Ten Ways to Fail as a Real Estate Investor

by Brandon · 2 comments

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This list might look familiar for those who have downloaded my free e-book, “7 Years to 7 Figure Wealth,” but I thought I’d share it here for everyone else and dive in a little deeper explaining each item more fully.

Also, I’ve got big news about my newest property acquisition coming out later this week!  Be sure to get automatic updates by entering your email in the bar at the top of this page and sign up for my newsletter by entering your email on the right (I know, there is a lot of signing up around here! I promise I don’t use your email for bad purposes!)

So without further ado, here is:

Ten Ways to Fail as a Real Estate Investor:

  1. Don’t Read- If you really want to stop moving forward, stop reading about investing. Don’t learn new strategies, because you will be left in the dust when the market changes. Don’t read quality real estate blogs or download a free e-book. (shameless plug, I know!)
  2. Don’t Connect with Other Investors – Associating with other investors will give you confidence and knowledge, as well as help navigate muddy waters. Therefore, be sure to steer clear from other investors. Especially don’t join websites like BiggerPockets.com or your local real estate investment club.
  3. Don’t Have A Plan – Knowing the direction you want to go will only get you there faster. Instead, simply aimlessly “invest” in whatever floats your boat at the moment.
  4. Only Listen To Gurus – Pay lots of money to attend seminars full of up-sells and “hidden secrets.” Make sure you only listen to them and don’t ever question their dated information or underhanded sales techniques.
  5. Do Everything Yourself – By stretching yourself thin, you will lose both interest and money – so be sure to never ask for help or hire a professional.
  6. Run Your Business On Emotion – Don’t be rational when making business decisions. Instead, rely on how it feels at the moment. Feel bad for tenants who spend their money on drugs instead of rent and give them another break.  Be sure to take everything personal as well and take our your frustrations on your family at home.
  7. Get Fancy and complicated – Investing is fairly straightforward and simple, so if you want to fail – be sure to get real fancy and complicated. Using seventeen layers of LLC protection, cross-collateralize everything you own, and take huge risks to help speed up the process of failure.
  8. Spend your money frivolously – There are many ups and downs when investing in real estate, so be sure you don’t save enough money to cover you in the down times. Be sure to leverage yourself out as thin as possible, buying the best new cars and toys so you look as rich as you want others to think you are.
  9. Don’t stick to your standards– following a recipe is for those who want the food to turn out tasting delicious. Instead, deviate as much as possible, buying property that doesn’t meet your standards and rent to tenants who would never qualify. Combine this with number six above for even faster failure.
  10. Wait Until Tomorrow –You will never succeed if you don’t start, so make sure you sit back and watch one more episode of Desperate Housewives. You can always invest when you have more time, more energy, and more desire. Besides, the government will take care of you when you retire.

 

Do you have other ways to fail you want to add to the list?  Comment below and let me know! (That rhymed. I’m a poet and I didn’t know it!)

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About Brandon

has written 199 Awesome posts in this blog.

Brandon Turner (G+) is the BiggerPockets.com Senior Editor and Community Director and owner of RealEstateInYourTwenties.com. He is also an Active Real Estate Investor (Flips, Apartments, and Buy-and-Hold), Entrepreneur, World Traveler, Third-Person Speaker, and Husband. Come hang out with him on Twitter!

P.S. looking for hard money loans in California? Be sure to check out my friends over at northcoastfinancialinc.com. They have very competitive rates, can fund within a week and specialize in fix and flip loans and other hard money loans.

P.S. Looking for more real estate investing knowledge? If you are interested in a top-notch course to help you understand the nuts and bolts of creative real estate investing, I would like to recommend Ben Leybovich's Cash Flow Freedom University. Ben is a close friend and has been my trusted adviser for years. He's a smart guy and CFFU is pretty awesome. The course is waitlisted, but while you wait for an opening Ben will send you tons of FREE content. Seriously. Click here to check it out.

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Ivan July 18, 2012 at 4:05 pm

Great! These are great tips for newbie real estate investors as well as those who are in this business for a long period of time but never reach the top of success. The reason I think is that they’re never take it seriously and keep doing these wrong things.

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Affordable residential properties Gurgaon November 22, 2012 at 7:35 am

Great Article with informative tips.

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