17 y/o Looking for a Real Estate Mentor — Will Work for Free (NW Indiana)

[Calvin Stewart]

Hey BP,

I’m 17 and serious about getting into real estate. I’m from the NWI Indiana area and I’m looking for a mentor who’s active in rentals, flips, or commercial real estate.

I’ll work for free — I just want to learn. I can help with anything you need: finding leads, cold calling, organizing info, running comps, or even just grabbing coffee and listening in. I’m hungry to learn and willing to put in the work.

If you’re open to letting me learn from you, even just a little, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!

[Bryce Jamison]

Great mentality! You're not asking for something for nothing!

I don't think your target audience is necessarily on the forums looking for folks like you, so I recommend a more targeted approach. To me this means directly reaching out to the people you'd like to mentor you, in person if possible. This could be a local realtor, investor, contractor, appraiser, property manager, whatever.

It also means having what you're offering ready and tailored to the individual. When you say you'll do whatever, even with a list like this, you're putting the burden on them to determine what to do with you and creating another barrier to entry for yourself. 

What you do specifically depends on the mentor. For an investor you could "drive for dollars" then use the deal calculator on this site to create reports of deals that makes sense in your area. If you took that to a meetup and gave it to every investor you met, I bet one would be willing to talk to you.