How to Find a Mentor for Real Estate Investing
A real estate investing mentor is a valuable resource and relationship that can help you accelerate your real estate investing goals. A seasoned investor provides insight through coaching, expertise from previous experience, and can help you build wealth. Just as top athletes and business people have mentors, a real estate mentor will help you to grow and refine your instincts and skills.
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What Is a Real Estate Mentor?
When investing in real estate, you put your personal wealth and reputation on the line for greater gain. While real estate investing can be highly profitable for a new investor, mistakes and lack of experience can lead to losses or missed opportunities.
A real estate mentor will gradually become a guide who helps you avoid the pitfalls of real estate investing while encouraging you to build long-term wealth and a large real estate investment portfolio.
A real estate mentor is a teacher, guide, and friend. They can push your boundaries and help you grow; however, mentorship is not a one-way street. A real estate investing mentor is also someone who will learn from you. A great mentor-mentee relationship is a win-win relationship.
When deciding who you want your real estate mentor to be, look for someone who has years of experience in real estate investing. You don’t want to be mentored by someone who is learning at the same time as you!
Your real estate investing mentor needs to be willing to teach and skilled at conveying difficult concepts in an easy-to-understand way. They should love to share what they do and be able to convey practical expertise that can be applied to your own projects.
Because so much for real estate investing depends on networking, your real estate mentor should be someone who is well connected. From other investors to the best general contractors, they should be able to guide you and connect you with their network.
Finally, your real estate mentor should be someone who has your best interests in mind. They should want to see you grow and flourish. While they may let you make mistakes as a way to learn, they ultimately will help you to quickly grow your real estate investing expertise.
Identify the Real Estate Mentorship Program You Want
While traditional mentorship is a one-on-one relationship, there are many different ways to get mentorship experience, whether in an individual or group setting. Some people need individual attention, while others thrive in a real estate mentorship program where they can work together in a group..
The most common real estate investor mentorship options are:
- One-on-one mentoring: This type of mentorship involves individualized advice and coaching on each real estate deal. This is the most intensive and personal type of mentorship and can help you dramatically increase your real estate investing skills.
Each one-on-one mentorship relationship is different. Some will grow organically, while others are paid mentorships. If you prefer one-on-one mentorship, start to reach out to real estate investors who share your values or whose business you admire, and start to build the relationship. - Small-Group Setting: Small mentorship groups can be local groups or an online setting like a Facebook group. The advantage of a small group setting is that not only do you connect with your mentor, but you also build relationships with other real estate investors to increase your real estate investing network.
Small mentorship groups can also be paid or free. Consider joining at least one small group for networking, even if you choose another type of mentorship. - Shadowing or Apprenticeships: Shadowing is a great way to learn the ropes on the ground from an experienced investor. They will guide you through their process as you gain confidence and expertise with all aspects of real estate investing.
Apprenticeships are usually free or voluntary, but apprenticeships require a considerable amount of time. To get the most out of an apprenticeship, choose a real estate investor with similar goals whose achievements you aspire to or look into joining their investment as a minority partner.
The mentorship style that is right for you will depend on your goals and past experience. If you have already been networking in the real estate investing community, start to reach out to your contacts to learn about mentorship possibilities. You might also end up with more than one mentor for different types of real estate investing.
What’s Important for You
Identifying what is most important to you will help you select the right mentor. If you are looking to grow quickly and have the time to invest, one-on-one mentorship, which is often paid, is usually the best.
If you are on a shorter timeframe or tight budget, small groups or apprenticeships might fit your current possibilities better.
It’s important to work with someone who shares your values and has qualities that you want to build into your business. They should also have expertise in the area of real estate investing you plan to start investing in, whether that is house flipping, wholesaling, or buy and rent.
Finally, a good real estate mentor will be able to guide you through the entire real estate investing process — from locating good target neighborhoods to tax laws for real estate investors. You want someone who knows the ropes and can guide you based on their experience.
How to Find Real Estate Mentors and Connect With Them
While finding a local real estate mentor can seem daunting, it is also a way to build your real estate investing network. Try to attend local real estate investor networking groups and connect with as many real estate mentors as you can.
At real estate investor meetups and when speaking with other real estate investors, you can ask them how to find a mentor and if they have any recommendations. You will start tapping into resources and new connections that can grow into future real estate mentors.
You can also look up local real estate investors via social media and attend the same networking events. Try to talk to them. There is no need to wait for someone you think would be a good mentor to offer their help — ask them for advice and have your questions ready. Many mentor-mentee relationships grow naturally like this.
While it can be tempting to think you need to have a formalized real estate mentorship, there is no need to ask a mentor to mentor you formally. Keep asking questions, and be open to learning — mentors love to work with receptive people. When you find someone that is open, experienced, and willing to help, you can accept their advice and let the mentorship real estate mentorship evolve.
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Do Your Due Diligence
If you have connected with a potential mentor that you want to learn from, it’s time to do a little due diligence. Start building trust with connections who have similar investment strategies and goals.
However, you should verify that your connections are also good at their job. To verify a real estate mentor’s experience and reliability, ask for referrals and do a background check. Just as you’ll be double-checking every step in the real estate investing process, it’s worth double-checking your real estate investing mentor’s background and experience to help you grow and reach your goals.
Conclusion
Real estate investing without a mentor is possible, but you will learn more and grow faster with the help of a reliable mentor. Mentorship should enrich your understanding while saving you from pitfalls on the way to success.
It is always a good idea to look at why you are investing in real estate, including both short and long-term goals. This will help you to select a like-minded, experienced real estate mentor.
A real estate investing mentor with extensive experience, who is a great teacher and shares similar values, will accelerate growth and real estate investing returns.
Frequently Asked Questions
A real estate investment mentor can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $50,000 or more. The average mentor costs $2,000 to $3,000.
However, you can often build effective mentorship relationships that are unpaid. In this case, the mentor is genuinely interested in helping you grow and is not only doing it for the money. If you want to pay later, you can also offer your mentor a percentage of your profits for a certain number of projects as an incentive for success.
Considering that up to 95% of first-time real estate investors fail, it is worth having a mentor to guide you through the process. A mentor will be able to connect you with their network and share valuable advice throughout the investing process.
Whatever your experience, a mentor can help ensure success and create a beneficial and profitable long-term relationship.
To make sure your goals are aligned with your mentor, consider asking them about their long-term goals within the real estate industry and their investing philosophy. Other questions to ask are:
- How did you identify your investing niche?
- What tips do you wish you had known at the start of your career?
- What resources have been most valuable to you as an investor?
- What is the best learning opportunity you have had in real estate investing?
These questions will help you learn more about your real estate investing mentor and gauge if they will be a good fit for you.
