Been MIA and Regret Every Second. Procrastination Is EVIL!!

[Jeff Petsche]

Hello BP Community

Full Transparency Coming: 

I've been a participant of BP for a few years now and I use the word "participant" very loosely. Meaning, I've been someone who has been watching from the sidelines for too long. 

Yes I have participated in forum discussions, I continue to listen to podcasts and have even gone so far as to visit a few markets (Columbus and Indianapolis), but other than some additional knowledge, I have nothing on paper to show for my time invested, other than $600 in debt for the trips to Columbus and Indy. 

I've been a real estate Broker for over 16 years, helping others buy/sell real estate and have closed over $70M in volume, yet I can't seem to pull the trigger and buy my first investment property for myself because I always seem to talk myself out of a deal for one reason or another. 

My girlfriend and I have a great life here in CA and we have an 8 year plan where she will be retired (I am already semi-retired) and leaving CA. In the meantime, we want to put our surplus cash to better use. 

We have our investment LLC in place and $300K+ in our LLC account, so we are ready to GOOOOOOO!!!

We are interested in out of state investing for both buy/hold (BRRRR strategy) and FLIPS if the market makes sense to do so. Our area of SOCAL (Orange County) just doesn't work for us.

My girlfriend works corporate america and I'm a retired cop, turned real estate broker 16 years ago. She's investing in her safe 401(K) stuff, I have money in my 457(K) account doing it's thing, I receive a retirement police pension (tax free), she makes a good living, and I make six figures with my real estate business, so we are in a good financial place to invest. 

Our goal is to take the $300K we have in cash, plus 100% of my after tax income from real estate, and invest into rentals (or finance flips), and repeat that process because we don't need the cash flow or flip income to live on. 

Building the right team is key and I'm not opposed to traveling to markets in the beginning, but really don't want that for every deal. I want to be comfortable investing long distance and trusting the team I put in place. 

I'm the one who will be focusing on our real estate investing because I have the time and flexibility to do so. I'm an educated man and experienced in real estate, yet I'm letting my excuses and conservative up bringing paralyze me from investing when I know it's the right thing to be doing. 

Other than "suck it up butter cup" type comments, I'd appreciate some constructive feedback on what I need to be focused on (mindset being #1 of course) to get my feet moving in the right direction here.

Sorry for the long post, but thanks to those who took the time to read it and comment. 

Jeff and (Amy) 

[Stephanie Money]

Hi Jeff, I am not an investor or invested in anything yet but I am so eager to get started for many reasons. I think a popular response to posts like yours that you have probably read many times, being that you have been in the BP community for for a few years, is to figure out your "why." I mean no disrespect, but maybe the reason you haven't gotten started yet is that your "why" is not big enough to give you that push that you really need. If that is the case then maybe dig deeper and talk with Amy about your goals that you both have for your future and what you want to see / do in your life time that you might not be able to do right now, but your investments will uncover opportunity for. 

I am young so my "why" is probably different than yours, but it is to be able to eventually take care of my parents and help support their dreams and goals once they retire so they don't have to dip into retirement funds as much. I also want to be able to sell a rental one day to fund my future (hopefully) kids college. Another one of my "whys" is to help my kids have a memorable childhood like my parents did for me. Money wasn't an issue growing up and I got chances to cruise and see the country in ways that most kids didn't so I am hopeful that I will have enough properties one day to help fund vacations for my kids and maybe even a few of their friends! I am not looking to get into real estate to replace my income, but to put me in a position to give back and help others get the most out of life by using passive income I generate.

Anyways, I digress, I think if you have a stronger why, it will help you pull the trigger. People will criticize you for not having a "strong" enough Why compared to theirs but at the end of the day, it is what keeps YOU motivated, not them. so dig deep and go find that "why"! 

I hope this helps, if not, no worries :) Best of luck to you! 

P.s. - Don't put yourself in a situation to look back and wish you would've started earlier.