How My Real Estate Mentor Saved Me From a $32,000 Rookie Mistake I was taught an invaluable lesson that I'd otherwise have to learn the hard way.
By Jessica Lauren Vine Edited by Russell Sicklick
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
I'm a big fan of mentors. I constantly have to remember to put my ego to the side and to learn from the best. My most recent example of this was when my husband and I started our real estate journey. We knew we didn't have a clue about real estate. So, we found a mastermind run by someone we trusted and jumped right into the information.
I didn't always get answers as fast as I sometimes wanted. So, we just started doing things the best way we knew how and started taking massive action. Before long, we put a house under contract, and it was going to be the property we cut our teeth on, as I like to say.
It didn't look that bad, but I made a big mistake. I wouldn't know about it until I got my deal torn apart in front of my peers on a live group coaching call.
Related: Looking for a Mentor? The 7 Best Places to Start.
The $32,000 real estate mistake
The mentor asked me about the deal and pulled it up on the screen. He ran comps from his end, and we seemed to have done an okay job there. However, when I started talking about how many repairs the house would have and what I needed to do, his eyes got wide. This house was not a medium rehab. This house was a full gut project.
At that point, I had gotten the house down from $124,900 to $107,000 after back-and-forth negotiations. The owner had never seen the house and thought it was rent-ready.
It was not at all rent-ready, and we needed to bring it down a lot. The deal almost fell through. But eventually, they understood where we were coming from and took our initial offer of $75,000.
Getting my investment back
We had paid $25,000 for the annual membership fee for the real estate mastermind, and it had already saved me $32,000.
It is easy to see the money going out and think you could figure things out yourself. The truth is that you can. However, I believe life is short, and the best shortcut to success is using OPE — other people's experiences.
According to The Motley Fool, the average real estate investor makes anywhere from $70,000 to $124,000 annually. Learning to make this amount of money with real estate could be life-changing. Most real estate investors keep their other sources of income. Real estate can often be a passive or semi-passive source of income that can yield healthy returns.
Related: 5 Reasons Why You Need a Business Mentor
Continuing to build my real estate business as a woman
As a woman, it can be a little daunting to be in the real estate world. Most of the time, when I come on my mastermind call or go to real estate meetups, there is a majority of men. Some women might think of this as a drawback or worry men won't take them seriously. That's not how I see things.
I believe that men and women will respect you as you continue to show what you can do vs. what you can talk about. Talk is cheap. Taking action and making things happen will make any wise individual realize your ability to operate in the real estate space or any other area of business.
Don't let hurdles hold you back
Having the mastermind group and mentors to help guide me allows me to be confident enough to move forward and speak to even the biggest names in the business. Whatever you don't already know, you can learn with enough time in the business, reading books, listening to podcasts and more.
Even if a mentor isn't in your budget, YouTube and podcasts come with only the cost of your time and attention. You can move forward at your own pace until it is within the budget.
Related: You Need a Mentor. Here's Where to Find One for Free
