I’m a 30-year old real estate investor that has been in the housing business for almost nine years. I started in this business after I graduated in college. I began to buy rental property and was not very successful at that time but I learned a lot of things. Back in college, I met a mentor. He owned plenty of investment properties around my college towns and the person who tough me everything about real estate and some important lessons. I did not realize at that time that he was already setting me up to a path that would change everything to me. Here are the significant lessons my mentor taught me:
1. Lesson #1 – Avoid two things that can make you lose money in real estate
There are only two ways to lose money in real estate according to my mentor: The first is to sign your name to debt. The second is to issue someone a huge amount of check (out of your own savings account)! Doing these things will basically put you behind other investors.
2. Lesson #2 – It is much better to start your investing career without having money
You should not go into real estate with lots of money or expecting to use your credit. He thinks that you can learn many investing techniques that will help you a lot to still function especially when the time comes that you are lacking of funds. He compared it to a house pet and a wild animal. It is the wild animal who is more determined and stronger because he has no choice.
At first, I think what my mentor said were not right. I thought that my situation is different from him. But after working in real estate for how many years I honestly can say that these lessons have essentially helped my business to grow together with my career.
The author is a part owner of Ogden Utah Real Estate, an investment company in Ogden Utah. We specialize in buying Ogden UT homes for sale on terms.
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