“Success leaves clues” as my man-crush Tony Robbins would say. Well, I say, “failures leave footprints.”
Forget about all those “make a $1M in 6 months in real estate” seminars. I want to hear about how NOT to make $1M in 6 months because then, if I do the opposite, I will make the $1M in 6 months!
I do this in two ways.
Actually, before we start, have we all experienced failures to some extent? Yep. So I’m not calling out or getting joy from other people’s mistakes. Rather, I’m learning from them and applying the learnings others have acquired so I don’t have to experience them myself. Or, at least, I minimize the damage.
First, I speak to enough people about real estate and ultimately I’ll find those who are sour on it. When I ask why, they talk about some sort of investment that didn’t go according to plan. This is PRICELESS information.
Another way to ALWAYS ask investors, speakers at seminars, your mentor, etc. the following question:
“What are the biggest investing mistakes you’ve made?”
That is a fantastic way of getting to some good info that you can apply to your biz so you don’t make those same mistakes. So, one of my mistakes you might wonder?
I broke away from my proven model with my fourth house. And it cost me $11,000 more in repairs than anticipated and 3 months of unplanned contract labor. I live in NYC but invest in markets that cash flow. In this case I had a house in Texas that needed work. My previous purchases were pretty much move-in ready. This one wasn’t. And, my original quote from the contractor was 5k and one month. Well, it cost 16k and was 4 months.
My lesson learned was that I should stick to my biz model and not chase after properties that don’t fit the criteria.
What about you? Any failure you’d like to share that we can learn from?
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as an offer to buy or sell any securities or to make or consider any investment or course of action.