Any help for a newbie wanting to start off a real estate adventure.

[Jeshua J Snyder]

Hey all, My name is Jeshua, to get right down to it I am a 19 year old about to turn 20, ever since I was about 13-14 and I learned of the concept of rent and landlords I had wanted to be a landlord cause it sounded cool to me (i know i know it’s weird but it’s what i liked so just roll with it) but it always sounded like a pipe dream and something entirely unattainable to me because i always thought that I would simply never have the money to be able to afford one house let alone multiple. Then around 18 I stumbled across bigger pockets on YouTube and started watching their podcasts and realized that this dream of mine was far more realistic than I ever imagined. Now today my dream is to invest enough to be able to be financially free by the time i turn 30 so that I can first pay back my mother for supporting me all this time and then turn around and focus on being there for my future children full time. 

Thats the gist of why I'm here, now my question to all of you is this: is there a realistic way to jump straight into real estate investments in the Green Bay area without getting a regular job? From what I've seen on the YouTube channel my ideal scenario would likely be to get a JV partner where i find the deals I take care of everything involved in the work towards making a property profitable and someone else puts forward the downpayment or maybe even full cost of the house and I pay them back with a fair/generous return on the money they invested and take my own fair portion of it just to get my feet in the door.

I want to know the ins-and-outs of this whole process, the podcasts are informative but I never really feel like my questions are 100 percent answered there so I've come here to ask about it all. Are there really people out there willing to put forward an entire downpayment and just let me manage the entire process and split profits? If so how can I be sure that those who I am partnering with are legitimate and trustworthy? What failsafes should be ensured to protect both my time investment as well as their financial investments and make the partner feel more comfortable with the deal? What kind of split is fair if I find the property run the numbers rent it out and maintain it and he/she just puts forth the downpayment? What pitfalls should I be aware of when starting a deal of this nature? Should I even pursue JV deals or is there a better way to get started? Should I focus on getting a job instead and just try to get my investment properties on a bank loan out of pocket a few years down the line?

I have tons of questions as you can quite clearly see, but to summarize it all I am simply asking for any advice I can possibly get from those who hold experience in the field of investing, somewhat of a beginners guide to Joint Venture Deals I guess, one that just explains what to avoid and what to watch out for while on my path. And if it is even right for me to pursue. 

Please feel free to ask counter questions or just ask for more info, I absolutely love talking about all my ideas and goals and just the real estate topic in general. Thanks for any help in advance.

[Ben Firstenberg]

General advice I'd give to anyone just starting out. Get your first deal done. Do everything you can to make sure it won't burn you, but don't sweat it too much. Don't wait for a home run, don't try to time the market, don't worry if it's perfect. It's a monumental first step and everything will be different once you've closed your first deal. Everything. 

To your question about working with investors, it's definitely possible what you're asking for. It's hard to do at your age/experience. I don't think it's likely you'd find many people who would put up the ENTIRE down payment, just because then you don't have any "skin in the game." You could maybe get away with putting up $5-10k yourself if you explained that it's not much money but it's a significant % of your net worth. 

As far as the split, I would think about it as if you were trying to generate a certain % return for the investor and then determine what split it needs to be based on that. They could invest in the stock market at make 8-12% or they could invest in private equity and make 12-15% (if they have decent money). So maybe you need to be a 15-20% return to make it worth their while. That could mean giving them 50% of the deal, it could mean giving them 100% of the deal. 

Starting with JV is certainly atypical but I don't want to tell you it's not possible, since you're clearly very passionate about it. Just understand it will be challenging. Most people start with a house hack or a standard rental. Those are easier, but you have to have the money for it, which is tough.

A lot of people also get their start as a "deal finder" which is, in some ways, what you're describing. This could be an agent or a wholesaler, or working for an established investor and finding deals for them. 

Hope that helps. Best of luck!