I've got a 15 year old boy who has shown significant interest in real estate.

He is very hard working for his age (mows lawns, grows vegetables).

He has been quizzing me about real estate for quite some time, and has mentioned more than once that he'd like to get into it.

He also has shown maturity beyond his age when it comes to saving money and delaying gratfication. He likely could put a down payment on a shack around here. If not now...definately within a year or two.

My question to ya'll who have had similar kid:

What is best way to help him?

Adopt him as your nephew!

I had so many unofficial Aunts and Uncles along my path. We should all be looking for opportunities to give back.

There are multiple mentors who have helped shape my life. So I want to make sure that I thank my Uncle Jeffery while I am at it. It is so easy to forget that we are a sum of many moving parts.

Other programs out there include Junior Achievement and the Scouting program called the Explores. They do an in-depth study of specific career paths.

I wouldn't focus so much about selling him a house - at least not yet (unless its in his Roth IRA). Now the big wild card - how well do you know his mom and dad? What are there feeling about their son's interest? If this child is serious about this career path - I am sure collectively us investors can pool our money and get the kid attend the landlord conference.

(I didn't communicate well- he's my son) Middle child of 3. (the other two show ZERO interest).

Also for clarification, I've never "pushed" the biz on my kids at all.

As long as they end up happy with what they do, I'll be thrilled if they are teacher, plumber, etc.

Our kids were not interested at first.

Then the first one started his own business with his wife and he's now, what, nine or ten years in. The third one is deep into ours - we teach him more every day and had him set up Buildium Property Management accounts from start to finish, and he is managing leases and utilities now too. Seeing the money roll in wet his appetite and he is less put off by the hard work side now too LOL!

Congrats on having a kid that shows interest.

Neither of mine care. They start to, especially when they need funding for something, but it always simmers off.

Maybe start talking to him more about the ups and downs of the biz. Show him the numbers a little. The ins and outs.

Whew, now I am getting dizzy.

Go in partners with him on a place. He can buy in a percentage. The profits from that go into a fund for him. Then if he really sticks with it he has the down payment and possibly some working capital to get started on his own.

Great you have a teen interested in work. I see so many in my area who just hang around - have Zero work skills - no interest in sports. It is sad.

Keep him working - he is learning life skills that only work can teach him.

As a boomer during my teen years - I always had summer jobs - part time jobs - was involved in sports - and looking back I enjoyed it.

Buy him Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Buy him Building Wealth One House at a Time, Revised and Expanded Third Edition

Hire him to mow your yards, spread mulch, etc

Pay his way to the convention. that might open his mind to the possibilities.

Hmmmmm that makes you Uncle Dad.

I will not judge - you are from Alabama

If your kid is willing to foot 1/2 the price of the convention, I would be willing to foot the other half. Call me a distance Uncle Ray. There is a catch however, I need to learn what he learned from attending convention. It can be in a book report format, point paper, even postings on this site. I learn when others learn.

If he can't make it to this convention, OREIA, has a kid's real estate investing training session where he can learn with others his own age. It really depend on his maturity level.

My dad helped me buy my first rental at 17. Prior to that I did most of the maintenance for him, he drug me along to every interaction with tenants/potential tenants to learn the people side, taught me how to evaluate purchases, and the financials.

In almost all cases we would do something, such as meet a potential tenant, and then he would ask me questions about it so that I was engaging my brain. That really helped me think through the decisions that go into this business.

Just keep talking to him. Feed him information, let him go along and work beside you.

He's one of three. Do not buy him a house unless you buy houses for the other two as well. He might deserve it and they don't, but do not do it.

It's difficult to not show favoritism and favoritism is damaging to the children who are not the favorite. So anything you offer to middle child should also be offered to the others. If he is going with you to clean a new purchase, ask the others if they would like to come along and help, too.

Lots of good advice, and I especially like Woodsmoke’s recommendation of including an interest in the other kids’ interests. My oldest wasn’t interested in some things like gardening as a teen, but now he is planting a start of a garden, with fruit trees and shrubs too. For his profession, he works in a geeky, techy, military occupation, which he always was interested in. And he still has his hobby of old cars. My youngest liked to garden, wasn’t so into cars and tech. Now she has an extensive garden, including chickens, and for a profession, she manages a fleet and all the mechanics. Each kid has taken some of the other’s interests. So, yeah, even if other two aren’t keenly interested, give them exposure each way.

ned,

Bring him to Convention.

Ray beat me to it - OREIA Summit, Cincinnati, usually Nov 1, has a Youth Academy. He'll meet other like minded kids.

AND meet the Wohlwend boys. Teenage millioniares. They were at Convention 3 years ago.

Buy the book on Amazon - 'If I Can Do It, So Can You!: How I Started Buying Real Estate at Age 7' - by Deven Wohlwend

ned,

Bring him to Convention.

Ray beat me to it - OREIA Summit, Cincinnati, usually Nov 1, has a Youth Academy. He'll meet other like minded kids.

AND meet the Wohlwend boys. Teenage millioniares. They were at Convention 3 years ago.

Buy the book on Amazon - 'If I Can Do It, So Can You!: How I Started Buying Real Estate at Age 7' - by Deven Wohlwend

ned,

Bring him to Convention.

Ray beat me to it - OREIA Summit, Cincinnati, usually Nov 1, has a Youth Academy. He'll meet other like minded kids.

AND meet the Wohlwend boys. Teenage millioniares. They were at Convention 3 years ago.

Buy the book on Amazon - 'If I Can Do It, So Can You!: How I Started Buying Real Estate at Age 7' - by Deven Wohlwend

Thank you all who offered thoughts on this. I've bought the book referenced, and will likely do the conference thing with him.

My working plan is to help him, but him have skin in at every point of the game.

.ie the book is $15. I'm covering 1/2.