Newbie? from Houston, Texas

[Joshua Jones]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Joshua, I am 23 years old and live in Houston, more specifically Pearland. I've recently gotten into real estate the past couple of months and have fallen in love with the idea of it. I currently do not own any real estate and probably do not plan on it for at least another year. I have read a lot of books on the topic recently and at first was overwhelmed by all of the material taken in but non the less I have still held a high interest by constantly self-educating myself. As of right now I live at home with my single mother, I have constantly grown up watching her (and the rest of my family) fail and struggle on a daily basis. I have told myself that it stops with me and I will not end up like the rest of my family. I guess you could say I had an epiphany recently and decided to go full time at school, move back home and sell my car. I currently attend UHCL and will graduate in the spring of 2020 with a degree in finance. As of right now I am paying for school completely out of pocket, I own my car outright, and have a savings rate of around 50% ( kind of hard to maintain when I spend most of my hours studying) along with a hefty saving account. For now my goals are just school, saving every penny I can and read as many books as possible on real estate. I am very eager to start investing but I know I need to stay focused on my biggest goals. If anyone has any suggestions on anything please let me know, sometimes I do have a lot more time than I know what to do with so I have toyed with the idea of volunteering my time with a house flipper to learn more hands on knowledge. 

Thank you,

Joshua

[Jeff Lee]

Hi @Joshua Jones,

Sounds like you are on your way! I also grew up in Pearland but I'm on the north side of Houston after a stint in DC for several years. I would say keep reading, save everything you reasonably can, take care of your mom, and start learning all the "grown up" topics they don't really teach in school (types of insurance, buy or rent? index or mutual funds?, general tax considerations, general retirement planning, leadership, etc. ). 

After reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad and listening to my first Dave Ramsey broadcast, I created a learning schedule for the first few years to jump start myself, which included financial topics like those above, but also motivational and leadership-related topics. I alternated books - one substantive/topical (I'm an international affairs guy), one leadership/motivational/spiritual, and one which I call "mind-expanding" which teaches the mind to think outside the box (e.g. anything by Malcolm Gladwell, Freakonomics, certain business or sociology/psychology-related books). 

The college years and early professional years are wonderful times of learning - absorb everything you can, experiment with some of the ideas, and keep moving forward!