Got any advice for a newbie?

Question

Hi, I am 25 years old and I live in Lakewood, CA. I managed restaurants for my career, but I was always interested in economics. I started studying the stock markets and I was able to make a little profit from stock markets. I then started foreign exchange trading which is still in progress. As I gained more knowledge about new things I studied even more because I then realized that knowledge is key to success.

Recently, I felt the need for change. The belief of "easy money is too good to be true", or "I won't ever become rich because there are so many other smarter people out there", changed to "how can I do it?" as I obtained more knowledge about how money works. Once I understood that passive income is a real thing, I no longer wanted to live my life working for a fixed salary. I am a very passionate, motivated, and desperately want to succeed in achieving my passive income. I knew for sure that if I continued on with my current career, I will never achieve my goal.

Recently, I have started reading a book about real estate and listened to some podcasts on this platform. I do understand that this journey will not be easy for me, but I am willing to take the risk, and work my butt off. I decided that first thing I need to do is to get myself a real estate agency license and to jump into the market because I believe that it would show me so much more about where I should begin and what I should dig into. Although I have watched real estate videos/tutorials for beginners on several different platforms, I am clueless about what this will be like and what I should be focusing on in order to build my success in real estate.

I was hoping if anyone could give me feedback on where to really start if I want to earn income working as real estate agent, and to invest that money in building my wealth by flipping houses, or investing in rental properties. What should I focus on? Is working as an agent's assistant the best option out there to get my foot on the door? Please help!

Christine Kankowski · Answer

I do recommend either working for an agents assistant to learnt he ropes of selling or working entry level to work in property management.  Both can lead to wonderful careers in real estate.

SAles:  THis is a sales job. Even if you work under an agent and know HOW to do the job, the hard part of selling real estate is getting the clients, gaining the credibility to have them put their biggest purchase or sale in your hands instead of someone else who has a long track record of success.  If you like sales, this could be an excellent career path.

If you envision yourself owning your own properties, management may be the better option.  Work from the ground up leaning how property management companies work.  THis is less a sales job, than it is managing repairs, leasing properties while following fair housing,  YOu also get lots of referrals from current owners who need to sell. buy more, etc.

Both are excellent options.  For both, you should get your license, which you can do online.  Best of luck to you.  I've done both and actually still do both, but all my sales clients come from the prop. mgmt company, so i dont have to spend all the time and money on advertising, etc

James Carlson · Answer

@Young Kim

First off, that's exciting to undertake a new journey. Erin and I quit our W2 jobs to become real estate agents in Denver and Colorado Springs only about five years ago. It was the best decision we ever made.

About being a real estate agent. There are so many paths to getting started. I'm interested to hear others' stories, but I'll just tell you what worked for us: Find a niche. Burrow in. Dig deeper. You don't need to know everything at first. You need to know one or two things and know them well and then reach the people who want to know them.

For us, we saw a gap in knowledge around the Airbnb laws in Denver and Colorado Springs. We talked to the city planning department about, we wrote reports about it and blog posts and held free classes where we talked about the laws.

Not to blow our own horn too much, but we became the experts in Airbnb in these markets. That led to clients who wanted to invest in Airbnb real estate and has also opened up a seamless transition to helping people house hack in Denver and Colorado Springs as well.

I think people get overwhelmed by the steps to "making it" in real estate. Don't think about that at first. Just dive in and take a few concrete steps. Start studying for your license now. Start learning about a niche -- maybe it's topical like "how to do this type or that type of investment" or maybe its geographic like you know and write about and talk about a few neighborhoods.

I wish you luck!

Dennis Maynard · Answer

There are a lot of different ways to go with this.  If you are investing, you don't need a license.  If you want to sell, get a license.  You can still invest with a license.  Being an agent costs money, it is not free.  Takes money to make money.  If you would like to discuss the in's and out's, message me.  I'm in Los Angeles.

Young Kim · Answer

@Dennis Maynard

I'd love to do that! How would we go about that?

Dennis Maynard · Answer

@Young Kim. It's not a simple answer.  Everyone has a different opinion on it.  Let's connect offline.  I'm happy to go over your options.  Easier on a call.

Young Kim · Answer

@Christine Kankowski  @Dennis Maynard @James Carlson

Thank you so much for your feedback. It helps me a lot to know what your thoughts are and what types of pathways I have to choose from. I appreciate your feedbacks!

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