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The REAL Reason Why You Didn’t Buy Any Houses This Month

James Vasquez
3 min read
The REAL Reason Why You Didn’t Buy Any Houses This Month

This blog post is about much more than just a catchy title, although I am sure some will criticize the title and say “there are many other reasons why wholesalers & fix & flip investors don’t buy houses”, and they would be correct.

This post is meant to be more of an explanation of what had prevented me from calling myself a wholesaler for several years, and actually meeting directly with motivated sellers & actually buying houses.

8 months ago, I decided to stop buying deals from other wholesalers and on the MLS, because I knew that if I really wanted to cherry pick my fix and flip opportunities and wanted real control over my real estate business, then the only way would be for me to buy houses directly from the source: the home owner.

Fear May Have Control Over You

Fear is one of those things that can keep us from accomplishing anything meaningful, it doesn’t just grip real estate investors. Fear can and does stop us before we even get started. It can wake up with you in the morning and go to bed with you at night….if you let it.

One of the most important lessons that I have learned in my life over the past year that has catapulted me into the next level of real estate investing didn’t cost me any money at all. It is that I consistently need to take an inward look at WHY I AM or WHY I AM NOT taking certain steps towards achieving my goals. At some point as men (and women), I think we just get tired of spending so much time in a dead end relationship with fear.

What Is It You’re Afraid Of?

Like a lot of investors, I had read countless articles about wholesaling and flipping houses for many months (literally). I could write a book on “Wholesaling Houses for Dummies”, but I was the dummy, because I hadn’t taken any action, but more important than realizing that “no action” was a serious problem, I began to ask myself in serious thought and prayer WHY I was not taking action. Soon the answers where right before me, as clear as day. I was afraid. I was afraid of spending money on what I already knew has worked for thousands of investors alike. I knew the marketing budgets, response rates, call to deal ratios, and RIO’s, but still, I remained afraid.

Another aspect that I was afraid of was talking to motivated sellers over the phone and in person. I came to the honest realization as to why I could spend hours putting a mailing together, and thousands of dollars mailing it out, all to just freeze up when the phone finally rang. In all honesty I remember being glad when a caller hung up or told me they didn’t have a house to sell. That’s just plain ridiculous, but a real problem for a lot of investors.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Using Direct Mail Advertising to Grow Your Real Estate Business

How I Began To Be an Over-Comer

There were two very important things that helped me to solve the problem that had prevented my real estate house buying business from succeeding.

First, I had to get out of a position of comfort and put myself into a situation where I had some financial pressure. My wife and I decided that with her income supporting us month in and month out, there was no pressure for me to overcome my obstacles, and to achieve my goals, because even if I didn’t succeed, our mortgage would still be paid on time and our lights would stay on. If I didn’t make a dime all month, we still had plenty of food on the table, and the lifestyle that we had been accustomed to living. I wanted something to push me to accomplish my goals day in and day out, so subsequently, my wife and I decided that she would quit her job, and home school our kids.

Seriously, we actually made that decision, cold turkey. Bold huh? Risky, no doubt. But I had faith that we were making the right decision. At the time, I didn’t have a single deal in the pipeline, just some start-up capital and a passion for real estate and a much, much greater passion to succeed for my family.  From there on out, I put my nose to the grindstone. Every call that came in was about more than the fear that I had, it was about providing financial stability and well-being for my family. Put another way; The Fear of not being able to provide for my family became greater than the Fear of making a fool of myself with a seller or “wasting” money on marketing.

Lastly, looking back, I believe that rebuking negative thoughts of fear and disbelief and self-affirmation about who I was created to be were an integral part of overcoming the fear that held me back from growing my real estate business.

If you haven’t done any deals this month, really examine what it is that you are NOT doing daily to accomplish those goals and tasks, and then take a close inward look at what it is that is preventing you from meeting and exceeding every goal of yours.

Comments? Thoughts? Share ’em below in the comments!

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.