Innovative 19 year old highly considering a career in real estate. Advice?

[Jason Aviles]

I will be turning 19 in two days and I start classes in community college in January. I have contemplated over beginning a career in Real Estate for some time now. If anyone reading this can give me legitimate advice on the career as a whole and any brief advice on choosing the right starting path. I would also like to know how you began your RE career if you don't mind sharing. ( Age, what made you want to become an agent, etc.)  I currently reside in Gettysburg, PA. I am currently choosing between a major in business management or administration. Any replies will be greatly appreciated as I am brand new to this community and am already impressed by it's informative members. 

[Lumi Ispas]

@Jason Aviles, 

You are getting all kind of great advice on this site. Remember to never follow only one person. Read and listen to everyone you think is relevant, and then use your own judgement in creating a plan to follow based on what you feel is important to you.

Keep in mind that there are two ways of learning: from your mistakes or from someone's else mistakes and that it's faster and cheaper to learn from somebody's else mistakes.

I can tell you from experience (mine and my mentees) that is best to get paid while you are learning the business and especially if you learn from the best.

Start working as a part time RE assistant for the top Realtor in your area, or for a construction company or a management company in your area. Make sure you choose the person you'll work for well, as their knowledge is what you are after.  

Stay in school and choose your electives not based on what's the easiest course, but on what you are interested in and will give you the specialized knowledge in your future endeavors.  Bill Gates while in college took a calligraphy course because it fascinated him. He said that the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts and probably no other programs would be what we have today if he did not take that class. Follow your interests.

As soon as you learn from the first mentor, move on to another position to the next industry. I will go to the following industries in the next few years if I were you: construction, property management, Real Estate sales, Real Estate investors, Financing (mortgage assistant), work for a CPA etc.

By chance I started my Real Estate career as the secretary of a Management Company. I could not have chosen a better path even if I planned it.  I've learned how to find, choose and manage tenants, I learned how to analyze and negotiate deals from the owner, one of the smartest people I've me and I also learned how to find deals there. 

I've bought my first property and finished the basement acting as the contractor. You can imagine how many subcontractors I had to meet... After work, every night for a month I spent hours in Home Depot buying anything from nails and drywall to kitchen cabinets and plumbing. 

I also worked for a short time for a contractor where I was in charge to prepare the estimates, you can't imagine the learning curve I had there.

I moved into RE sales and chose the company that had the top training program and who's broker manager happen to be a buy and hold investor also. I've learned not just how to sell, I also learned how she created a vast portfolio starting with a 2 flat with a finished basement and how she lived in that basement for 10 year while she was purchasing few properties a year.

Because I wanted to understand better how investors are taxed, I took an H&R Block class many years ago, and while I did not learn that much about tax savings, that is at the base of the advice I give my investors and that I apply. That knowledge is enough to know what questions to ask CPAs and when I call IRS.

I've read hundreds of RE books and went to countless RE events, classes and courses. I can't pinpoint one in particular, however all this knowledge helped me to be named in top 1% of Realtors in Chicago, an Association with over 14,000 agents.  I did not realize how I differentiate myself from other agents until that moment, when I realized that I sell more than 99 agents out of 100. I think that has been my pinnacle in my RE career, and now I have to hit my RE investment goals, which is next. I've created many millionaires in my career and having those people in my life is amazing. I've also trained a lot of agents that are top agents in Chicago now. And some have started as my buyer agents or just mentees. 

I can't stress how important is for you to build a great foundation.  You are very young and you have a lot of time. Find that special mentor and be ready to give back in helping them and give everything while working for the people that will teach you the business. Make sure that whatever job you take, part time and full time, you give it all, go way and beyond your job description, and you'll not just see the difference, you will be the difference. 

Meanwhile read books on mindset and positive attitude and by 30, you will be a millionaire!