My real estate investing fascination began in 2003. I was 33 years old, working at a very low paying job, and starting to contemplate my future. Specifically, my retirement. Needless to say, I was in a job that I did not like at all, working for someone who I did not respect, and very unhappy.
It occurred to me after I did some very simple math, that I was never going to be to retire on my current income. I knew the only way to retire, ever, was to invest. My first thought was stocks, bonds, day-trading (day-trading was a hot topic back in the early 2000's). I bought a few books on the subject and started to read them. I also hopped on the Internet to research and try to learn everything about stocks, bonds, the stock market in general, day-trading, etc.
After only a few short months of researching what was, in my opinion, the most boring subject I had ever researched in my life, I stumbled onto something called real estate investing. Now, if you Google investing, eventually, when you scroll down the page is you'll come across real estate investing. It wasn't what I was looking for, but I think I was looking for an excuse not to read anything more about the stock market. Anyway, once I stumbled into the world of real estate investing, I was hooked. I loved reading the success stories and hearing about people who had made tons of money investing in real estate. I'll admit, at first, I was a success story junkie. Meaning I wasn't reading how-to, I was reading about people who had already done it and basking in their glory. It's quite addicting.
This was back in 2003. I went to a couple of local seminars and was really excited about the prospects of becoming a real estate investor. This is the part where you are expecting me to say that I went out got started and became a success. Not quite the case. Actually, I got into the "analysis paralysis" danger zone. This is where someone gets so wrapped up in listening and learning and absorbing that it becomes all they do. They never stop to use the tools that they're learning about they just keep absorbing more. You see this sometimes with college students. They get degree after degree after degree but don't seem interested in putting their learning to practical use in the world. I wasn't doing it intentionally, but before I knew it five years had passed and I hadn't made a single offer on a house.
That all changed in 2008. There was a local guru in my city that was charging $2900 for a three-day seminar. $2900 was quite a bit of money to my wife and me at the time. But somehow I convinced her that it was a good idea and we both went.
The boot camp itself was not worth $2900. By that, I mean that we did not get $2900 worth of content or materials. What we did get, however, was the courage to take the leap into real estate investing. We got just enough knowledge and a healthy dose of motivation from the local expert, and we went for it! I should take this time to say that my wife and I are slightly different when it comes to risk tolerance. I tend to push my chips into the middle of the table very comfortably. It takes her a little bit more time to warm up to the idea of taking a financial risk. That being said, we made an offer on a house that got accepted, and we went to work renovating it. When I say we went to work, thank goodness we learned from the guy who ran the weekend seminar that good real estate investor hire the rehab out to contractors. I have to admit that we did try to cut corners by doing some painting ourselves and a few other small things. That was the last time I ever lifted a paintbrush or a hammer in any of my rehabs. I absolutely hate it, and everything that I did took way too long.
After it was all finished and we sold the property, we ended up making a nifty little profit. This was all my wife and I needed to see to give us the confidence to do it again. Don't get me wrong, the contractor that we use was the wrong one in hindsight. He took too long, charged more than his quote said, and didn't pay some of his subcontractors. Those subcontractors put a lien on the house, and because my general contractor stopped answering his phone and basically disappeared, I had to pay them a portion of what they were owed in order to sell the house without any liens or encumbrances. I learned a lot, but the bottom line is that I did it, and from that point forward, I never looked back.
Like I said in the beginning, I have made a ton of mistakes in the last ten years, and I've learned a ton. For a few years, I bounced around, making a lot of mistakes, doing a lot of things wrong, and not making a lot of money. I learned from my mistakes and then finally really turned the corner and took my business from a few deals a month to 12 to 16 deals per month!
In my podcast, you'll learn exactly how I did that, and you will also learn how other highly successful real estate investors from around the country have done it as well!
Learn How to Get Started in Real Estate? Go to www.Dwellynn.com/mft
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Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
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