Patrick Riddle here coming at you with an answer to an interesting question:
“Is it possible to get a local mentor for free? I need a coach, but I cannot afford one right now.”
Okie dokie, lemme tell you a story…
In my first year of investing, I came across a motivated seller who owned her property free and clear. It was a single-family home in pretty good condition (needed $8k in cosmetics) in Mount Pleasant, SC.
The seller wanted to move back home to Virginia to be with family and did NOT want to list her home with a Realtor. We made a low cash offer, and she didn’t accept it at first. But we followed up, and 3 weeks later had a signed contract.
Only problem… we didn’t have the $112k in cash to close the deal. But we knew that if she accepted the offer, it was such as awesome deal, that we would figure out a way to fund it.
Long story short, we got a bit desperate and decided to go door knocking on all the realty and mortgage brokerage offices in the area… and showed the deal to anyone who would listen. Finally, after much persistence, we found Barry. He took one look at the deal and said, “I’m in!” (Thanks, Barry!)
We partnered together on the deal and bought, renovated and sold it in less than 60 days. And doing that deal with Barry was great, but the relationship that we formed was extremely valuable. He became my local mentor.
Barry had been flipping properties for over a decade and was a Realtor and mortgage broker, so he knew the local market inside out. Any time we had a deal that we wanted to pass by him — whether we were looking to partner or just looking for his opinion and feedback) — he would check it out and let us know what he thought.
A few months later, we got another property in Mount Pleasant under contract and thought we struck gold! We were moving quickly toward closing and decided to ask Barry if he’d come take a look at it. He took one step inside the property and said… “NIGHTMARE!” There were structural issues and problems with the stucco, which would cost around $80k to fix.
Whew!
That was a close call. Too close. And clearly demonstrates why having a local mentor is an invaluable asset.
So, you know you need one. How do you get one?
3 steps to finding a local real estate investing mentor
First, I want you to know that you don’t have to do a deal with someone for them to be your local mentor. That’s just how it happened for me.
Step 1 – Determine what qualities you want in a local mentor
Always begin with the end in mind. Take 5 minutes now to write down the ideal qualities your mentor will have.
Step 2 – Where to look
Here are a few good places:
- your local REIA
- foreclosure auctions
- tax sale
- meetup groups related to investing (check out Meetup)
- call investor marketing — bandit signs, newspaper ads, billboards, etc.
Step 3 – Ask, “How can I help you?” & go to work for FREE!
This is the part where most people really screw up. The mindset of the average investor is WIIMF (what’s in it for me?)…
You want to put 100% focus on the other person and see how you can help them.
For example, one of our DDA readers made a great decision to work for free for a couple local active wholesalers in their biz. He understood the incredible value he would receive working side-by-side investors doing exactly what he wanted to learn… even if he wasn’t compensated monetarily.
Fast forward a bit and that same reader locked up $970k in private money in 26 days… and then I helped him put together an $8M-package deal that cash flows $16,000/mo.
BOOM!
Hmmm… do you think it was worth it for him to “work for free” for his local mentor to learn the biz?
Uh, yeah, I’d say so.
So, how’s about you start networking for a helpful mentor today. You’ll be glad you did.