The idea of most things is rarely the reality of them.

By that I mean that we nearly always gain so much new perspective once we become involved in a project, task, career, event, or group; we find ourselves having an "ohhhhh" moment.

I find myself doing this non-stop with newbies. Explaining that the internet and "REI meetups" are filled with people trying to sell them something or others trying to get started. The active investors have no real need for that sort of thing, unless its to just feed their egos or maybe they still lack confidence. I see portfolios everyday from investors. People are rarely "honest" about what they have- i.e. they will under sell or over exaggerate what they have. And nearly always its not because they are big dummy liars or scam artist; they just don't know.

Trades and contractors are the easiest part of this business, unless you ask nearly anyone who claims to be in it. I have had to sue 1 trade 1 time in over 20yrs of being in this business. I have had to sue or threaten to sue A LOT of partners, wholesalers, sellers, buyers, title companies... But rarely do people in the investing world warn you to watch out for those types. The same people who tell you "You can get this done cheap" are the same ones always getting or being sued by trades/contractors/buyers. Sure there are shady contractors and trades; but they are pretty easy to spot if you actually care about having a great end product and aren't just trying to save money.

I can say for certain I have met lots of very very successful investors of real property. TONS. The amount of creative people I see who have made fortunes off of small parts of this giant business never stops amazing me. They all have at least one thing in common and that is that they don't care about what everyone else is doing. They find something they can be an expert in and then find ways to get a better price AND a better product. Most of them you will never see in a marketing ad for a meetup or REIA club.

In closing (if you are still here) I have had to refocus my direction a lot in the years of being in REI, things I thought I knew and thought I wanted changed over time and with new information. I have managed to find my areas of expertise and despite not being very "cheerleaderish" I am a FIRM believer that anyone can find their own success in REI or anything they want really. REI is just such a vast realm of opportunity that it affords nearly anyone to get in and do what others wont in order to achieve massive wealth.

Be yourself, be honest with what you want and where you want to go. That way if you don’t have the tools you can get them and start on the path of getting what you know about, and still want.

reach out with any questions- contact me