Just closed on first investment! Three duplexes!

[Ryan Tongue]

Hi all!

I made my first post on BP 9 months ago. It was basically a plea for help. I knew I wanted to invest in RE, but at 22 while in college there were a few obstacles in my way. I was looking to BP for any sort of guidance -- I found it!

In the last 9 months, I formed a 3-person partnership, found a rockstar agent and through him a great lender, insurance provider, and so on. We fell in and out of a deal for a single duplex in the spring, but kept searching. I'm proud to say that we landed in what I believe to be a better deal: three duplexes from a single seller in a West Michigan location that we are very happy with. 

I'm sending out another plea! I graduate from the University of Utah in the spring with a mechanical engineering degree. I'd like to pursue sales, and for a while I thought I'd be looking in the tech industry. With how much I've learned over the last few months with these investments, I'm now thinking I might want to lean into real estate in some form or another after graduating. I'm particularly interested in the commercial space. If there's anyone who sees this that would be willing to hop on a quick 10-minute call to talk about possible career paths in real estate, I'd really appreciate it. I want to hear your stories! Message me on BP and we can set something up.

Original BP post (check it out to see how much of a dream this was for me 9 months ago): https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/55/topics/1162005-first...

Best, Ryan

On a side note, if anyone's looking for a young, motivated, and incredibly knowledgeable agent in Grand Rapids and the surrounding areas, let me know and I'd be happy to connect you.

 

[Alecia Loveless]

@Ryan Tongue While there’s lots of opportunities in real estate/commercial real estate I’d sit down and brainstorm with a list of the pros and cons of immediately jumping into the real estate industry as opposed to pursuing a job with your engineering degree.

If you want to build up a portfolio quickly the income you can get with an engineering job might be a great starting out point with W-2 income for more down payments and purchases.

There’s also probably real estate careers where you could use some of your background. Surveying comes to mind, or development where you’d have use of your knowledge of mechanics and plans and such.

I’m not well versed in engineering but would think if you try hard you could combine the two and make yourself a niche market that you’re uniquely suited for and could benefit you financially.