Greatest Enemy

Your Greatest Enemy
FEAR OF LOSS

Over the years, I have helped many new investors sign up and profit from their first deal. Something that is common among them is the fact that they are often stopped from becoming successful in this business because they have a fear of loss.

I have signed up hundreds of deals over the years. I have traveled all over the U.S. helping others do deals as well. As I would consult with someone about doing "creative" deals in their neighborhood, before I would arrive, I was ALWAYS told that while the person I was going to work with hoped to learn some things from me, they did not expect to get any deals.

I was ALWAYS told that the market was so hot that as soon as someone put their house on the market, it was sold AND at $10,000 more than was being asked for it! I would always laugh when I heard this because I was told this EVERY single time I went to a new area.

As I have done deal after deal, I began to see that there were ALWAYS so many of these "creative" deals to be had no matter where I was, what time of year it was, or if the real estate market was considered "hot" or "slow". None of this affected my ability to get these deals and make money from them.

As I saw how plentiful these deals were, I soon began to realize that if there was something that I found out that made the deal not longer profitable for me, or if it would just be "too thin" with not that much of a profit involved, I could simply pass on the deal and move on to the next one. The deals are really so plentiful that as long as you are marketing properly, you should have no problem being able to sign up AT LEAST one deal per month using the "creative" techniques taught here. Often, it takes a few months to get your marketing up to speed to being able to generate the call volume you need to accomplish this, but it is not that hard to do.

After working with several new investors, I found an interesting phenomenon. After they would have a lead come in that they thought looked good, they were unwilling to let go of it no matter how much I tried to convince them that it was not a good deal. I was recently cornered by a student of another real estate teacher who said that he needed my advice. He went on to tell me about a particular deal that he got involved in that was turning very bad.

This new investor told me that he had given a $14,000 down payment to someone on a house in cash, and before he closed on the deal. He then found out a number of things that were making it impossible for him to do the deal, from things hid by the seller, to the property not appraising for as much as he needed in order to get his financing, etc. He also told me that when he discussed this with the seller, the seller told him that he had already spent the $14,000!!

After getting all the details, I analyzed the deal, trying to come up with some new angle to make it work. I simply could not find a way to make this come to a happy conclusion, so I told the new investor that it looked like it was time to set this aside and simply move on to the next deal. I told him that he could try to work with the seller to get his money back, but would probably have to involve a lawyer to help get it back.

This new investor actually became ANGRY with me and couldn't believe that I would suggest that he just walk away from this! He vowed that he would "make the seller" pay, and he had messed with the wrong guy. He said that he would MAKE this guy sell the property to him on the terms he wanted. However, he continued to angrily ask me why I would consider just "letting this guy win".

When I started investing, I lost a ton of money. I made a ton of mistakes. However, I chose to LEARN from each mistake instead of use it to eat up my time while I vowed revenge instead of simply moving on to the next deal. This is the ONLY reason why I have survived in this business for so long. There are literally THOUSANDS of deals out there. Which would help you more? Whining about the one that got away and making threats, or returning a phone call to another seller and signing up another deal?

This all boils down to a fear of loss. Not only does this fear often keep people out of this business entirely, but it can also make them react very poorly to what should be considered "everyday business". Fear of loss often makes people think that if they do a deal and it goes bad, they can be sued and lose everything. This is actually a valid concern. However, there are MULTIPLE ways of dealing with this, from setting up the right legal entity, to simply doing deals as I do them- with NO money out of my pocket! It's kind of hard to "lose" money when you don't put any into the deal!

Realize the risks and plan for them, but don't allow the thought that just because you found one deal that, upon further analysis, is not a good deal at all, there are no more deals out there, so you MUST make this one work. This is simply not the case. Be prepared to lose a few deals. That's part of the business. There's ALWAYS a bigger and better deal right around the corner IF you choose to let the bad deal go and simply learn from it, and MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ONE!