Here's why all our plans fail

[Patrick Britton]

To those starting out I have a word of warning, trust no one. Every single person you think is working for you or with you or in your best interest, is working in their best interest. This is America. Nobody cares about actually doing a good job. It's about doing just enough so you don't get sued and just enough so that you don't get a real nasty review on Yelp.

The worst offenders are real estate agents. When I was a real estate agent I genuinely tried my best every single time with every client no matter what. Maybe it was how I was raised maybe it was the environment in which I grew up, not sure but nobody does that down here in the United states. Or at least, so few people that they're so spread out I've never met them!   

Attorneys are pretty atrocious as well. You think you have a hedge against your bets by suing someone if they did something wrong to you? Try suing someone? See how difficult it is. See how nearly impossible it is to get a fat lazy lawyer off their fat lazy *** to write a two paragraph letter for $500. Then tell me you're legally hedged.

property managers are way up there as well. That's quite the racket. I wish I owned a business that could just take money from others whenever I wanted. At least though these guys are required to perform some duties even if they're of exceedingly little value. at least they make the paperwork easy when you're counting up how much money they've lost you.

the only people out there who could actually be trusted are home inspectors and appraisers. they perform a service and receive a flat fee. This is really how it should be. As soon as you start adding percentages you incentivize gross inequalities that will exacerbate over time and eventually result in full scale cultural divisions. You wouldn't know anything about cultural divisions, would you Uncle Sam?

So to all those who have got these elaborate plans like I did six or seven years ago with the intention of building a real estate empire: Don't bother. buy a house in your local neighborhood or even better, just do it all a really really rich people do, buy Google and Amazon and sit back and wait.  

Trust me, the pain and hassle and stress and sleepless nights are really not worth it. And whatever your expectations are of any level of performance by anybody in the real estate business, divide that by three or four and I think you will be disappointed a lot less.

Real estate is a great investment, it's just too bad there are so many people able to screw it up.  

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Patrick Britton:

I'm seeing a pattern and it's not these professions.

I know plenty of good real estate agents. I know good property managers. I even know a couple good, honest attorneys (they are definitely in the minority). 

Your complaints remind me of the people that will never invest in real estate because there are too many bad tenants. There are a lot of bad tenants, but a smart investor learns how to screen them out. There are bad REALTORS, Property Managers, attorneys, and even appraisers. Taking time to educate yourself and then screen can make all the difference.j

I've seen a lot of crooked, incompetent appraisers in my time. You know what the difference is between appraisers and the other three groups? I don't get to screen and choose my appraiser!

Your "woe is me" attitude won't help you succeed in life and it's not helpful to other investors.