Real Estate Mentors: A Helping Hand for Beginning Investors

  • Author: Devin Henry
  • Last Updated: November 14, 2024
Table of Contents

If you’re not working with a mentor, you could be missing out. Here’s how to find one

Key Takeaways:

  • Real estate mentors can be helpful for beginner investors
  • Mentors can offer perspective, insider knowledge, and connections
  • Look for a mentor online, at local events, and through word of mouth
  • Keep in mind qualities that matter to you, like experience and communication style

Knowledge and experience are the coveted tools for every real estate investor. Gaining them is a difficult task that can take years to accomplish without help. One way to expedite the process is to seek out mentorship from a real estate investing advisor. A mentor can offer you the tips and tricks they’ve learned from years in the industry to help teach you skills in networking , managing tenants, investing, rebranding, and a plethora of other industry topics. 

Real estate mentors can also give you the benefit of all their experience and knowledge, along with other valuable tools such as help focusing, choosing the right vendors, finding the best investments, and attracting great tenants. 

You may be asking yourself, “How can I find real estate mentors near me?” This article can help. We explore below what a real estate mentor is, what they can do for you, and where to find one.

The Basics of Real Estate Mentors

A mentor is someone who is on the same journey as you are, just further down the path. They may be paid or unpaid and can offer advice on topics outside your realm of understanding. You can count on a mentor to give you real advice without candy coating or overt ego stroking.

Mentors are a boon no matter where you are in your career, but they’re especially helpful for beginner investors. A good mentor can give you insight into the current market and industry trends, virtually or in person. Mentorships also tend to be flexible by nature, so they can be customized to your needs. The frequency and intensity of meetings depend on the mentee’s situation and will ebb and flow. 

Benefits of a Real Estate Mentor

Having a professional in your corner isn’t just for boxing. You can reap the benefits of expert advice no matter what industry you’re in, and that’s especially true for those investing in property. A real estate mentor provides advantages such as:

Perspective

Your understanding of the industry grows with everything you learn, even on a small scale. A mentor provides insight into how the industry moves and responds to certain market stimuli. Mentees gain an understanding of the repercussions of their business decisions they would have no other way of knowing. 

Accountability

Accountability is a very important benefit of having a mentor for many real estate entrepreneurs. They keep you on track with your goals by questioning, encouraging, and challenging your thoughts and decisions. It also helps that accountability is fairly easy to measure. 

Education

Real estate laws and practices change all the time. New laws and regulations crop up frequently in this industry, and real estate pros must scramble to comply. A mentor can simplify the process with knowledge of local government and the specific inner workings of your area. They understand the vernacular and know how to find what you need fast.   

Everyone can also use a helping hand and sympathetic ear every now and again. The nice thing is that a real estate mentor provides this and so much more. You may have to put some effort into finding the right one, but it’s well worth it. 

How to Find a Mentor

You don’t want to work with just any real estate mentor. You want to find one who knows about the elements you’re focusing on and where you’re investing your time and money. It’s also important to find a mentor who is the right fit for your experience level, personality, specific interests, and communication style. Here are a few ways to search for a mentor:

Get Involved

Join local real estate investor groups and then attend meetings and sponsored activities. Be active in fundraising and events if possible. Physically interacting with the investors in your area and getting to know them personally is a great way to find a mentor. 

Ask for Recommendations

Word of mouth is a powerful tool. Ask other professionals in the industry about mentoring. You may already know someone who can mentor you or who knows someone who can. Nothing beats a personal recommendation, and it can also help strengthen your professional relationships.

Volunteer

Volunteering to apprentice with another professional could garner you tons of valuable benefits. Helping out in this manner can get you involved in the daily workings of a real estate pro and learn first hand. You’ll also have the opportunity to meet a lot of movers and shakers in the industry who could be of big help to you later. The downside is that these positions are typically not paid and take up considerable time, but depending where you’re at with your goals and career, it could be well worth the effort. 

Hire One

Many professional mentors provide their services at a cost. Check business listings at the chamber of commerce for locals or search online, using terms like “how to find a real estate mentor near me.” Another option is to register with online groups to take advantage of mentors from other parts of the country. Investing in a mentor now could pay off big time down the road. 

Finding a mentor isn’t hard but finding the right one takes time and effort. Keep in mind that you may want more than one mentor. You can also have a mentor and be one at the same time. There are no rules to learning.

The advantages of a real estate mentor go beyond what’s listed here to something more personal. Some mentors can also be friends. They want their mentees to succeed and have dedicated time and energy to make that happen. Working with a real estate mentor isn’t just a savvy business decision. It’s also a smart life choice. 

Investing in D.C. Real Estate Has Never Been Easier

Real estate investment is an exciting career, especially in Washington, D.C., where politics, culture, and the social scene take life to another level. It’s a lot of fun and has the potential to set you up for a financially secure future, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be challenging. 

Nomadic Real Estate offers property management services in the Washington, D.C., area. There’s nothing we can’t take care of with your rental property, and your tenants become a top priority. Our team will maintain relationships with tenants, screen applicants, handle maintenance requests, and ensure you comply with local laws. Contact Nomadic Real Estate for more information about your Greater D.C. property management needs.

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Your portal includes a selection of extremely useful reports. Reports are available in the “Reports” section, and are distinct from the financial statements. Unlike financial statements which are static records, Reports are dynamic real-time records that will update with current data every time you view them. 

Scroll down to learn more about Reports:

Navigate to the "Reports" module in your portal:

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Enhanced Rent Roll Report:

Enhanced Rent Roll Report
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Unit Comparison Report
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Income Statement by Month Report
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The Documents area contains monthly financial statements:

Owner Portal Documents
  • The statements in the Documents are are static documents. They are posted to the portal once a month to serve as a historical record of financial performance. 

Download a statement to see month and YTD financials:

Owner Portal Property Statement

You'll also find a month-over-month operating statement:

Month over Month Statement

Portal Communication Tool

You can use your owner portal to communicate with our team. Any messages you send through the portal will go straight to your Account Manager. When we reply, you’ll get an email notification and you’ll also see the message in your portal next time you log in. 

Here’s an overview of using the communication platform:

Click "Communications" and navigate to "Conversations":

Commincation Dashboard Screenshot
  • The communications module will contain a record of all messages that you create through the portal. 

Click the "New Message" button and send your message:

Owner Portal New Message Screenshot

Responses will show up in the conversation ticket:

Portal Conversation Response Screenshot
  • You’ll get an email notification whenever you get a response, and you’ll also see the message in your portal next time you log in. 

You can reply in-line using the comment box:

Owner Portal Comment

Each conversation will be logged in its entirety:

Portal Conversation Snapshot

Understanding the Ledger

Your portal includes a ledger with all transactions. The ledger is populated with data in real-time as transactions flow through our accounting software. Much of this information is also available in the Reports area, as well as the Statements in your Documents library, but the ledger is the most comprehensive resource for diving into the details. 

Please scroll through the sections below to get a better understanding of how to interpret the ledger. 

By default, transactions are sorted chronologically:

Owner Ledger Dates
  • The date reflected in the lefthand column is the actual transaction date, not the “bill date”. This is the date the transaction was actually processed. 

If you have multiple properties with Nomadic, you'll see the address for each transaction in the "Location" column:

Ledger Property Column
  • You can filter the ledger to look at just one property, all properties, or specific sets of properties. 
  • If you only have one property with us, you’ll just see the ledger for that property. 

The Description column displays the transaction type:

Owner Ledger Description Column
  • BILL: this is an expense transaction, such as for repair costs or management fees.
  • CHARGE: this is a transaction  billed to the tenant, most typically a rent payment. 
  • NACHA EXPORT: this is a credit we processed to your distribution account. This type of transaction is how you get paid! 

The Amount column shows the dollar value of each transaction:

Owner Ledger Amount Column
  • Positive Amounts: if an amount is positive, it reflects a transaction that is payable to you. Typically, this will be a rent payment that we collected from your tenants. On occasion, a positive number could also signify a journal entry or credit adjustment. 
  • Negative Amounts:  if an amount is negative, this is a transaction that is either payable to Nomadic or is an amount that has already been paid to you. Typically this will be for repair costs or management/leasing fees. Owner draws (net distributions into your checking/savings account) also reflect as negative amounts, since they have already been paid to you. 

The Account Balance column shows a sum of positive/negative transactions at a given point in time:

Owner Ledger Account Balance Column
  • Account Balance should always equal zero after a net distribution has been processed. When the balance is zero, this means that all expenses have been paid and you’ve received the remainder as net operating income, leaving a balance of zero (meaning: no one is due any money, as all funds have been distributed appropriately). 

Navigating the Propertyware Owner Portal

Your portal includes some extremely useful features that help you understand your property’s financial performance at a new level, with real-time transparency into every transaction.

Scroll through the snapshots below for an overview of portal navigation! If you need more help or have specific questions about using the portal, you can reach out to your Account Manager any time for a screen share. 

You can filter all info by date range or property:

PW Portal Filters

View a snapshot of income and expenses on your dashboard:

PW Owner Dashboard View

See every transaction in real-time on your ledger:

Owner Portal Ledger View

Statements and forms will be posted to your documents library:

Owner Portal Document Library

View a suite of real-time financial reports:

Portal Reports View

See a running list of all bills, and drill down for more detail:

Owner Portal Bills View

Under Bill Details, you'll find dates/descriptions/amounts and more:

Portal Bill Details

You can also communicate with your Account Manager through the portal:

Owner Portal Communication Tools

How do net distributions work?

Net distributions keep your accounting clean and simple. Each month we’ll collect rent from the tenants, deduct any repair expenses for the previous month and any management/leasing fees for the current month, and credit the remaining net operating income to your account. 

Net Distribution

You’ll receive a statement via email each time a net distribution is processed, and can view all transaction details in your Propertyware owner portal.