COVER STORY
EDUCATION
Is Real Estate Education Still Needed?
IN A WORD, “YES”—AND HERE ARE THE AREAS WHERE IT IS MOST NEEDED.
by Eddie Wilson
s an 18-year veteran and third-generation real estate investor, I feel like I have seen it all. I have
tage of curious and novice investors. As such, it has a bad reputation. Most people today would never dream of being called a “real estate educator” or “guru.” People run from those titles. Because of that, we lack qualified and cur - rent educators. We have education in the industry that is sometimes more than 40 years old. We desperately need a new generation of educators who have weathered the storms of the financial crisis and understand what virtual wholesaling is, or what an i-buyer does. With that as my premise, here are a few areas where we need education. WHOLESALING We need a re-education of wholesaling. Given the landscape of how to find houses and changing state laws, much of the wholesaling education out there is highly dat- ed. I have even heard some that borders on illegal. Wholesaling is typically an early entry into real estate investing. It is the way someone with very little capital can begin to find distressed deals and aggregate some mon - ey. With more education available, more people will take advantage of it. Also, some of the largest REI companies in America are doing this, which can be a recipe for disas- ter. You will find a massive behemoth of a company that is now competing with a brand-new investor jumping into the market. Education is critical. New investors must learn not only the tactics of taking on a distressed deal from acquisition to disposition but also how to find the deals with new digi - tal techniques and how to find the right markets to do it in. ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS The second area where we need education is in all the alternative investments. Given the demand issues of single-family residences, it may be too difficult for a new investor to start there.
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seen the market cycles, both the ups and the downs. I have seen people make hundreds of millions, and I have seen some of the most gruesome losses. For me, real estate is a lifestyle. It is a philosophy and a way of living. After watching my father build his portfolio, I never wondered whether I would buy real estate as an investment strategy. That would be like asking Michael Jordan’s son whether he has ever held a basketball. After what seems like a lifetime of investing and as the owner and founder of Think Realty, the question I often find myself asking is this: “Is real estate education still needed?” In recent years, I have met a single mother who flipped an entire distressed house with her children by watching YouTube videos. I have met young people in their early 20s who have sizable portfolios of cash-flowing assets. When you ask the rudimentary question “How did they do it?” the answer is always that someone told them or showed them. The medium through which they have been shown may have changed. Instagram or TikTok may have replaced an in-person mentor, but they all were left breadcrumbs of knowledge to follow. So, to answer my question about whether real estate education is still needed, I give a resounding answer: Yes. Yes, real estate investment education is still needed. It is needed not only by new and prospective investors but also by people who are currently investing. Education is always best delivered by the person who has experience that is both practical and current. I remember sitting in a college marketing class scratching my head over a 70-year-old professor teaching us marketing from a con- text of how he did it in his day. He may have had knowl- edge, but it was neither practical nor current. Real estate education has been a breeding ground for the lowest of society and those who would take advan-
12 | think realty magazine :: march – april 2022
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