How does a 20 y/o newbie provide seasoned investors value?

Question

Hello all,

I've been listening to the bp podcast for about 2 years now, essentially just for entertainment and an understanding of REI. However, recently Ive decided to try and take more actionable steps to get involved in the industry. Beginning with signing up on bp, joining wholesale list and analyzing deals, and the next step would be to get out and begin networking. Now, I believe these are great steps i'm taking in order to become more involved however, if I want to seriously get involved in REI I need to find a way to get directly more involved in deals. With that said there are two obstacles preventing me from doing so:

1) An Overall Inexperience in REI

2) No funds to fund deals (Obviously 20 y/o college student)

So this essentially means I need to get creative and find other ways to provide value to other investors in order to get involved. So I've came up with two ideas so far to get involved:

1) Driving for dollars finding deals.

2) Considering my experience working summers for various contractors perhaps I can become a sub contractor and help other investors with their rehab projects.

What other ways could I get involved? Or better yet, what skills do you guys as investors see a lack of in the industry that maybe I can focus on, and provide value in that way?

Thanks,

Bart B

Henry Lazerow · Answer

I am 28 and started in real estate right out of college sold 18 million last 2 years feel free to PM me with questions/advice. I house hack a 4 unit which I rehabbed and did a cash out BRRR on.

I wouldn't worry about providing seasoned investors value right now just focus on graduating making as much money as possible. The no money down, wholesaling, get rich quick schemes etc. are mostly bs. Having a good w2 job to qualify for loans and money to put down when doing BRRR's, etc. is what's most important.

Nicholas L. · Answer

@Bart Bielski get the strongest W2 job you can and house hack.

Andrew Weiner · Answer

The only good way to bring value in your position is to WORK LIKE CRAZY!  If you have the drive then go out and network your way into a relationship with an active broker/investor and get the paperwork and process laid out to complete a whole sale deal.  Then hit the phones and pound the streets!  You might need to knock on 1000 doors to get one wholesale deal done but its a great way to meet people and build your skills/industry knowledge.  I have an intern in my office that is doing this right now and he has spent a lot of time on deals that never went anywhere but he has learned a ton along the road.  Now when he talks to experienced investors and owners he sounds like he knows what he is talking about.  He will close a wholesale deal soon and I think that it will snowball into a great RE career.

A second idea if you are in college is to work for one of the local property management companies that do college rentals.  A few of my class mates at Ohio State started as leasing agents in undergrad and then became managers for the company after they graduated, eventually the owner walked them through buying their own properties.  Just make sure its a locally owned and managed company so that you have the opportunity to connect directly with the owner.

I hope you are able to make something happen, please keep the BP community updated on your success.

Steve Morris · Answer

If you want to be a broker, you're only worth who you know and what they think of you.

Learn how to talk on the phone and drive a conversation and sort out productive people from time-wasters.

Once you build up knowledge of your market, you'll be worth a lot more.

Mack Benson · Answer

@Bart Bielski, I think there are at least two things you can do right now or at least in the near future that won't cost a whole lot and may help bring you closer to your real estate goals.

• 1. The first thing is take inventory of your skills and goals. Saying your have aspirations to real estate isn't a very helpful statement. You need to have clarity. Do you want to be a flipper? Do you want to buy and hold single family homes? At 20 I don't think anybody believes you should have it all figured out the other part is taking stock of your skill set. What skills do you have? Are you an extrovert? Are you good at organization, sales, building? All of these skills and more could be helpful to the right investor.
• 2. The other thing you can do is attend as many meetups as you can, either in person or virtually. Ask questions, talk to presenters, hosts, and attendees. Basically talk to everybody. You'll get the hang of it and at some point somebody will likely mention they are struggling with something you took note of in your strengths exercise. That is your chance to step up and knock out a home run.

Account Closed · Answer

@Bart Bielski

Find their pain point and relieve them of it. Maybe it’s stuffing envelopes, maybe it’s sending emails, maybe it’s offering tech support. What do they hate to do/ suck at? Do that.

Steve Morris · Answer

Your number one skill - KNOWING PEOPLE.

Start making contacts, that is your value - Who you know and what they think of you.

Forrest Williams · Answer

I would second house hacking. Great way to learn a lot about flipping and investing while building equity. I've just started my 4th house hack, and they have been paying off well (started when I was 24).

Get a good W2 job (no waiting tables or tip related gigs), buy the worst 3 bedroom house on the block, and rent out two of the rooms to a couple college friends. In this area, mortgages can be comparable or cheaper than renting. With two tennants, you'll probably be getting paid to live there. Fix it up and sell it in two years, or keep it and do it again.

I would also look up loan rules or speak to a lender about them. If you report your roommates rent as income, it will take 2 years of history for a bank to count it toward your total income. Things like that are important to know. Sorry this didn't include much about how to provide investors value. I believe it's important to know how things work yourself to help demonstrate your value. Also, people rarely get rich working for someone else.

Good luck!

Moises R Cosme · Answer

@Bart Bielski Find deals.  If you find deals you add value; don't over think it.

Bart Bielski · Answer

Wow, Im surprised by how many people cared to bother with this thread. First, I would like to thank you all for taking the time to post insightful and thoughtful messages. I genuinely appreciate it, and its very encouraging knowing that this community is so helpful.

As many of you alluded to I think the best course of action would be for me to be patient and continue to go to school. Strive to get a good W-2 job and begin house-hacking and building out a rental portfolio.

In the meantime while I am in college I will focus my free time on engaging with the REI community through meetups, the forums and volunteering my time to learn. In an ideal world, I would connect with a RE developer and volunteer a few hours a week running errands in hopes to gain more insight into the development world. Im not sure if its wishful thinking but I think a real estate career in development would be really fulfilling to me. I think it may be because of my few summers working in the building trades I became very prideful of my work and enthusiastic about the idea of taking a bare piece of land and constructing it into a building.

Feel free to comment your opinions.

Again thank you all for the encouraging messages.

(P.S Incase anyone is wondering what I am majoring its Computer Science with an emphasis is Information Security. I know its pretty unrelated to real estate but I enjoy it.)

Bart Bielski

How does a 20 y/o newbie provide seasoned investors value?

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