All Forum Posts by: Brooks McCarvel

I don't want to discourage you from pursuing a graduate degree and a promotion but if you have a passion for entrepreneurship I would encourage you to lean into that instead. I have a graduate accounting degree and I was very aggressive at work at the beginning of my career and it has paid off but looking back and being honest with my self, I have spent 10 years building this career and I can't wait to leave it lol and if I had started investing and working on my passion full time or more seriously even 5 years ago I would be a much better spot than I am now. If you know you're an entrepreneur at heart don't invest too much on your w2. But if you do pick wisely and strategically. As boring as accounting sounds, I think it's a great degree so check that out if you want to go that route. It's very marketable (you can do audit, taxes, bookeping, financial work, consulting etc) for when you do need to be employed and it can also transfer to self employment/contract work if you need cash here and there. 

I know plenty of people with fancy degrees who fail as a real estate investors which is why practical experience trumps any degree. The most difficult part of transitioning to real estate full time is covering living expenses after leaving a W2 job. You can save up before you make the transition, but usually that money has to be used in the real estate business. Therefore one of the most undervalued skills is the ability to continue to earn income independent of the real estate performance as you scale until the real estate alone becomes sustainable. Keep in mind, very few ever reach the point where their real estate alone is sustainable.

If you pursue a degree, select one that provides the skills that allow you to earn a revenue stream once you leave your W2. I understand you want to begin a property management company but that's a difficult business which requires scale to achieve meaningful profits. Construction management (ability to self perform construction) is the easiest way to earn revenues on day one. Advisory services (tax, law, brokerage) are also avenues. While these advisory services are required as part of the day to day, self performing those and diverting that as income is not going to be significant enough to help cover living expenses early on unless you are jumping into large projects. That's why most who I observe get off to a quick start are those with construction backgrounds. Consider a construction management degree, although I would imagine the field experience will still be your best source of knowledge

@Brooks McCarvel The courses that I took in college that were the most useful to me throughout my 30 years of entrepreneurship were my real estate courses.

When I was taking them from the University of North Texas I was hell bent on transferring to a school far far away from my hometown.

If I had stayed at UNT I would likely have majored in real estate and gone down a different path.

As it was those real estate courses got me interested in the field and provided me a foundation of knowledge to support a real estate investing career in my early twenties (which I ended up quitting and is my one life regret) and my current real estate investing career that started 5 years ago.

If it exists I’d recommend some sort of business degree that has a real estate connection. Even if your career never leads you to being an agent it will provide you with the basis you need to pursue your thoughts of having a property management career.

As far as investing in the short term I feel investing close to home (50 mile radius) is the best option because you have a superior advantage by knowing your market. I think if you already have a good base knowledge of your market it makes it that much easier to become an expert on your market which will ultimately give you a huge competitive advantage.

OP  First do several deal analysis even before you look for a property.  Forget what you want to do down the road.  Its a step by step process you have to work your way through.  

The reason I said Aquaculture is because of your biology degree, pilot (familiar with airports) and entrepreneur.  I always like to have an unfair advantage.  If you do housing, your just another investor.