Finding My Niche In REI

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, everyone.

I come to you with a bloated stomach, a ransacked home, and new perspective on my goals and aspirations when it comes to investing and life in general. I read at least thirty blog posts since I last posted, all of them in the Starting Out In REI category. I avoided the ones with cautionary titles like the plague. I already have enough self doubt in my head so I don't need more. One blog post that stuck out to me was one by Clayton Morris titled 4 Tips to Find Your Niche in Real Estate (& Actually START Investing!).

It struck a chord with me and I decided to do everything he told me to, and I've decided to share it. 

1. Reverse Engineer Your Life

In his post, Clayton says the following.

"You know you want to make good money, but you’re not sure what that successful life looks like outside of your bank account. Here is your pivot point: Don’t chase money, chase dreams. My life totally changed for the better when I started visualizing the life I wanted for myself and my family. Your real estate journey should start here."

Amen! This part wasn't difficult for me at all. The things I want in life and the things I'd like to be doing every day haunt me like a waking dream. Earlier in life they were just that, dreams that I knew I would achieve one day. After the revelation of Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad, they became possibilities, nagging at me on a regular basis. Now with BiggerPockets resources, they've become nightmares... in a good way.

I know I can have it. I know I can make it happen, and a part of me is kicking myself because I didn't do it earlier. I made excuses for myself, waited for the universe to align properly, read more books, listened more podcasts. 

The kind of life I want is not that of immense wealth. I don't necessarily want to become a millionaire. What I'd really like is to have the time to focus on my three artistic pursuits: writing fiction, dancing, and acting. I watch colleagues in all of these fields struggle. Dancers have to teach at studios while to training (without pay) for performances. Aspiring authors struggle to find time to put down a thousand words a day. Actors, most of whom have advanced degrees, have to work as servers at restaurants because they're the only jobs flexible enough to accommodate auditions. I know these struggles because I live them every day. To bring it home I'll quote George R.R. Martin, author of Song of Ice And Fire, the series adapted to HBO's Game of Thrones.

"If you're looking for security, you may want to consider another career path..."

He said that to me and a group of fans in a hotel room after a Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention here in Charlotte a few years ago. There has to be a better way. Enough with the struggles though. Let's do some reverse engineering. What do I want?

• I want to live in a home equidistant between the two dance studios that I work at, which are nearly an hour apart right now. That means somewhere near or in Uptown Charlotte. Rent and land value is high. In spite of a state that seems to hate her, Charlotte continues to grow exponentially. New construction, and renovation is everywhere around me.
• I want to have the funds to invest in my talents: training in Shakespeare, vocal training, the Meisner and Stanislovsky methods, fiction writing workshops, and top tier dance coaches.
• I want a car that can handle long distances. Better yet, I want to have properties in cities that I audition in.
• Most importantly, I want the time to be able to do all of this.

On to tip 2.

2. Go With Your Gut.

I like what you're doing here, Clayton. The following facilitated the use of my mind without me overthinking.

"Here’s a powerful tool to help you follow your gut instincts. Grab a piece of paper and pen and write out a simple yes or no question. Example: Should I start rehabbing houses? Should I go back to law school? Yes or no. And leave this question in a room that you’ll come back to later. Don’t answer the question yet. Wait. Get the question out of your head."

I wrote down nearly thirty questions and came back to them later. Here are just a few.

1. Should I start rehabbing houses?
2. Do I enjoy DIY projects?
3. Am I good at math?
4. Do I work well by myself?
5. Do I work well with others?
6. Should I manage properties?
7. Do I need lump sums of cash?
8. Do I need Cash Flow?

Then there's the next part.

"Hours later, you might stumble across this written question on your kitchen table. You probably forgot you even wrote it down. Now read it and grab the pen and answer the question immediately. Yes or no. Your body already knows the answer before your mind gets in the way."

Here are my answers.

1. Should I start rehabbing houses? No.
2. Do I enjoy DIY projects? God, No!
3. Am I good at math? Could be better.
4. Do I work well by myself? No... This is getting sad.
5. Do I work well with others? Yes
6. Should I manage properties? No. I'm too nice.
7. Do I need lump sums of cash? Not necessarily.
8. Do I need Cash Flow? Yes.

So Flipping and Wholesaling are out of the running for now. There are plenty of skills I need to learn from those two categories, and I will be using them, but they aren't my end game. On to tip 3.

3. Fail Fast

This one amuses me because I'm a self deprecating jester sometimes.

"You can only learn from a mistake after you admit that you’ve made it. Losers blame others for their mistakes. Winners learn from them. I overpaid for my first buy and hold property. I spent too much on the house, too much on the rehab, and too much on insurance. I didn’t blame the real estate agent, the contractor, and the insurance agent. I used them as lessons on how to do it better the next time."

It's funny because I've seen this work in all of my artistic pursuits, and it's never the end of the world. I performed at a Ballroom Competition in September. One dance was a thorn in my side, the dreaded Quickstep, which is like Fox Trot on cocaine. We had the chance to perform it in three non-competitive heats before the final heat in which the judges took our score and ranked us against others. There was one move, the pepper pot, that I screwed up every time. My partner was not happy with me, but I laughed and practiced the move when I had the chance. The one time we got it right was during the championship round.

I was so happy that I screwed up the move after it, but we still won. 

I have a thick skin with my artistic pursuits. Why shouldn't I have it here?

Tip 4.

4. Money Shouldn't Be Your Obstacle

"I’ve heard this a lot, too: “I’m going to save up some money, and then I can get started.”

Yup. That was me. And after listening to 30+ episodes of the BP podcast, I have no more excuses. I'm creative, as all artists should be. Why shouldn't I be creative here?

It's a universal belief on BiggerPockets that if you find a great deal, the money will come to you. So I've been combing through MLS these last few days. I used Brandon Turner's quadrant to assess them, and I have some more work to do. This is gonna be fun.