20 Years Old With 10 Deals Done. What Next?

[Account Closed]

Hi, everyone! I want to give everyone a recap about how I got to where I am today as a 20 year old real estate investor in the Kansas City market with over 10 deals under my belt. 

I started my journey off as most people do, working a demanding job and wondering how I can make enough money to quit said job and become self dependent. I come from a middle class family with no one involved in real estate, but my dad always told me that real estate is where wealth is made, so I always had it in the back of my mind. At the age of 16-17, I began obsessively listening to BP podcasts, reading forums, reading books, and reaching out to local investors offering myself as willing to do anything I could to provide value to them in exchange for experience. After a few weeks, I finally got in contact with two partnered investors who needed someone like myself. They were beginning a wholesaling operation and wanted someone to do the grunt work of finding leads, which I was more than willing to do. I happened to already know a lot about wholesaling and I immediately got to work, securing 4 good leads within a few months. I was beyond excited that I could be getting my first deal done so soon. But, they all fell through, for multiple reasons. During that time, the investors I was working with decided to quit working together, and ended up dissolving the operation. I was extremely disappointed, and it honestly caused me to take a break from real estate, just shortly after starting. 

Fast forwarding to when I turned 19, I decided that I needed to take matters into my own hands and get serious about real estate. I couldn't quit after my short attempt, as I knew the reward would be greater than the risk. I knew college wasn't the right path for me, so I was working full time as a mechanic, saving every dollar I could in order to put it into real estate. This is when I noticed that the local market was exploding and local real estate companies were having a hard time keeping up. I didn't know what I wanted to do yet, but I began reaching out to local investors again, and stumbled across a local company that I knew was one of the biggest flippers in the area. I thought I had no chance of working with them, so I contacted them asking if they knew of anyone that may need help. It turns out they were looking for a new person to add to their acquisition team, but I was really underqualified (they wanted someone with a bachelors degree, 2 years experience in real estate, and a real estate license). I explained to them who I was, what I could provide them, and how much I aligned with their company values. I had 2 interviews and was offered the position within a week. I was completely shocked, yet I was so excited to get started. I began working with them right after I turned 20, and within my first week, I secured 4 great deals for the company (weekly quota was 1-2). No training with the company, no vast experience, I just worked as hard as I could to prove myself using my self taught knowledge. I was stoked. I continued getting deals and now have over 10 deals closed within the last 2.5 months of working with them. Things/deals started slowing down (due to the company's request), and I pushed through it, knowing it would pick back up. Then the company got even stricter with our buyer's criteria, and pushed our closing dates really far back (over 2 months until we could close on a potential property) and I knew that this wasn't sustainable. Last week, the company all of a sudden decided to shut down because their construction team couldn't keep up with acquisitions, and I am no longer with them. I went from a dead stop, to full speed ahead and killing it, to slamming into a wall and losing all momentum in real estate within 3 months. 

I am more than grateful to have this opportunity, and I proved to myself that I could succeed in real estate. I was not expecting this sudden stop, and now I'm not sure where to turn. I made this post for two reasons: to prove that anyone can make it in real estate, and to ask for guidance on what to do next. What would be the quickest way to become self dependent on real estate? Flipping? Owning rentals? Wholesaling? I have $20-$30k to use as needed. I also need to eventually purchase a MFH to house-hack; would it be best for me to do this first, then refinance and use the capitol to invest in a flip? I REALLY want to own and operate my own real estate business, I'm just not sure how to grow my current knowledge, skills, and experience into something.