I am a 20 year old male, no idea where to start!

[Alex Dimov]

I am 20/m i have over 5k  saved up, and no debt. I want to become a real estate agent but i have no idea where to even begin, or what to say if i am speaking to someone that can help me. i am not asking for anything more than for help on how to get started and what to look/ ask for in order to become an Agent.

The reason i want to become an Agent is because i am looking forward into investing most of my money (overall that I have and will be earning in the future) into real estate. In my opinion, it is the safest and most logical thing for me to do. 

i live in Washington state, king county.

thanks in advance!

[Mike Roy]

Hi Alex - The fact that you're here is certainly a great start!  Search "house hacking" and give that some thought; if you're serious about real estate investing, this will likely be one of the easiest ways a young person with limited funds can quickly gain exposure to investment and property management while potentially living for free.  It's basically the college scholarship of real estate investing.

$5,000 is a down payment on a $140k property financed with an 3.5% FHA loan. Not sure what your market looks like, so maybe you need $10k for a $280k property. The idea is that you find yourself a 2-4 unit property, live in one of the units and let rents from the remaining units cover your expenses.

Property expenses you would need to consider include P&I, Tax, Insurance, Heat, Electric, Water/Sewer, Trash, Maintenance/Repairs, Capital Expenditures and Vacancy.  If you can find a property that allows you to live in one unit and remaining rents cover these expenses, you're pretty much golden.  Lots of good info on this site about evaluating properties and considering expenses.

The other thing you want to consider is your income - you need to qualify for a loan.  While there is money to be made as an agent, the most important thing you can do while you're young is to maximize your income, maximize your savings, and maximize your investing.  Any job will do, but try to pick one that will best utilize your skill set and pay you the most for your time.  If it happens to be as a real estate agent, that's great!

Best of luck,

Mike