Complete Beginner | How To Set Myself Up For Success

[Eddie Arrison]

Hello all. I am completely new to the idea of real estate investing and investing in general. I read the infamous book Rich Dad Poor Dad and ever since, I have had this burning passion for personal finance and setting myself up to become financially independent at a young age. I just turned 20 years old a few weeks ago and I am still attending college. However, I have recently been browsing YouTube and have found multiple channels that discuss investing and specifically real estate investing. After watching numerous videos, I have been wanting to educate myself on real estate so I have been told to check out the BiggerPockets website, along with the podcasts, so here I am.

I am making this post to ask what I should do at my age in order to put myself in the best position to run a successful real estate business in the future. However, as I mentioned earlier, I am only 20 years old, I am still enrolled in college, I am currently unemployed, and I don't have much savings in the bank. I just want to know what I should do in this situation to set myself up for real estate investing success so that once I am out of college with a well paying job, I can get into real estate investing ASAP. I don't want to wait until I have the money or until I am out of college to begin learning about real estate. I want to learn now so that once I am in a decent financial spot, I can start right away without wasting too much time. I am open to any tips or suggestions for the best way to begin educating myself on real estate. Just a reminder, I am a complete beginner. I mean COMPLETE beginner, to the point where I do not even know all of the basic vocabulary when it comes to real estate investing (terms such as subject to financing, creative financing, hard loans, etc. I do not understand whatsoever). 

Hopefully I can get some responses about what I can do right now in order to be able to buy my first property by the time I have some money in the bank and am out of college.

[Erickson Sainval]

There is a lot of free education on here and the web in general. Get the education first. Learn about all the different ways to invest in real estate. With little to no money you might want to look at wholesaling, seller financing, lease options, master lease option, and things along those lines. It will give you the chance to learn to talk with others and experience real estate with not much money. If you grind enough by driving for dollars you might find yourself face to face with an investor. The fact that your young, some might not take you seriously, but some might find nostalgia in the fact that you are starting so young.

As I said, education first is key, learn about the different approaches. Find the one that interest you the most and go for it.