Newbie Mistakes In Real Estate Investing

Drew Drew

Drew Drew

New Member
Let Me Hear You Say ‘Flipping Ain’t Easy!’
It’s easy to mess up any sort of investment — the entire concept behind investing is that you accept some risk in return for getting a better return than you get from your bank account. But certain kinds of investing, like real estate, are just as much skill as they are market movements. And any time skill is involved, mistakes are costly. Don’t make these:

Listening to Anyone — Except an Expert
Everyone has ideas about how real estate works — and most of them have nuggets of truth in them. But just as certainly as you don’t want to listen to Tiger Woods teach you how to play basketball, you really don’t want to pay attention to an idea that doesn’t come from someone who isn’t an expert in real estate investment. ‘Tested and proven ideas’ should be your mantra, at least until you get several transactions worth of experience under your belt.

Needing To Win Every Time
Any investment has its ups and downs — and realistically, a significant proportion of investors in any area are going to have ‘down’ experiences as their first, and possibly also their second, experience. Certainly 100% of them are going to have ‘down’ experiences at some point. If you need to come out ahead in every single transaction, try something less risky. If you want to win in the long-term with real estate investment, you have to roll with the punches, stay frosty, and focus on the next opportunity.

Buying With Only One Strategy In Mind
There are lots of investment strategies: Fix-and-flip, fix-and-rent, buy-and-hold, buy-and-develop, buy into a REIT, and more. In general, however, when you’re talking about buying a single-family residence (the most common type of property to invest in),you have to pick a property that will either:
• Bring in more money in rent than you pay on your mortgage
• Be significantly more valuable after improvement than the purchase+improvements cost.
All of the other options for a new real estate investor are going to be either ethically challenged, very difficult to execute, or not profitable enough in the long term to be worth your while. The problem is that only renting means you have no easy ‘out’ when you sell, because you’ll be losing money. Only increasing value means you have to move very quickly, because you have no income to sit on. You should aim for a property that will bring in both cashflow and an end-game, every time, until you have the experience to know how to manage a single-strategy property successfully.

Under-Repairing or Over-Renovating
Especially when you’re buying an even mildly older home, it’s easy to drastically underestimate the costs needed to bring it up to modern standards. Get familiar with at least a few of the area’s best general contractors and get them together with a building inspector to get a solid estimate of how much repairs will cost — then add 20% or so to over unexpected stumbling blocks. Once the repairs are done and you can start actual improvements, keep careful track of what you’ve done compared to the neighborhood. If you improve so much that your place becomes the best house on the block, you run into entirely other problems — the most painful of which is that you won’t be able to get a rent high enough to commensurate with your improvements.

Overpricing
The last great mistake common to new investors is thinking that they can get out of a less-than-desirable situation by selling or renting a house for more than it’s worth given it’s condition and neighborhood. The fact is that every month you sit on a house without collecting rent or selling costs you money, and it’s very easy to lose more money waiting for the right tenant or buyer than you’d lose by dropping the price and taking what you can get.
 
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jamhassan00

New Member
now is days Real estate is business is too much hot in every country of the world. So before starting or entering in business. you need spend time with expert and learn the business ethic. Then you will start your business.
 
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Joseph.A.Wieczorek

Guest
now is days Real estate is business is too much hot in every country of the world. So before starting or entering in business. you need spend time with expert and learn the business ethic. Then you will start your business.
Yeah, it is true. Always spend time to find the right and expert person to understand the real estate market. Business ethics are must to gain trust in property business as well!
 
R

roysoni

New Member
Most of people are faced same thing in real estate sector.
 
M

MichaelG

New Member
Let Me Hear You Say ‘Flipping Ain’t Easy!’
It’s easy to mess up any sort of investment — the entire concept behind investing is that you accept some risk in return for getting a better return than you get from your bank account. But certain kinds of investing, like real estate, are just as much skill as they are market movements. And any time skill is involved, mistakes are costly. Don’t make these:

Listening to Anyone — Except an Expert
Everyone has ideas about how real estate works — and most of them have nuggets of truth in them. But just as certainly as you don’t want to listen to Tiger Woods teach you how to play basketball, you really don’t want to pay attention to an idea that doesn’t come from someone who isn’t an expert in real estate investment. ‘Tested and proven ideas’ should be your mantra, at least until you get several transactions worth of experience under your belt.

Needing To Win Every Time
Any investment has its ups and downs — and realistically, a significant proportion of investors in any area are going to have ‘down’ experiences as their first, and possibly also their second, experience. Certainly 100% of them are going to have ‘down’ experiences at some point. If you need to come out ahead in every single transaction, try something less risky. If you want to win in the long-term with real estate investment, you have to roll with the punches, stay frosty, and focus on the next opportunity.

Buying With Only One Strategy In Mind
There are lots of investment strategies: Fix-and-flip, fix-and-rent, buy-and-hold, buy-and-develop, buy into a REIT, and more. In general, however, when you’re talking about buying a single-family residence (the most common type of property to invest in),you have to pick a property that will either:
• Bring in more money in rent than you pay on your mortgage
• Be significantly more valuable after improvement than the purchase+improvements cost.
All of the other options for a new real estate investor are going to be either ethically challenged, very difficult to execute, or not profitable enough in the long term to be worth your while. The problem is that only renting means you have no easy ‘out’ when you sell, because you’ll be losing money. Only increasing value means you have to move very quickly, because you have no income to sit on. You should aim for a property that will bring in both cashflow and an end-game, every time, until you have the experience to know how to manage a single-strategy property successfully.

Under-Repairing or Over-Renovating
Especially when you’re buying an even mildly older home, it’s easy to drastically underestimate the costs needed to bring it up to modern standards. Get familiar with at least a few of the area’s best general contractors and get them together with a building inspector to get a solid estimate of how much repairs will cost — then add 20% or so to over unexpected stumbling blocks. Once the repairs are done and you can start actual improvements, keep careful track of what you’ve done compared to the neighborhood. If you improve so much that your place becomes the best house on the block, you run into entirely other problems — the most painful of which is that you won’t be able to get a rent high enough to commensurate with your improvements.

Overpricing
The last great mistake common to new investors is thinking that they can get out of a less-than-desirable situation by selling or renting a house for more than it’s worth given it’s condition and neighborhood. The fact is that every month you sit on a house without collecting rent or selling costs you money, and it’s very easy to lose more money waiting for the right tenant or buyer than you’d lose by dropping the price and taking what you can get.
 
M

MichaelG

New Member
thanks Drew Drew very nicely explained. Please write more...if you have the time. thanks
 
KGeeson

KGeeson

Property Forum Staff
Forum Partner
Let Me Hear You Say ‘Flipping Ain’t Easy!’
It’s easy to mess up any sort of investment — the entire concept behind investing is that you accept some risk in return for getting a better return than you get from your bank account. But certain kinds of investing, like real estate, are just as much skill as they are market movements. And any time skill is involved, mistakes are costly. Don’t make these:

Listening to Anyone — Except an Expert
Everyone has ideas about how real estate works — and most of them have nuggets of truth in them. But just as certainly as you don’t want to listen to Tiger Woods teach you how to play basketball, you really don’t want to pay attention to an idea that doesn’t come from someone who isn’t an expert in real estate investment. ‘Tested and proven ideas’ should be your mantra, at least until you get several transactions worth of experience under your belt.

Needing To Win Every Time
Any investment has its ups and downs — and realistically, a significant proportion of investors in any area are going to have ‘down’ experiences as their first, and possibly also their second, experience. Certainly 100% of them are going to have ‘down’ experiences at some point. If you need to come out ahead in every single transaction, try something less risky. If you want to win in the long-term with real estate investment, you have to roll with the punches, stay frosty, and focus on the next opportunity.

Buying With Only One Strategy In Mind
There are lots of investment strategies: Fix-and-flip, fix-and-rent, buy-and-hold, buy-and-develop, buy into a REIT, and more. In general, however, when you’re talking about buying a single-family residence (the most common type of property to invest in),you have to pick a property that will either:
• Bring in more money in rent than you pay on your mortgage
• Be significantly more valuable after improvement than the purchase+improvements cost.
All of the other options for a new real estate investor are going to be either ethically challenged, very difficult to execute, or not profitable enough in the long term to be worth your while. The problem is that only renting means you have no easy ‘out’ when you sell, because you’ll be losing money. Only increasing value means you have to move very quickly, because you have no income to sit on. You should aim for a property that will bring in both cashflow and an end-game, every time, until you have the experience to know how to manage a single-strategy property successfully.

Under-Repairing or Over-Renovating
Especially when you’re buying an even mildly older home, it’s easy to drastically underestimate the costs needed to bring it up to modern standards. Get familiar with at least a few of the area’s best general contractors and get them together with a building inspector to get a solid estimate of how much repairs will cost — then add 20% or so to over unexpected stumbling blocks. Once the repairs are done and you can start actual improvements, keep careful track of what you’ve done compared to the neighborhood. If you improve so much that your place becomes the best house on the block, you run into entirely other problems — the most painful of which is that you won’t be able to get a rent high enough to commensurate with your improvements.

Overpricing
The last great mistake common to new investors is thinking that they can get out of a less-than-desirable situation by selling or renting a house for more than it’s worth given it’s condition and neighborhood. The fact is that every month you sit on a house without collecting rent or selling costs you money, and it’s very easy to lose more money waiting for the right tenant or buyer than you’d lose by dropping the price and taking what you can get.
Great post! You sound like an expert yourself actually :) What's your background in property if you don't mind me asking?
 
D

danielmartin3e

New Member
I would like to say that Now is days Real estate is business is too much hot in every country of the world. So before starting or entering in business. You need spend time with expert and learn the business ethic. Then you will start your business. Thanks to share this useful post with us.
 
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nmb

Well-Known Member
I totally agree with all of your points. In many ways property investment is a career made more complicated than it really is. Keep it simple, keep it real and do your research.
 
Nicholas Wallwork

Nicholas Wallwork

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Premium Member
Great post and some sound advice thanks for sharing!
 
N

nmb

Well-Known Member
Hi @Drew_Drew I was just wondering about your views on playing to your strengths or looking to diversify your investment strategies in the longer term? Should investors stick with property types which have proved successful for them in the past or move with the times?
 
L

Longterminvestor

Administrator
One bit of advice from me, make your mistakes in the early days on the smaller investments and above all LEARN from you mistakes.
 
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