Assessing the Situation

I person wiser than I once said 'in order to know where you are going you must know where you are' so here is my current situation. I mention both the bad and the good. Because when I am successful I want those who follow me to know what I was up against. But no matter what there are always advantages you have. One of my favorite pod casts has a gentlemen who said 'Everyone has an unfair advantage, find yours and use it'

The Bad

No Money - I have no savings or retirement accounts except an emergency fund for which I struggle to keep $1000 in. More often then not it is not anywhere close to that.

No Equity - Because of the covenants, conditions and restrictions I am not able to rent my property. I lease the Land from a non-profit trust organization which will only allow equity cash outs for improvements and maintenance. In addition there is an equity sharing setup which only allows me to keep 25% of the appreciated value of the home.

Tons of Debt - Believing what the gurus told me I cashed out what little retirement funds I had (and went into debt for the rest). To purchase $31,000 in Classes, Mentors and Coaches. In addition I co-signed a college loan for my son to the tune of $55,000.

Over 40- Actually 45. Though I don't consider my Age a bad thing. I am way behind the curve considering there are many on this site that are not even 30 and already have a significant investment portfolio. We all know real estate is not a fast process which means I have to work that much harder.

Living in Vermont - For those of you who haven't heard of Vermont first let me tell you it IS a state we are not a suburb of New York or Boston. The population of the entire state is about 580K we rank 49 in population in the country. The population is shrinking because we have no jobs, high taxes and enough bureaucratic red tape to scare off even the most determined of businesses.

The Good

Time - I run an IT consulting business. My overhead is so low that I can actually make ends meet by working 25 hours a week. This gives me 15 extra hours a week for my real estate endeavors.

Family Support - My wife has always been part of the decision making process. When we spent the money on the Guru classes she was consulted and agreed it was worth the risk. I know a couple that divorced shortly after they took these classes. I am blessed in that I don't have to deal with performance anxiety.

Knowledge - The guru classes weren't useless. We did gain tons of knowledge. My only regret is that I paid too much for the knowledge. Had I known about Bigger Pockets at the time I would have saved myself a lot of money. But none the less I understand real estate better than I ever have before. That said I only know a small fraction of what there is to know.
I am also blessed with a sound mind, am good with math and Technology comes very easy to me. In addition I have run a business for over 10 years. During that time I have purchased 3 businesses and sold 1. 

People Skills - One of the smartest things I did in my early years was to read the book "How To Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. This book gave me great insight into human nature and how to treat people. Most of the techniques I still practice to this day in it has allowed me to meet and talk with people that I never thought possible.

Local Lore - I have lived in Vermont nearly all my life. Because of this I know exactly what areas are growing and what areas are not. I am familiar with most of the issues facing the people because I have had so long to build a network I find out about things before most which gives me a nice advantage. Not to mention it provides a great way to build rapport when meeting new people. 

I could go on and on about the advantages but my point is to show that I have them. If you have read all the way though this post I want you to take away 2 things. First know that you are not the only person facing challenges we all have them. Some of them worse than others. If given my current situation I can still keep going. You should be able to. Second is to find your advantages. Use my list to help generate your own list. Not all advantages are tangible in fact I have found in my 45 years of life that the most valuable assets are the ones you don't pay for.