Mentors: Who do they need to be ?

Question

I know one of the keys when starting out in RE Investing and in particular in my case, wholesaling, is to find a mentor/mentors to help aid in the journey and process. My question is does this mentor need to be another wholesaler or does anyone see a problem if the mentor is perhaps a potential end buyer that you have a good relationship with. In my case I do have a friend actually who may fit this role for me and is an end buyer. He does flips and landlords his properties mostly. I'm wanting to learn who other wholesalers have as their mentors as far as what they do and how they help you. Thank you so much !!

Karen Rittenhouse · Answer

@J.j. McGuiganThe best mentor in any area of life is someone who is successfully doing what it is that you want to do.

Danny Randazzo · Answer

I agree with Karen Rittenhouse that you should find a mentor doing something you want to do. A mentor does not have to be a person who helps you on the side either. If you want to wholesale you could get a job with a successful wholesaler in your market or work for free for a few months to learn the business. You could also hire a coach who has been successful actually doing what you want to do to help you build your business faster. Good luck.

Corby Goade · Answer

Sounds like you have a good mentor- I'd definitely work with him and take a smaller commission in exchange for the advice and mentorship. Maybe you develop a sliding scale where you earn more when he assists you less?Something else I want to note- you mention you want to be an RE investor as a wholesaler. Wholesaling is great and you can make good money doing it, but it is not investing. Flipping is not investing. They are both active income and they are jobs- you trade money for time, expertise and effort- which is fine, but it's not investing. Investing is passive income. As you are learning and growing, start analyzing deals that you find as buy and holds for yourself. Once you build up enough capital to keep some of those, do it. The ultimate goal is to have enough passive income to live the way you want to live, right? No one wants to drive for dollars, hang up bandit signs and door knock when they are 75 years old.

J.j. McGuigan · Answer

@Jorge De Jesus My thinking right now is to start off birddoging for my friend. He has agreed to teach me how to look for deals and how to evaluate ARV at least the way he does so on his flips. I figure why not take that on and learn what I can from him and maybe find him a few deals. even if my commission is lower than had I wholesaled, I just figure the learning is worth more in that case. But I'm also open to seeking and finding a mentor who has a successful wholesaling business as well, I just haven't found any yet in my area that I've connected with. Thank you for your input it's brought some things to light in my thinking :)

Mark Sewell · Answer

JJ I think you are on the right track. You want to find somebody that is ahead you on the journey. It is easy to see the ways they can benefit you, but the trick is finding ways that you can help them (other than just a straight cash payment). I have a couple guys that have taken me under their wings and I am going to bring them deals to split to help pay my way. Just looking for ways to serve while I learn.I think for a wholesaler, there is a lot you can learn from your end buyers -- right down to where to close, what contracts to use, how to estimate rehab costs (that are credible), and plenty of things I've not even thought of yet, I am sure.

Jorge De Jesus · Answer

Depends what you are wanting to learn. Do you want to learn how to build a wholesaling business or how to birddog for your friend? Or is the goal to partner once you learn how to bring value?

Jorge De Jesus · Answer

Absolutely correct! Wholesaling is transactional, in the trenches. You can scale and all but look to a set horizon and where you want to be

J.j. McGuigan · Answer

@Mark Sewell Thank you for the encouragement ! I totally agree with you on finding ways to be of service to the end buyer and I believe the sellers in most cases as well. I think if you can add value to an end buyers team or portfolio and definitely their cashflow, you are on the right track. Learning is obviously the main goal for me now so that any deals I bring to the end buyer won't be a waste of time for them. I know that if I'm too eager to make money right away and purposefully or ignorantly look over things just to get to close, I'm not going to doing myself or the wholesaling community any favors by fring end buyers bad deals. I say wholesaling community cause there can be some friction between us and other players in RE when bad deals are brought to end buyers or we step on realtors toes etc....