though I haven’t decided exactly what to do I think one of my biggest take aways from this thread is showing me that there is no ONE way of doing anything. Whether you spent an extra decade in higher education or never even finished high school, you can be successful (however you want to define it) as long as you work hard, are humble and make good connections with people.
I have enjoyed what all of you have had to say but @Dave Foster I like specifically what you mentioned about combining a certain number of aspects as to customize my “path” for myself... on an unrelated note, if you need a prosthetic I just happen to know a guy 😉
Again thank you all for all the useful information and I look forward to continue hearing from you guys!
From someone younger who didn't waste money on college,
for me not going was the way to go. Learned a highly skilled trade. Had and still have zero debts in every aspect. I own everything I have. I work for a decent company. Here's the coolest part there's such a shortage of plumbers & HVAC workers I could quit my job tonight and find a new better paying job tomorrow very easily for the foreseeable future. I'd like to see anyone pushing paper at a fortune 200 company do that. Funny part is I get the same and sometimes even better benefits than some of these enlightened college students.
There's a bad stigma that if you don't go to college you're a loser. Sometimes people talk bad about you if you didn't go to college.
End of the day you don't need a degree to be successful.
#3 Managing Your Property Contributor
I would not do a degree in real estate. If you want to do a degree, do it in something that will give you a fall back career and help you ...eg accounting.
If you want to take a year or two off and try working for him. You can always go back to college and complete your degree. In many countries, students take a year off (a gap year) between high school and university. It gives them a chance to see the world, work, etc and determine if that is what they really want to do. I think it is a great idea. And yes I went to university and grad school. I've seen too many students who would be better off not going to school.
@Allan Foote
I graduated with a 4 yr degree in business. I don’t recommend college outside of having scientific ambitions.
Information flows much easier than money. Avoid the debt and time suck.
I believe in the college degree; but it has to be a marketable degree like accounting, engineering, any IT field etc. the more specialized the better. Also work in construction to pay for college ( no student loans) and you will get the experience to flip or brrr homes.
I work full time and invest or flip when the opportunity comes up. In my area it would be hard to do flips full time as there are not enough inventory especially in today’s market. Use your w2 income savings to invest and flip and build wealth.
Originally posted by @Tanner Marsey:
@Syed H.
Did you just give yourself a 25k raise between posts...?
There are RE agents out there making 200k + a year right now with 1,000 dollars invested and a few weeks of online schooling. The amount of money you make in 90% of fields does not correlate to the degree you have.
The fortune 200 company mentioned.... probably missing out on very qualified, experienced candidates that will go work elsewhere. In the years to come they will realize this and change their requirements.
The market becomes more and more entrepreneurial every day. Your low level bachelor degrees will become meaningless.... just like your HS diploma. Doctors, lawyers, dentists and other career fields that REQUIRE a large degree of higher education will still go to college. People are opening their eyes to the fact that the time and money invested doesn’t warrant the benefits.
No the first post I said base salary. The 2nd I said total comp. In reality total comp is actually much higher but not always reliable (cyclical).
I'm not comparing myself to RE Agents, or in reality the top 1% of RE agents. The median income of RE agents is like $40,000. Most do not become mid six figure earners. You see the outliers because they are the most active. The median income as a RE Professionals (Think people working at JLL, C&W, CBRE doing AM, PM, RFPs, etc etc) are making $100k+. I never told the OP to do any random major. I said to do one that would help him in his career & that will get him paid.
& yes the market has technically become more entrepreneurial, but has it? The big 5 tech companies don't really hire that many people with no BS, unless you are a proven coding genius. Many startups require some kind of schooling. But yes I do agree coding schools might end up replacing BS degrees for certain industries.
Originally posted by @George W.:
From someone younger who didn't waste money on college,
for me not going was the way to go. Learned a highly skilled trade. Had and still have zero debts in every aspect. I own everything I have. I work for a decent company. Here's the coolest part there's such a shortage of plumbers & HVAC workers I could quit my job tonight and find a new better paying job tomorrow very easily for the foreseeable future. I'd like to see anyone pushing paper at a fortune 200 company do that. Funny part is I get the same and sometimes even better benefits than some of these enlightened college students.
There's a bad stigma that if you don't go to college you're a loser. Sometimes people talk bad about you if you didn't go to college.
End of the day you don't need a degree to be successful.
Totally agree with this IF you truly want to pursue this. More people need to be going to technical schools and learned a skilled trade. It's hard to pick a trade tho right out of HS and expect to love it.
Originally posted by @Theresa Harris:
I would not do a degree in real estate.
Why not?
There are many more paths in RE than most people realize here. There's not only RE agents, wholesalers, flippers, and contractors. Most people in CRE, REI firms, Development shops, Construction shops, Private Equity firms, banks etc have degrees in either RE or Business.
Originally posted by @Syed H.:
Originally posted by @George W.:
From someone younger who didn't waste money on college,
for me not going was the way to go. Learned a highly skilled trade. Had and still have zero debts in every aspect. I own everything I have. I work for a decent company. Here's the coolest part there's such a shortage of plumbers & HVAC workers I could quit my job tonight and find a new better paying job tomorrow very easily for the foreseeable future. I'd like to see anyone pushing paper at a fortune 200 company do that. Funny part is I get the same and sometimes even better benefits than some of these enlightened college students.
There's a bad stigma that if you don't go to college you're a loser. Sometimes people talk bad about you if you didn't go to college.
End of the day you don't need a degree to be successful.
Totally agree with this IF you truly want to pursue this. More people need to be going to technical schools and learned a skilled trade. It's hard to pick a trade tho right out of HS and expect to love it.
Yeah you do have to go to technical school during your apprenticeship. My work paid for it but Here's the thing too it was only $700/year and I only had to go 2 nights a week for 4 years. So even if your work doesn't pay it was still cheap. Lincoln tech or trade school like that costs much more but you can learn anything they'll teach you on the job working under someone who's licensed.
That being said, even if you end up not liking the job out of high school. your not in massive debt from college. you learn a lot about working with their hands.
I know of someone in trades who went to college for accounting. Went pretty much the full four years. At the end realized that he couldn't stand it and dropped out. It all comes down to what brings you Joy
#2 Off Topic Contributor
- Real Estate Investor
- the villages, FL
I moved to heaven (The Villages, Florida) a few years ago to basically retire. There are over 3000 clubs and organizations – one for every interest you could possibly have! I was regularly playing softball (240 teams with try-outs required), pickle ball, and golf. I didn't spend much time posting on bigger pockets or even paying attention to it. After having a stroke, I started having dizziness and that made it difficult to go down for a ground ball or a low return in pickle ball. I find I have more time now to check various websites and travel. It is always interesting to see the new group of posters on bigger pockets – many who think they already know everything but have yet to do anything! I still have trouble managing all the changes on the website. I will never be a big techie.
Do you really live in South Dakota or are you a fake resident? I was a fake South Dakota resident for 10 years. My wife and I were full time RVers and could claim domicile anywhere we wanted. South Dakota loves RVers and only requires one night residency (Hotel) every five years when it is time to renew your driver's license. I just needed to take them the hotel receipt and I was South Dakotan for an additional five years. No state income tax, cheap auto and medical insurance and other benefits.
Other than slowing down, I guess I'm doing fine for middle age! We just returned from our 56th cruise up the coast of Norway on what they call the mail boat. It was fantastic and did 66 ports in 12 days. The winter excursions I took were truly one-of-a-kind.
Good luck always.
Rich Weese
@Allan Foote
It helps some and it fails for others. I was on the failing end of the coin. I dropped out a semester before I graduated to start a Real Estate business.
Whether you go to college or not, you need to come out the gate hustling faster than your peers. A degree is good but experience is better IMO.
@Rich Weese it is interesting to watch BP change. I am an actual resident, but I know some RVers who just claim residence for the benefits. Great to hear you are still traveling and exploring. I forget, were you ever on the podcast? Your story is impressive for sure.
#2 Off Topic Contributor
- Real Estate Investor
- the villages, FL
I spoke at the convention in Denver but I don't think they had podcasts way back in the dark ages.
A lot of talk about STEM, learning a trade, MBAs, and the like, but what about a good ole liberal arts degree?
I'm dismayed by the general deemphasis on the humanities.
Conventional thinking has evolved regarding folks paying through the nose for pedigree and miring themselves in debt as they begin adulthood. Rightly so. Pedigree and the cost to attain it is increasingly a bad idea for most folks.
However, we should be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak. Who'll be left amongst us to put all of our great economic and scientific advances into a proper historical context? Google won't help us. Food for thought.
Hey Allan. You sound like a sharp young man with quite a bit of natural intuition and entrepreneurial spirit who is not afraid to work. Honestly, a rare find these days.
I received my B.S. degree in four years from an excellent University in 1986. Did the fraternity thing and had a great time. Was hired my senior year by a large financial services corp based in NY. I started my first house hack a year out of school and continued to buy, rent and sell single family homes while working my career. Then shifted gears into high tech in late 90's. I retired at 51 debt free and now have more time to focus on REI and now my wife and I are Dave Ramsey Preferred Financial Coaches. All 16 rental properties are paid for, which is key to true wealth building and peace of mind. Point is, I was fortunate enough to have my college education paid for by my parents.
I did very well in my careers selling Financial Services and Software, but where I really built my wealth was with SF rental properties. In hind site, working on my degree in college was a great time but certainly has had little effect in my wealth building, As a Ramsey Coach, I work with people young and old every week that are buried in Student Loans. I provide hope and a road map to get their finances in order and start building a path towards retirement, but quite honestly, because of the student loans, many will never be debt free.
So, my point is, if you can get your degree without any debt, go for it. But if getting your degree means starting out with student loans, then bag the Utah winters and start building wealth. As I said, you seem like a bright young man and you are paired up with a good mentor. Build a solid plan, then work it and you could be financially independent by 35.
Feel free to reach out directly.
-Dan
I've been out of college for three years now and my two cents on the matter are:
-having a college degree is a basic qualification for a lot of jobs. my wife doesn't have a degree and has found it very difficult to get started into a good job because even the most basic of jobs want people to have a bachelors degree. if you have the money to go, it can open a lot of doors. you may appreciate this more further down the line. for a long time i debated college, but ended up going. I spent two years in CC and transferred to a 4 year to save money. at this point I am happy I went because I have more opportunities and choices now.
-while you're in college you need to network, network, network and with the right people. if you want to have success in life then you need to surround yourself with likeminded people. network with people who want to achieve something in their lives, collaborate on projects with people. going out and binge drinking with the losers isn't networking. i have people i know that think they are networking by going out to the club every weekend, except all the people they meet are losers who aren't going anywhere. I worked my way through college and graduated debt free and with money in savings, however looking back I realize that I missed out on a lot by keeping myself too busy and too isolated. as a result i don't have any close friends from college. the result of this for me has been that i have seen friends who did network in college who used those connections to land good jobs after college.
-college degrees are a dime a dozen these days and will not save you. when my parents and aunts and uncles graduated school in the 70's, a college degree in anything pretty much guaranteed them a good job. for our generation thats not the case.
-student loans are a racket. if you can afford to go with minimal debt then it may be a good investment for you. if you have to take out a lot of loans i would suggest get a degree in something that translates into a good job, something like accounting, hard sciences, that way you will have a good shot of being able to pay off said loans soon after graduation
Considering your position with your mentor. I might suggest spending 2-3 years working with that person and seeing how it goes. You can always go to college a few years down the road if the REI thing doesn't pan out like you think. If you are 19 now, work REI for 3 years and you'll be 22, finish your last three years and you'll be 25, not too bad. I took a gap year to work and save after high school, spent 3 years in CC and two years at university and graduated at 24, two years behind my HS class that went straight through
I am 56 years old (tomorrow) and I am a college student, I work a night job 40 hours a week and spend a minimum of 20 hours a week in real estate. I do my college online and it pretty much takes up my whole weekend. I always tell young kids if you are not going to run your own business, go to college. However, if your idea of a business is a vape shop, sandwich shop, barber shop, etc, go to college.
I do agree that degrees are not what they use to be, however, 20 years ago you did not need a degree to become a supervisor, now many companies do want you to have a degree.
I vote to stay in college and if you are really a hustler you should be able to be debt free when you graduate.
Charlie
@Allan Foote college, if you do it right, is much more about shaping how you think. I took one real estate class and I left it only understanding how much more I didn’t know... i wouldn’t bother with a degree in it. I received degrees in Finance and Econ and I’d say they were a good base for real estate. I also think a degree in accounting would help you better manage your future RE business.
College is just like any other investment...... for some it will be a failure....for some a huge success. Some will invest in something else (starting their owner business, a trade, etc) and have success....or failure......
College doesn't guarantee success.....but the stats overwhelmingly show that your chances of long term success are higher with a college degree...... not guarantee it.... but statistically increase it.
To me its about doing things the right way.......
DO NOT go into 100-200k in debt to make an extra 20k a year..... that's just dumb.
Don't go to one college that is 2-3x the cost of another when that school isn't 2-3x better for your field.
Don't get a degree in a subject that has very limited applicable use in society.
Do everything possible to avoid paying for out of state tuition...... paying 2-3x the cost is rarely worth it.
Do everything possible to pay for as much as you can w/o loading up on debt. The days or "working your way through school" are 90% gone..... the wage vs cost of school is WAY out of wack to be able to work enough to pay for it as you go.....but every little bit counts.
Success is more about who you are....your drive, your motivation and how talented you actually are..... not about the actual school itself. If you are lazy, stupid and/or a slacker, it wont matter..... the issue is really knowing "what/who" you are.......seen plenty of people that are just straight up lazy tout the "college is a waste of time....degree is worthless"...but they aren't out there hustling to do anything else either...... they are just lazy and want to appear smart by not getting "tricked by the man".....
You always go to college. Right now for numerous reasons people like to bag on college. Its a semi-good economy and lots of people in the trades aging out of system. 15-20 years ago people said it was stupid to go into teaching because Teacher College was nearly as competitive as many law schools, or PT schools but the salary wasn't there. Now tons of teachers are retiring and many states have programs in place to get people certified to teach in a fast-track.
College gives you connections, lets you see a different world, take chances as something new with minimal risks. Start a business at 25 you are out of $100K very quickly, try a new major you lose $8K.
College removes a barrier to entry, not having it keeps it up.
Everyone talks about how much skills tradesman make as a talking point but no one talks about how quickly their body breaks down from physical labor, and many of these tradesman don't make that much money. Its an eat what you kill business. Ask electricians what they did for work from 2007-2011. It was bad. Ask many White Collar Workers what they did, and they survived pretty well.
Saying I'm going to be a plumber for 30 years is a bad idea, health is not on your side. Saying I'm starting a plumbing business where you leverage those skills and within 10 years you never crawl into another sewer, or crawlspace is brilliant.
@Allan Foote. I would encourage you to finish your degree. But instead of RE, change to Construction Management. May not be offered in your current school, but you will certainly find it at Texas A&M or Texas Tech - maybe other schools.
This would equip you to get an entry level job as Construction Superintendent for Home Builders, or Commercial Contractors. You'll be immersed in the construction side of RE, learn the "ropes" and gain insight to many areas of RE. Possibly leading you to open your own construction company. Keep in mind, the big bucks are in RE Sales.
Originally posted by @Jamie Atkinson:
A lot of talk about STEM, learning a trade, MBAs, and the like, but what about a good ole liberal arts degree?
I'm dismayed by the general deemphasis on the humanities.
Conventional thinking has evolved regarding folks paying through the nose for pedigree and miring themselves in debt as they begin adulthood. Rightly so. Pedigree and the cost to attain it is increasingly a bad idea for most folks.
However, we should be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak. Who'll be left amongst us to put all of our great economic and scientific advances into a proper historical context? Google won't help us. Food for thought.
Lots of great points but college is not for every single person. Do you think with artificial intelligence, there will be a day where computers outpace man in scientific discoveries?
Originally posted by @Christian Hutchinson:
You always go to college. Right now for numerous reasons people like to bag on college. Its a semi-good economy and lots of people in the trades aging out of system. 15-20 years ago people said it was stupid to go into teaching because Teacher College was nearly as competitive as many law schools, or PT schools but the salary wasn't there. Now tons of teachers are retiring and many states have programs in place to get people certified to teach in a fast-track.
College gives you connections, lets you see a different world, take chances as something new with minimal risks. Start a business at 25 you are out of $100K very quickly, try a new major you lose $8K.
College removes a barrier to entry, not having it keeps it up.
Everyone talks about how much skills tradesman make as a talking point but no one talks about how quickly their body breaks down from physical labor, and many of these tradesman don't make that much money. Its an eat what you kill business. Ask electricians what they did for work from 2007-2011. It was bad. Ask many White Collar Workers what they did, and they survived pretty well.
Saying I'm going to be a plumber for 30 years is a bad idea, health is not on your side. Saying I'm starting a plumbing business where you leverage those skills and within 10 years you never crawl into another sewer, or crawlspace is brilliant.
Touche as a tradesman you don't want to be the worker. Im a plumber and planning that by the time I'm in my 30s having licenses and business I won't have to physically work as much. I'd also say that many people land their white collar jobs and stagnate mentally behind a desk. As far as look at 2007-11, its definitely was a major slowdown but there was still work. At the time the electric company my father worked for actually expanded significantly, there was lots of opportunities to buy heavy construction equipment cheap from other companies that were over leveraged and also he bought a few rentals very cheap with cash he hoarded.
You're right, college isn't for everybody. I'm just saying that a degree in the humanities has value intrinsic value.
As far as AI is concerned, I have no idea. It's like speculating about the combustible engine and its future uses in 1909. There are so many possibilities right now.
@Allan Foote
College is a scam, if you are a learner... you will find mentorship, learn as you go, and surround yourself with the right people to succeed. I wish I would have invested my college money into real estate, I would have been so much better off. I got a degree from CU Boulder and it did help me get a job, but I eventually found I didn’t want a job, I wanted to be an entrepreneur. If real estate is your path and you have a desire to be an entrepreneur, it’s a major opportunity cost to waste four years in college while loading yourself up with student loan debt. Student loan debt basically forces you to be an employee and really limits your ability to start investing.