Biggest Lesson Learned (i.e. Biggest Mistake Made)...

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I am going through some analysis-paralysis and second-guessing myself, as this will be one of the biggest financial decisions my husband and I will be making - aside from buying our primary residence - which I wish we could do all over again with what I now know. I can make all kinds of excuses to talk myself out of this. The numbers worked, but now I'm second-guessing the numbers. I have no experience with any rehab projects and have even shied away from re-grouting our own bathtub tiles for fear of ruining something. My offer is going to be too low - I'm just wasting everyone's time. All I see right now is a number of possible mistakes, failures, and losing a lot of money (for us). I know this is just part of the process for us - and hope to be back on top of everything again as we move forward.  

I read everything in this forum to learn as much as I can, and I love the success stories; however, I would love to hear all about the other side. I think a lot of us can learn from others' missteps and would love to read about them as well. 

As my husband and I try to move forward, I would love to hear some of your biggest/baddest lessons learned in REI. Did you make them in the beginning of your REI experience or later, after years of experience? What went wrong? What could you have done better? How much did you lose? How did you recover?

I hope to some of you guys would be willing to share your (more negative) experiences and maybe even brag about how you bounced back and continued in REI.