Staying in Real Estate or Bow Out

[Kay Sam]

Doing a lot of reflection this week on real estate as a whole & my approach to fix & flips. This journey has been filled with various lessons to learn along with real time experience. I jumped into real estate 1.5 years ago & started flipping mobile homes- that was a bust for various reasons.Now I'm fixing & flipping SFHs & this deal I'm FINALLY getting to the closing table has brought me to my knees. In this 1.5 year, I've LOST $27K.....& that number hit very hard. This SFH flip was in FL. The next is Texas.

#1 this # is PERSPECTIVE & SUBJECTIVE! So to ME, that's a decent amount of cash. I've reframed my thought process to "okay losing 200-ish dollars when gambling is akin to having thousands & now losing $20K+." I know it takes money to make money... However- I HATE losing.
The ending of this deal has me wondering, do I KEEP going? I could list all the lessons I've learned, all of the extra fees that I NOW know will need to be added in, etc. but I won't. I know real estate isn't for the faint of heart & my skin is definitely in the game. My capital, although decreased, I still have enough to do it again & do it as RIGHT as I possibly know how to do with these expensive lessons I've learned. I didn't have a guru, I am self-taught.

My conclusion is, I'll do 1 more flip to recoup my money & build from there. This next flip has to be a win- otherwise I'll stick to what my MA is actually in.

My question to the BP community is, when you've lost BIG how do you stay in the game & motivate yourself? I want to hear a few war stories.

TIA

[Peter Mckernan]

First and foremost thank you for posting this.. takes a lot to post on an open forum about a loss especially when you have very new to the industry. Thank you for doing that and keep it up! 

1. Take this as a learning lesson! The market the last three years has been a tough one, not only in our industry (sales, flipping, wholesaling etc.) but all. I was just networking with some other people in completely different businesses and careers and they sold me basically the last three years has been very tough.
2. Stick to the game, you have learned a ton in this short time, and keep going! This gives you more info to do a big deal and make a ton more money on it! 
3. Not sure if you have one, but bring in a partner/mentor to the deal make them a equity partner and do a bigger deal with them knowing they have more experience and could make sure it is a solid deal to close and win.
4. Pick on market, do not jump around from FL to TX to other places. Or even jumping around from city to city is tough too since Dallas is different than Austin and so on. Stick to a place you know. For example, I buy rentals in a city I grew up in till I was in my early 20s. That helps me know the area really well when a deal comes up I know about it and know the area really well! 
5. When vetting the deals, make sure you know the numbers and review the numbers with other local professionals; contractors you are going to use, get them to actually see the deal and realtors/investors to really vet the deal making sure they are seeing what you are seeing. 

Lastly, keep going! You got this!