Once in awhile we like to share some of our Rev N You with Real Estate newsletter readers comments or questions … here’ s one we recently answered.

William from Chelsea, Michigan said:

I don’t want you to take this the wrong way because I really think that you two are providing a really refreshing view point for your readers. And, I do think that you are genuine in your message. But, I think that you should spend more time telling people about the risks. Too many people lose their shirt buying houses and I fear that you don’t tell that side enough.

William

Julie’s Response:

Thank you for your email! And I appreciate your feedback.

We never want to make real estate sound like a guaranteed path to wealth because not every property will make you money. In fact, I believe we’ve told plenty of stories about what CAN go wrong. Take this article for example:

http://revnyou.com/Sell_your_Property_at_a_Loss.html

But, I hesitate to put too much focus on the risks involved. That doesn’t mean I ignore the risks, but instead I will write about what you can do to prevent something from ever happening (like 5 ways to protect yourself from a bad property manager). The focus is then shifted AWAY from the risk and onto the prevention or the action you can take towards success.

You have to be aware of the risks (and that is where a good mentor, a good real estate investing program, or even a well written book can be crucial for a new real estate investor). You have to know what obstacles you could encounter on the road ahead so that you can take steps to avoid them.

But – you CANNOT make that obstacle your focus. As soon as you do that, you’re going to hit that obstacle. I’ve written about this several times, most recently for MustKnowInvesting.com (http://www.mustknowinvesting.com/2009/05/06/the-simple-way-to-overcome-real-estate-investing-obstacles/).

The bottom line is that you’re right – there are risks in real estate investing. AND – we try not to make big lists of them because it can be scary. But, to put this in perspective, if we all sat there and focused on the risks we take EVERY DAY just going to the office or the store, none of us would ever go. You could stub your toe getting out of bed, you could get hit by a cyclist crossing the street, you could have a car accident, you could be mugged at the subway … I am not trying to trivialize the risks in real estate, but I am trying to say that things WILL go wrong. That is just life. But, there are a lot of ways to drain the risk from your deals and become a successful real estate investor. And – that is what we focus our readers, students and our own minds on.

Best regards,

Julie

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This entry was posted on June 22, 2009 at 8:10 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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