BiggerPockets

What is the biggest real estate investing mistake you have ever made?

Please share your experience in detail and provide a solution (if applicable).

My biggest mistake was jumping to soon. That and surrounding myself with people that didn't know much about investing and actually listening to them.

Missing those damn termites during my inspection on my first rehab .. :)

end up costing me $900.00, haunted to this day.. lol

Resolved by calling an Exterminator and I learned what mud trails look like.

PM,

Naw, I don't get inspections. I have worked construction long enough to know whats wrong with a property and how much it will take to rehab it within an hour..

In North East Ohio termits are very unusual, so I have never seen them before. I conducted the first walk through on a HUD and found a few things strange. One being that someone started to replace a section of the hardwood floor. Why? It bugged me, because it didn't make sense, but I didn't find anything else wrong with the property.

So during the time that I was waiting to close of the property, I was reading some stories and ran into one about termites and they showed pics of what termites look like and how to detect them. So on my final walk through I started looking a little closer at the basement walls and noticed mud tubes coming up from the floor, then I noticed a couple tubes running across the floor joist.. Sure enough I had termites..

I felt extremely sick at that point, not knowing what I was getting into, but there was no backing out then. So once I got into the house, I quickly found that the damage wasn't bad yet. Although, the extermination cost me almost 1K, which blew my forecast.. I know 1k isn't much, but I felt really stupid for not seeing it and realizing how huge of a mistake it could have really been.

PropertyMaster, can you go into some detail about how you get bad tenets out fast. I just had to evict my first one. It was not fast. I live in NY and here is how the eviction process goes here (as far as I know anyway).

1) give 72 hour notice of eviction. You must be able to prove the tenet got the notice.
2) after the 3 days pass, you can request a court date.
3) If the judge rules in your favor, He then usually orders a 30 day eviction.

so once the first three days pass, you request a court date. This can take 2 weeks or more. Then you get to wait another 30 days. Then you can retake possession and start to get it ready for the next tenet.

When you consider the tenet was already a month behind then the two months it takes to get them out and clean the pace up you are already out three months rent. That is if there is no major damage.

Any insight you can provide would be great.

The biggest mistake I made, and I think that most investors make is getting in over their head. The trick is to balance your portfolio and do the right deals for the place you're at in your investing. For instance, to buy up a bunch of rental properties when you're strapped for cash is dangerous. Whne cash flow is critical, the best strategy is to wholesale properties. Once you have a steady stream of cash, then look to diversify and create long term equity.

Biggest mistake was leaving the driveway of a 2 million dollar home I just put an option on, and backing over the mailbox. Then, putting it in drive, and driving over it again.

It was dark, what can I say.

Backing over the mailbox... LMAO! You crack me up Tony!!

My stepdad owned a construction company that built new homes. About 6 years ago I drove the Green Meanie (1994 Ford F150) out the project to drop off some stuff. I was on the phone, in a hurry, backed down the drive and BAM. I ran into a boulder in the front yard. I had to call out some of the Amish guys working in the house out to help me seperate the truck from the boulder.

I also backed my truck into my wife's car. Anybody else seeing a pattern here?? DON'T PARK BEHIND ME!!!!!!!!!

Hey, I know a girl who lives in honolulu. Allison something..........