Stop Making Excuses!
The Truth About Real Estate Investing…Part VI
Stop Making Excuses!
So far, I bought a house in 2004 and one in 2005. I could have lost them, but I survived the Housing Crisis. Both of them renting out, a little below market rent, but if you read my last post, you know why. I bought a house in 2011 to live in, and sold it in 2013 for a small profit (my live-in flip). I’ve moved and been promoted several times, each time making excuses about how difficult it would be to invest here or there. I kept reading and learning throughout that period (the dark ages). I was in a rut.
Finally I’d had enough. I was tired of waiting, but I was on sea duty. I took the advice I’d read about in many of the books and podcasts I’d consumed over the last few years. Books like “The Book on Rental Property Investing”, “Set for Life”, and “The Millionaire Real Estate Investor”. The final push came from “Long-Distance Real Estate Investing”. It’s like a lightbulb lit up in my brain. If these principles can apply to investing out of market, they should be able to apply to investing WAY out of market (i.e. at sea).
I formed my company in January of 2019, and started searching for deals in earnest. My initial goal was to at least flip one property this year. I went on Zillow and looked up the top Realtor teams in my chosen area. I found the #2 team in the area (the #1 team didn’t return my calls). I went on Bigger Pockets and mentioned what I was trying to do. I made contacts with other investors that had similar goals. I even reconnected with an old shipmate who’d retired and done exactly what I wanted to do.
I kept analyzing deals, and making offers. After so many offers, I wasn’t sure if I was going to get going after all. I was getting ready to go to sea, and thought I was on the verge of this not panning out.
My retired friend brought a deal to me that he’d locked down, and offered a partnership where he managed the project if I brought the financing. We did just that. The next week, another partner I’d made through BP brought another deal with the same plan. One month later, he brought a second deal with the same idea.
I went from over a decade with no deals, and by August, I was involved in 3. Two for flips, one for buy-and hold. I’ll post about each one in the forums, but so far, I’m on my way to tripling my initial goal. Two of them are finished, and awaiting a sale of one and a refinance of the other. The third was more extensive, and is still in progress.
Oh what I could do with more time. One of my partners has dedicated more time to his endeavors, and has closed almost 30 deals in 9 months. One day, my friend, one day!
Plan next year is to double it!
Thank you Bigger Pockets for helping me get started again!
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