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How to Beat 5 Common Excuses That Keep You From Your First Deal

Christopher Gill
4 min read
How to Beat 5 Common Excuses That Keep You From Your First Deal

I don’t want to keep you in suspense. The answer is yes, you’re ready!

So why haven’t you done it yet? Say the reason out loud right now. What did you say?

Not enough money?

Not enough time?

No experience?

Bad market?

Consumer debt?

The reasons (or excuses) can go on forever.

I’m still in the middle of my real estate journey. I have in no way “made it.” I’m still stressed, concerned about growth, and making decisions that keep me up at night and make my stomach turn. I still want more mentors, more knowledge, more money to invest, more success.

But I’ve taken the first step. The journey has begun.

OK, I took the first step several years ago and have done dozens of deals at this point, but I hope you get the point I’m trying to make. The only reason I’ve made any headway, developed any traction, had any success is because I started.

There’s a lot about real estate I don’t feel qualified to teach or talk about. But I can for damn sure talk about pushing past the fear and doing your first deal. Let’s walk through the above reasons together and let me help push you over the edge.

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5 Common Excuses That Keep You From Your First Deal

1. Not Enough Money

There are several ways to solve this one, and they all start with finding a really good deal. If you find a kickass deal, the money will find you. Hard money lenders are all over the country. Overall, they aren’t looking at your qualifications as a buyer. Their main concern is whether they will lose money if they have to take the deal back, finish the rehab, or sell to another investor mid-rehab. Finding deals with wide margins will find you money.

You must also be networking, both online but especially offline. Get out from behind the protection of your computer and go meet people. Find a local real estate meet up. The BiggerPockets forums are full of great options.

Related: 4 Self-Sabotaging Excuses Holding You Back From Investing Success

Another way to find money is find someone to partner with. Take a tiny percentage of the deal if need be and do a ton of extra work. Remember, the goal here is to complete your first deal, not become a millionaire overnight.

2. Not Enough Time

I’m sorry, but I have to call BS on this. If you’ve watched one second of Netflix, browsed Instagram or Facebook in the last week, or gone out with your friends, the problem is time allocation, not an actual need for more time.

I know we all need breaks, but remember that life has many seasons. Maybe this isn’t the “break” season. Maybe this is the 18-hour days grind season.

Account for time in the car, time waiting in lines, and time spent getting ready in the morning or prepping for bed. All these moments can be used to learn about real estate, make phone calls with local real estate agents or contractors, and push you forward toward your first deal.

3. No Experience

We all started with no experience. Everyone at one point hadn’t done their first deal. The answer to this is form as good a team as you possibly can.

Again, get out and network. The resources are out there; go track down your initial team and get a property under contract. You can improve on it later down the road once you start to know more about what your personal strengths and weaknesses are.

4. Bad Market

Get creative or move somewhere better. We live in the most connected day and age ever! Physical distance has massively shrunk. Starting to invest in a market you don’t live in is definitely scary, but it’s done by investors all over the world.

Again, go back and build your team. Find investors nearby who are succeeding. Or take massive action and just move. If it doesn’t work, you can always come back to where you are now.

Is financial freedom and independence worth a little risk and discomfort?

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5. Consumer Debt

The answers to this are very personal and take some soul searching. What is the debt and why do you have it? No self control, lifestyle creep, something else?

I’ve lived (and continue to live) very small. Right now, building a business is way more fun and important to me than having ANY consumer item.

Nothing brings me more fulfillment and happiness than seeing progress. If material possessions are holding you back from this goal, take massive action and have a garage sale, downside your apartment, or move home with your parents for a season. The answers are endless.

Related: 5 All-Too-Common Excuses That Keep Investors From Succeeding

How much does real estate investing and success really mean to you?

Please don’t have read this far and think I say any of this flippantly. I’m dead serious—and I know it isn’t easy. Change is hard and scary. Humans are hardwired to avoid change and the unknown.

But the only thing I can attribute any of the success I’ve had so far to is the fact that I started. I made mistakes, I keep making mistakes, and I keep going. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and financial freedom won’t be achieved in a month (or year).

Write down your action plan. Tell other people what you are going to do, and ask them keep you accountable.

Do your first deal and start the process. Build momentum.

If you aren’t sure who else to talk to, email me! I’m cheering for you, and I hope you’re cheering for me. We are all on this together. Here’s to making our lives better and then passing on that blessing to others.

We’re republishing this article to help out our newer readers.

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What are you doing now to make headway towards your first deal?

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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.