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BlogBiggerPockets Real Estate PodcastHow to Overcome Analysis Paralysis [With Video]
BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

How to Overcome Analysis Paralysis [With Video]

Ben Leybovich
Expertise: Mortgages & Creative Financing, Personal Development, Landlording & Rental Properties, Personal Finance, Real Estate News & Commentary, Real Estate Deal Analysis & Advice, Real Estate Investing Basics, Business Management, Commercial Real Estate
171 Articles Written

Not a day goes by on the BiggerPockets Forums without one or more threads referencing the condition we commonly refer to as Analysis Paralysis. It happens to all of us from time to time, but those who have been around the block once or twice seem to be able to overcome this frame of mind with more ease than the newbies.

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Why?  What is it?  What causes it?  Why can some of us overcome it easier than others?

The Trap

The trap of Analysis Paralysis is that most people imagine that this condition has something to do with our psychology.  Well – if it’s psychological, then it must be too hard to figure out…

I don’t believe it to be so.  In fact, in the video below, I outline my thinking around a very logical explanation for what causes analysis paralysis and what it takes to avoid getting succumbed to it. Please enjoy!

Post mentioned in the video: Should I Buy These 80 Units? Would You?

Thoughts? Leave your feedback below and let me know what you think!

By Ben Leybovich

Ben has been investing in multifamily residential real estate for over a decade. An expert in creative financing, he has been a guest on numerous real estate-related podcasts, including the BiggerPockets Podcast. He was also featured on the cover of REI Wealth Monthly and is a public speaker at events across the country. Ben is the creator of Cash Flow Freedom University, the author of House Hacking, and a noted Multifamily Underwriting coach. Through his company, Source Capital LLC, Ben currently operates $40M of multifamily real estate. Learn more about him at JustAskBenWhy.com.

    Roy Schauer
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Very good Ben! The information was very clear and the examples hammer it home. For me personally, I liked the background music, but think it was either a little too loud or too busy, not sure which, but found myself paying more attention to the beat and had to to realign my focus on you. Might be the ADHD that everyone seems to have, kicking in! Other than that, great post!
    Brandon Turner
    Replied about 6 years ago
    (I’ll take the blame on the audio level, Roy! I added it! 🙂 )
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Thanks Brandon 🙂
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Thanks Roy! I think we got the music turned down a bit now – thank you for mentioning 🙂 Ben
    Roy Schauer
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Very good Ben! The information was very clear and the examples hammer it home. For me personally, I liked the background music, but think it was either a little too loud or too busy, not sure which, but found myself paying more attention to the beat and had to to realign my focus on you. Might be the ADHD that everyone seems to have, kicking in! Other than that, great post!
    Sharon Hiebing
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Great video, Ben! As always, your insightfulness is spot on. I’m dying to know though. You said: “My job as a real estate investor can be broken down into 4 things: 1. Assume what you are told is wrong 2. Perform due diligence to find out what is wrong 3. Realize not every problem in real estate is fixable” Can you tell us what the 4th is? If I had to guess, I would say understand what can and can’t be fixed and decide if you want to proceed from there, which is the message I got from you, but since I’m anal and you didn’t explicitly say #4, I want to make sure nothing was left out. Thanks for the time you take educating all of us here – it’s very appreciated!
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    LOL Thank you so much Sharon! 4. Take action if the problem is fixable or walk if it’s not. Don’t be a hero… You knew that 🙂 Thanks so much for taking 10 minutes out of your life to listen!
    Sharon Hiebing
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Great video, Ben! As always, your insightfulness is spot on. I’m dying to know though. You said: “My job as a real estate investor can be broken down into 4 things: 1. Assume what you are told is wrong 2. Perform due diligence to find out what is wrong 3. Realize not every problem in real estate is fixable” Can you tell us what the 4th is? If I had to guess, I would say understand what can and can’t be fixed and decide if you want to proceed from there, which is the message I got from you, but since I’m anal and you didn’t explicitly say #4, I want to make sure nothing was left out. Thanks for the time you take educating all of us here – it’s very appreciated! Reply Report comment
    Sharon Hiebing
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Great video, Ben! As always, your insightfulness is spot on. I’m dying to know though. You said: “My job as a real estate investor can be broken down into 4 things: 1. Assume what you are told is wrong 2. Perform due diligence to find out what is wrong 3. Realize not every problem in real estate is fixable” Can you tell us what the 4th is? If I had to guess, I would say understand what can and can’t be fixed and decide if you want to proceed from there, which is the message I got from you, but since I’m anal and you didn’t explicitly say #4, I want to make sure nothing was left out. Thanks for the time you take educating all of us here – it’s very appreciated! Reply Report comment
    Patrick Martinez
    Replied about 6 years ago
    I appreciate your method of teaching. very logical and well thought out. Thank you Ben.
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Thanks so much Patrick! Ben
    Karen
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Hey good looking! I think that Brandon Turner has some good company for the “cute men of BiggerPockets videos” club! Very nice video. I prefer reading but the videos are definitely a fun addition. Thanks for the update on the mega-apartment; it didn’t really sound like your kind of deal when you described it. Keep having fun and sharing the good stuff!
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Haha Thanks Karen! It’s true – my life has turned into “I wanna be like Brandon – lala – lala”…lol Not sure how this happened, and don’t know for how long it will last. I decided last week to raise a few million and go big-time; started having meetings. I can tell I’ll be busier than ever going down this path. But, I’ll keep on writing…wouldn’t want to disappoint 🙂 Thanks so much Karen!
    Karen
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Hey good looking! I think that Brandon Turner has some good company for the “cute men of BiggerPockets videos” club! Very nice video. I prefer reading but the videos are definitely a fun addition. Thanks for the update on the mega-apartment; it didn’t really sound like your kind of deal when you described it. Keep having fun and sharing the good stuff!
    Karen
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Hey good looking! I think that Brandon Turner has some good company for the “cute men of BiggerPockets videos” club! Very nice video. I prefer reading but the videos are definitely a fun addition. Thanks for the update on the mega-apartment; it didn’t really sound like your kind of deal when you described it. Keep having fun and sharing the good stuff!
    Joe O
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Brandon was doing lots of videos, and now with Tracy doing one and Ben, I’m hoping BP doesn’t just become filled with videos in the place of articles. Jeff Brown’s website went that way recently, and I went from reading every post to rarely visiting. Maybe most people prefer videos? They’re just too slow for me – I can read an article in one minute that takes 5-10 in video format. Don’t mean to complain, I love BP, just wanted to give some feedback for consideration. 🙂
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Hey Joe, Thanks very much for your comment! If I can point out: 30 posts each and every week; forums to boot – 3 videos, I wrote 24 articles – 1 video. Those are pretty good numbers for some one who likes to read, don’t you think? P.S. I very much hope you reconsider Jeff’s videos, because I think that the content is TOP SHELF. Thank you much!
    Joe O
    Replied about 6 years ago
    I certainly agree, it’s not like there’s a ton of that, but the trend has been going that way – first with Brandon, then Tracy, now you. Just trying to provide some feedback before it slides more that way and every author is mandated to do a video per X posts or something silly like that. I figured no point in staying quiet and not saying anything if it might give the powers that be some feedback. 🙂 I agree Jeff’s content is tops – just wish he was doing more writing (though at least I still get the enjoyment of his written articles here)… hmm, wonder how much a transcription service would cost per 3 minute video.
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    LOL Joe! Every author will not be mandated to make videos – only the pretty ones: Disclaimer fine print: Brandon Turner does not particularly fit the above description, but he gets to do it cause he is the bosses right hand; he sneaks in when Josh looks away…hahaha Transcription is a good idea, but the software is very expensive and not good in my experience – so, it’s a bad idea… 🙂 This is just something different Joe. We write so much, you know? Especially Brandon… Cut us some slack for a video once in a while – it’s fun for us 🙂 Besides, my Jewish mother always told me that I am “the prettiest buy ever” and seeing this video I realize – she was right…Again! hahahahaha Thanks Joe!
    Joe O
    Replied about 6 years ago
    I certainly agree, it’s not like there’s a ton of that, but the trend has been going that way – first with Brandon, then Tracy, now you. Just trying to provide some feedback before it slides more that way and every author is mandated to do a video per X posts or something silly like that. I figured no point in staying quiet and not saying anything if it might give the powers that be some feedback. 🙂 I agree Jeff’s content is tops – just wish he was doing more writing (though at least I still get the enjoyment of his written articles here)… hmm, wonder how much a transcription service would cost per 3 minute video. Reply Report comment
    Joe O
    Replied about 6 years ago
    I certainly agree, it’s not like there’s a ton of that, but the trend has been going that way – first with Brandon, then Tracy, now you. Just trying to provide some feedback before it slides more that way and every author is mandated to do a video per X posts or something silly like that. I figured no point in staying quiet and not saying anything if it might give the powers that be some feedback. 🙂 I agree Jeff’s content is tops – just wish he was doing more writing (though at least I still get the enjoyment of his written articles here)… hmm, wonder how much a transcription service would cost per 3 minute video.
    Joe O
    Replied about 6 years ago
    I certainly agree, it’s not like there’s a ton of that, but the trend has been going that way – first with Brandon, then Tracy, now you. Just trying to provide some feedback before it slides more that way and every author is mandated to do a video per X posts or something silly like that. I figured no point in staying quiet and not saying anything if it might give the powers that be some feedback. 🙂 I agree Jeff’s content is tops – just wish he was doing more writing (though at least I still get the enjoyment of his written articles here)… hmm, wonder how much a transcription service would cost per 3 minute video. Reply Report comment
    Joshua Dorkin
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Hey Joe – We have no intention on moving to all videos — we add them as a supplement because our authors want to do them, but we won’t be switching over completely by any means. As for Jeff, I know he finds it easier to do the videos, and we’ll be sharing some new ones here as well. I appreciate the feedback, and hope you and our other users will continue to share your thoughts with us.
    Joe O
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Sounds great Josh, thanks!
    Mark Ferguson
    Replied about 6 years ago
    I am one who likes to read over video as well. One of my groups I belong too in the REO work switch all their newsletters to video and I have yet to watch one, when I read every single one previously. I think different people learn differently so it is good to have a mix. I can get through an article much faster than a video, but some prefer a video.
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Hey Mark – I actually prefer Podcast. All that time in the car without anything to make me smarter – podcast fits the bill. Agree?
    Mark Ferguson
    Replied about 6 years ago
    I fill my brain with hours and hours of motivational/ self improvement cds when I am driving. Podcasts work too.
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    I am right there with you, Mark. When is the last time listening to Pink made you smarter – right? This is why I put the CFFU content on MP3. I know we all have different learning styles, but if it works for me it must work for others…
    Dennis
    Replied about 6 years ago
    I think you look like a handsome Woody Allen.
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Now – there is a man who understands refinement! Thank you Dennis 🙂
    Douglas Dowell
    Replied about 6 years ago
    I will not hate you because your beautiful :)) All kidding aside this is a crucial point that hangs up people for progressing in LIFE and real estate investing…EPIC Ben…simply EPIC
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Thanks Doug, What can I say – I am pretty; it’s a curse, but someone’s got to do it lol I think that analysis paralysis is less of an emotional and scary thing if we aim to logically comprehend what and why… Thanks so much for watching!
    Shaun
    Replied about 6 years ago
    “Man this house has 5 bedrooms about only 1 bathroom. I would need to add a bathroom. Oh it might take a while to get the permits and stuff, and then you know I actually have to build it! This could all take a couple weeks more than my optimal timeframe in fairly tail land. I am not going to touch this junker!” Man if the rehabbers around me thought like you I’d have more deals than I’d be able to handle! Stop overanalyzing stuff! 🙂
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Lol Shaun – I don’t touch junkers, period. Doesn’t matter how many bedrooms 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
    Michelle
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Great video, Ben! You had me laughing at your “one” reason to do the video but I’ll agree, you ARE pretty! Oh, and also, great information on analysis paralysis. 😉 I really liked this statement: “The danger is that we become so scared of running into the problem that we can’t fix that we start avoiding problems altogether.” And yes, the resulting analysis paralysis. Ah, so true!
    Ben Leybovich
    Replied about 6 years ago
    Hahaha Well Michelle – this wasn’t one of my “sexier” videos, but I guess it’ll do… 🙂 Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!

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