Growing up, I never thought I would become a realtor. The truth is, I never even thought it was even a job. Real estate wasn’t my first passion, and it’s not even something I initially loved.
Most people picture real estate agents as ultimate successes, a dream job where you make millions of dollars, drive exotic cars, and show multi-million dollar homes.
For those on the inside, you know it is far from it. It is a highly competitive business with tons of stress and heartache.
So why did I decide to make a career change into real estate? In this video, I will go over what life events lead me to dedicate my life to real estate.
Buying My First Home
Soon after graduating high school, I went off to pursue my first passion, cars. I went to a trade school and completed an automotive technician training program. I quickly settled into a career in the automotive industry, repairing cars.
Growing up, I thought the goal was to get a job, a house, a car, and live happily ever after. In 2011, at the age of 26, I bought my first home with an FHA mortgage and 3% down. It is still the same home I live in today.
I remember how apprehensive I was when I was first looking for our first home. I didn’t know what I was looking at, who to talk to, the process, nothing. There was new vocabulary I had to become accustomed to and talking to attorneys. Not to mention I was making the most significant financial commitment of my life.
Buying A home to call your own is a huge transition in life, and it is intimidating to first-time home buyers. But for my wife and I, we feel the stress was well worth it. Holding the keys to your first home is hard to explain. Most remember it for the rest of their lives. I know my wife and I still talk about it to this day.
I remember the events leading up to the closing; we remember walking in the home the first time, the negotiation, the timeline, and the stressful closing. Going through the home buying process myself, taught me how to understand buyers better. Buying is stressful.
Our home purchase was my first experience with real estate transactions. I didn’t consider the real estate industry as a career, which came much later. Buying my first home introduced me to the real estate transaction process. The process of buying a home and becoming a homeowner served me well for the career change.
Investing For Our Future
Shortly after buying our first home, I also changed employers. I was in search of more opportunities and higher wages. I was lucky enough to quickly find another option soon where I had a chance to grow. I found it but with one caveat, no pension and no union.
After talking it over with my wife, I decided to take on the new job to create more significant opportunities. I decided to take on and learn about retirement saving since I was no longer would be dependent on a pension.
I read a few books about retirement saving strategies and investing. One book in particular that stood out was Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. The author describes the differences in assets and liabilities and why your home was not an asset.
Your home is not an asset is still controversial today, but the idea drew me in, and I kept learning. Robert Kiyosaki explains how he earns passive income primarily from business and rental properties. This book was the single reason I decided to invest in real estate for retirement. Kiyosaki and others talk highly of real estate because of its flexibility and creative ways to generate income.
I felt the easiest, most secure way to invest for retirement would be to start investing in real estate. My wife and I saved three years to purchase a rental property; we took a leap of faith and bought our first multi-unit in 2014. It was an old home that needed a lot of work, but it was our first rental property. We learned a lot.
Real Estate once again showed up to fulfill our needs. Three years after marriage, real estate had sheltered us with our home and a rental property to secure retirement income.
Looking For Alternative Income
After purchasing our first rental, we had a lot of things to learn. We learned how to manage tenants, leases, repairs, etc. To make our first investment, I decided further to pursue real estate education and rental management education. I read online that the best way to learn about real estate investing was to be around other successful real estate investors.
There is a lot of GURU late-night real estate information and boot camp programs. I never attended any of those. They all just seemed like a pitch fest for more expensive programs. Instead, I looked online and found a non for profit real estate investor association in the Chicagoland area. The group meets once a month, and it was direct experience sharing and education.
I meet other real estate investors with years of experience and dozens of rentals. At first, our goal was to own only a few, but meeting other local investors opened my mind to the possibility of many more.
I originally joined the real estate investing association in learning how to manage one rental property. I quickly found much more going on in those meetings than just business deals; it was about building relationships and learning from other investors.
I quickly learned how many of the real estate investors were making money and supplementing their income. Some investors were flipping real estate, others were buying and holding.
Being around that group opened up my mind to the possibilities and quickly made me desire more than just one rental property. I joined the board of directors at the real estate investing association and found ways to purchase more real estate.
Finding A Passion For Real Estate
I originally joined the real estate investing association to learn. I found out there were many ways to invest in real estate. Some real estate investors were flipping properties, note investing, and holding rental properties. Most Importantly, it was not a flat-out pitch fest. It was more about learning than about selling.
I spend hours trying my best to understand the business to increase the number of rentals I owned. I then found out about wholesaling and decided it would be a great way to purchase more real estate.
I went on YouTube, searches for how to find a good deal to sell quickly with no money down or maintenance costs. I also researched what other people were doing to do better – learn from their mistakes. My goal was to continue my full-time job and invest in rental real estate on the side.
I had some success with wholesaling and purchased a few properties. I learn on my own how to write a contract and buy a home without the help of a real estate agent. Looking back now, I was lucky enough not to make any significant mistakes.
This period of my real estate career was very beneficial in understanding the process of buying homes and estimating repair costs. A skill I would later further developed.
Building A Business
In 2018 I decided to become a licensed Illinois real estate broker. Friends and family would ask me to tag along on home showings to get my suggestion and opinions of homes they were viewing. After a few showing with multiple friends, I decided to get paid for it by representing them in the purchase or sale of their home. The five years I invested in real estate laid the foundation for my real estate agent career.
At the same time, I also decided to change my marketing plan from buying homes to helping to buy, sell, and invest in homes. Ryan and I are good friends that both belief in the power of real estate. It’s simple, forever in demand, and the foundation of generation wealth.
Becoming a real estate agent has also lead me to developed skills to market myself. I have learned a ton about business just from becoming real estate agents.
After experiencing the real estate market first hand by buying houses, it was pretty easy to see why I became so passionate about homes. What started as side biz and retirement saving now was pushing me to develop further.
Our goal is to help people better understand real estate. To learn how to buy it, how to sell it, and how to invest with it.
The more time I spend learning about real estate, the better my understanding of it has become. It’s not just a job or some passion project for me anymore. Instead, it’s what is now one of my biggest passions and careers.
Being A Service To Others
I wish I could tell you that I know everything and I am the most outstanding real estate agent the world has ever known. The truth is I am learning something new about real estate every single day. I’m fortunate because I have the opportunity to work with some of the most amazing people and help them invest their money.
Being a real estate agent is about being willing to serve others, not just your interests. It’s about helping others by giving advice or knowledge you already possess.
It’s About Giving Something Back
I am fully committed to real estate as a career. I am committed to learning everything that I can and staying current on all the latest trends, techniques, and strategies in this field.
I have always been passionate about home design and architecture, so working for myself has allowed me to experience some of the most impressive homes out there!
My goal is to provide the same high level of service I would want for myself. The world needs real estate agents more than ever before, and I am committed to being one of those people who helps play an active role in creating change where it’s needed most.
The only reason we strive to provide the videos and content on our blog is our Future. We believe that it’s essential to teach others about the power of real estate. We also believe now more than ever that homeownership is the cornerstone of the American dream.
Our Future
I’m not sure what comes next, so this is as far as I can go. What I’m sure of is real estate will be my new priority. We are still investing in real estate and plan to help others accomplish the dream of homeownership.
There is a new player in the industry, such as Zillow and Redfin. Some believe this is the beginning of the end for real estate agents. But I think it is a chance for agents to rethink the way they operate. We want to be the trusted source for your real estate needs. We want to share our experiences, our failures, and our victories.
No one knows what lies ahead for any of us. What we are sure of is our commitment to homeownership and each other and real estate. We hope you follow us along on our journey in the real estate industry.
