How can I best prepare for when I'm older in real estate.

[Calvin Wellman]

Hello, I'm 15 years old and I want to learn how I can best prepare to be a future successful real estate agent. I want to start young, 18 years of age is when I can get my real estate license. I want to learn as much information as I can at a young age so I can already understand how to work in this business. My goal is to also work in the stock market, I have already started to invest, but for real estate, I do not know a lot of information about it. How can I best prepare?  What are the best options for me to start doing to be a successful real estate agent? My long term goal is to be able to rent off other houses that give me a consistent monthly income to pay for my own home. What is the best advice you can guys and gals can give to me?

[Nathan Gesner]

I recommend you build a strong foundational understanding of real estate investing.

1. Start with BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide (free). It will familiarize you with the basic terminology and benefits. Then you can read a more in-depth book like The Book On Rental Property Investing by @Brandon Turneror The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing by Spencer Strauss.

2. Get your finances in order. Get rid of debt, build a budget, and save. The idea that you can build wealth without putting any money into it is a recipe for disaster and the sales pitch of gurus trying to steal your money. A wise investor will not try to get rich quick with shortcuts. If you can't keep control your finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing. Check out my personal favorite, Set For Life by @Scott Trench , or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.

3. As you read these books, watch the biggerpockets podcasts. This will help clarify and reinforce what you are reading. You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.

4. Now you need to figure out how to find deals and pay for them. Again, the BiggerPockets store has some books for this or you can learn by watching podcasts, reading blogs, and interacting on the forum. There is a handy search bar in the upper right that makes it easy to find previous discussions, blogs, podcasts, and other resources. Biggerpockets also has a calculator you can use to analyze deals and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy. If you consistently analyze properties, it will be much easier to recognize a good deal when it shows up.

5. Jump in! Far too many get stuck in the "paralysis by analysis" stage, thinking they just don't know enough to get started. The truth is, you could read 100 books and still not know enough because certain things need to be learned through trial-and-error. You don't need to know everything to get started; you just need a foundation to build on and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.

You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months. How long it takes to be financially ready is different for everyone. Once you're ready, create a goal (e.g. "I will buy at least one single-family home, duplex, triplex, or fourplex before the end of 2019") and then do it. Real estate investing is a pretty forgiving world and the average person can still make money even with some pretty big mistakes.