The Key To Real Estate Investing Success — and 8 Ways To Find It

January 2, 2025

Real estate investing can be one of the most lucrative ways to build wealth, once you find your footing and begin to make the deals that go big. However, getting started can be daunting.

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Where do you start? How do you know what to do? The answer lies in getting a mentor who has been there before and can help you troubleshoot.

“Having a real estate investing mentor is valuable for real estate investors of all experience levels, but it is especially beneficial for beginning investors,” according to Adam Hamilton, CEO of REI Hub.

Hamilton pointed out that with all that goes into it, it can be confusing in ways beginners have no experience with.

“An investing mentor can act as your guide to investing in real estate, helping you with everything from knowing how to identify good potential properties to understanding what owning and managing them actually entails,” he said.

Hamilton and other experts explained why you need a mentor and how to find one.

Hamilton said it’s easy for newbies to believe in real estate myths, such as that investing in “fixer-upper” properties is a great deal when it’s actually very tricky. Sometimes they offer great opportunities, and sometimes they are financial holes that cost you more money than you can ever make off of them, and good mentors will help determine which is which.

A mentor can help you avoid making these mistakes or wasting time and money.

While not everyone may be able to find or afford working with a mentor, Holden Andrews, a real estate investor and representative of Helpful Home Group, said there is a lot of knowledge available through YouTube such as Bigger Pockets, Pace Morby, Jerry Norton, Ben Mallah, Tom Cruz, and other real estate influencers.

However, a mentor offers insights that go beyond books or seminars, providing “real-world strategies that shorten the learning curve and empower you to make confident, informed decisions,” according to Brett Johnson, a real estate investor, real estate agent and owner of New Era Home Buyers.

While internet-based mentors are great for the general, a real mentor is invaluable for when you have a specific question. Andrews has two “go-to” mentors he turns to: a family friend who is a real estate developer in Portland, Oregon, with a portfolio of around $100 million in apartment buildings and a person who used real estate to fund his retirement in California.

“When you need advice they can give you a better opinion based on their experience applied to your situation. The struggle that I find is trying not to waste their time,” he said. He tries to only ask them essential questions because he finds their knowledge “invaluable.”

Not having a mentor can also cost you money, Andrews explained.

Without guidance, investing “is a bunch of guessing and hoping that what you’re doing is going to be correct, and if it’s not right it can cost you thousands,” he said. He gave an example of when he and his partner brought on a property management company they didn’t vet properly and they wound up having to evict tenants for non-payment and pay money to fix damage the tenants left.

“After talking to my mentor they recommended screening both property managers and having a bigger say in screening tenants so we don’t go through this again.”

Ryan Dossey, co-founder of Sold Fast, believes in “paying to shorten my learning curve” via courses and real estate communities. He looks for people who are “uniquely skilled in their vertical and already doing what I want to be doing.”

Dossey said it’s important to have someone unbiased with whom you can bounce scenarios around.

“A contractor that wants to bid [on] your house isn’t likely to give you honest feedback…. A real estate agent trying to get a listing might overpromise on what he can sell the place for. I believe in seeking wise counsel whether it’s free connections I’ve made locally or coaches I’ve hired.”

Just be careful of scammy “upsell” techniques, “get rich quick” promises or anything that sounds too good to be true.

Dossey said it’s totally possible to find a local legend to mentor you for free by making yourself useful to them. “Your best bet is to find someone who’s been in the space locally for a long time that you can serve for free. Grab their coffee, swing by their job sites, bring them opportunities, etc.,” he said.

Andrews recommended real estate investing associations as a great place to find a mentor as real estate investors meet through these associations to talk about real estate investing in that city.

“For the beginning I relied mainly on YouTube to teach me the first steps, but once I got more advanced my questions became too niche for YouTube learning and that is when a mentor was way more valuable to me.”

To find a mentor, a great way to go about it is to network at real estate meetups, volunteer to help on someone else’s project or offer value in exchange for their guidance, Johnson said.

“Many active investors are willing to mentor if you approach them with genuine curiosity and respect for their time,” he said.

However, he urged prospective investors to remember that the relationship should be a two-way street. “[You] should strive to find ways to give back by providing value, such as offering them opportunities to partner on deals you’ve uncovered.”

Even if you only use a mentor to get started, having that wisdom can save you time and money and point you down the path to building a wealthy portfolio.

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