What's Your Main Obstacle in Buying an Apartment Building?

[Michael Ealy]

My question is: what stops YOU from acquiring an apartment building?

Is it...

• lack of capital?
• lack of know how?
• mindset?
• fear of doing a big deal and then failing?
• can't find good deals?
• bad credit?
• something else?

Whatever stops you from thinking BIG and acquiring apartment buildings, share it here. I will give you ideas on how you can overcome the number 1 obstacle preventing you from acquiring apartment buildings.

I have acquired over 1,000 apartment units (and I did it with no money and bad credit) and I shared how I did it, here on BP:

Part 1 - https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/55/topics/690349-from-bankruptcy-to-1-000-units-part-1-thru-the-dark-tunnel

Part 2 - https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/55/topics/692382-from-bankruptcy-to-1-000-units-part-2-rising-from-the-ruins

Part 3 - https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/695243-from-bankruptcy-to-1-000-units-part-3-how-to-build-an-empire

Who wants to go first?

[Michael Ealy]

Originally posted by @Kevin Green:

Hi Michael,

I'll definitely be reading your whole story today. I'm in my late 40s, with a wife battling cancer, and I am looking at the fastest way to be able to quit my regular job to be with her and celebrate every day we have together. 

I originally thought about single and/or multi family, but scaling to replace my salary would be fairly slow, in terms relative to my situation. I am certainly interested in going bigger with apartment complexes, but have a few barriers listed below.

1. Lack of knowledge even though I've been consuming as much content as possible lately.

2. Lack of funds. I have great credit and some funds put away, but not as much as I would need for even a triplex down payment in my local area.

3. The cost of entry in New England is quite high. There are triplexes in the area that cost as much as small complexes (25 units) in other areas.

Kevin,

Sorry for hearing about your wife. I have a friend and fellow real estate investor and his wife also battled cancer. He was able to be with her during the treatments and spent a lot of time with her. So I kind of knows what you're going through.

That's the beauty of real estate investing. You have time flexibility. If done correctly, it can be passive.

Thanks for sharing your obstacles to apartment investing. Sometimes, investing just passively can be the solution specially given your circumstances. The last thing you want to tell your wife is you can't be with her because of real estate investing. I don't recommend active apartment investing at this point. Active apartment investing will require 15-20 hours a week of your time and you might as well devote that to your wife right now.

[Kevin Green]

Originally posted by @Michael Ealy:

Originally posted by @Kevin Green:

Hi Michael,

I'll definitely be reading your whole story today. I'm in my late 40s, with a wife battling cancer, and I am looking at the fastest way to be able to quit my regular job to be with her and celebrate every day we have together. 

I originally thought about single and/or multi family, but scaling to replace my salary would be fairly slow, in terms relative to my situation. I am certainly interested in going bigger with apartment complexes, but have a few barriers listed below.

1. Lack of knowledge even though I've been consuming as much content as possible lately.

2. Lack of funds. I have great credit and some funds put away, but not as much as I would need for even a triplex down payment in my local area.

3. The cost of entry in New England is quite high. There are triplexes in the area that cost as much as small complexes (25 units) in other areas.

Kevin,

Sorry for hearing about your wife. I have a friend and fellow real estate investor and his wife also battled cancer. He was able to be with her during the treatments and spent a lot of time with her. So I kind of knows what you're going through.

That's the beauty of real estate investing. You have time flexibility. If done correctly, it can be passive.

Thanks for sharing your obstacles to apartment investing. Sometimes, investing just passively can be the solution specially given your circumstances. The last thing you want to tell your wife is you can't be with her because of real estate investing. I don't recommend active apartment investing at this point. Active apartment investing will require 15-20 hours a week of your time and you might as well devote that to your wife right now.

 Thanks Michael. It definitely makes you realize there is no time to wait to live life. My wife is definitely my biggest priority. I would definitely not put apartment investing over her health. 

I read through your whole story an it was definitely motivating. It does encourage me to get started at something and hopefully scale to apartments when I have more time to focus on it.