So I gotta know...

[P.J. Hankins]

For the most part I'm venting here, but I'd love to know how many of you who are years into this and running a successful REI business for your selves, A) at the beginning felt like throwing your hands into the air, and B) what you did to keep your self from getting broken down by the difficulties starting out.

To give a little context here...I have been feeling really great about the progress I've made of the last 6 months. I have one flip under my belt, two rentals that are doing OK, one tenant just renewed for another year, and I was set to close on a new property *tomorrow*. I've actually had responses to "yellow letters" and have some leads I'm working there. Things are going well, I think.

I found out yesterday, though, that the property we were getting ready to close on had been split into two parcels, and Fannie Mae only foreclosed on the parcel with the house on it, .52 acres. The back parcel, another .33 acres, was never secured by the mortgage and is still in the previous owners name. The location of this property, being what it is, would only make sense to have the back parcel with the house, so, now my choices are to either back off the deal and loose about $600 or keep with it and see if the previous owner will settle for a little sum of money for the back parcel. I suppose neither could happen and I'd be stuck trying to sell a renovated house with an odd lot behind it, which can only be accessed by the lot that that the house sits on. I can't think of any buyer who would want that.

I know what I *should* do here, I'm just really frustrated. Perhaps at myself for not catching this. I've looked over the counties GIS mapping for this property a thousand times and even knew the property was seemingly split into two parcels. But it never even crossed my mind to *make sure* that both were in Fannie Mae's name and not the previous owner's

For some reason this has brought me way down emotionally to the point of asking myself if this is worth all the trouble. UGH!

I know it is, deep down I know this is my path out of the rat race and toward my financial goals. I love real estate, always have. My wife an I built 3 houses, in the days of easy loans and quick appreciation on homes. I love the search, wondering if this next house is going to be *the* one. I love the idea of one day sitting back after a lot of hard work and living off of the passive income I've built up.

It just seems that at the beginning getting the pump primed is tough. Maybe this is one of the intangible things that have been holding me back...i hate hate hate disappointment, maybe I need to work on shrugging off a little quick and just moving along.

Any hoo...i'd love to hear some war stories from ya'll if you feel like sharing.

[Gary Parker]

Stuff like this happens in this business; it is part of the process. You market to 2000 people > you get X calls > you get X leads > you negotiate X deals > you close X deals with X getting smaller as you move along. You just have to get back up and brush yourself off and keep moving forward. It really gets to me when I loose a deal to another investor but it happens because only one of us can get the deal. I think the nature of the beast in this business is we are all driven competitive people. I would be interested in hearing from people that have been successful in this business for many years if the frustration ever goes away. I would think it does when multiple deals a month are rolling in.