Newbie with No Money

[Dillon Dembowski]

Hi there!

I’m a 20 y/o college student from Oklahoma, and within this past year I’ve consumed real estate knowledge like my life depended on it. I absolutely love all the BP podcasts, spend hours reading blogs and articles, and have watched countless videos. However, there’s still a few questions that are specific to me that make me hesitant to jump into RE investing, even though I’m very passionate about the subject.

1. As I stated above, I'm a college student with a part-time job that doesn't pay near enough for a 20% down-payment on ANYTHING, so an owner-occupied prop. with a 0-3.5% DP (such as a house-hack) makes sense. However, I need to stay in my current town for school, and it's difficult to find any small multi-family deals in my area. Should I go off market? Wait for a market crash? Buy at retail price? Borrow from a lender and then try to refi, like a "live-and-BRRRR"?

2. I feel like I have lots of book knowledge on RE, but I have close to no practical knowledge or field experience. How could I go about finding a mentor that I could work under for a time? I’m willing to help them out in any RE related field for completely free, as long as I’m learning. 

3. I’m currently studying for a business degree in college, but obviously real estate is where my passion lies, and my ultimate goal is to make it my full-time job. I’d love to eventually run my own rental property business, even though that seems like a lofty dream considering I currently have zero units. I’ve considered pursuing a RE agent license, and I could either do that instead of school or after I finish school. I figure being a licensed agent could be a good “in” for the RE space. I also don’t think I’d be a bad agent at all, and the entrepreneurial aspect (scalability, no boss, high commission, hard work=better pay) all appeals to me. Is it worth it to get my RE license at all? And if so, should I do so sooner or later?

Thank you all for reading this post, I appreciate your time!

[Cassi Justiz]

Hey Dillon, 

You might have a hard time qualifying for conventional financing on your own with just a part time job. If you have someone that would be willing to co-sign a loan with you (parent, grandparent, etc) that would definitely increase your lend-ability. I think one of the easiest ways to get started is to buy a small home that you can house hack. Multifamily homes tend to be more expensive, so don't think that's the only way to make it work. If you could buy a smaller 2 or 3 bedroom home and rent out the rooms, that would also be a great option.
I think your idea of getting licensed would be a great if you plan to make real estate your career. Realistically, you could knock out the getting licensed over a few weeks over a school break. You could also look into wholesaling. It's a little lower start up cost and also has a huge upside as far as income goes. It's a little easier to find an agent mentor than a wholesale mentor, but they are out there! I'd see if there are any meetups in your area and try to meet other people in the business. They can point you in the direction of people that are doing what you want to do!