New Member From Ames, Iowa

[Nathan Joens]

Hello everybody, my name is Nathan Joens and I am a 19 year old Sophomore in college. I go to Iowa State University in Ames, Ia (which is a little ways North of Des Moines). I am studying Community and Regional Planning with aspirations of getting my Masters in Planning as well as my MBA in Real Estate (it is a dual program here). I am really just starting out in the whole world of investing in real estate. My grandpa has done quite a bit of real estate investing in his time, so I have been able to pick up a few bits and pieces of information here and there, but not much. My lack of knowledge inspired me to create the Real Estate Investment and Networking Club through Iowa State University in hopes that I could attract others that share my same passion to where we could bring in outside, or possibly inside resources to teach us as much as possible about real estate investing. This club is just starting out and I was hoping that I could gather some great ideas from all of you as to what I could do for some of my meetings. We will be funded some money through the university and I have obtained outside sponsorship and funding already for our club. My hope is to bring in speakers and create some sort of panel discussion every other week and then based on the knowledge or topic that is discussed perform a hands on activity related to that topic. I am looking forward to hearing some of your ideas.

I really hope that I am on the right track to starting off my life in real estate investing. My studies in school cover the big picture and I hope that my passion and drive to be successful in this work will help continue to drive my desire for all of the knowledge I can get my hands on in this work. Bigger Pockets is a great resource to help me out on my journey and I am looking forward to learning from each and every one of you.

Thank You!

-Nate

[Paul Timmins]

@Nathan Joens

Welcome. Congrats on starting out with the club. Take a good look at student housing see below.

Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere

Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.

Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice. And you get the benefit of having 50 past ones to catch up on.

Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses,The Book on Estimating ReHab Costshttp://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info.

You might consider Niche or Specialized Housing like student housing. Rents can be 2-4 times more. Remember you don't have to own a property to control it.

Good luck

Paul