The Weight and Regrets of Rushing into a REI Educational Program

I find myself in the midst of a Strong Seller's Market here in Minneapolis Minnesota, and can't help but feel like I recently jumped off a ship blindfolded with an anchor tied to my foot. That metaphorical anchor is the large investment I made in an educational program.

Now don't get me wrong I believe the 20k+ investment actually isn't bad. I got some solid coaching, some great tools, a supportive community, a few new credit cards, and complete lack of real world application knowledge. You see, like most new investors out there, I had a couple of small experiences in my life with real estate that were very positive so, I figured What the Hey (People talk like this in Minnesota, I swear) jump in, you'll figure it out NERD.

So here is a bit more background on me. I am a outgoing Mechanical Engineer, who loves starting projects and hates finishing them. Everything looks simple and easy in my head just before I start doing it, but that drive, energy, and excitement fade quickly until I can find something new to jump into. Fast forward a bit, and in 2012 I bought a house with a college friend mostly on a whim. We figured, people say the market is down right now, we should buy and see what happens. Lucky for us, a few things came easy. We had a friend who wanted to rent from us immediately, and my college buddy was going to owner occupy, so boom I am already making a fat $50 a month.... I'm rich right! Well then the water heater goes out, we get a weirdo tenant who keeps sneaking in cats, my co owner gets a new girlfriend who hates my girlfriend, and property wreaks of a Days of Our Lives episode. 

Through grit teeth, hateful words behind close doors, a few weeks of hard work, were able to fix up the house a bit and put it on the market before anybody in the house got into a knife fight. Lucky for us, it had been about 2 years the market had rebounded in this neighborhood. The house sold in 3 days at a price that we both thought was way to high when we first listed it. We ended up closing and each making about 40k at the closing table.... We have no idea what we grossed, as we kept the worst records. Regardless, now that I have this sweet check, I'm on cloud 9 again when I think about real estate investing.

A few weeks later I hear a radio advertisement about making thousands while doing real estate part time. Lighting bolts, rainbows with pots of gold, money trees, you name it, I am seeing all of that as I listen to the radio. I of course run to the event sit there for two days hearing millionaires tell me how simple this is and how I can flip 20 houses a month in no time all while only working 20 hours a week. Now I am pumped, I am totally ready to jump in. "It won't be that expensive", I tell myself. "Heck, whatever the cost is, it will be worth it to make millions a year in a matter of a year or two". So of course when then they pull me aside ask me what I can afford and tell me I have been one of the few hand selected for this program, it's a no brainier, I am in. 20k (40% of current wealth) LET'S DO THIS!

Now here is what I have really learned! 80% of what I have received and learned could have been found through free networking events, Real Estate Investor Associations, a few books, and an awesome service like BiggerPockets. I now understand the process a bit more, the systems required, and a bit about how to actually implement these systems, BUT I don't have the time or the resources to take the action steps required, because I spent all my cash on the initial education. I need my full time job to replenish the savings and save for some marketing, but I need that time during the day to look and respond to real estate leads and actually do the marketing. If feels a lot like the Austin Powers Movie quote, "I eat because I am unhappy, I am unhappy because I eat". Except for me it's "I'm broke because I invested in real estate, I invested in real estate because I didn't want to be broke".My rash educational investment in real estate investing has now become my Real Estate Investing anchor, slowing my progress, and putting tension on metaphorical ship (Business).

While the main point of this first blog was to tell you a bit more about me, my experience, and my frustrations, I also really wanted to point out two major points that I learned.

1.) Taking the giant leap into an educational program is not as bad as I made it sound, because it does give me a Massive WHY, when I think about what I am doing and why I can't quit. Like many people say in business, "Done is Better Than Perfect"

2.) When you are new to investing, take sometime to learn from free sources first, before diving too deep in any program or even a deal. Sources like bigger pockets and it's members can teach a new investor how to build an excellent foundation in Real Estate Investing. Once you have that base, then start looking for more coaching and education.