New Investor Looking to House Hack

[Forrest Jacobs]

Hi everyone! I am an 18 year old aspiring investor looking to house hack by 21. I have followed lots of BiggerPockets advice (working a W-2, building my credit, reading every book out there + listening to all newbie podcasts) but feel like I am stuck. I will not be able to invest and start my first house hack for two years. In that time span I would like to build up my network and team to start investing with, but do not know where to start. I currently live in Kansas City and will be moving to New Orleans in August to start my freshman year at Tulane University. If anyone has some advice on networking within NOLA, it would be a huge help! 

Thanks

[Arlen Chou]

@Forrest Jacobs that is great you are making these moves already. Are you planning on investing in New Orleans area or back in Kansas City? The highest barrier to entry for you will be getting a loan. You are making the right moves in having a W2, but that might get harder as a full-time student at Tulane. I would suggest that you make the rounds at the local real estate agencies and see if you can get a job as an admin. You will be able to keep a W2 and also be exposed to real estate, basically a 2 for 1 deal! Start building up a relationship with a small local bank. With smaller institutions, you will have a better chance of getting better service if you have funds already with them. Get on to meetup.com and look for local real estate meetups. Make yourself valuable to the host and help with signups, etc. Over a 2 year period if you are consistently attending you will eventually become a "regular" and a person that newbies will gravitate towards. Just keep things in perspective, you are really young so you have a ton of time to make it big. Don't get discouraged if things don't move as fast as you feel they should. 

Good luck!

-Arlen