The Best Real Estate Investment Advice Ever
I've done a lot of dumb things. I've said a lot of dumb stuff, too. As a matter of fact, most of my day is spent just trying not to say, or do, anything dumb.
For example, my wife once sent me to the grocery store for a ham hock. She needed it for a dish she was preparing. I circled the entire meat department at least three times. The butcher, sensing I couldn't find what I was looking for, asked if I needed help. Yes, I replied, I'm looking for a ham hock. He pointed down into the refrigerated case and said, there it is!
I answered, no, that's a pork hock. I'm looking for a ham hock.
What a dummy.
If Only Someone Had Told Me This Sooner
I quit my full-time job in 2002 to start a real estate investment business. At the time, I thought I had it all figured out. After all, I'd attended a weekend real estate workshop on foreclosures in Denver, and had done one deal for an $8,000 profit.
But following that, nothing for nearly 8 months.
A year removed from my steady job earning a respectable salary, I'd made just $24,000 in real estate. That was not good enough for me, and especially not for my wife. But, there was no way I was going to go crawling back to my former employer and ask for my old job back.
So, I did what most new real estate investors do...
I spent more money, and flew farther away (Atlanta), to attend another real estate investment seminar. Two thousand miles, 3 days, and $2,700 later, and I still had no idea what I was doing.
Finally, I reached out to a local real estate attorney in Phoenix. He gave me the best advice, to this day, I've ever received.
Here's what the guy told me...
"Marty, you need to stop wasting your money flying all over the country attending seminars and workshops, held by people that make all their money getting people like you to buy their seminars and workshops. Instead, find a real estate investor that's actually making money fixing and flipping houses, and learn from him or her."
Wow.
He was right. If only someone would have told me this sooner.
What a dummy.
Gurus or Practitioners?
As I sit here typing this, there are two real estate investment gurus in Phoenix advertising their seminars and programs on the radio. Last week, while in Milwaukee checking on 7 of our fix and flip projects, one of these same gurus was on the radio there too, with the exact same sales pitch! You can bet that if these guys are in a different city every weekend pitching real estate education workshops, they're not doing fix and flip deals.
I've learned everything, and I mean everything, I know about fixing and flipping houses from actual real estate practitioners.
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