Quote from @Don Konipol:
Quote from @Jensen Escobar:
Good afternoon BP! This is my first post ever here. My post might make you cringe but I am 22 years old, active duty military and I am looking to syndicate someday. At the moment I am learning how to underwrite in order to provide value to someone already in the industry so I can someday get into it myself. Underwriting proved itself to be harder than I thought and I am struggling because I have no structure to my learning or know how to go about it which is why I come to you all. Where is the great place where an average joe like myself can learn how to underwrite deals? I am open to all ideas. Thank you!
Very respectfully,
Jensen Escobar
CCIM Institute offers commercial real estate courses online that provide a base for an analytical approach to real property valuation. Appraisal Institute offers courses in commercial appraisal, which also provides a base. Many community colleges/online colleges offer courses in commercial lending, property valuation, appraisal, etc. while you can learn from numerous sources, the quality of the education provider you choose will be a good indicator of the seriousness of your intent. Many people wanting to engage in commercial property investment don’t want to spend money on education and believe that free or near free YouTube videos, Udemy courses, and “workshops” offered by real estate gurus will provide the education needed. While some people will claim that just that education has led them to great success, closer examination often reveals that either their success was more a matter of luck (a rising market), is overstated ( they bought a lot of property but have little equity and a lot of debt), or they’re outright lying usually because they want you to buy something. I for one believe that the real estate courses I took in graduate school, as well as the courses I took as a requirement for my Brokers license, were FAR MORE VALUABLE than any of the “light weight” instruction disguised as education on social media, guru workshops, or teaser best seller books.
The thing I find most disturbing in all of this is the people who pay $40,000 to a guru teaching one “technique” for real property “riches” when they could have spent much less on an entire program at a well known educational institution and been provided a world class education of all aspects of real estate investment, finance, and development, which would have provided a basis for a successful career in many aspects of our industry. Yeah, you could probably be somewhat successful in residential real estate field with just a surface education. But commercial property is a different animal completely.
Thank you Don for this info. I actually think this post had a profound impact on the way I've been looking at educating myself in this industry. To your point, commercial real estate is an entirely different animal with its own set of intricacies that require mastery not easily obtained from gurus and self-education.
Jensen, first and foremost, thank you for your service!
I've also been dabbling with the idea of commercial real estate and have found value in a book titled "Best Ever Apartment Syndication Book" by Joe Fairless and I bought a course from Michael Blank which has been very valuable. Both people stress the importance of building a solid foundation prior to transitioning into the industry. As Don has mentioned above this can be accomplished through formal education or by building out a rental portfolio as suggested by both Michael Blank and Joe Fairless. Being that you're in the military, I feel that you're well positioned for either. In my opinion, you can use the VA to pay for formal education in commercial real estate and/or use a VA loan to purchase your first house hack. Maybe could even do both at the same time and see which you like better (Commercial vs. small multi-family). You're still young and taking any amount of action will have tremendous results regardless of which path you take.
Thank you again for your service and I wish you the best of luck on your real estate journey!!! Keep us posted!
