What Do People Get Wrong Most Often

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Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes

Some questions that get posted in the forums have no "right" answer, but rather just different approaches. In other cases there is a clear right and wrong answer. In those cases where there is a clear right answer, what do you see people get "wrong" most often?

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Dennis M.

Rental Property Investor · Erie, PA · Member since 2018 · 6k+ posts · 9k+ votes

Biggest thing I see is Assuming the rent minus the PITI equals cashflow

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Jonathan R McLaughlin
Rental Property Investor · Boston, Massachusetts (MA) · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
Missed the word “smaller” families there :)
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Kwame Darko
Rental Property Investor · Member since 2019 · 69 posts · 38 votes
6y
Spent too much, under estimated the rehab and time frame and also got the ARV wrong all in one project so I can tell you ll never make those mistakes again lol.
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Account Closed
Investor · Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
6y
Most often? I dunno. I'm probably the guy that gets it wrong but I'll take a swing.
How about that investing in out of state rentals with zero experience is a sound idea
or that anyone can do it
or that it's passive
Investing out of state without experience is nuts
Most people can't do it
It's the opposite of passive
This is a great thread. The thing I probably get wrong most often is ignoring the power of leverage. I need to work on that. I just hate owing people.
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Pat L.
Rental Property Investor · Upstate, NY · Member since 2012 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y
"..what do you see people get "wrong" most often?"
their choice of spouse on each of the 1st two marriages comes to mind ....
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Gary L Wallman
Rental Property Investor · Beavercreek OH · Member since 2018 · 422 posts · 970 votes
6y
Originally posted by @Joe Splitrock:
Some questions that get posted in the forums have no "right" answer, but rather just different approaches. In other cases there is a clear right and wrong answer. In those cases where there is a clear right answer, what do you see people get "wrong" most often?

I believe people get wrong most often the idea that success can be achieved without sacrifice. Everyone wants instant gratification and have bad habits. The idea that you'd have to quit smoking, bypass Starbucks and cut back on restaurants is a non-starter for most.
It takes years to build a nest egg. Once it's accomplished you can splurge and it won't affect your net worth negatively. No one wants to wait though, which is why we have so many seniors retiring with insufficient income. Kin of sad, all in all.
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Joe SplitrockPro Member
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Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
6y
Originally posted by @Gary L Wallman:
Originally posted by @Joe Splitrock:
Some questions that get posted in the forums have no "right" answer, but rather just different approaches. In other cases there is a clear right and wrong answer. In those cases where there is a clear right answer, what do you see people get "wrong" most often?

I believe people get wrong most often the idea that success can be achieved without sacrifice. Everyone wants instant gratification and have bad habits. The idea that you'd have to quit smoking, bypass Starbucks and cut back on restaurants is a non-starter for most.
It takes years to build a nest egg. Once it's accomplished you can splurge and it won't affect your net worth negatively. No one wants to wait though, which is why we have so many seniors retiring with insufficient income. Kin of sad, all in all.

I agree, every "overnight success" I know took many years of sacrifice. It requires massive discipline.
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Casey Rolland
Investor · Port Townsend, WA · Member since 2014 · 103 posts · 50 votes
6y
@Jim K.
I find it extremely difficult to carry out below bold statement. No problem accepting I was wrong. It's letting a piece of yourself go that is hard. I hear there are 2 types of people in the word. Type 1 that learn from other people's mistakes from reading/watching, thereby avoiding the pitfalls, and Type 2 that has to carry out their own actions, make abundant mistakes in order to learn. I wish I could avoid all the mistakes in RE world by reading others' mistakes & failures!

"Failure is like grief. There's no getting past it. There's no constructively dealing with it. There's acceptance and bargaining and rationalization (not necessarily in that order, Kubler-Ross and the "five stages of grief" linear model is more an artifact of pop psychology than useful cognitive-behavioral therapy). But ultimately, while your reasons for continuing in whatever you're doing have to be strong enough, in order to start again you have to be able to accept that YOU WERE WRONG. You have to let a piece of yourself go, and find a way to heal. A lot of that (almost all of it for me), involves laughing at myself, reminding myself that "I ain't all that and a bag of chips (fingersnap)." Comedy has helped me a lot in my life."
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Jim K.
Handyman · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 5k+ posts · 13k+ votes
6y
Originally posted by @Casey Rolland:
@Jim K.
I find it extremely difficult to carry out below bold statement. No problem accepting I was wrong. It's letting a piece of yourself go that is hard. I hear there are 2 types of people in the word. Type 1 that learn from other people's mistakes from reading/watching, thereby avoiding the pitfalls, and Type 2 that has to carry out their own actions, make abundant mistakes in order to learn. I wish I could avoid all the mistakes in RE world by reading others' mistakes & failures!

"Failure is like grief. There's no getting past it. There's no constructively dealing with it. There's acceptance and bargaining and rationalization (not necessarily in that order, Kubler-Ross and the "five stages of grief" linear model is more an artifact of pop psychology than useful cognitive-behavioral therapy). But ultimately, while your reasons for continuing in whatever you're doing have to be strong enough, in order to start again you have to be able to accept that YOU WERE WRONG. You have to let a piece of yourself go, and find a way to heal. A lot of that (almost all of it for me), involves laughing at myself, reminding myself that "I ain't all that and a bag of chips (fingersnap)." Comedy has helped me a lot in my life."
I didn't say I was GOOD at it, not by a long shot...

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Joe SplitrockPro Member
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Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
6y
Originally posted by @Jim K.:
Originally posted by @Casey Rolland:
@Jim K.
I find it extremely difficult to carry out below bold statement. No problem accepting I was wrong. It's letting a piece of yourself go that is hard. I hear there are 2 types of people in the word. Type 1 that learn from other people's mistakes from reading/watching, thereby avoiding the pitfalls, and Type 2 that has to carry out their own actions, make abundant mistakes in order to learn. I wish I could avoid all the mistakes in RE world by reading others' mistakes & failures!

"Failure is like grief. There's no getting past it. There's no constructively dealing with it. There's acceptance and bargaining and rationalization (not necessarily in that order, Kubler-Ross and the "five stages of grief" linear model is more an artifact of pop psychology than useful cognitive-behavioral therapy). But ultimately, while your reasons for continuing in whatever you're doing have to be strong enough, in order to start again you have to be able to accept that YOU WERE WRONG. You have to let a piece of yourself go, and find a way to heal. A lot of that (almost all of it for me), involves laughing at myself, reminding myself that "I ain't all that and a bag of chips (fingersnap)." Comedy has helped me a lot in my life."
I didn't say I was GOOD at it, not by a long shot...

As far as "letting a piece of yourself go". I do think that is an important part of admitting you are wrong and accepting failure. You have to let a piece go, so you can change. You have to accept that a belief you held or choice you made was incorrect. Many people make excuses when they fail and therefore never learn from their mistakes. Only if you take responsibility for all failures, can you impact change. Sometimes the the factors that lead to failure are seemingly outside our control. Those are the hardest ones to take responsibility for.
As far as there being two types of people, I am not sure I agree. There is two types of learning. Education is learning from others mistakes. Experience is learning from your own mistakes. Two different things, but both important.
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