Young and need advice.

[Tyler Bond]

Hey all,

My names Tyler and i'm 19 years old and have this extreme passion in success, specifically real estate investing.
I give the book"Richest Man in Babylon" by George Classon some credit to this mindset of mine. I'm currently reading "Think and grow rich" by Napoleon Hill and Rich dad Poor dad is next. I absolutely love BP. I need some words of advice.

I haven't bought any guru courses or attended boot camps because I am aware that 95% of them don't help and further confuse the beginner. My goal is to ultimately own enough single family and commercial properties to have a cash flow that exceeds my bills. My plan right now is to start out wholesaling (I am aware it will not be easy at all, marketing will be a sticky start.) I want to start wholesaling because I think it will expose me to the public, investors, title companies, real estate agent, etc. Then once I get track record to show that I CAN find good deals and my investors have had great success from my deals then I can prove to lenders I am capable to do a full rehab myself. This of course exposes me to bigger profits, especially if I open up and get people working for me and doing more than one rehab at a time. That's just a thought though. Another benefit I see in this is if I do come across an outstanding deal, I can get it without paying wholesale/assignment fees because I, myself found the deal, and take that deal fix and hold it for an awesome rental property with big cash flow. There are so many possibilities in real estate investing. That is why i decided not to go to school anymore and focus on what I want and love instead of working for some other corporation after 4-5 yrs of school and then student debts. The sky is the limit here.

Okay, that's enough rambling on. My advice I need is this, Where I am 19, what can I do to make people take me serious. I can sit home all day a learn learn learn but when do I take action? I feel where I am this young, not to mention I look like i'm 16, I need to know more than the average Joe before I do go out so I can prove myself right off the bat. What do you guys think. If you could, give me a run down of what you wish you would have done if you were my age and starting out. I know its kind of a broad question so anything that is said will be taken in gratefully.

Thanks to everyone and BP for making this possible. I'm really excited I have found myself on this journey to success and glad to be apart of it.

[Jon Holdman]

Getting people to take you seriously means you have to be serious. Sorry, but just from you're picture, you don't project that you're serious. I know that may seem petty, but if that picture is the first impression someone has of you, they may well believe you're not very serious.

To have a portfolio of rentals that produce a living income, you need, ultimately, one thing - CASH. Rentals are all about cash on cash return. That means you need to be pumping cash into you investments and they will generate a return. That's no different than investing in stocks, bonds, bank CD's or oil wells. Cash invested means cash returns. There's really no short cut.

So, somewhere, you have to make some cash. Perhaps wholesaling is a way to do that. It sure sounds like quick and easy money. IMHO, its far from it. It is EXACTLY the same job (yes, its a J.O.B., exactly what the gurus denigrate) as a real estate agent. You're finding seller and buyer, putting them together and collecting a fee. Is it the best way for you to generate cash? I don't know. But hopefully you have some idea. You need to assess your skills and desires and determine what is your "fastest path to cash". Maybe its wholesaling, maybe its something else.

I do think the college degree path is very broken. Certain degrees, mostly in engineering disciplines, will make you a lot of money. My day job is software and hardware and the starting salaries of new grads will make your jaw drop. But thats for Masters degrees in specific disciplines from a few dozen specific schools. Worldwide. Didn't go to one of those schools? Sorry. OTOH, many, perhaps most, other degrees are worth much less. But, if people are vying for a job, a degree does make a difference. Even if it doesn't seem like it should. If an employeer has a choice between someone with a degree and someone with just a high school diploma, they lean to the one with the degree. So, people without degrees end up even lower on the job ladder. For better or worse, a degree is no guarantee of a good job. But it certainly improves your prospects over a high school diploma.

Another twist to college is grades. For all practical purposes, there are three grades: A, B, and F. If you're going to college and not making mostly A's and a few B's, you're wasting your time and money.

Another alternative is technical school. There are many valuable trades. Having education and experience in some trade will go a long ways toward finding a better paying job.

I harp on this because it feeds back into the "you have to invest money to make money" idea. If you have nothing but a high school diploma, no trade, no skills, then finding something better than a minimum wage job is TOUGH. Our economy has shifted more and more toward service jobs. Whether its a stocker at WalMart, a burger flipper at McDonalds, or a cashier at Walgreens, these are all near minimum wage service jobs. Those are the jobs you will get with nothing more than a high school diploma.

Now, can wholesaling get you off than hamster wheel? Maybe. I'd say there's a one in a hundred chance. Its a commissioned sales job. If you can do the work, find sellers (i.e, do a LOT of marketing), find real deals (most deals I see from wholesalers are junk) and then get those deals to the closing table, there's money to be made. But its not easy. And, until you get the deal done, there's no paycheck at all. Look at yourself. Evaluate your knowledge and skills and see what you can do to generate a paycheck. And potential for bigger ones in the future.

Step two is to spend less than you make. I don't care if you are only making $8 an hour. You better spend only $7 of that if you ever expect to reach your goal of living off your investments.