The Lights Can't All Be Green

How many times have you gone for a drive and caught nothing but green lights from one end of town to the other? Unless you live in a very small town, the chances of that happening are miniscule, and in most cases you're doing well if you can get through half of them without stopping or at least slowing down. Real estate investing is the same way.

The chances of an investment deal going exactly as you map it out are next to impossible because there are so many variables involved over which you have absolutely no control. Sellers can sometimes throw a monkey wrench in the best laid plans, and you'll have to use your creativity and ingenuity to think on your feet and come up with an alternative that is acceptable to the seller and still profitable for you.

In addition, a typical real estate deal has so many steps, stages, and other opportunities for stumbles or miscommunications that you almost have to be a magician, a juggler, or a comedian in order to make them work. Whether it's finding out at the last minute that a property has liens against it that you didn't know about when you made your offer, learning that the property didn't appraise for the figure you thought it would, or finding out an hour before closing that your lender made a mistake on some aspect of your Good-Faith Estimate, most real estate deals will require you to have the ability to not only think on your feet, but to dance to the beat of an unfamiliar drum.

So what do you do when you're driving and the light turns red in front of you? Unless you're in the mood to take your chances at being seen by a police officer or one of those candid cameras that are hidden in so many intersection stop lights, you apply your brakes like a good law abiding citizen and wait for a green light. If you're impatient by nature, you might quickly glance both ways and make a fast right hand turn and go another way. Again, that's the sort of decision you'll have to make in order to be a real estate investing success.

Today's investing environment has challenges that didn't exist as recently as a year or two ago, and these challenges make it somewhat more difficult to put together profitable deals that will please you and be acceptable to the seller. One of the best ways of being ready for the unexpected is to have a thorough knowledge of multiple investing techniques. In addition, many of the strategies that real estate investors employ can be modified or altered in a way that could make a borderline deal a home run. So don't be afraid to think outside the box and make a quick right turn if you don't feel like waiting for a red light to turn green.

If your investing playbook is a little thinner than you would like, you should consider turning to a reliable, knowledgeable source for practical advice, information, education, and tips that you can't get anywhere else. REI Conferences has a proven track record of teaching rookies and experienced investors alike cutting-edge techniques that could make the difference between being a wannabe investor and a runaway success.

Instead of having the expectation that every light you come to will be green when you get to it, be prepared to make adjustments on the fly and be open to changing your thinking and strategies at any stage of the property acquisition process in order to maximize your profitability and gain as much value as possible out of each and every deal you work.

By being prepared for any and all situations, you can make adjustments as necessary, and find a better way of reaching your destination even when every light isn't green. This will make it all that much sweeter when you drive up on that one in 1 million deal that doesn't have any slowdowns or stoppages along the way.
And if you happen to see me sitting at a red light don't forget to wave.

Charrissa Cawley has a long standing reputation for excellence as a gifted speaker, real estate trainer and wealth coach. She offers accurate and proven strategies to investors of all different levels and is the founder of www.reiconferences.com, and www.rewexclub.com.