Advice for a college sophomore on how to approach REI

[Gabriel G.]

Hello! I'm currently a student at the University of Texas at Austin majoring in Finance. I spend most of my time in between Houston (hometown) and Austin, TX. Due to a mix of scholarships and having parents that are good with saving money and willing to help out with my education, I'll graduate college without debt. Post undergrad, I'll also stay in Texas. I have also built up my credit score to be around 760-780. I realize I'm in a pretty good financial position and want to capitalize on it. Scouring some of the posts here, a suggestion is to have a goal first then work backwards. My goal is to achieve financial independence and have enough passive income to pursue whatever is of my interest by age 30 (realize it's pretty vague right now, working on that).

I talked with a recent college grad who is pursuing this path also and recommended that I talk with hard money lenders to talk about financing. As of right now, I only have around 3-4k to my name. What I plan to do is:

1. 1. Get a high paying W2 Job post undergrad with my Finance degree from UT
2. 2. Continue to read up as much about REI as possible
3. 3. Invest in RE on the side then eventually quit W2 Job when I have enough capital

My question is that is my plan solid? What I'm doing right now is reading up a lot about REI so that I'll eventually close a deal when the time is right. My main worry is that I don't have enough money right now and closing a deal will be a few years away for me but I do not wanna rush anything until I feel prepared. My other question is what strategy is more aligned with my current goals? 

I guess the crux of this post is that if you were in my position as a 20 year old college sophomore, how would you go about REI?

Thanks for the support!

[Brian Nel]

I say your plan looks solid because it's identical to what I was aiming for years ago. And I'm realizing the benefits of it now. Don't drive yourself crazy with angst of not yet being able to get into a deal. Sometimes people are too hyperfocused on getting a 'deal' when they should be spending more time learning and getting their life in order. They then end up getting burnt acting prematurely. Don't be the guy that walks away from a 6 figure paycheck to chase dreams of making it big in REI only to look back after three years of earning near-nothing to realize sitting tight for a while more would have been more wise.

1. Learn, learn, learn. Obviously you're here and getting a finance degree so great start. Be a sponge and absorb as much as you can. Even though you can't afford to make moves, set up searches for the type properties you might buy down the road and just get familiar with seeing what's moving. 

2. A penny saved is a penny earned. Seriously. The key to FIRE isn't some crazy deal you need to hop on ASAP. The key to FIRE is fiscal discipline and understanding how you're making money and where it's going. You're young so you're perfectly set to start now and that 'measly' $3-4k can be significantly more valuable by the time you graduate. I put summer money into my IRA every year thinking it wasn't too much of a big deal then a few years into the workforce realized my retirement accounts were 2-3x my peers and continue to scale accordingly.

3. What can you do now to save money and get your feet wet in RE? How are you living currently? Dorm, apartment, room in a house? What could you either improve or leverage to your advantage? 

• Living in a house as a renter? Talk with the landlord and see if you can assume certain responsibilities and the permission to sublet. Your long term lease vs a more pricy but flexible leases you offer your friends could will net profit. It wouldn't be unheard of to live in a 5 bed house for free if you keep the other rooms occupied. 
• Living somewhere you could downsize? I lived way, way, below my means for several years. Adjustment to way of life was not difficult and the money I saved is substantial.
• Finally, what else is out there that has a lower barrier of entry? Austin is super quirky and with that comes opportunity. Depending on location (laws), people will pay hundreds of dollars a night to sleep in an Airstream in someone's back yard. Can you scrape together $5k to buy and renovate an Airstream and strike a deal to park it somewhere and run short term rentals? When in college, your time is plentiful and your opportunity cost is low. Do the cleaning between guests yourself and pocket the cleaning fee.

Shoot me a PM if you want to chat more on the phone. I could talk for days about getting setup for financial success as a young person.