Investor · Tabernash, CO · Member since 2012 · 11 posts · 237 votes
Hi everyone!
My name is Melanie Stephens and I write a column for BiggerPockets Wealth Magazine on “Biggest Mistakes/Lessons Learned” in real estate.
I am looking for stories from BP members about that ONE deal or real estate opportunity that "got away.” Maybe it's a property you wish you never would have sold, or a real estate opportunity that presented itself but that you turned down, and now wish you hadn't.
In short, if you had a "do-over," you would have done things much differently - and, it taught you a big lesson!
If you have a story like this, I’d love to hear from you.
Please feel free to post here, or DM or email me with a few short details of your story and I'll get in touch with you if it looks like a good fit for the column.
Right after buying my first property (all this was before becoming an agent), I stumbled on a house for sale with an in-law suite and an extra lot. In my area, single family is very difficult to cash flow, so I was focused on multi-family. We offered $128,000 (way below asking) and it was valued probably around $190k at the time (it was very dated, but all cosmetic) and they took it. Turns out they were ready to get rid of the house....as we started to move forward I realized that even at that price after the rehab it wouldn't meet my cash flow targets so we passed on it. About 9 months later I see it up for sale for $330k. Someone bought it and flipped it and combined the units together as a single family. They payed $160k and sold for around $330k (without the extra lot) and I estimated they had $80k in rehab. I realized my mistake was being too focused on one strategy. I had a great deal and could have easily flipped it, etc. if I had focused on how to make money on the property and not just on one strategy.
My story isn't very crazy or complicated as we're fairly new to home ownership and just getting started in investment. My wife and I owned a townhome in Saratoga Springs Utah (a previously small town that is growing very fast!). We bought a while back, we decided to sell at the beginning of this year and take our over 100k in equity and move more into town. Exciting to a 24 year old who's never made that much in his life! Looking back now I have a bit of regret we sold so soon, because my brother in the same area and basically the same home sold his for almost 60k more 3 months later! I'm fairly new to real estate, looking back I could have easily used the equity in that home to fuel many things going forward, we definitely wish we held on to it.
Utah among many other states have wild markets right now. I'm glad that we're gaining knowledge and experience to make the best possible decisions in the future (:
I appreciate the value all of you bring, Bigger Pockets is such an awesome resource.
Me and a friend of mine were new to real estate. I had recently brought a property and they hadn't even had a place of their own. We went to go see a commercial property that had three buildings on the parcel ... a garage, a 3br row home and another building that had a livable 2br with an office beneath. Fast forward to today's rents, we would have collected around $3600 in rents for a property that sold for $160k. I ride by from time to time and get sad smh
I recently offered on a duplex with a separate burned garage with an apartment above, but it was rejected as the bank chose a higher offer. That buyer never signed the banks' addendum so it went back on the market. I walked it a third time and submitted a slightly higher offer then retracted because I wanted to do more research. My realtor thought we had another 10 days since the property was relisted. NOPE, they accepted another offer 5 days after relisting. I didn't even get to submit the even higher offer. If it goes back on the market again, I'm offering my highest and best off the bat. Hard lesson learned...