@ Russ

@Russell Brazil the only thing I’d add to Russell’s cogent analysis is changes in use, usually correlated with demographic changes. Just as an example families combined with two wage earners made a lot of urban multis obsolete...changing use to condos drove appreciation. Single floor living experiencing a similar boom as population ages, and so on. 

Missed the word “smaller” families there :)

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.

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.

"..what do you see people get "wrong" most often?"

their choice of spouse on each of the 1st two marriages comes to mind ....

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.

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.

@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."

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...

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.

What looks common as hell, at least on these forums, is people scrounging for deals that end up compromised in terms of numbers or class quality in late cycle, overpriced markets, just so they can feel like they are taking action. 

That, and the people defending such "strategies" saying crap like "Real Estate always goes up". 

Not to mention the REI tunnel vision that seems to pervade these boards- nevermind the global economic situation.