How to Overcome 4 Common Newbie Errors When Mobile Home Investing

When beginning any new business, skill, or hobby, you will almost always go through cycles of growth, failure, learning, and growth. Rarely are our paths to success a continuous straight line upward. In reality, our journey from beginner to success bounces back and forth from failure to success. As prudent mobile home investors, we aim for our inevitable failures to be very minimal and with little to no risk and for our successes to be safe, predictable, and substantial.

4 Common Newbie Errors When Mobile Home Investing

1. Jumping in Despite Being Confused

Being confused is not the error. In fact, this is natural. The error happens when you begin to take action risking your valuable time, credit and/or capital before fully understanding what you are getting involved with. Before jumping 100 percent into any real estate niche, be confident that you understand the supply and demand in your area and how realistic this business will be for you. Understand how your specific goals, time, capital, and personality fit into your desired real estate investing niche locally.

Pro Tip: Always perform proper due diligence before, during, and after purchasing any and all used mobile home properties. Ask others for help or role model others already more successful than yourself in your desired niche. In today’s high-tech world, there is little excuse to invest without experienced mobile home help on your side. This website is a great networking resource.

2. Acting Too Quickly

Excitement can be useful. However, when trying to make logical and rational decisions, your emotions may sometimes lead you astray from your best judgement. If you continue investing in real estate, then “acting too quickly” is something that will definitely happen to you in your real estate investing business. It is inevitable that you will overlook something or simply assume you know the answer to a question that turns out to be incorrect.

Pro Tip: Do not beat yourself up when you act too quickly. Learn from your mistakes and promise yourself this will never be made again. When this situation arises again, you will be much more prepared for how to handle the challenge and perform proper due diligence. Consult a seasoned investor for help when needed.

3. Acting Too Slowly

Being analytical and patient can absolutely be useful. As real estate investors, we oftentimes need to quickly analyze sellers, buyers, repairs, etc. However, acting too slowly may cause you to lose opportunities or end up in “analysis paralysis.”

Pro Tip: If you are apprehensive to pull the trigger, you may simply not have enough information or experience to make an informed and rational purchase decision. It is for this reason that it is recommended to have an experienced investor willing and able to look over your shoulders to review deals with you while getting started.

4. Not Learning From Mistakes

After closing every deal, it may be wise to write out a list of all the positive and negative experiences you had been purchasing, rehabbing, and selling each specific investment property. If something did not go your way, aim to really discover the specific action or underlying mindset that was the exact problem. Aim to be as specific as possible in what and how you will change your actions and procedures moving forward.

Pro Tip: Keep both eyes very open. Always be asking yourself, “What can I do better in this situation?” Realize that the word “better” may have many different meanings to different investors. Again, a knowledgeable investor will be able to help bring clarity to any issues you may be experiencing.

While diligent real estate investing may require a tremendous amount of steps, this is not brain surgery. With daily action and daily help, there is no reason you will not be able to reach out to help local buyers and sellers in your marketplace. Please check out the articles and forums on this website to network with local and nationwide investors able to help answer questions and provide you more clarity.

Investors: What would you add to this list?

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