Quote from @Masashi Borges-Silva:
@Evan Alexakos, I am impressed that you have saved $20k while in college. I think I was $20k in student loan debt when I was your age. I agree with @V.G Jason. You are ahead of your peers, and the fact that you are here to ask questions, you still have a chance to be successful in real estate. I used to frustrate myself for slow progress at the beginning because I wanted to have the feeling of making progress. I didn't feel like saving $ was quick enough for me to feel the progress.
I want to know the goal of "buying a property next year." What are you hoping to achieve with real estate income? Maybe passive income with financial freedom. Are you perhaps building wealth and taking care of your family? Also, how soon are you hoping to achieve these goals? In 3 years or ten years? It will give you different paths and options depending on what you want and how soon you want.
You might not like this suggestion, but if I were you, I would recommend reading books. I think the perfect book that I can recommend for you to read is by Scott Trench. In the book, he talks about building a plan for your life, and the first step he recommends is to save money. How much money, did you say? $25,000. :) ($5000 more to save!) I think this book will guide you in real estate investing and help you explore different opportunities and options you may not have heard of.
Another suggestion is to search for a meetup in your area. Just meeting with other people with the same mindset will help you excel so much faster, and you might be able to build a stronger relationship in person. If you don't see any in your area, maybe consider creating one. I started my bi-weekly networking event this summer, and usually, no one shows up. But, occasionally, one or two people show up and are so grateful for setting up a meeting. You will have instant credibility for setting up a meetup because others out there are in the same situation as you. They don't see a meetup in their area and get discouraged. I was afraid of setting up a meetup, but it was just all in my head doing negative self-talk, and I am happy that the people who showed up are supportive!
Good luck, and let me know what you think about the book or a meetup idea. I'd be happy to help you in any way I can! :)
Masashi, I've very happy that you shared your initial experiences of real-estate with me. It helps a lot to know what other people have felt (and learned) along the way so thank you for sharing that information. :)
My goal is to create a secondary source of income that could (if the case every arrived) replace a job; that said, this is less out of necessity and more for financial peace of mind. The objectives are to: 1. create a secondary source of income in a year, 2. expand the secondary source of income to match a yearly salary at minimum wage within 2 years, and 3. create a livable wage through real-estate within 4-5 years!
Truthfully, I don't feel confident in setting up a meet-up around real-estate due to how little I truly know but I would welcome any advice on doing so! In the meantime, I'll add Set for Life by Scott Trench to the reading list. :)
