BiggerPockets

so far, not buying a condo in NY, LA, or Miami 3 years ago. Man I wish I had 2o/20 foresight!

I agree w/Brent....

My ONLY regrets have been the "NON-Investments";
On MANY occasions I thought buyers/Borrowers had LOST THEIR MINDS
until the APPRAISAL came in....Gulp;
My bad :violin:

The thing about "investing" is You gotta DO it!
Otherwise U're just "watching" or doing "research"?
I've made a fortune on that which I actually stepped up to the plate & BOUGHT.....

All my "bad experiences" are related to "Eating Crow" :cry:
(& it tastes NOTHING like chicken) :violin:
& NOT having taken that swing...only 2 later find out that the property was worth 2x...< 2 years later?
dang....who'd a thunk it?

The actual BUYER(S) maybe?

Likewise, my worst mistakes have been those of inactivity.

I once passed on a 3 unit residential that was going for 35gs. It had strong renters in it totally more than $1,000. mthly rents. The seller was willing to do what ever I asked even allowing me to structure a no money down deal. The only draw back was it had an old octopus furnance system in the basement which, at the time was functioning well and needed no immediate repair. It was a profit cow! And too good to be true! When I asked my agent why it was going so cheap and why was the seller such a push over, he replied; "She's an elderly woman that is wanting to just put some of her affairs together before passing." My reply to him was, "Sure! and after this transaction is over, the two of us are going to buy one of the reactors at the nuclear site, (which was where both of us were working at the time)." I was living in Illinois at the time and real estate offers automatically expired after so many days of not replying to a counter-offer. Needless to say the little old lady passed (God Bless Her Soul), shortly after the expiration of my offer. My advice is like the lottery....You gotta be in it to win it! If you have done your homework, trust your gut!

There's a great passage in the Bible 2 Kings 7: 3-9 about going for it!

Ty,
That's about the ONLY "mistake" You can make?

Title Companies & Real Estate Attorneys Provide You with Title Insurance,
they alert You to "clouds" on title (or anything that COULD Be a problem that the seller neglected to "mention";

Home/Structural Inspectors give You a size up of repairs needed,

Apprraisers give You an accurate valuation of the property & marketplace (& also point out any obvious structural or neighborhood problems)

With an appraisal, You'd KNOW Whether You were potentially paying too much or not....

There isn't too much left except failure to follow thru after purchase in the case of making needed repairs?

About the only thing any investor needs to know is that AFTER You close...everything else that CAN go wrong(in the rest of Your life) WILL!. The engine will have problems in Your wife's car, tenants will move out in Your other rentals, prices will go up for repairs, hurricanes will come....blah,blah,blah....figure DOUBLE Your original time frame on repairs, ALWAYS.
Figure 1/3rd higher costs than quoted estimates, BORROW accordingly.
BE the BOY SCOUT.
I have, I PREACH it to my borrowers/buyers/investors, & every operates under the "Be Prepared" philosophy;
Do these things, & I doubt You'd ever have a "catastrophe".
Trust the experts & LET them do their JOBS!
If You do, Your "job" of making money becomes incredibly easy (& hard to scre*w up)
Hoping I helped U get a bit closer 2 that 1st one;

Mortgageman, I guess you're right here. When you think about it there really aren't too many ways to make mistakes if you've done your homework. Oh well - time to get busy investing, right? :groovy:

Hehe nice to see you around again Cash! I would like to hear some real mess ups, though, wouldn't everyone else? It's like watching a car wreck or something. Fascinating to hear about/see!

Regret? Me, too. 4 years ago, I came home from a seminar and executed my plan--EXACTLY 30 days later, I closed on a wholesale that made me $14,000 "Using None Of My Own Money!" just like in the commercials.

I then dusted myself off and went back to work with a partner I grew to hate and in a business that never made much money.

It sickens me to think about where I would be right now if I had left my firm THAT year like I did last year!

Oh, well, a year after going out on my own, my income is up, my overhead is down, and the sky's the limit!

Fear IS the mindkiller.

Here is a short list

1. lack of knowledge about rehab 4fam 135k needed about 10k in work.

2. lack of knowledge in management-fell for every story

3. Lack of knowledge of court system- In most states court holds rent in escrow. tenant cant claim any repair or avoid eviction until rent is secured by court.

4. Lack of knowledge of how to price-had equity didnt know what to do with it.

5. Almost forgot. Ivest your profits back into your house

The key to investing is knowing what youre getting into, and if you dont........ASK SOMEBODY WHO DOES! HAVE A TEAM!

Remember also this is a business! Just like any other business you have to protect your assets and strive for profit. If there is no profit. FIND SOME OR MOVE ON!
I learned my lesson the hard way.

I've made a few mistakes, none of these recently, but I've made them:

1.) Passing on properties I should have bought.
2.) Selling too soon.
3.) Not reinvesting the proceeds of a sale (1031 exchange).

As long as you learn from them, it's ok.

I have two. Wait, two hundred. I will only name two. Buying a house just to get that first one under my belt. I bought a home that was in a less than average neighborhood, paid a little too much for it, and then listed it $5K too high and sat on it for 6 months over the winter. I just HAD to get that first deal. What did I learn? Patience.

Two. I bought a home from a lady that was a pack rat EXTREME, and gave her two weeks from closing date to move out knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to in that time frame. I ended up evicting her and not able to get into the house for 3 months. I HAD to get that second deal. What did I learn? Patience.

In the beginning I felt like this was a race and I now realize it is a marathon. Let us all be......... patient. :beer: