All Forum Posts by: Sadrud-Din Williams

@Sadrud-Din Williams

97% fail?

Totally false and misleading statement. It's simply impossible to measure and quantify a failure rate with such a generalization as simple as "real estate investor". Just look through the categories on Biggerpockets. Are we talking about notes, SFH, multi-family, land, STR's? What markets? What constitutes success and failure? Over what period of time? And a million other factors and metrics... A seriously misleading and discouraging post, should be removed by the site moderator except for the great responses it has elicited...

Can you share your source for the 97% failure rate you cited? Im curious where it comes from and how they define success. 

Information has nothing to do with success. With the internet you have access to unlimited information for free. If information was the answer, everyone would be successful. 

Money is not holding people back either. Most of the wealthiest people in the world started with no money. They found people with money or used creativity to succeed with no external funding. 

Ask yourself why do most lottery winners end up broke?

Wealth is a mindset. Success is born from habits and resourcefulness. 

These guru claim "if you apply everything you learned" you can get these results. Of course! The problem is the hard part is applying, not learning. They charge you money for something you can get for free and fail to teach you what you really need. 

Originally posted by @Sadrud-Din Williams:

Originally posted by @Brian Michael Kelly:

How are you defining success and where are you getting your statistics? I have several friends and family members that have invested in real estate. Most of them buy apartments or condos on a small scale and are very happy to receive some extra cash flow and build equity. While that may not make them millionaires, I would argue they are successful. And if in my circle of friends and family there are so many that have done this, this far exceeds the 3% you state in your post.

I think it is all a matter of perspective. You have to work hard, do your homework, have setbacks and push through them. 

We don't get our statistics from the few friends and family members that we know are having success in Real Estate. If you read my post carefully you would understand that the % is based on those that invest in Real Estate world wide. That's just like saying 99% of my friends are successful in Real Estate Investing because most of my firends invest in Real Estate. We don't measure success in Real Estate Investing by whether someone is wealthy from it. The post is based those who quit before ever having success and that measure of success is based on them and what they seek to accomplish. For Example:

The world's richest 1 percent, those with more than $1 million, own 45 percent of the world's wealth. Adults with less than $10,000 in wealth make up 64 percent of the world's population but hold less than 2 percent of global wealth. 

Now would you argue that this is not true becuase the people around you are not broke and actually good money. Remember that does not change the global average?

 Sorry if my comment rubbed you the wrong way. I completely understand the distribution of world wealth, in fact, I own several properties in South America and I see the realities of the triangle graph you posted every day. But in your original post, you were talking about real estate investors and a 97% failure rate, not about the world's distribution of wealth. 

@Sadrud-Din Williams real estate investing is like any other business. It takes time, patience and persistence to be successful. 97% of people get really excited when they start a business, but when they don't see immediate results, they quit. That's why only 3% succeed. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it and would be successful at it. Most people aren't willing to work hard to get results.

How are you defining success and where are you getting your statistics? I have several friends and family members that have invested in real estate. Most of them buy apartments or condos on a small scale and are very happy to receive some extra cash flow and build equity. While that may not make them millionaires, I would argue they are successful. And if in my circle of friends and family there are so many that have done this, this far exceeds the 3% you state in your post.

I think it is all a matter of perspective. You have to work hard, do your homework, have setbacks and push through them. 

We don't get our statistics from the few friends and family members that we know are having success in Real Estate. If you read my post carefully you would understand that the % is based on those that invest in Real Estate world wide. That's just like saying 99% of my friends are successful in Real Estate Investing because most of my firends invest in Real Estate. We don't measure success in Real Estate Investing by whether someone is wealthy from it. The post is based those who quit before ever having success and that measure of success is based on them and what they seek to accomplish. For Example: