Using a Mentor When Investing in Real Estate This is a difficult time for real estate 
investing, especially in Canada where sales continue to plummet. The situation is not as bad as in the United States, but it is dire enough that beginning real estate investors might feel discouraged. Some may even decide to abandon real estate altogether, as they believe there’s no money to be made.
Well, there’s no reason to abandon your dreams if you really want to make money investing in real estate. You will just need to change your strategy to optimize your success. And for many beginning investors, such a strategy involves finding a mentor. With a mentor, they have an experienced person guide them through the investment process. As a result, they are less likely to make mistakes when they’re investing in real estate.
Of course, there is a slight problem with this strategy. You must know how to find mentors who are currently achieving success with Canadian real estate. Mentors from another country won’t necessarily do the job because real estate markets vary all over the world. In fact, sometimes there is variance even among Canadian provinces. Just because a potential mentor is successful in Ontario doesn’t mean his or her strategies can apply for New Brunswick.
For this reason, you will want to start your investment ventures with a local mentor. If you have a real estate license, you can find mentors by joining real estate companies in your area. From there, you can buddy up with the person running the office… the head broker. More than likely they will want to help you because your success only propels their business.
If you do not have a real estate license, you’re going to have to be more creative with how you approach mentors. For instance, you could offer to be a bird-dogger for the real estate investors in your area. Bird-doggers are responsible for finding potential clients for real estate investors. They do not get paid unless their efforts result in a sale.
Anyway, with a bird-dogging arrangement, an investor has more incentive to mentor you, because they are getting something out of the process. Remember, even if someone knows how to work magic when investing in real estate, they still save a lot of time getting someone else to scout out clients for them. So, it would stand to reason that they would share some of their secrets, since doing so will bring them more clients without having to invest upfront money or time.
If you would prefer not to find a mentor through bird-dogging, you could offer other talents, such as website design or copywriting. Just make sure you try to create an ongoing friendship with your client, so they can feel comfortable telling you how they invest in real estate. And, unless you really become close friends with someone, always charge for your services, since successful investors won’t mind paying. Only poorer investors will be on the lookout for free or very low-cost advertising. So, by charging a fee, you weed out these individuals from the very beginning.
