does anybody else every worry???

[Aaron Hollingshead]

Do you ever worry?  I'll be the first to admit that I tend to overthink things...I'm all in on real estate - in 5 years I've acquired 7 rentals and flipped 8 houses, but as I continue on the pathway, I find myself worrying more and more.  One day I think about building an empire, the next I think maybe I should pay off a couple of units and put things into auto pilot.  

For context, the first flip I did I was a young person with no kids...I had no idea what I was doing.  My even house got red-tagged because I was installing a roof without a permit (permit??  no idea!).  That didn't phase me one bit (and actually that was a killer flip coincidentally)! 

Fast forward 5 years and now I pull full reno permits, don't cut corners, understand more fully what I'm doing, etc.  I have refined criteria, I always put 20-25% down on rentals, I am pretty conservative by most accounts.  But I also have 2 kids now and significantly more net worth and I just find myself thinking about statements you hear from investors such as "it's only a matter of time before you get sued in this business".  

Does anybody else think about this sort of thing?  I legitimately try to do everything right - I treat renters with dignity and respect, over-remodel my units, I tend to be lenient most of the time but at the end of the day, maybe I'm just wondering at what point it's time to intentionally plateau instead of continuing this arch?  

Anybody else wrestle with this sort of question?  

[Scott Passman]

Of course.  I can't speak for everybody, but I have times of worry and I'm sure everyone does at some point.  It sounds like you are doing things right: investing conservatively, not screwing over your tenants but genuinely trying to provide them a good place to live, etc.  Could you get sued? Sure you could.  But the odds are low and there are things you can do to help mitigate and protect yourself against this should it happen.  The truth is, there is NOTHING you could do to eliminate worry.  Go all in on the stock market and you have to worry about market drops, recessions/depressions, corporate bankruptcies etc.  Invest in bonds and you have to worry about inflation eroding your gains over time. Get a high paying job and maximize your income and you have to worry about missing your kids grow up while you work 50+ hours/week and you could get fired at any time losing your source of income.  There is no decision you could make to eliminate worry from your life.  Sounds like you are building a strong RE portfolio and have developed some great skills that can translate to a lot of financial opportunities for you and your family.  It's okay to worry, but you can't let it scare you into making fear based decisions thinking that you can somehow unload the worry.  You will just trade it in for the opportunity to worry about something else.