HUGE Lesson Learned..

[Trenton Chase Martin]

My ambition has been overflowing with the idea of working with my mentor on my first deal. I’ve obsessed about my first deal for the last month now, and I THOUGHT I finally found something big. To preface this, my mentor has an excellent strategy and suggested I look for small multi family units in a certain area. Of course I found some potential deals there, but I just wanted more. I found a trailer park 20 minutes away from my location and the numbers they listed on paper looked great! I knew it is highly suggested to take on a smaller deal for your first deal, but I couldn’t get the Wayne Gretzky saying “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” quote out of my head. My mentor also has mobile home park buying experience, so I figured why not take the shot when the numbers presented on LoopNet looked amazing! Also, I was all hyped up on the Bigger Pockets podcast I just listened to that discussed trailer park acquisitions. Fast forward, I’m itching with anticipation with what my mentor is going to say. I constantly give myself affirmations that I found something that would cash flow BIG TIME, because the numbers presented looked amazing. We pull up to the park and I can tell my mentor immediately doesn’t like the look of it. My heart sank a bit, but maybe after seeing the whole park, it would get better? False... The numbers they reported on the site were fictitious. They claimed to have 82% occupancy, but there were at least 20 homes (or empty lots without a trailer parked on them) in a 55 space park. Couple that with the fact that the place was in ABSOLUTE disarray, I knew then that I just wasted over an hour of my mentors time, and 3 hours of my own time typing up a pitch with a “potential financial analysis” 😑 Then he told me some great advice, that I’m sure I’ll never forget. That there are some shady people in this business that will try to pass off junk to whoever is ignorant enough to the business. I feel exactly like I did as a 5 year old kindergartener who lost his first soccer game. However, my ambition is still pouring out of my ears so the hunt for my first investment property still rages on. “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it” Trent Martin Disappointed Newbie