What was (almost) your point of no return

Question

Along your journey as a real estate investor, what was the point in which you genuinely wanted to give up? What kept you going? How did you recover?

David Faulkner · Answer

Honestly, there is a point somewhere in the middle of every major renovation where I've asked myself "what the hell did I get myself into?!?" and if life had a reset button I would have gladly pressed it at that time. This could be when the walls are down to the studs and everything is a mess and you know you are way past the point of going back. Or it might be when a contractor gets too far behind on the job and can't make it to the next draw and you refuse to front him more money so he walks off and leaves you high and dry with the property in this state. There is always something unexpected every time that causes one of these moments.

Life does not have a reset button, though, so when this happens the only way out is to work your way out, get creative if needed, and figure it out ... this is lucky in a lot of ways in retrospect, because it is working your way out of these type of situations where you learn and grow as an investor and as a person, and gain the confidence and knowledge to take on bigger projects ... sorry newbies out there, you aren't going to get that second hand by reading about it on BP; you have to get your hands dirty, get yourself beyond the point of no return, and figure out a way to work your way through it.

Ben Leybovich · Answer

My point of no return was when I met @Brandon Turner. I looked at that bearded face and thought - if this is the face of real estate investing I must get out before hell freezes over :)

Take it easy. This is a full contact sport. Let it roll off your shoulders and move on...

Andrew Newlon · Answer

My business partner and I decided to quit our J.O.B. in the fall of 2015 to force ourselves to succeed in Real Estate investing.

2 weeks later....my wife and I found out we were expecting.

That was the ultimate do or die motivation. We are still full time investors today!

Thomas S. · Answer

I have never reach or even been close to wanting out.

I am in this for the money, No different than any other job. Need to put food on the table.

Larry Turowski · Answer

@Chris Chesser I've discovered that I don't deal well with stress, and real estate can be very stressful.  So there have been plenty of times where I questioned it.

What kept me going?  You here in the podcast that you have to know your why.  Why are you doing this?  I never really understood that.  I was doing it to make money.  Aren't we all.

But recently, the pain / pleasure drive made it clear to me that I do have a why.  I exercise because the pain of feeling awful is worse than the pain of exercising and the pleasure of feeling good.  That avoidance of feeling awful pain and pleasure in feeling good is my why for exercise.

For real estate it was the pain of not succeeding and the pleasure of when I do succeed.  The idea of not having any more control over my financial future than my job is more painful to me than the stresses I experience investing.  And the pleasure of successes is also a powerful motivator.

Account Closed · Answer

@Chris Chesser I like money. Allows me to do what I want.

Raymond E. Hopkins · Answer

@Chris Chesser this past 10 months or so in my journey should have me a my "point of no return".  But, the opportunity in real estate and my will to succeed are bigger than the obstacles I have had to go through.  I was raised by two high school drop outs with horrible credit, and in low income housing most of my childhood.  As a kid I always dreamed of being a successful businessman.  As I grew older, and started to see the real world the thought should have became more of a pipe dream.  But, I never let go of that dream to be successful in business.  I graduated in the top 10% of my class in high school.  Shortly after joined the military, and did a stint in Iraq.  Came home bought a house to rehab, got married, started having kids, got a tech school degree, landed a career, and became the first of my family to ever go to college much less graduate with honors.  After adding more kids through the years, we decided it was time to upgrade in housing.  Put our house up for sale/rent.  Ended up renting with a option to purchase shortly after closing on our 3000sf 4bd/ 2 1/2 ba on 10 acres rehab.  That's where the story takes a twist.

A few months into the rehab on our new purchase, and nearing the move in date we realize...HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!  The house is no where near ready to move in, and we have a contract on our current house with a move in date fast approaching.  Thank goodness for amazing family.  I move my family of 5 at this time (still 5 as of now, but expecting another baby in Oct. of 2017) in with my mother.  Another blessing in this mess is that my wife and mother get along great!  This is around the 1st of Aug. 2016 and only supposed to be a few weeks, so we pack everything in storage beside mattresses and a few changes of clothes.  Shortly after my contractor goes MIA (not totally, but may as well have).  After a FEW MONTHS of trying to get this contractor to finish what he started I had to cut the losses (knowing what I know now I should have sooner, but charges have been pressed and he has recently plead guilty to the charges).  My brother and I take over the project to save on labor (another huge blessing of having an amazing family).  We start making considerable progress considering we are having to redo work that was done incorrectly and both of us work full time.  Right about the time I start to see the light at the end of the tunnel my tenant informs me she is moving.  Now I have to not only try to get my new purchase fixed while having my family shoved in two rooms with all our stuff in storage for going on MONTHS (we are now around Mar. 2017), but now I have to get my rental ready to show and rented while working a full time job!  Luckily the tenant did not destroy the place.  Some minor repairs and a good clean up, and it was ready for market.  After a few weeks I had it on another lease to own contract.  Now time to focus on getting my new purchase finished (we had finally got it move in ready, and moved in about this time as well).  A few weeks later a big storm comes through, and now I have a leak in the roof of my rental after a few shingles were blown off and heavy rains and hail slammed the area.  Nothing else could go wrong, right?  A/C goes out, tenant falls and breaks her elbow (no litigation, but the stress was there until I found out what happened), plumbing issue, and all of this while I'm still trying to finish my family home, work a full time job, and trying to figure out why the state hasn't done anything with my charges against my past contractor!  I had briefly thought about giving up the idea of getting serious in REI before, but at this point was my "point of no return".

The next few days I still find myself on Bigger Pockets, and searching the listing sites.  Am I crazy I thought, and asked my wife.  But, I realize coming from my background that not everything in life is easy.  Not everything is going to be handed to you.  Sometimes you have to fight for your job, for your spouse, for your family, and for your dreams.  I wake up and thank God for the blessings he has poured out on this ol' boy from the middle of no where Oklahoma, because most of them I do not deserve and the rest should have never been attainable by someone like me.  So, I continue to push through all those situations with the rent house, my brother is still helping me finish my house (should be complete by end of summer, so watch the success stories forums), the charges finally dropped on the contractor and he took a plea deal with in weeks, and I'm still grinding looking for my next deal!I've chalked up the past 10 months or so to some serious crash course real estate investing education, and I am already a better investor because of it.  We keep breathing, so we keep striving, and if we continue to strive after our goals one day we will be successful #butimnotdoneyet

Robin Boyer · Answer

Just when we get a million dollar cash offer on the property in California we are selling we still have to go to court and we have others trying to control the sale the fiduciarys.  Any pointers I have a real estate attorney I was going to walk in Wednesday and tell him these fiduciarys are being investigated by the IRS??

Robin Boyer · Answer

Yesterday was another 12 hour day of meetings and hitting the pavement. Staying strong preparing for a showing of my office soon!

What was (almost) your point of no return

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