Wake up call - Beating Analysis paralysis

[Jared McCool]

Hi all,

I thought I would share on this experience. 

Step 1 - Educate myself - I have been an avid BPer educating myself for months. Podcast, reading and contributing to forums, questions, more books, upgrade to PRO, online seminars with @Brandon Turner, build connections, relationships, teams, setting buying parameters, creating goals, long term and short term, and a strategy to reach those goals.  Once I got a firm understanding of real estate (enough to be dangerous, but always continuing to learn) I went on to 

Step 2 - Preparing my finances. I was told by my loan officer that I was in great shape (years in front of my age) and will have no issues in any direction I go.  Pre approval on demand! On to 

Step 3 - Shopping for a deal - With my team in place my realtor helped me find deals.  After my 5 minute property analysis with meeting the 1% and 2% rules, onto deeper analysis with the BP rental analysis tool.  The numbers make sense! Research the market and comps.  Everything is aligning and making sense, lets see the property!  On to the walk thru.  Re-adjust the numbers to reflect findings, still makes sense, got my offer price in mind!

Step 4 - The Offer - I go to my loan officer with my offer, and he runs the numbers to show me what it looks like and sends the pre approval letter!

WAKE UP CALL! - Hard right hook to the jaw, and Jared goes down for a count. 6 seconds later with wobbling knees, I make it make to my feet! MAKE APPT WITH LOAN OFFICER TO UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM LOOKING AT!

In the 2 hour conversation I had with my loan officer, I felt like all the research I had been doing for months meant nothing!  I felt like I had learned nothing!  I left the office feeling hopeless, beaten, and unready to move forward in real estate.

THAT WAS 2 HOURS AGO.  Now  I am back on BP, sharing my story... WHY?  Because I just learned a hard lesson that now has MOTIVATED me even more.  I can't imagine how many people get to this exact same point, that have gone through the exact same steps I wrote above, got to this point and QUIT!  Not even a farewell speech on BP.  Just back to there jobs and daily lottery tickets preying for early retirement at the age of 65! (yes 65 will be considered early retirement when my generation gets there)  THIS IS NOT A FAREWELL SPEECH.  

This is a hard lesson that didn't cost me a penny, and in return I felt obligated to share it with my peers.  In the past 2 hours before writing this post, I have adjusted my goals, redesigned my strategy to reach those goals, called my Realtor and put that new strategy into action!  I will not QUIT because of some yellow/orange tape!  If it was easy, than everyone would be doing it!

[Penny Job]

Thank you Jared! As a newbie still on step 1, I value your willingness to share your challenges and knock downs along the way.