Found a possible Mentor. Along with a possible deal?

[Travis W.]

So, I didn't intend to find a mentor initially.. I was just looking for some advice from someone I knew who did real estate and seemed successful to me.. So, I called my old landlord I had back in college about 6 years ago. Well, turns out it was a great decision..

We met up and grabbed a bite to eat and talked real estate, and about life a bit ( I don't know him too well). He showed me resources he used, talked about how he had bought his properties and how I should approach investing. All very invaluable to me as a beginner. Seeing someone who clearly was on-point with their paperwork and research was inspiring.

It humbled me they would take the time out of their schedule to meet and I of course paid for the meal as I should. And he said if i need anything i can email him.. Awesome. I think every person trying to get into RE should definitely look for some form of a mentor. They don't need to be a millionaire I don't think, but they just need to have a solid grasp of it. From there you can work on doing better..

As far as the possible deal goes, he owns a fourplex for about 9+ years now.. Self-managing them from about 100 miles away.. which is no small task. But, he said he has a team and he rarely physically goes to check out too much. He uses them for student rentals. Seeing as I used to live in one of these buildings, I am familiar with his process and was happy to learn that his turnover, was not actually ever too bad.

Anyways, he wants to find a property manager badly I think. He has been looking at professional PMs, and he indicated he wants to go South as he is tired of the cold. He hinted that I could maybe do it, but I wouldn't be paid much. Which I am ok with. Heck, I would do it for free if it meant I get a foot into successful investing.

There is this catch, I am 3.5 hours away working fulltime with my own house payments. I could maybe pick up and move closer and rent out my $100 CF, barely break even CF, house :/. This would afford me some experience though..

If he was open to selling, the real estate is essentially in a great spot. Its by a college, it makes a little under 50k a year for him. I have a family member who would maybe even potentially lend me a lot of cash to get a foot in. Up to 200k essentially. But, I don't even know what a house that is giving him that much money a year would be worth. Even if 20k were expenses, a year...which I am sure it's not.. I don't know why he'd ever even consider selling it.  Maybe many many years from now if he gets tired of it, I would maybe have first pick? No idea.. just speculation on my part.

Does anyone see any way this could be mutually beneficial for all of us? I am new to RE and I am not sure being a property manager with no experience is a good move especially when I am just trying to get my own house to work. But, I think the experience and what I could learn from helping him would be priceless.

Side note

My current employer does exist near my possible mentors 4 plex.. so I could *maybe* transfer over there. I would just be stuck driving back to my own house to manage it if I put renters in.