Why most people cannot invest in real estate

Have you heard the saying, you buy emotionally and then justify logically?  This is true of every single purchase from a song on iTunes, to a TV and a vacation.  Sometimes, we need to do some mental gymnastics to convince our logical brain that we should buy whatever item it is, but this isn’t hard to do.  If you pay attention you'll notice yourself justifying the next purchase logically, when in fact all that matters is that you want it now! 

Investing on the other hand, is different from a purchase because logically, we know we should do it, but we still have to sell ourselves emotionally.  We all know we should save more money, we all know we should eat better, exercise more, sleep more, etc.  The problem is that many of us simply don't have the emotional horsepower needed to support the decision.  We know that we should wait 10 minutes to get another marshmallow but we want to have one right now!!! (see Stanford Marshmallow Test)

This blockage is what separates actual real estate investors from the perpetual students;  true real estate investors have sold themselves emotionally and have no more internal opposition.  They are free to buy and invest in real estate based entirely on the numbers.  The perpetual students and other wannabes know that they should buy real estate, but they have not truly and honestly sold themselves emotionally on the idea.  They review their numbers constantly, while waiting for some insignificant bit of info that will make all the difference, to them at least.  And heaven forbid, should some info come back less than perfect, well then the deal is dead, and they have saved themselves from disaster!  Good thing they waited, right?  Well, these folks won't become real estate investors and are no further ahead, but emotionally they remain protected and to them, this is more important.  

Despite what most rational people believe, emotions can only be overcome by other emotions.  No amount of logic can overcome fear, at least in the short term.  Therefore, people need to buy into the belief that investing in real estate will lead to a better future.  This must be done before any more deals are analyzed, books are read, meetings are attended, or podcasts listened to.  Emotionally, you must want to invest.  You must NEED to invest.  It doesn't matter if the emotional driver of your need to invest is based on fear or greed, just so long as it's more powerful that whatever emotion is holding you back.  

OKAY, now that the problem has been identified, what is the solution?  Well, simply being aware of the problem could help some of you recognize that your fear is unjustified.  This realization could be the only thing you need.  However, the only true solution is to sell yourself emotionally and a way to do this is through your ability to imagine the excitement, happiness, thrill, fulfillment, satisfaction, and pure bliss of achieving all of your real estate investing goals.  

It's a tough problem to have and there’s no guarantee of a cure.  As well, it might not happen overnight, but with practice imagining this better life, you will begin to chip away slowly at that fear and replace it with unrestricted excitement and satisfaction.  But suffice it to say that without recognizing your doubt, you will be a perpetual student destined for a whole lot of nothing.  And you have only yourself to blame.