Originally posted by Steve Babiak:
Whenever you choose to go for your first time, that one is free. I can send a guest pass by US postal mail if you think you need one, PM if you want one ...
I've been trying to find the date for the guest speaker you mentioned on their calendar but haven't had any luck. Is it listed on there anywhere?
Originally posted by Tim Wieneke:
Ok, looking at this - what attracted you to real estate appears to be a professional career path. Are you sure you want to be a real estate investor or a real estate professional? There is a difference and I do both. As a real estate investor I am an active landlord. As a part time / contract insurance adjuster, I'm a consultant when there is damage to a building. Being a professional pays great cash and has great perks like lunch at Wildfire yesterday courtesy of a client, but no equity. Being an investor pays little cash for a long time (flipping is a profession, you're a salesman not an investor - I did that too) and you don't get any corporate perks - but it builds up your equity and frees up your time.
In all honesty looking at your situation, you're getting a good degree and you were inspired into this from a corporate professional. You don't want to buy too much locally so that you are faced with a dilemma if you get the professional offer you want out of town.
Having, like you, a dad with success in real estate and being 10 years older than you now and having experienced what I have....I'd focus on getting the degree and call dad and see if I could work for him. The education, contacts and flat out honesty dad will give you will be much better to you in the long run. Dads don't have to be politically correct and can tell you when you suck at something. The quicker you know what's holding you back the better.
While you are in college I don't think it would be at all wrong to do a deal here or there to put on the resume - but not too many so that it distracts you from your real mission at hand. I don't know about Philadelphia....seems like a rough town. Do you have your own transportation and can go to a smaller town maybe 30 minutes to an hour outside of Philly? Look for a little single family there you can pick up for under 10 grand in a halfway decent neighborhood. Bribe your college buddies with beer to help you repaint it. Clean the carpets. Tenant the property. Immediately find a realtor who deals with a lot of out of town landlords. List it with that realtor for 20-30k, whatever it takes to move the property FAST and sell it as a turnkey package. Even if you make just 5k on the deal, do it. What you're after is not your retirement here but little base hits to keep you going and look good on your resume when you hit the professional world. Besides, if you can hit the numbers I'm talking about you're talking about a near 30% ROI. That looks pretty darned impressive if you're applying for a corporate position in real estate acquisitions and analysis. Go for it. Keep it very simple because you have a lot on your plate now with the degree, but simple can be profitable.
Tim
You make a lot of excellent points haha, I definitely don't want to get tied up in this area and stuck when a good job offer comes up... I had no idea you can find nearly livable properties for only $10k these days. I always figured anything in that price range would require a lot of construction knowledge to rehab (I have zero construction skills, although I have painted a couple houses). I would love to have a project like that to work on, especially since the alternative while I'm in school would probably be another part-time job at Best Buy or something :roll:
I actually live about 30 minutes outside philly, I just always list the city as my location because no one has heard of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania :wink: I'll have to ask around and see if anyone knows any decent neighborhoods with properties in that price range around here.
Are there usually any extra inspections or permits needed for that type of deal? I just worry about ending up with something that needs work beyond my skill level (i.e. anything more than painting, cleaning and yardwork), at which point I'd have to hire a professional and probably end up only losing money...
