Missed Opportunities - What are your recent ones?

[Joseph Walsh]

Hi all, 

I thought I would list a few missed opportunities I have had recently, and ask about any of yours.  Mine fall into 3 general categories:

1.) Wish I would of thought to...

Recently, we went to an estate sale nearby, noticing the for sale sign was taken down. I assumed, and asked "so, you sold this already", knowing the owner had died and the son was running the sale. The response "No, had to take it down, the house wasn't in a trust, can't sell yet. as soon as it clears probate, we'll relist" about a day later, I thought: "I should of let him know to contact me before relisting. it would be a great flip canidate, or even BRRRR, maybe I could get it at a discount if he is eager to sell, considering all the tie ups so far..." It's now listed again...damn

Another one, been driving by a "for sale by owner", wanted to contact them to see if they would consider a seller finance.   part of my delay is based on category 3, now I say this weeking a ton of cars there, for what I assume are showing...damn it.

2.) I have already over allocated my time:

Currently doing home renovations at home, by myself, rather than hire it out. These reno's are taking several months, due to my overall time being over allocated to various things, plus the renos. So, I have really not been making time to find my next property(ies). As a bonus , during that time, my heloc is tied up (see category 3), which is part of the funding strategy for my next purchase. I have not had time to look at a few properties I think would of been good BRRRR candidates, and one sure fire flip. They have been snatched up since.

3.) My money is currently tied up in other things:

See the above mentioned HELOC tieup. Also, I was planning to move some old 401k's over to my current employer so I have access to the money in form of loans in a great deal came up and/or the HELCO was tied up. Never got around to it....

I have a dud rental that about breaks even every month due to a crappy loan and not quite enough equity to refinance without some cash out of pocket, not much mind out, but some.  If I had not tied up all my funds in other crap, I could turn this to a positive couple hundred a month cash flow, it's not much, but it's a miss, and they add up.

So, the lessons (which I KNOW), manage your time, manage your liquid cash, and always, always let people know you buy houses....  I figure in the last year I have missed out on what would now be about $800-1000 a month cash flow due to a lack of focus, and maybe a 30-40k flip payday.