854. A Day in the Life: What's It Really Like to Be a Real Estate Entrepreneur?

I was a successful certified financial planner and advisor in the mutual funds industry for 15 years, when in 2007 I was introduced to the real estate market by way of the Robert Kiyosaki course on real estate investing. It was an extensive course: every quarter we’d spend long weekends in several different cities throughout Canada and the U.S., and I just loved it. My absolute favorite class was creative financing and that’s where I learned about buying real estate with other people’s money that people would invest with you. It turned out to be a really good fit with my background as a financial advisor, and so I transitioned over the next few years into advising people on real estate investments instead of mutual funds. And then it transferred over into coaching people through the whole purchase cycle. So we have sold very little real estate. We mostly buy for the long-term and hold. My all-time favorite part of the real estate business was that the tenants pay off our mortgage. And when I really wrapped my head around that idea, I couldn’t sell mutual funds anymore.

To those individuals who think they might like to work in the real estate industry I have a few thoughts I’d like to share:

1. My main advice is to get around people who are doing what you think you might like to do because you might be surprised after you follow somebody around for a day, you might say, “Now that doesn’t interest me at all, or you might say, wow, I had no idea. I would love to do that all day!”

2. I find that people who thrive in the real estate business have a real passion for it—all aspects of it—from a fascination with the properties themselves, to the process of working with clients to find their dream home, to the various aspects of the financial side.

3. Research the company you want to join as much as humanly possible! The educational components of becoming a realtor are pretty straightforward: you learn the basics of the business, take the licensing exam and you are good to go. In my experience, the first major key decision is deciding which real estate company you want to join that will invest the time and resources into training you.

4. Be clear on the difference between selling real estate as a realtor and owning real estate as an investor: Instead of selling one property to one person, you could potentially sell many properties to one person!

5. Understanding the cap rate, the value of property, the tenant profiles in different areas are aspects of the commercial side of the business. This side of the industry involves more training, but today there are ample courses out there online and in person that are readily available.