Article of the Month
Want to Become An Investor? First Step: Invest In Yourself
By Bradley Sumrok
Are you new to the idea of personal real estate investment? Your first decision will be to identify the best investment you can make in the real estate sector.
Is it investing in single-family homes? Commercial properties? Or perhaps four-plexes or multifamily apartments? Multifamily Investor and Mentor Brad Sumrok believes it’s something far more basic than deciding on the right asset class or property.
“To begin with,” says Sumrok, “you must invest in specialized education … invest in yourself. When you’re talking about investing thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of dollars in real estate, you owe it to yourself to first invest some time and money in educating yourself. Preferably, that’s by finding a mentor who is respected and known who can provide you with a proven process and hold your hand every step of your investment journey.”
That simple piece of advice can save you a lot of money. It certainly can save you a lot of time and spare you a lot of headaches, as you won’t be repeating the missteps or mistakes that your teacher has already experienced.
Sumrok has been helping real estate investors since 2005, first as a mentor at a real estate investing education company and now through his own brand, Sumrok Multifamily Mentoring. “I started with zero investing experience,” he says, “but I had a mentor who guided me through my first deal.” This was a 32-unit apartment complex in Houston, TX that was quickly followed by a second project.
“Having a mentor, and specialized education saved me a lot of time,” says Sumrok, “and prevented a lot of mistakes. I learned how to buy the right property at the right price, put the right management in place, etc.” Sumrok has filled that educator/mentor role for investors for several years. He began in Texas, and has now broadened his reach across the country to students through webinars, live events and personal mentoring.
When considering any mentor, it is absolutely imperative to verify that the mentor has actually done what it is you want to do.
“I started buying apartments in 2003, and in 2005 I was able to walk away from my job,” Sumrok says. “I was able to replace a six-figure income with income from my investments. Since then, I have been teaching and mentoring others to do what I did.”
Sumrok’s Weekend Multifamily Investing Training Seminar is called “Rat-Race 2 Retirement.” “I teach you to go from the rat race to retirement in three to eight years by investing in apartments,” says Sumrok. “It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme, but anyone who is willing to follow a proven, transferrable step-by-step process, can replace their earned income with income from their investments.”
Unlike many educational-guru seminars that are fronted by professional actors, pushy up-sales people or stand-ins, at Sumrok’s events, you get Brad Sumrok. Sumrok’s mentoring approach is to transfer his expertise, tools, contacts, and processes to his students in the quickest time possible, thereby allowing them to become “independent” from him within a 12-month period. Students that follow the process and implement Sumrok’s teachings are able to achieve their own levels of competence, and ultimately can go out and do it on their own.
“All of my programs, whether it be a seminar, webinar, training or mentoring session, are personally conducted by me,” Sumrok says. “This is a key thing you should look for as you consider your educational options in this age of self-styled Internet marketing experts who choose to license their brand, name (and credibility) to edu-tainment and telemarketing companies to raise more money with less work.”
“To me, a real mentor is someone who’s been in your shoes, has learned and done what you want to learn and do, and is willing and available to transfer that knowledge and experience to you – personally,” says Sumrok. “A mentor who has had himself, his ideas and his courage tested time over time and has returned with the results to back it up,” he says; “I ‘walk the walk,not just talk the talk. ”
Learn more about apartment investing on Brad’s site at http://www.bradsumrok.com/
