Challenges When Starting Out

Starting Out
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Challenges When Starting Out

Joseph Konrad
Homeowner · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 65 posts · 23 votes

Hi all –

I have a question for all the new, and soon to be new real estate investors out there; experienced investors, feel free to chime in, let us know what challenges you overcame when starting out.

What are the challenges that are stopping you, or slowing your progress as a real estate investor?

I know it will be the same for a lot of people; I have a lot of challenges that are slowing me down, I'll start off with some of the challenges I can come up with just off the top of my head and that I see and hear mentioned on this site quite often:

Analysis paralysis.  I'm afraid of failure, so I never really get started.  I'm always looking for the best way to do something and never end up doing it because I'm looking for a level of perfection that doesn't exist.

Shiny object syndrome.  I move from subject to subject without fully committing to the first idea.  I don't have the faith in my initial idea to follow through with it and end up abandoning it before anything happens with it.

What's stopping you?

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Andrew SyriosPro Member
Moderator
Residential Real Estate Investor · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 5k+ votes
12y

Analysis paralysis is terrible for beginners, especially for me. It still gets me now sometimes. The shiny object syndrome seems like more of a veteran issue, which I have too. 

Business wise, financing has always been the challenge, especially since we're buy and hold investors. So we are constantly looking for new private loans from ma and pa types. And while there are plenty out there, they aren't the easiest to find. 

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  • Andrew SyriosPro Member
    Moderator
    Residential Real Estate Investor · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    12y

    Analysis paralysis is terrible for beginners, especially for me. It still gets me now sometimes. The shiny object syndrome seems like more of a veteran issue, which I have too. 

    Business wise, financing has always been the challenge, especially since we're buy and hold investors. So we are constantly looking for new private loans from ma and pa types. And while there are plenty out there, they aren't the easiest to find. 

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  • Rachel Preston
    Accountant · Minnetonka, MN · Member since 2014 · 8 posts · 2 votes
    12y

    This might fall into the analysis paralysis category from a different angle, but as a newbie I just don't think I know enough yet to make informed decisions.  I am confident that my start-up plan will work (I plan to buy a duplex and live in one unit while renting the other), but if I hadn't found BP and read so much wisdom from other members regarding this same approach, I may have bought something way too expensive just because I liked it.  So for me, I'm just trying to look before I leap, but I have put a firm deadline on that so it doesn't get out of hand.  I want to own by the end of this year.  

    Another thing is the financing.  I'll get a bank loan for the first property, but beyond that I get a little nervous.  Creative financing and other concepts are way over my head at this point.  

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  • John Chapman
    Real Estate Investor · Alexandria, VA · Member since 2013 · 48 posts · 9 votes
    12y

    Analysis paralysis for sure!!! I've been around the BP forums for over a year, always planning for my "big start". Well, you can't plan for a day on when you want to start, you just need to do it. Start taking massive action. Keep reading, and learning but never use that as an excuse not to actually go out there and DO something. 

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  • Shvonne C.
    Stratford, CT · Member since 2014 · 51 posts · 27 votes
    12y

    One my initial challenges was not thinking I knew enough to start. So I put myself in a situation to get out there. I signed up for a Bigger Pockets and REIA meeting and told someone. Didn't want to seem like a flake so I went. At the event I told people I was starting marketing that month. Again, NO FLAKING so I started driving for dollars. I haven't slowed down since.

    I know some people say have everything lined up before you start (buyers list, lawyers contractors, etc...) I'm wholesaling right now and had none of that when I started. While I've been marketing I've been networking to build that team. It's a different way but I don't feel like I'm disadvantaged. My buyers list isn't huge but I have enough other wholesalers on there that I'm extending to their networks. If I have to pay a referral fee the first few deals as I continue to build I feel it's a small price to pay out of my money than paying $0 out of $0 because I'm doing nothing.

    My last challenge was finding a good lawyer and one that is familiar with wholesaling in CT.  All the other team members weren't too bad. You have to be prepared to pay a good contractor to come look at your property to give you an estimate (that's if you are straight with them upfront and they know you are wholesaling and won't be hiring them for the job) otherwise you could mislead them to get a free estimate and that could come back to bite you.

    Ohh, this is my real last challenge. When I first started gathering info to market, I thought I had to know EVERYTHING upfront about each property before I mailed a letter. I wasted hours looking up ARVs, bedrooms, baths, all kind of info on properties that I might never speak to someone about. Now, I just get the basics off the GIS and if I get a call back, I screen the seller then do research.

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