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The Education of the Real Estate Investor - Final Comments
Personal Coaching/Mentoring
One of the single most valuable pieces of education you can get as an investor is to work one-on-one with someone who is more experienced than you. Someone who has been there, done that. This can often be arranged for a fee. However, do not expect this to be inexpensive, remember, you are paying for someone’s time and years of experience. Either way, you can get the following benefits:
- Education from someone who has had both successes and failures
- Education in a one on one environment
- A chance to voice your own goals and interests
- A way to get all of your questions answered
- A way to learn at your own pace
Naturally, a coach or a mentor needs to be qualified to give you the most benefit so you need to choose carefully. The confidence that a coach or mentor gives you can be tremendous, because as you grow your business, you have a sort of partner (at least in mind or spirit) who can guide you through your early development. Some seminar programs offer these types of mentors and others can be found through networking locally. I highly recommend this tool and have met many successful investors who have benefited from it so please take my advice to heart, because this one piece of advice could potentially shorten your learning curve and enhance your initial chances for success as a real estate investor better than any other training tool available.
Experience (aka the School of Hard Knocks)
Some investors adamantly argue that this form of education is second to none but I don’t think it’s a prerequisite to quickly becoming your local real estate investing guru. I’ll be the first to admit that experience is a necessary part of an investor’s so-called curriculum. After all, what good is the rest of an educational package if it is not put to use in the real world? Experience based education is certainly valuable in its own right and can be a mixture of both good and bad experiences such as the following:
- Facing litigation
- Having to go to court to evict a tenant
- Having tenants trash a property before they move out
- Losing an escrow deposit
- Taking a loss on a property that ended up being a money pit
I could go on and on and I think you get the idea here. Experience can make us wise to what happens down the road and, in the absence of some background education, can also be quite painful and expensive. Experience can and should be considered a beneficial supplement to some other forms of training, the type of training that can help you avoid certain key pitfalls in the first place. Using a well-rounded mix of education is perhaps the most valuable thing you can do and it perhaps will keep you from blindly accepting what comes your way as ‘just a part of the learning process.’
Experience is something that all investors gain over time and I’ve always found it helpful to gain from the experiences of others before embarking on something new myself. Teachers who are willing to share both their knowledge and their past experiences (good and bad) are abundant in the world of real estate so why not take advantage of this before having to experience all the ups and downs yourself like you were the first person who ever tried it. Take my word for it; there is no substitute for experience in this business. You just don’t have to experience all the possible mistakes and poor decisions yourself to learn from them. We’ve all made mistakes and we’ve all made bad decisions, and anyone who has been in this business for a while, as I have will certainly attest to that. Learn from this, learn from the experiences of others, and your own educational journey will be a smoother path to success in real estate investing.
The bottom line is this. Education is not just a hot topic for the news media and for politicians. It is an essential part of being successful in any kind of business. Just to remind you, you don’t need a traditional education (be it a business degree, MBA, etc.) to be a success in this business. Numerous studies have shown that traditional education, despite what benefits it offers and value it may have, is anything but a solid indicator of future financial success.
I am dedicated to helping others learn real estate investing. You just can’t beat working one on one with someone who can take you through a deal step by step, guiding and assisting you the whole way. That type of learning is invaluable and will be an investment for ALL your future deals. If you would like to learn more about my mentoring groups, please go to:
http://www.ultimaterealestateinvestors.com/membershipsignup/membership-levels/
Huge opportunities await you!
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3 Responses to “The Education of the Real Estate Investor - Final Comments”
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Recommend an interesting business documentary about stories of the most successful Realtor - wwwThe YES Movie by Louis Lautman ”Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
Mentoring is the best way to learn real estate investing. I read every book I could get my hands on, but I wasn’t able to take action until I found a mentor.
I agree. Trial and error or the school of hard knocks is the least effective way to learn. Go find someone who has done it right and learn from them.
Great article.