I understand there are a lot of older folk on this sub, people who have entrepreneurs longer than I’ve been alive. (18M)

I’ve been noticing a cycle where many entrepreneurs just jump from startup to startup for years and never get anywhere significant. My dad was one such example.

I remember him remarking that he’d probably be a millionaire by now if he just put all of that effort into real estate investing.

My current actionable steps which I’ve been taking have been to learn as many high value skills as possible and meet other highly capable individuals to network with. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.

Most kids my age who want to be rich normally just get trapped into some Tate like multi-level marketing scheme, whereas I’m taking a much longer term approach to it. Although I admit I’ve fallen for that stuff in the past.

By startup, I mean a totally new idea.

So my question is: Should I just forget startups and put my efforts into real estate? If you were in my situation with what you know, what would you do?

For a brief idea of what I’m thinking for real estate: Get an degree majoring in accounting and minoring in real estate. Continue to level up my financial literacy. Move to an economically expanding area such as Texas or Florida, and more specifically the suburbs of a large city. Work for a real estate investing company so I can understand the backend structure of how they invest and manage their properties. Possibly try to work for my wrestling coach for free who is already a mid level real estate investor. Join real estate clubs. Get my license so I can save on commissions and don’t need an agent to access MLS. Utilize programs such as the USDA loan program or FHA loan program. More specifically use the FHA loan program to get a 3.5% down payment on a multifamily property that I would then house hack.

Of course I know that real estate investing will have a set of challenges in its own right.

  • ContributionSuch2655@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    You weren’t around in 2008. Plenty of people absolutely lost their ass in real estate. Ruined a lot of lives. I hold a lot of real estate and am consistently bullish on it but it isn’t just as easy as it feels like you’re suggesting. There are plenty of people on social media spewing absolute bullshit about how much they’re making in real estate and I can guarantee that 98% of it is total bullshit.

    Real estate is a slow build and there are a ton of smart people in it so it’s pretty competitive. I’ve always held a steady job and then done real estate with the extra money I have. We’re almost at a point of the real estate regenerating so the job would be less critical.

    I do home mortgages as a job and I see plenty of late twenty’s people with $200k+ jobs in tech. If it was me and I had their skills I’d live cheap, and just use that nice salary to build a rental portfolio. By the time you’re 40 you could easily be cash flowing enough off rentals that you could retire if you do it right. But the interesting thing about intelligence related work (as opposed to physical work) is that as you get older your effort and time contribution to work goes down but your pay goes up. You may hit 40 and have a nice rental portfolio going but also be making $300k in a nice comfy job.

    I guess what I’m saying is, can you do both?

    EDIT: you were around in 2008 but not old enough to register the fuckery.