Maybe you've heard this, “You're too young to get into multifamily real estate; you should go to college; you should just do what everyone else is doing and go get a job. And one day in the future, you're going to be okay.”
We've all heard that too many times, but I'm a 21-year-old real estate investor, and I'm here to tell you, if you want to get started investing in your teens, you can.
I'm going to share my three tips on how you can make that happen.
If you're a teenager, and you're in high school, this is an awesome opportunity for you. Not only do you have time, but you have the ability to go make connections, and connections are your most valuable piece. You're going to be able to use that and get way ahead of everybody else in this space.
You are in the best position possible to get into real estate right now, as a teenager.
Tip Number One
Read the little purple book, Rich Dad Poor Dad. I put this as tip number one because it is so important. It's what got me started; it gets so many people started. This is a mindset piece.
I don't want you to ever say, Oh, I can't do that. I can't afford that. I used to think that way and it held me back. In the book, you're gonna learn to rephrase the question, How could I do that? How could I afford that? It's so important to ask yourself a question and not dictate your life with a statement.
A question opens the mind and statement closes the mind. If you're a teenager right now, you need to embed that in your head. If you can get this right in your teens, you're going to launch ahead toward your goals. You're going to be able to do the things you want in life.
Tip Number Two
Now some people aren't going to like this one, but, learn to love math. I know math isn't fun for most people. That's okay, but that's not a reason not to get good at it. If you want to get into real estate, get good at the math.
Math allows you to tell a story. You're going to be building a story as you're getting started, especially when you're a teenager. I got started when I was in my teens with no money, I had no family connections. I started out with the Rich Dad Poor Dad book. The math allowed me to tell a story on a property.
Let's say you find an amazing apartment building, let's say it's 10 units, or 20 units. The only math you really need to know and master is income less expenses equals cash flow. If you can master the income less expenses equals cash flow, you're already ahead of most people out there.
The math is incredibly simple. So you don't need to be a nuclear physicist, and you don't have to be super good at calculus, it's really not that complicated. If you can just get this one equation, income less expenses equals cash flow, you're going to absolutely rock this.
Just focus 20 or 30 minutes a day, or even just an hour a week, it's not going to be super complicated. The reason you can absolutely crush this as a teenager is, you've got time, you may not have to have a job right now other than doing your best in school, and meeting friends making those connections, those friends are going to be there for you in the future if you keep them around.
So just work your connections, work your hardest at completing school, do your best to be there through high school, make sure you get that high school degree. And then get good at the math.
Tip Number Three
This is really one of the most important pieces. Talk to everybody. Now this is coming from the biggest introvert ever. When I was growing up, I was afraid to go talk with the cashier at McDonald's. I was afraid to go ask for chicken nuggets and hand them a couple dollars, because I wasn't comfortable talking to people.
So, I know where you're coming from. If you're an introvert and you're in high school, you don't like talking to people. That's perfectly fine; I've been there. But that's not a reason not to do it.
It's not gonna happen overnight. It may, but it didn't for me. Work on talking with everybody that you know. There's a rule of six degrees, and if you haven't heard this one before, try and committing it to your memory. The saying is, within six degrees, you know every single person on the planet.
Now think about your friends, think about your family, the people that you know, your teachers, the students around you, everybody that you know is your first degree. Everybody that they know that you don't know is this second degree and so on.
Within six degrees, you know every single person on the planet, I think that's powerful. You're within six potential connections to any person you could ever want to meet.
Yes, it is scary to jump into real estate. It's also scary to talk to people if you haven't done it before. But, talk to everybody. Even though it's scary.
If you’re a teenager who wants to start investing in multifamily, right now is an awesome opportunity for you. You have time, and the ability to make connections, and you can use that to get way ahead of everyone else your age.
Now, start investing in your education. You don’t have to spend a whole lot of money, maybe 10 bucks on a book here or there.
But today, you can start without spending any money. I created a course that explains the fundamentals of multifamily investing that you can enroll in for free right now.
Enroll in my Apartments 101 Masterclass by clicking the link below.