@Allen Thomas I totally agree! If I had earned as much money as experience I would have been rich. I had three really huge takeaways:
1. Hire an experienced realtor.
We used the same individual on both houses and learned the same lesson twice. He was a friend of ours so we wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but once both deals were under contract he became more concerned about pleasing the other realtor and their client then looking out for our best interest. Never again! We now do our research and find top realtors for the type of property we are looking for.
2. Fight for every dollar.
What I mean is that, whether in the buying, selling, or renovation process you have to push hard for the best deal possible. The first house we took a lot of things at face value and really struggled with the budget because of it. The second home we did much better. We fought for closing costs, better estimates, and put it a lot of sweat equity to keep costs low. We realized that if you fight for an additional $500 at every step in the process (i.e. purchase amount, closing costs, renovations, sell price, closing costs) then that's at least $2,500 in savings. I can think of a lot of things to do with $2,500!
3. Set goals for every property
I felt like our first two properties we were just flying by the seat of our pants. We didn't do enough research and therefore didn't set realistic goals, if any goals at all. We just put an offer in today on what would be our third property and we have done much better about hiring the right realtor, checking comps, getting quotes, and setting goals. This has allowed us to breathe much easier knowing that if we stay within the guidelines we set for ourselves, then success is almost inevitable.
What about you? Any great advice or learning experiences?
