3 Real Estate Lessons from Our Last Investment Property

The best plans never survive contact with the enemy, or so the old saying goes. You can plan out an investment, pore over a spreadsheet for hours trying to calculate risk and return precisely and talk to experts about what could go wrong.

And yet sometimes the best way to learn all of the ins and outs of a project is to just move forward, learn from what happens and the mistakes you make, and reinvest that knowledge into your next project.

Lessons Learned

Arrow

We had assurances from the prior owner that tenants were “good.” We were also shown documents providing evidence that they were current with their rent.

1. Buying a property with tenants

Time, however, showed that we were too trusting. Only one tenant was paying rent actively. Two were not. They ultimately applied for emergency aid for rent which we still have yet to receive but is, in theory, in the works. That’s a problem.

We were very eager to get this property based on our estimates. Our agents also relayed to us that the seller would not sell with an inspection contingency, which is something we generally include in our offers as a rule.

2. No inspection clause

This should have been a major red flag. But we looked past it… Upon taking over the property, there has been a myriad of issues that had to be dealt with:

– Leaking bathtub in 1 unit – Rat infestation in basement – Broken plumbing – Tons of broken cabinets, molding, doors, etc. throughout 2 units

I love our investor real estate agents. We’ve become true friends. However, we made a mistake using them as our buying agents for this property. Because they were also the selling agents.

3. Using the same buying and selling agents

SWIPE UP NOW TO READ MORE

Which Real Estate Side Hustle is Right for You?

MORE STORIES

A 2023 Update on My Passive Real Estate Investment Returns