Taking The First Step

[Monica Bear]

As they say, "Ideas are cheap, execution is everything" and I'm having a disconnect going from knowing to actually doing. What holds me back personally is the fear of failure or making costly mistakes despite fully understanding and believing that mistakes are inevitable and can be viewed as a learning experience. 

I'd like to hear your stories on that first big step or leap you took in the RE world and what the tipping point was for you personally to actually take action!

[Joe Villeneuve]

Originally posted by @Monica Bear:

@Joe Villeneuve Great point! Do you have any advice or suggestions on how to practice this skill of analyzing opportunities?

 Yes.  The list is long.  First, you need to learn how to analyze markets (not properties), and what to analyze before you can practice it.  Like any skill, whether it is in sports, engineering, the arts, etc..., you need to learn the basics.

You can learn a lot of the basics here, but one of the most important elements of any "basics", it to understand not just what they are...but what they mean.

We live in a society of instant gratification.  As a result, we prefer to have the answers handed to us, without understanding the background that makes up those answers.  So, some of the most basic concepts/rules are never applied, because they were never understood.

Without that understanding of those basics, it is almost impossible to make decisions...unless they fit into a nice package that is the same all the time.

I see that here a lot.  Too many are chasing the "deal"...the "buy low and sell high" strategy, and miss out on so many deals because they don't understand the basics.  They limit themselves by their lack of basic math, and how that translates to "how money works".  They get lost in percentages, because they don't understand the differences between stock market analysis and RE analysis.  They're not even close, and when that "distance between them" is not understood, many deals are lost...that could have been.  Worse, many properties are bought, that shouldn't have been.

Analysis is a science, negotiation is an art. The best analysts, make the best RE Artists.