20y/o looking to get into REI. Where to start?

[Robert B.]

I am currently working a retail sales job making 25k a year and I have been trying to move my way up into commissioned high end home theater sales where I could make between 60-100k working 50-60 hours a week.

I thought about doing those high end sales until I have around 200-300k saved up and in my off time from now until then learning about real estate and how to invest in it. Then when the time comes I have money for down payments and mortgage payments.

From what I have been seeing is instead of banking up that 200-300k taking about 5 years to get there, I can just soak up a bunch of knowledge and experience for a year or two and get money from the bank and rent out houses and flip them, which would save me from working my but off in sales just for that 60-100k job.

I currently have 0 debt and about 2 years of credit history, 750 credit score, and 5k saved up at the moment, I had to pay for 2 years of college that sort of took most of the money I have been making.

I have been reading articles online and such but my question is, what kind of books/podcasts should I be reading or listending to in order to broaden my horizon on REI and renting out RE?

The great thing is I now can get up to 3.5k a semester paid for through my work, I go to a community college so classes are pretty cheap any ways.

Should I try to major or take classes around Business/Eco/Financing?

What would you all recommend I do?

[Michael M.]

Not only should you learn- then invest; but you should learn, invest and keep learning. True investors never ever stop.

I'm 22 and my eyes just opened up to the world of REI about a month ago and since then read as many books as I could get access to ranging from thinking like an investor, real estate, land-lording, accounting, law, taxes, marketing, negotiating... coming across BP was just the icing on the cake and overwhelmed me of the wealth of information that was on here to add to my arsenal. Just prohibit yourself from being overwhelmed.

Even though I'm still learning I didn't hesitate to get into my first deal which is in the process.

When anything ever comes into your head or something you're reading, such as a term being unfamiliar, research it right away and make sure you learn it. Move on. Rinse & Repeat. Even if you don't comprehend it the first time, things will soon click after numerous encounters.

You don't need to be an expert in the beginning, although it wouldn't hurt to be. Just learn who the players of the game are and how to use them. Gain enough insight to know what they are capable of so you can use them to your utmost advantage, and in doing so you will also learn from them- that's what you pay them for as well.

Make cheat sheets if you have to. I literally have a list of "players" and their functions. A list of "terms" and their meanings. A list "legal documents" and their purposes. It may sound corny, but I didn't know what an asset or liability was not too long ago.

If I come across anything new, it goes into one of my lists. I see it as creating the rules and instructions to a board game in order to prepare myself to play it. Just like games have an objective to win it, you must prepare a "goals sheet" and ensuring every move you make leads towards those goals, which you should have a list of too, as games do seem to have a play-by-play nature to them. With this being said, the system you build for yourself allows anything that deviates from your criteria to be quickly noticed and dismissed.

Remove the emotions- use your logic.

Create a system of resources for yourself that allows it to build upon itself. Likewise your use of organization from the get-go will prove to be the platform at which your wisdom will grow.