Why Start With Real Estate...(Why I Started)

Just a couple of years ago (Jan 2020) I started my journey into this great world of real estate investing that we are all navigating as best we can. Like in golf (at least for me) there are lots of mishits with just enough success in hitting the green that keeps you coming back looking for one more green.

             However before jumping in with both feet on my first deal, I spent many years trying to test the waters and prepare myself for the pool (or ocean) by listening to podcasts, thank you BP, reading books, browsing Zillow and just about anything else I could do that would "prepare" me, or in actuality give me an excuse to say I was "preparing." I spent over 6 years in paralysis analysis, as I had learned about the BP podcast in 2013 from one of my fellow Louisville Fire Dept fire recruits, and decided then that REI is what I wanted to do to reach financial freedom.

           The problem that I had that caused me to spend so long in the paralysis analysis phase was that I wanted to do it but I didn't have a very strong why. I'd read about needing whys, heard about needing whys, knew about other successful people's whys and for some reason was not able to find any whys that were strong enough to make me actually jump in and chase the dream of financial freedom. I didn't even know at the time I needed a stronger, better why. I thought the most important thing was to have enough knowledge, know the right people, read enough books...all of that is great, but the one thing that you won't find in a book or get out of someone else's story is YOUR why!

It wasn't until being married to my absolutely amazing wife for almost a year and she got sick and tired of me talking about how great real estate is when I'd never actually done any real estate. She asked me "Why don't you just go buy a house if it's so great and that's how everyone gets wealthy?" and that got me thinking about why haven't I done that, within the next week I talked to another fireman who was also an experienced RE investor and he said something very similar after asking him a million questions, "Man I can tell you about what I do all day, but eventually you have to go and do it. Why haven't you bought a property yet?" after these two encounters I went back and thought really hard about why I hadn't bought a property yet, and when I couldn't think of a good reason I thought about why should I, that's when I found my whys and they compelled me so strongly to go after what I wanted I had a house under contract in under a week, then I closed on it in under 30 days.            

That's the power of a strong why, it will super charge you, give you the confidence and will power to do what needs to be done. My why was and is my future, my family's future, and my legacy to leave behind. I hope that everyone understands the importance of strong whys and finds theirs much quicker than I found mine. I really have my wife to thank for everything that I've been able to accomplish so far and everything I will accomplish until next time.

Happy Investing!

Wes