Face in palm moments?

Question

Hello everyone.

I'm in the process of closing on my first two investment properties.  My plan is to rent both of these out once I've fixed them up a bit.  They are both single family homes.

My question as a newbie investor is to (hopefully) learn from some others mistakes from when they were first starting out.  With that in mind what are some of the "mistakes" i.e. face in palm moments you've had early on in your real estate investing career.  What would you have done differently?  How about some of those "can't believe I put up with" situations?  Time to fess up and get it off your chest! :D

Thanks in advance guys, I've really been learning a lot here since I found this forum.

Joe

Michael Rossi · Answer

Joe,

The biggest mistake YOU can make is to pay too much for your rentals.  See the 50% Rule sticky thread at the top of this forum.  If you did that right and STRICTLY enforce your lease (promptly evicting late pays), then you should do fine!

Good Luck,

Mike

Michael G. · Answer

I once gave a contractor half of his estimate to start a job. Why did I do that? He would show up when it was convenient or not at all. Totally screwed up the time line for our rehab (our first flip). He eventually completed a large portion of the rehab but still left us hanging. Had to find another contractor (who was a god send) to finish up the whole job. Lesson learned. Now I pay in phases. When they do the Kitchen and bath I pay for materials and only pay after that K &B phase is completed. Then move to the next phase whatever that might be.

Bienes Raices · Answer

I'm pretty new also. There were eight missing floor tiles in one area in the living room. I agonized over what to put over them, since I couldn't find a tile match. Eventually had some people build a bar/countertop thing to put over there. Now the tenants don't like it. I wish I had just had some non matching tiles put in and spread them around the house as accent tiles, that would have been so much easier.

Ali Samana · Answer

Joe, welcome to BP.  I wish you continued success and am sure you will find a lot of good information here.

I also have limited experience, but my biggest mistake so far was to not properly qualify a L/O tenat.  I have learned so much from that mistake and have come up with  a process to properly qualifying them before handing over the keys.

Good luck!