Let me ask a question. Who said it was going to be easy?

Starting a new job can be incredibly intimidating. You do not know anyone and everything seems foreign. You are sweating bullets for the first few weeks. Then what happens? You start to learn and endure.There are no set rules for the job of real estate investing. Yes ... I said a job. If you claim you don't work for anyone, you are being blind to the elephant in the room called "Time Management". Take any business that is consistently productive and has almost predictable results and you will find systems in place that all point to effective, time management. The idea that things are hard and don't work may certainly be true. However I challenge you to consider YOUR PERSPECTIVE at the task at hand. Let's look at those excuses again.

Excuse: This real estate stuff is just TOO HARD!

Is it too hard or just too challenging? What is your perspective? Who do you spend time talking to about it? What have you done in the last 3 days that was an action step to move forward? Did you make any offers? Did you invest in education materials? What expectation did you set BEFORE you got involved with real estate? Has something else negative happened in your life that is making a black cloud appear over other areas? ... i.e. real estate investing

Excuse: Short sales take too much time to be profitable!

What time frame is "too much" for you? Let's say you put in 30 hrs and it took you 75 days to get a check for $20,000. Was that a good use of your time? Are you depending on ONLY ONE SHORT SALE or do you have multiple short sales working at a time? Have you researched the areas of a short sale that you dislike? Could you outsource those to someone? Do you like negotiating? If not ... you may be in the wrong business :0) ... however you can train someone to negotiate for you and give them some of the profit. Who do you know that is absolutely an expert in a particular skill that you could recruit? What is the BEST use of your time in short sales?

Excuse: Flipping is going away!

Oh really? How did I just flip two houses last week? Is flipping going away or should you consider a new formula when you buy with the intent to flip? Where is flipping going by the way? Is it going away to another state besides yours? Do you market to buy houses to flip? Do you spend time educating yourself on RELEVANT flipping techniques? Do you have some type of negative perception about flipping?

Excuse: The market is too bad to be a real estate investor!

When everyone is running away from something you might discover the greatest opportunity dwelling there. Think about it. Do you buy stocks at the peak? No. You wait for the stock to dip a little, research a 2-5 year trend, run your charting software and look for a nice profit play. Some of the greatest purchases can be made in a so-called "down market". WHY do you perceive the market to be bad? Is it bad because people are running out of money? Did people buy houses they couldn't afford? Did people get 2-3 Yr Arm loans and now they are overleveraged? Each one of these challenges can present massive opportunities for optimal real estate investing. Become a solutions provider and stop focusing on the doom and gloom.

Excuse: The houses in my area are too high !

Really? ... How high? Like ... Denver Colorado high ... 12,000 - 14,000 feet? :0) OH... you mean too high to purchase right? Gotcha ... well STOP believing that because it is not true. For every person that complains about a hot market with no discounts to buy houses, you have a five others that are doing extremely well... in YOUR market. Don't get overwhelmed with a hot market. Don't stop making offers. A hot market can be an incredibly positive factor. It means you do not need to get as much of a discount when you buy the house. You may only need to buy the house for 20% off and still sell it for 95% of the FMV. Those areas are basically gone now, but the point is this. Don't stop making offers! Don't let conventional wisdom over take your judgment in real estate investing. I have been involved with real estate for over 8 years and there is NOTHING conventional about a motivated seller. Stop worrying about the coming rain and get out there and risk driving with your top down!

Excuse: The law is coming down on real estate investors.

The law is the law. Don't get scared into a corner because you are afraid of taking a step in the unknown world of real estate investing. Here is a practical solution. TALK TO A REAL ESTATE ATTORNEY before you make excuses to not invest. Have you been reading too many Google and Yahoo stories about how real estate investors are all a bunch of crooks? You could say the same thing about a guy that is a car salesman. Don't let one or two bad stories steal your dreams of being financial independent. You cannot... "throw out the baby with the bath water". Get factual information before you let it dictate your decisions. Ask to see a copy of the law.

Excuse: Short Sales do not work!

No. That is not it. YOU don't work short sales. Short sales not only work, they help change lives. Short sales are becoming incredibly popular right now. If you are not learning how to correctly complete one you will be missing opportunities that could be the most profitable transactions you have been a part of. Short sales take time. If you expect to make money in a few weeks you are setting the WRONG expectation. They also can be unpredictable and frustrating. If you endure and work through the challenges short sales present you will be greatly rewarded... GREATLY. Be a servant and serve someone by structuring a short sale for them.

Excuse: Title companies will not double close or simultaneous close!

Do you mean all of them? Oh... you just mean the ONE OR TWO that you spoke to that you have done business with in the past and they rejected you...right? Gotcha... makes sense now ...or does it? The point is this. Keep talking to other title companies until you find one that WILL double close or simultaneous close. You are probably not talking to a decision maker at the title company. Take the approach of YOU interviewing the title company. Bring in your paperwork and provide an example of exactly how you want to prepare everything. Call some other title companies that WILL allow double closing and schedule a conference call together. Ask a lot of questions about the process. Find out the reason the title company is presenting a challenge to it. Keep talking to title companies until you find one that understands the process and feels comfortable working with you. It is usually a matter of disclosure. Find out any additional paperwork or other things that could be presented to give them comfort on the process. Don't give up ... THEY EXIST EVERYWHERE!

So do you see a common theme?

Stop making excuses. Buckle down and get prepared for the long haul. Real estate investing takes WORK and TIME. Any other expectation you have about it is false. Here is something to consider along that same line of thinking. You do not become wealthy by winning the lottery. You become rich. What is the difference? Rich is a state of mind, but being wealthy takes skill and practice. It is no wonder that study after study shows people that won the lottery are broke in 5 years. Why? They wanted to be rich ... and guess what? They got their wish. On the other hand, wealthy people know it is going to take work and time. They have an expectation of what I call the "marathon wealth mindset". They have a consistent goal of financial independence to serve others. Every decision along the way is constantly weighed against that goal. People that have the marathon wealth mindset are held accountable. They admit it when they make mistakes. In the beginning of a business they fail more times then they succeed. They relentlessly pursue a path that leads to a well thought out plan towards financial independence. They are prepared to get bruised up, bleed, and sweat. They work through painful situations, sacrifice, have faith, hope, and love with passion and NEVER... NEVER... NEVER... give up. That is a wealthy person.

So ... Do you want to be rich or wealthy?

I hope this helps.

Remember ... be a servant,

Life has Ups and Downs so Enjoy the Journey,
but Stay Focused on Where You Want to Go.

Cory Boatright

Loss Mitigation Specialist

cory@shortsalefundamentals.com

www.shortsalefundamentals.com

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert_bio=Cory_Boatright

P.S. I normally have an aversion to talking about the benefits of real estate investing because of the pride that wells up inside of me. I hope this thread encourages you and if needed print it out and put in on your wall to constantly remind yourself that real estate investing is going to take WORK and TIME ...work smarter not harder.

Growth is not automatic, you must PLAN your growth time - John C. Maxwell

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