By Joseph Nguyen, Broker and Rockwell Institute Alum
I’ve been in the military for 16 years. Early on, I was in artillery, focused on long-range cannons. I did a tour. Then, I went to the National Guard to go back home to Ohio. I went back to school, got my bachelor’s degree, did the ROTC program, and then got commissioned to return to the United States Army as a lieutenant. I’ve been active-duty military as an officer and left the rank as a senior captain. I’ve been through quite a few training exercises – Texas, Korea, then military intelligence, and was chosen as a program manager for the SHARP program, the Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Program, where I was the advisor for a two-star general.
I was getting ready to transition to Seattle and out of the military. I started researching Airbnb arbitrage, renting, and real estate investments. I thought, “Wow, I wish I’d learned this a lot earlier.”
At the time, I was trying to find a job in project management but wasn’t feeling the pull to go to the corporate side. I didn’t feel that sense of purpose. Eventually, my father-in-law, who is in real estate, mentioned that I should consider his profession.
Real estate gave me the sense of purpose I was seeking in a career. I want to go back to the post and teach soldiers, from brand-new kids to seasoned veterans, about real estate opportunities. I love helping people. I love knowing their stories and helping them find solutions. I want to be able to take care of people, to be a person who gives value and always helps others.
Military Skills That Carry Over into Real Estate
In the military, when we talk to our boss and tell them there’s an issue, we better have three different solutions along with it. Real estate is the same. When you’re with a client looking at houses, they may look through rose-colored glasses and see everything as pretty and perfect. However, I look at potential issues and consider how to mitigate those risks.
It also helps to be very calm. There are many different emotions related to the significant life events that can lead someone to buy or sell a property. It’s important to be a steady foundation for your clients. It’s the same in combat. You want to follow the soldier who’s very calm, cool, and collected.
The other big skill I brought with me is communication. I gave a lot of presentations, and I had to simplify and explain things well so that anybody could understand what I was trying to convey.
My Experience with Rockwell Institute
My father-in-law told me about a real estate class he took from the Rockwell Institute. He said Rockwell’s a really good school and a class was coming up in July. My father-in-law worked at IBM in corporate America for a long time, and I trust his opinion. I thought, you know what? Why not try it? I can take the class and still apply for jobs; at least that way, I have a license, and if it goes well, that’s cool. If it doesn’t, at least I gave it a shot. I was in a good position that most people don’t get, where I could fully commit to real estate for a year without worrying about my finances.
The Rockwell class opened my eyes to just what real estate is. The instructors have years of experience and will help you pass the test the first time. You can get a firehose of information. It’s a lot. And for me, it wasn’t that difficult because I’ve done plenty of classes where they just shotgun blast you with a lot of information. It was just prioritizing what’s important and annotating it.
The best thing about Rockwell was the interaction with the instructors. They were very knowledgeable, from property management to both the buyer and seller sides. If I needed clarification on questions or specific topics, I would ask, and they were able to clarify. The book did a good job of really covering the most important things. I gravitated towards people in the classroom who were there for a reason and were fully committed. We ended up creating our own study group and going over the material. We did the practice test together and reviewed the answers to see perspectives, understand, and help each other.
I felt very prepared for the test. The instructors told us to slow down and read each word. One keyword can completely change the answers. I finished the course in about a month. I passed the exam the first time. Then, about mid-August, I did a lot of interviews for the firms. Rockwell hosted a job fair that connected me to different brokers. In September, I signed with my firm. Since September, I’ve just been running and gunning.
Early Milestones as an Agent
Right now, I’ve been doing a lot of open houses. I’m getting a lot of good leads. I think the big success for me right now is that everything is just kind of clicking – between the training I had from Rockwell, the onboarding at my firm, and then, of course, the real-world stuff, and then just applying all my experience from the military to now, combining it all. It will be a big milestone to launch my social media pages. I’m having a lot of fun with my marketing campaigns because I’m doing my own video reels and content marketing. My goal is to close one property a month.
I am still constantly learning every day. I’ve been diving a lot more into AI. I know Rockwell has a course for military relocation programs, so I want to learn more about that. I probably want to get into more land development topics because I have friends who are leaving the military with a side business where they do land acquisitions. I want to build my team and connections. I have to remember this is a slow-paced game. I have to be patient. My wife reminds me to step on the brakes a little bit. And she loves the fact that I’m actually home.
Helping Military Members Become Homeowners
My goal in real estate is to take care of vets and active-duty military members, making sure they have a home and are taken care of. There are predatory people out there who will try to take advantage of them. I’ve seen it with my soldiers buying cars with high APRs. I love to educate soldiers, whether they’re buying homes for the first time or researching investment opportunities.
There are a lot of investments out there for the military, whether you want to buy a house for yourself or the future generation, but just being in the military and using the VA loan is something that people don’t know much about. And if you invest in real estate early, that nest egg and equity build as you serve. So, when you transition, you have your years of service, you have your experience, and now you also have a real estate investment and equity that you built to transition out and have a nice home.
For me, home is very important. It doesn’t have to be one location. Home is where you’re at in one moment in time. It’s a sense of security. It’s a place where you create great memories with friends and family. I want to help people find a great place to make great memories.
