What were some of your beginner investing/wholesaling fears

Question

Hey BP!

I’m kind of new to the BP scene; I just made the account a few weeks ago. I’ve always been interested in investing since I was little. Lol I was the kid in school that sold goodies out their locker calculating cost and how to make a profit off of a 30 pack box of chips. I’ve kind of alway had the mind set of owning property, and now that I’m a little older, I’ve been trying to learn more and thinking of dipping my toe into real estate and investing by starting with wholesale

But my question really is what were some of the fears and reservation you guys had when you started investing, wholesaling, etc. , and what were some of the steps you took to get passed them. Ive learned so much about wholesaling, but I’m aware you can only learn so much eventually you have to implement and do. I really want to start doing but somewhere in my mind I know I have some reservation that are holding me back.

I just want to hear some of you guys imputes and maybe it would help me move forward (sorry for the long winded post. I know some of you guys saw this and thought “oh brother”)

Nicole Yeboah · Answer

Hey @Nicole A. Thanks for your input despite the little mix up. I think your absolutely right; don’t let your emotions over shadow logic. I really appreciate you mentioning that, because as simple as it may seem it often goes over our head. So, it’s really nice to see you mention it; it reminds me that if things are well accessed and the numbers add up you should let your emotions hold you back from progress

Geordy Rostad · Answer

@Nicole Yeboah

I never had any fears about it but I had all my wife's fears to deal with which were inherited from her Canadian parents who are very financially conservative. My wife worries about things like "What if the stock market goes to zero?" and "What if all the renters decide to gang up on us and not pay rent all at once?"

I tried reaching out directly to property owners with cold calls. I decided it makes me sick and I don't want to do them. Instead I decided to do something else I was more comfortable with which is to start looking at deals a bit further away from my area which actually will cash flow well. There's lots of different ways to go about things. Not everyone is cut out for wholesaling. Personally, I don't think I could make a business of that, but that's me.

The actions you take will depend on how bad you want the results. To make anything happen, you REALLY have to want it. This stuff can be a lot of work. There's a lot of failure involved. Wholesaling in particular is a numbers game. Make 1000 calls, talk to 100 people, set 10 appointments, close 1-2 deals. You REALLY have to want it bad to succeed at that.

If you want to move forward, find your local real estate meetups and go check them out. Use meetup.com or the Bigger Pockets events section.

Nicole Yeboah · Answer

@Brad Ruttenberg I understand what you’re saying. Based off a lot of the videos I’ve watched and things I’ve read, it’s seems like different people have their own methods they prefer more than the other. You might see a person that prefers skip tracing and cold calling or a person that prefers mailing campaigns and busting out a bunch of letter; so I guess after you start off and try some methods out you may find out you even have a preference.

I do think you are on a good path on trying to network with as many investors as possible. That’s something I’ve been trying to do as well  going to and learn from as many meetings as I can. One thing that I think will help you a lot is to start trying to building a buyers list and finding out what they want. That will help you narrow down what type of properties to look for and where to drive for dollars and start out reach.

But, you are right; eventually we’re going to have to just jump in. That’s the whole dilemma, but the best learn seems to come from doing .

Nicole A. · Answer

I think I'm not the intended Nicole that you tagged, @Kathleen McCabe, but I'll jump in anyway! When I bought my very first house (a personal residence), I did have a bit of fear. When my husband and I parked at the title company, I said to him half-joking, "It's not too late. We can still bail out!"

More than the mortgage itself, I was a little weary of the idea that this home could become some big anchor holding me down. But that would have been a big mistake to follow my emotions over logic that day. Even as a personal home, it was a great purchase, and we house-hacked it on and off through the years. (House hack is when you either rent out a portion of your house or live in a multi-unit property and rent out the other units.)

When you buy strictly off accurate numbers, a mortgage should never worry you. If it's supposed to be an investment, it should not only pay for itself but also pay you in cash flow. If it's a home you'll live in, you should still curb your emotion so you don't over pay or buy a house that is too expensive for you to continue a lifestyle that you want. Basically, just because a bank approves you for a $800K mortgage doesn't mean it's smart to buy a $800K home unless you truly could comfortably pay for that mortgage, repairs, improvements, and still live life...and still have some fun money.

It's all about logic and not emotion! :-)

Nicole Yeboah · Answer

Hi @Kathleen McCabe thanks for contributing your input. I definitely do have those fears. Just like you, I hate debt; I truly hate the idea of owing anybody anything. I’m the type of person that only considers a purchase if I know for a fact I can fully pay it off out right and know it’s not gonna make a worrisome dent in my “bigger pockets” (haha sorry for the corny joke I couldn’t help myself) . Even right now I’m trying to figure out as many ways possible to build my credit  without a credit card because I’ve seen the sometimes crippling debt people rack up from credit cards and I really want no parts of that.

And as far mortgages go, I understand your fear; we see it so many times homes getting foreclosure, and it seems thats a niche so many investor profit from; you can’t help help but to question things. At the time of purchase those people probably had no thoughts of a market crashing or personal circumstances arising that would prevent them from being able to afford their home. So yes that can be a scary topic, but one thing that has been easing my mind on the idea of mortgage ,is what the other Nicole mentioned, house hacking; for me personally I like the multifamily side of the spectrum. It just makes a lot of sense especially if you’re already a renter. Because instead of your rent money going off into the wind, it’ll be going toward adding a property to your portfolio, giving you a place to stay, and it may add some additional relief knowing that somebody else will be paying rent that will contribute to your mortgage . Hopefully that can ease some of your mortgage fears

Brad Ruttenberg · Answer

@Nicole Yeboah

I wouldn’t say I have a “fear” of getting started. It’s more about where to start looking for deals. I hear about lists and mailings and just driving around, but which one?

Right now I’m just working on reaching out and building some relationships with just about any investors that are willing.

But I know I need to jump in and get to it.

Kathleen McCabe · Answer

Hi @Nicole A.! I'm just starting out as well. As silly as it sounds, my biggest fear is having a mortgage - I just paid off my college loans (yay!) and I hated the feeling of being in debt. Ideally, I would want a consistent rental income where rent would cover the cost of the mortgage and then some...but its just the feeling of having the mortgage looming over my head. I'm curious how people got comfortable with a large mortgage. People like my parents and my parent's parents spent years chipping away at their mortgage and I guess that is just family programing that is hard to shake. Do you have these fears?

Nicole Yeboah · Answer

@Geordy Rostad sorry for the late reply, but thanks for the response. Your insight was pretty helpful. Yeah I realize wholesaling can be a difficult path, but I felt it could be a good way to build capital. I guess I’m kinda like your wife’s parents, a little financially conservative, and I really get kind of worried about the idea of taking out loans to start real estate endeavors. I have however, started to realize loans aren’t always such a bad thing

What were some of your beginner investing/wholesaling fears

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