All Forum Posts by: Joe Fairless

@John Fortes holy personal development! Dang, that's impressive. 66 books and 25 lbs. I'd bet on you and people like you who have that type of focus and commitment all day long. 

@Doug Phillips happy b-day to her and @grant 

@Grant Rothenburger will reach out to you. You can also message him. 

@John Fortes thanks a lot. Yeah, I love the "quit social media and focus on self-developing" thing. What specific resources did you study that helped you with your development? 

@Doug Phillips here is the BP post with the event link to attend: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/58...

@Grant Rothenburger has details if you need any other info 

@Doug Phillips glad to hear it and looking forward to meeting you at our Cincinnati meetup tonight 

@Teri B. thank you for sharing your experiences as well. Glad to hear you're staying above the fray and have a more wholesome perspective than some you've come across. 

@Adam Mittermeier thank you for sharing your success habits as well. I like #3 especially with the emphasis on BE ACTIVE in your real estate meetings. If I allocate the time to attend a real estate meetup then I sure as heck am going to make it a priority to get to know someone while I'm there. And try to get as involved as possible with the meetup from a leadership standpoint. When I first moved to Cincinnati I actually started my own meetup and it has been a great way to meet new people and grow together as a group. 

Re: daily journal, oh man, it is so rewarding to read about what I was doing/thinking a year ago, two years ago, THREE years ago. It helps me because it shows me the progress I've made in certain areas and the LACK of progress I've made in other areas. It brings to the surface what's working and what's not working. And it is also an outlet at the time to just vent if I want to. My wife loves it when I read her what we were doing "this time last year or two years ago, etc.". Of course, I never let her read the actual journal (it is only for me) but I do read her snippets about what we did and it's really cool to reflect back on how far we've come. 

@Mike Dymski I LOVE your first point. Do what we need to do daily, and consistently, then let the results fall where they may. Can of tuna every morning, huh? Just open up the can and dive in with a spoon or you dress it up some? 

@Rich McElaney glad to hear it and good luck on your journey. I was watching a video on goal setting yesterday and enjoyed it and found it helpful. Talks about thinking deeper about our goals than just metrics. If you search "Think Differently From the Rest Be Willing to be Misunderstood" on YouTube then you'll find it. The guy talking is Vishen Lakhiani and after watching the video I bought his book. 

@Bjorn Ahlblad thanks a lot and, most importantly, glad you found it helpful. 

@Michael Le ahhh, clearly I need to spend more time reading to help with my literacy skills! Good catch! 

“To whom it may concern” is how my letter started out.

It was 9 years ago and I had finally, after 10 long months of looking for my first investment property, found a deal. It was a 4 bed, 2 bath house in Duncanville, Texas. Purchase price $76,000. Rent $1,050. Didn’t really need any repairs. The puppy was going to cash flow and I was going to get my first investment property, heck yeah!

Well…that was until the lender had their say. Apparently, in 2009 a bunch of lenders were feeling the burn of loose or nonexistent underwriting guidelines from years prior and were looking to correct those mistakes. Good for them. They should. Bad for me at the time because they were asking me why on earth would I want to buy an investment property if I didn’t *gasp* own my primary residence?

Pretty simple, actually. I lived in NYC. Places cost too much. After all, I started out making $30,000 as a junior project manager so how the heck could I have afforded to buy a NYC apt?!

So on September 25, 2009 I wrote a letter to the lender and told them the situation. Here it is:

Fortunately, it worked! They approved me for the loan and I was the proud owner of this, ahem, beauty!

I still have this house today. Speaking of today, I just got done signing the loan guarantor docs on a 400+ unit apt building worth over $30M that my company is closing on tomorrow. It will put our portfolio at 4,169 units and worth over $350,000,000.

I have documented most of the lessons learned after I close each project on BiggerPockets and you can read the lessons learned here:

-https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/432/topics/517933-how-to-find-private-money-regardless-of-where-you-live

-https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/432/topics/461447-here-is-when-it-makes-sense-to-buy-nicer-properties?page=1#p2858544

-https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/432/topics/429543-how-i-just-bought-over-500-units-in-a-hot-market?page=1

-https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/397337-just-reached-over-100-000-000-in-apt-communities-lesson-learned?page=1

-https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/359926-investor-analysis-after-closing-on-a-296-unit-2-lessons-learned

-https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/316836-closed-on-320-unit-last-week-6-ways-to-break-into-the-biz

-https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/294621-closed-on-155-units-in-houston-yesterday-3-lessons-learned

-https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/217842-closed-on-250-apartments-in-houston-texas-yesterday-2-lessons-learned

-https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/369032-closed-on-a-200-unit-one-simple-lesson

The purpose of this is to simply say that whatever you’re looking to do in real estate, it is possible. I went from making a $30,000 salary with $20,000 in student loans after college to being a multi-millionaire.

If you have big, audacious goals then good for you. It’s possible. Others before you have accomplished it (or something similar) so you can too. It’s possible.

Here are 9 beliefs that I’ve lived by through my 9-year journey:

1. Nothing in life has meaning until I decide to give it meaning.

2. Challenges are a gift. Life happens for me, not to me.

3. Help enough people get what they want and I’ll get everything I want.

4. Richest people in the world build networks. Everyone else looks for work.

5. The secret to living is giving.

6. Work harder on yourself than you do your job.

7. Best way to get out of a funk is to move and be grateful.

8. Have perspective by remembering that I will die.

9. Be proud of who I am when nobody is looking.

Here are 9 habits that have helped me be consistent with my progress:

1. Immediately think of one thing I’m grateful for when I wake up.

2. Drink a liter of water with a scoop of wheatgrass in the morning

3. Do cardio and weights (not just cardio)

4. Volunteer at least once a month

5. Think about life in terms of # of experiences remaining, not years remaining

6. Journal my thoughts, feelings and whatever else comes in my head daily

7. Always have a vision board prominently displayed everywhere (wall in office, phone, computer background)

8. A.L.B. (always be readin’)

9. Be incredibly responsive to my clients and my investors. And even more responsive to my wife!

Do you have any beliefs or habits that have helped you achieve success? If so, what are they? Would love to learn about them so I can see about incorporating into my life/routine as well. 

I enjoyed your moderating @Meghan McCallum - you have a skill for asking the right questions and following up if clarity is needed. 

@Jerry Puckett very much looking forward to meeting you too. 

@Michael Kim If anyone guarantees anything in real estate other than they'll work hard I would run the other direction. I didn't say guarantee in the BP interview and I definitely didn't say it about 18% return in the 1st year but sounds like that has been addressed already. Agree with @Lennon Lee on those return projections for deals. Appreciate the back-up @Brian Burke, @Jeff Greenberg , @Bruce Petersen, @Todd Dexheimer , @Jonathan Twombly , @Lennon Lee and @Lane Kawaoka