Learn from My Mistakes as Fuel for Your Success!

[DeNay Ramsey]

Just about every one of us has encountered our fair share of trials and tribulations. Some of us use it as fuel and motivation to persevere while others allow these temporary setbacks to consume us into feeling a sense of powerlessness and turmoil. You can either not accept the misfortune and do something about it or you can take the easy route by simply accepting it and feeling defeated. This is what separates the winners from the losers.

I've been on both sides of the spectacle. Before the Great Recession of 2008 I was sitting on top of the world. I thought I had finally made it. I had money invested in real estate, the stock market, and in mutual funds. I even had money invested in a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Money was in of great abundance. Then all of a sudden the house of cards I had built came tumbling down. It happened so quickly that it seemed like it was just overnight. I consider myself more of risk taker because I was taught scared money doesn't make money or to put it into layman terms; your money won't grow unless you take risks. But after losing nearly everything I had owned that fear factor started to kick in. My real estate owning values tanked, my stocks lost about 50% of their values and my REIT even lost about a third of its initial value. To say it at the least, I was a total mess. I was bold enough to not sell my stocks by riding out the wave; probably the smartest thing I had done at that time because they did eventually regain their value after about five years. However all of my real estate holdings were disposed of at a loss. I had begun to be totally turned off by real estate. This was a very costly mistake that I regret more than words can describe. The real estate investors who bought property when they were at rock bottom are making a killing today. If only I had stayed on the course of real estate even during the crash, where would I be financially today? I'm not gonna cry over spilled milk, but oftentimes I almost feel like it. This was me being on both the winners side and losers side.

Real estate is an awesome asset to have in your portfolio. It has created more millionaires than any other investment vehicle in history. Real estate is tangible, meaning that it can be seen and touched, and there's also a limited amount of it available because there isn't anymore land being created on this planet to build. Because real estate is finite its value will appreciate with time. Real estate is the only investment that allows you to use leverage to purchase property with only having to put down 20%, 10%, 5% or even without using any of your own money. There is not any other investment tool that allows you to purchase while only using a small percentage of its actual value. If you buy $10,000 worth of stock that's exactly what will get. Whereas you can purchase hundreds of thousand of dollars worth of real estate using only a small percentage of the value with your own money. That is one of the great things about leverage and real estate.

After having seeing the highs and lows of investing, I am now ready to bounce back stronger than ever. The perseverance and risk taker in me is back. I will become the next success story to share. I will be an inspiration to others as their motivation to succeed. I hope this story can be the fuel that drives another newbie or even a seasoned real estate investor to the highest point of their success. To be continued....