When it comes right down to it, you are responsible for your success or failure as a real estate investor. You either make good decisions and earn a profit or bad decisions and take a loss. And hopefully learn from the experience.
If you speak with any successful real estate investor, chances are good they can tell you how much profit they made on various deals. But if you ask them specifics about the property, they probably will not be able to answer off the top of their head. But if you ask what their three biggest problem houses are, they will be able to tell you in excruciating detail about those properties. (And probably in very colorful language.)
Why is this? Why let the successes fade into the background and the failures stay in the forefront?
A smart investor knows that you learn through your failures and coast through your successes. He also knows that this is a process that cannot be taught by mentoring. It needs to be experienced and incorporated into your own thought processes to be valuable.
A smart investor also know that mentors and books can provide a great education and guidance through challenging situations but know that ultimate responsibility for the success of the deal is owned by the investor.
Take advantage of every learning opportunity offered to you. Absorb the lessons and apply them when appropriate situations arise. And then step back from the situation and reflect on the results that were achieved. Were they satisfactory? Could they have been improved? Could another approach have yielded superior results?
By taking time to step back and reflect, you will learn 100 times more than you will from any book or mentor’s advice because you finally internalized the learning. Your most powerful tool in real estate investing is your ability to ask questions. So start using it and ask questions of your associates AND of yourself!
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