18 Year Old from Portland Oregon

[Gage Halverson]

Hello everyone on BiggerPockets, my name is Gage Halverson and I am from Portland Oregon. I have very little experience with Real Estate investing and I have come here to learn more about how I can get a head start in earning passive income. I stumbled upon BiggerPockets while I was researching different careers that line up with my interests:

• Planning
• Business and Business Management
• Interacting with people
• System design
• Building and Construction
• Design and visual production
• Not having a traditional full time desk job
• Passive income that would give me the freedom to work another job that I enjoyed but didn't make that much money

Since I was young I knew that I wanted to do something that related to engineering, and I have always had a passion for building, designing and working with my hands. I just graduated High School in June and I am currently taking a gap year to travel the world with a community service, leadership and preforming arts organization called Up with People. I come from a a family that has gone through a lot financially, including my dad going back to school to become a Naturopathic Doctor after being a teacher for 15 years, and my mom going through Leukemia a couple years ago (she is healthy and doing much better now).

Due to financial circumstances I had to raise a majority of the money to be able to go on this incredible trip, I worked full time construction with a local construction company along with many other things. When I was younger my family built a 32 by 32 foot cabin in Montana and I basically grew up learning and helping with almost every aspect of construction. Having these skills and basic knowledge was very helpful for working construction this last summer and I believe it will help me achieve my goal of designing and building my personal home in the future. 

This brings me to the reason I want to pursue Real Estate investing for passive income or a full time job, I am not 100% sure what I want to do yet. My original goal after my trip was to go to Montana State University for mechanical engineering with some sort of business minor. After only two and a half months of traveling from city to city and meeting new people everyday, I have realized that I have no desire to sit behind a computer for hours and hours each and everyday designing and engineering the right door handle for cars. I want to be working with people and I want to do something with more freedom and overall I want to be working for myself. Yes I know not all engineering jobs are the same but I am starting to think its not the best fit for me. I am still planning on going to college when I get back, but I am unsure what my focus will be.

After reading the BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide and listening to multiple podcasts I am starting believe that earning a passive income through Real Estate investing is something I would enjoy and I would be successful. As of right now I am extremely interesting in using the buy and hold strategy. I also want to learn more about house hacking and the benefits of small multifamily properties.

I am sorry that this was so long and I basically wrote my life story, but I am super excited to learn more and explore this field. Thank you so much for reading and listening to my story! I just have a few quick questions:

1. Going into college how should I approach investing with very little money? Is house hacking a smart move or should I be looking into traditional buy and hold?
2. What are things I can do to present myself in a professional way that will make sure I am taken  serious at such a young age? (Granted I probably won't be making my first deal until I am 19 or 20)
3. Any other advice for someone starting off so young?