Looking for mentor in Minnesota area

[Andre Smith]

Hey bigger pockets! First off just want to start by saying thank you to Brandon, Joshua and everyone else who post on here to help individuals like myself. Well anyways I'm going to keep it short and sweet, I'm looking for a mentor in my area to help me and give advice as I progress to the next level in my two niches; buy and hold and fix and flipping houses. I'm a 25-year-old U.S. veteran and upon returning from Japan a couple years ago, I came back to my hometown and saw how everything was the same. The same people did same stuff, always complaining about life and just settling for the minimum. I used to be one of those same people until I decided to join the navy, which changed my mindset, work ethic and life forever. I came across real estate investing by the simple fact that I had gotten used to living on my own and so three months of living at home with my mom and sister whom I love very much, it made me feel some type of way. It made me want to start looking at ways to buy a house or rent etc. so I began researching about real estate, home investment, and a lot of veteran benefits that I wasn’t aware of. I remember I kept telling my mom, “I hope you know I’m going to buy my own house soon.” I always got the “are you sure Andre, and maybe you should just stay here and save up.” But I couldn’t, I felt like I needed to move on and with the researching I was doing I found out I was able to buy a house with a Veterans home loan. Then I was like crap! I can’t afford this! So when I was looking for houses I made sure to look for either a two bedroom house with a basement and rehab it to a temporary living space, or a three bedroom so I could have other people live with me. Luckily I had learned that a lot of people in my age group were just moving out from there parents house and I would be able to find two people to live with me to cover most of the mortgage. So I better hit the fast forward button because I definitely didn’t keep it short and sweet lol. So one year and one month ago I bought my first house for $126,200 and within this year it has been the hardest and most positive struggle I’ve ever faced in my life and I’ve fallen in love with everything about real estate and just want to continue to better my future by doing what drives my passion. If there’s any mentors in my area I’m here finally reaching out for help. I’ve been on this website for maybe two months now and it has taken me this long to write my first post even with all the podcasts that I listen to that say just take action and all the books I’ve been reading such as, The One Thing by Gary Keller, Rich Dad Poor Dad, Outwitting The Devil, and Four Hour Work Week. But even with all these things helping me out I’ve kept putting off writing this post maybe because I just feel the need to have everything in check and be as prepared as I can be when I start talking to a mentor. Honestly the last 6 months of my life have been so crazy, not knowing when roommates are going to pay and then I had just gotten shoulder surgery so I wasn’t able to work full time and that really put me in a bind. Stressing everyday about finances and how everything is going to get paid for. I just kept having faith that no matter how much struggling that I would be put through I wouldn’t give up in what I’m doing and what I believe in. So now I can go to sleep tonight, feeling super proud of myself for finally finishing this one thing that I’ve been putting off. Thanks again Brandon and Joshua, my mom and everyone out there taking action, I really feel I have a lot to bring to the table and I’m in it for the long haul!