Three REI Roadblocks that You’re Creating Yourself

Three REI Roadblocks that You're Creating Yourself

Analysis paralysis is one of the most common ailments for new real estate investors. One of the reasons that it’s such a huge deal is because many of us have to have a plan set in stone before we even start. We feel like we need to know everything. Guess what though – it’s impossible to know everything. There are people who have been investing in real estate for 40 years who still claim to not know everything – and that’s okay. I’ll show you why.

I’m here to tell you that not only is learning more about REI not helping you, but it’s actually hindering you and killing your chances at success.

The Three Roadblocks

1. 1.   I need to know all of my options

The only way that you’re going to know all of your options is if you’re some sort of oracle, I’m a massive nerd, but I’m pretty sure those don’t exist. Let me tell you this right now: It’s impossible to know everything. Now that you know that, why are you still sitting around while everyone else is out there making money; or, even better, learning from their mistakes. I know firsthand that you can read all day and never learn anything; you just think you’re learning. The best way to actually learn something is to go out and do it. Whether you succeed or fail, you’ll learn more than you ever could by sitting behind a computer screen or by reading a book.

If you read this site, I’ll promise you that there’s nothing that you can do right now that you’ll regret. I’m not saying to go out and quit your job and start investing in notes when you’ve been looking at wholesaling. I’m saying that you should go out there, take it slow, but most importantly, just do something.

I can guarantee that while you’re sitting there, learning about every different method of investing, there is someone else out there who started learning at the same time as you. That person didn’t wait to learn everything, he or she has gone out and made some progress, made some mistakes, learned from them, and made some money. Compare that to what you’ve done, how happy are you now? Get out of your comfort zone.

1. 2.   I need to know the whole process

Do you really? I had two baptisms by fire into the world of real estate. Let me share them with you.

My first one was as a stupid kid. I was 20. I was bound and determined to own my own home before my 21st birthday. What did I do? I went out and bought the first thing that looked good. If you read this site, you know what kind of mistake that was, I did no research, I had no idea where the market was going, and I was completely blinded by this one goal, which I reached. Where am I now with this property that I bought? Underwater about $10,000.

Do I regret it? Not. One. Bit. It was a massive learning experience. I still own the property and I imagine I’ll be renting it or selling it sometime in the future.

My second experience with my neighbor; he’s an out of state landlord and his tenant stopped paying rent. I offered to help him evict the tenant and become his property manager. All of the experienced property managers out there – I can feel your heads shaking right now; they know what I got myself into. Now, this experience worked out a little better than my first one, but it was still a massive pain to get through. It turns out working as the middleman between an owner and a tenant is just plain awful. Both ends were stubborn and wouldn’t budge, I eventually got through and cleared out the property, but the landlord lost a good amount of money that he didn’t have to in the process.

I don’t regret this experience either. I’m making money, the property owner is happy, and a learned A TON.

My point with all of this is that I hardly knew anything about buying a house or evicting a tenant, but I learned as I went. That’s what you should do too. You’ve seen my stories here and the stories of others on this site and know that these things are possible. Go ahead, jump off the cliff, I bet you’ll find your wings.

1. 3.   I need a mentor

No, you don’t. I’m not saying that it’s a bad idea to have someone there to light the path for you, but like I just said, you can do this on your own.

A lot of people sit around asking for the guidance of a mentor, but it’s simply another excuse to stay in their comfort zones, telling themselves that they can’t move forward unless they have someone to help them on their journey. Please don’t let that be you.

Start on your own journey. You’ll learn along the way, and when you get stuck, the answers will come to you. Sometimes the answers will be in the form of a mentor, sometimes they won’t. You’ll never know unless you go out and do what you want to do.

What to do now?

Now that you know these lies that you’re telling yourself, what are you going to do? Are you going to keep sitting around, lying to yourself? Or are you going to go out there and learn the hard way? If you are just going to sit around, then ask yourself “What am I really doing here?” Do you really want to be investing in real estate? There are tons of opportunities out there, pick the one that means something to you. If you’re going to go out there, just pick something that you are interested in and go with it. You won’t fail, the only way to fail is to quit, and I know that you won’t let yourself quit.

Let me know what your plans are in the comments below, I hope this helps to kick some of you out of the rut that you’re stuck in!