success rate of new investors

[moneymagnet]

Jake,

There is a big difference between striking out in baseball and losing thousands; tens of thousands; or your life savings in real estate.  Baseball is a game and striking out is a normal part of the game.  Operating a rental property business is a BUSINESS and there is no excuse for failing, when all the information you need to know to succeed is readily available at little or no cost (right here on REIClub; at your local REIA; etc).

I have a degree in engineering and I can tell you for a fact that there is absolutely no comparison between analytic calculus and real estate investing.  Real estate investing is a very simple business and unlike Edison, you don't need to invent anything or blaze a trail to succeed at it.  All you need to do to succeed is learn the basics of the business; work very hard; and be persistent.   

Mike

 

+1

[JakeRodgers]

Maybe we're working on different definitions of the term "failure".  We both have mentioned different scenarios of failure, and what I was originally referring to was based on my personal experience. I did not lose ten of thousands of dollars, my life savings, or run my company into the ground.

Instead, I lost about a years time working on a couple of different deals that all fell through. The first one failed because my financing did not come together. Total time lost=4 months, VERY FRUSTRATING! Second deal, property was improperly winterized and a pipe blew out and flooded the house the day before the bank appraisal so the deal was no longer a money maker for me and I had to walk. Total time lost= 4 months, again EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING!
I could have walked away from real estate after either the first failure or the second, but instead I took the disasters and turned them into positives by learning what not to do next time. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know, and other's peoples actions can and do have negative consequence which affect you.

This is what I'm saying to new investors, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Do not give up!