All Forum Posts by: Micah Cook

I've noticed a lot of people talking about Amazon FBA recently. I have done FBA and real estate and I would choose real estate over FBA every time. I did FBA just to see if you could actually make money. While you can make money doing it, I found it hard to enjoy doing it when I felt like Amazon was not on my side. There are many rules and they have the power to shut down your account at any time. I think real estate is much better in the long run and it is what I enjoy doing. I'd much rather have a large real estate portfolio that I can control than to sell a bunch of different products on a platform I have no control over. 

REI takes a lot of money and a lot of work. If you are doing this alone, I would advise against purchasing your first home and then studying abroad for a year. I did my first flip a few years ago as a sophomore in college. I was going to the house, going to the home improvement store, and putting out fires multiple times every week. Unexpected costs are just part of the business and over time you will learn what took look for to limit them. For your first house, I think it would be extremely stressful to try balancing being a full-time student and rehabbing a property while being out of the country.

Hope this helps

I would highly recommend reading through BP forums and listening to the podcasts. I am a senior college and have flipped a few houses. I was able to get started by investing with an experienced investor that served as a mentor for me. There are so many ways to invest in real estate and there is no one "right" way. I know that many people get started by house hacking. 

Feel free to message me if you have any questions!

My mother has been a real estate appraiser for 10+ years. I've heard many stories of homeowners trying to postpone an appraisal inspection so that they can clean their home. Any good appraiser should be able to see through any dirt or mess and it should not affect the value.

I like to meet my contractor at houses that I'm looking to purchase. We then come up with a general idea of what repairs and updates would need to be done and he gives me an estimate to work with.

You could possibly look at going to a local college, or doing classes online so that you could live at home, save money, and have time to get started in RE while still going for your degree. Getting started in RE is very difficult, especially with little or no capital. Having your degree gives you more options. I went to a big university for a semester before realizing that my time and money was much better spent going to school locally. This allowed me to save up some money to purchase my first flip in 2017. 

I went through a similar period where I felt like I was wasting my time at college for a degree that I didn't need for getting into REI. I went to IU for a semester before transferring to IUSB so I could live at home. If I were you, I would look at my options as far as local colleges that would allow you to live at home while costing much less.

I would advise against dropping out of college to try and start REI. Getting into investing is very hard and takes a lot of time. It's important to do as much learning as you can.

Feel free to message me if you want to hear more about how I got started.

@Ethan Dykstra I am 21 and still in college but I was able to start when I was 19. I transferred to a local college so that I would be able to get involved with real estate investing. For me, it was extremely helpful to find a local investor that was willing to let me tag along to the houses he was flipping. This gave me some firsthand experience on what it's like on a daily basis. Eventually when I had enough saved, he allowed me to invest into a property with him. It worked out really well because with me investing some of my own money, it put pressure on me to work hard and gave me motivation each day, but by investing with a seasoned investor, I had a safety net and someone to go to with questions. 

I think it's a great way for someone with little money and experience to get involved and learn the process.

Hope this helps!

@Rishab Mehta Listening to the podcasts and browsing the forums is a great place to start!

@Shawn McGarity it is absolutely worth it to spend time finding a good and reliable contractor. A bad contractor ends up being much more expensive and can cause so many headaches. On my first flip, the contractors ended up taking twice as long as their estimate and I also had to go back and pay for things to be redone. My advice would be to use someone that can show you some of their previous work. It's a very good sign when a contractor is enthusiastic about showing you some of the work they've done for others, as this shows that hey take pride in what they do and take it seriously. Good luck!