The Biggest Obstacle to Investing In Real Estate Might Be You!

(but I know you have a long list of other things, don’t you? )

I’ve spent a lot of time contemplating this question and going over in my head all the reasons why potential investors do not find the success they want in real estate investment.

It fascinates me when people considering investing see others succeeding, (literally watch what they do step-by-step), yet still can’t take action on the move you know they are toiling over.

What is happening here? They attend multiple real estate investing networking events, read tons of books, and spend thousands of dollars learning the tools necessary to build solid real estate investment portfolios. But they don’t take the first step.

So, what is it? What holds people just like you back from taking the first step?

They obviously have the persistence and drive necessary to be great in this business. If not, they wouldn’t put the hours and dollars into learning all they can.

It isn’t a lack of opportunities, because they exist everywhere. It’s a matter of simply picking a strategy and working it long enough to find a deal.

It’s not about the money, because as experts we know that if you play in this game long enough, sooner or later someone will come along to help fund your deal. You simply need the persistence to keep learning and striving towards attracting money. So, it isn’t that they can’t figure out the funding part.

I think it comes down to the way we use our brain—it’s about how we think.

Humans have been gifted with an instinctual brain designed to warn us of potential danger.  There was a time when protection against risk was the difference between life and death. But here we are 1000’s of years later and still utilizing these instinctual risk protection thoughts.

As if the ingrained, instinctual part of our brain wasn’t enough, we take it a step further and avoiding trying things IN CASE something dangerous, might result. We got even farther in this aversion to risk–we teach our children that to err is a bad thing, dare I say, even something to be ashamed of.

I find it sort of interesting, that we let our children make many mistakes learning how to walk, talk, and acquiring basic life skills, relentlessly encouraging them. However, at some point (usually school age) a switch gets flipped and we use red ‘X’’s to point out errors. All the ‘X’ really means is that there are areas in which we still need to grow, but we imprint that the ‘X’ somehow means wrong. We become fearful of the “X”.

As a result, we become masters at considering all the potential things that could go wrong, in order to avoid the repercussions.

What I’m getting at here is that yes, there is an endless list of “what if’s”.  What we would all benefit from remembering is that opposite of those what if’s exist too.

Consider some of these–

• What if this thing went really well, and you could retire?
• What if you could pay for Johnny’s school or Maggie’s wedding?
• What if the property values went up by 20% in one year?
• What if we got the most amazing tenants that loved the place as much as we do?
• What if, someone came by to offer us 3 to 4 times what we paid for the property?

Sadly, the majority of us spend way too much time thinking about the negatives and not nearly enough time thinking about the positives. We will do significantly more to protect what we will to take a risk–even a well thought out one–to obtain bigger and better.

Whatever you focus on expands.

If all you focus on are the negatives, everything you see will be negative. You will tune out the success stories and focus on the horror stories. You will be easily swayed by folks “protectively warning you against taking a risk”, or whatever excuse your brain derives to keep you in the comfortable position you have right now.

To obtain greater success we need to take some risks. To face some risks, we need to be brave enough to control our thinking. We need to spend more time thinking about potential solutions to ANYTHING that could go wrong.

Accept that you are going to make mistakes but trust yourself enough to know you are following a well thought out and proven path. Trust that you have the confidence and resourcefulness to resolve whatever issue might cross your path.

It is going to be okay.

If I told you that in all my years of talking to people about what holds them back, that 9 times out of 10 it is their thinking–literally, themselves, that hold them back…would you be willing to reconsider how you’re thinking?

The way you think can change the next step, tomorrow and the long term.

Interested in more of what I have to say…drop me your email on the homepage (www.millionairemom.co) and I’ll send you my e-book: Five Steps To Your First Real Estate Buy.