Update from Baton Rouge, Louisiana here. I just got home after one of the longest days work I've put in in quite some time. I've been inspired to write a post here for several days now and had to make time to do it right now. I've actually been compiling for several months now, the Success Story Forum post that was originally titled "Zero to 14 Units In One Year With Low & No Money Down" that got procrastinated on and has now become the post titled "From Zero to 32 Units & a Flip in 18 Months." I still plan to finish that post eventually, but I guess for now this will be my story.

Water is receding a good bit finally and we have access to some of our properties. I will try to update with pictures soon. I canoed over a mile yesterday to check on a few houses that had 10 feet of water in the middle of the street. I originally went from being 100% optimistic and thinking we would have no flood damage Friday evening to receiving texts as I was going to bed from all my tenants who were anxiously watching flood waters rise. It all happened so fast. They were sending hourly updates with photos of the water level moving closer and closer to their thresholds and I was just asking out loud for whoever is looking over me to summon the powers of the universe to change the direction of the flood waters and help me out just a little bit. I was nervous as I have a lot lose, not the least of which is the reputation I have built with my lenders as someone who will always repay their obligations.

Well it seemed like nobody heard that call for a while, yet I continued to employ the power of positive thinking, fully knowing that no matter what happened, it would only feel as bad as I allowed it to feel. I began receiving calls and texts at 4:00 AM Saturday morning from several of my tenants in a certain neighborhood where the majority of my units are (five fourplexes and a duplex). They were letting me know that water was coming in and that they were being evacuated. The next day I continued to hear the water was rising in all directions (this is on O'Neal Lane) and it didn't sound like any units would be spared as water was up to the doorstep everywhere as I was hearing from the tenants who were so FORTUNATE TO HAVE CELL SERVICE OTHER THAN AT&T!! From what I have heard nobody with AT&T could call of text all day Saturday and some of Sunday.

We tried desperately Saturday to access this area on O'Neal. We were blocked by deep standing water at every turn.

And then all of a sudden it seemed that everything began to turn in my favor. Sunday morning texts began to roll in that some units were spared. Three fourplexes and the duplex were spared completely! The flip house took on one foot of water, but the silver lining is we have not installed any floors, appliances or new cabinet doors yet. Repairs will be limited to sheet rock damage and replacing some sheet rock that was newly installed. I was connected with someone with tons of experience in water damage restoration and remediation a few weeks ago and the Karma from some efforts I made to help this person repaid me tenfold today. I made one phone call and had newfound labor within an hour and we got right to work opening sheet rock walls and drying the wet areas in several units. Fans began to show up out of nowhere, I had more generators than I needed, power was restored after one hour of generator use and the job was looking like nothing more than an easily manageable task that was simply going to cost some money.

Only 3 houses have flood insurance so many units are being repaired on my dime, but at least they are being repaired right away and we will not risk further damage from mold. The cost is going to hurt, but I've heard from some of my lenders that they are going to do something to help me and others in this predicament. I will say that I will take whatever financial aid they are willing to offer in the form of suspending mortgage payments for a month or two because we are losing plenty of rent. Flood policies do not cover loss of rents like many commercial hazard policies do. I have several displaced tenants being housed in vacant units from all the evicted tenants who decided not to pay rent last month so while we are doing all we can to help those with no home, we are losing out on that income that is desperately needed to pay the bills right now. I had email and voicemail leads and probably would have easily filled those vacancies this week, but I decided to reserve the available units for folks who no longer have anywhere to live and may have lost everything.

This post evolved in my mind over the past several days. Saturday I just wanted to post my misfortune here so that the BP community would have an update from a fellow investor's perspective, but also because I knew that naturally, plenty of words of encouragement would follow. I did not want any sympathy, but was certainly receptive to and wanting to feel the positive energy that you guys always pour out on any other regular day just because that's how you roll at Bigger Pockets.

Now, feeling like I can take on any challenge that comes my way, I want to post my own words of encouragement. After having listened to nearly every BP Podcast since the very first, I have been hearing this question from Brandon Turner ringing in my head the past few days, "What do you think sets apart successful investors from those who GIVE UP, FAIL, or NEVER GET STARTED?" Well this is certainly enough to cause many people to consider throwing in the towel and giving up and going back to just being a regular ol' paycheck dependent soul like the rest of the world (I still work a full time job by the way). I have been asked by several folks over the last few days if I still thought all this was "worth it" and if I planned to continue on. Well HELL YES I plan to continue on. Weakness and giving up didn't get me this far and it won't get you very far either.

I've been taught that good things and bad things don't happen to people. It is the case that "Things" simply happen to us on a regular basis and it depends entirely on how we allow ourselves to perceive these things that determines if they are good or bad. If you are in this area and you are struggling right now dealing with losses, whether your personal residence or an investment property, do not get discouraged. Stay encouraged to persist forward, clean up what you need to clean up, restore your property and come out stronger on the other side than you ever thought you could be.

If you are in the Baton Rouge area and you need resources for water damage restoration and/or mold remediation, reach out to me because I learned a ton today from a definite expert in the field.

Good luck to all who lost; just keep a positive mindset, take massive action and I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!!!!!!

Brandon from Baton Rouge, LA

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