I too am a recovering victim of analysis paralysis : ) I am from an accounting background and, somehow, I think this disease comes hand in hand with the part of the brain that would draw one to such a field : )
In the beginning, I read for years - almost 3 full years I spent reading every REI book I could get my hands on. During this same period, I would scour realtor.com - if not on a daily basis, really close. I would build spreadsheets for each investment opportunity and do the numbers, over and over again - researching tax records, calling my poor insurance agent - How much would it cost to insure this??
Finally, I started making offers. Not sure what put me over the hump here but, most likely, it was some sense of confidence from all the reading partnered with an aching need to get out of my full time consulting gig. Offers were ridiculously low, of course....almost too low to even be considered but it made me feel safe and at least I was doing something - it was a small step forward and got me comfortable with the offer process. After a few, I suppose I got tired of the simple rejection (I like to win), so I brought my offers up to a reasonable place and eventually one was accepted.
Settlement - I was in my early 20's, in a room with approx. 5 men (seller, seller's agent, seller's title co., seller's attorney), who were at least 20 years my senior. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous; yet, at the same time, it was a great rush. I had done the numbers 600 times by this point and I knew it was a good deal.
I wish I could say that it all ended here and I moved forward at warp speed, from this point on - unfortunately, not the case. I wanted to get comfortable with my new investment, see what might go wrong, see how it affected my year end tax return, etc : ) I would estimate to say that I bought another new property about once every 1.5 years for the next 3-4 years.
Later, my husband and brother joined me in the game - they both really liked the business model, so (once the numbers were right), we all left our jobs and went into RE full time. My partners were MUCH more aggressive that I - they wanted to buy everything in sight...but wait, I have to do the numbers!!! They would say, 'ok, you've done them, now let's buy it'. Having never operated this way, I can say that, at first, it made me sick. Only do the numbers once? What about all the expenses I forgot today and will think of tomorrow, next week???? Ughhh?.. but the boys weren't having it. We had to keep moving and you know what? They were right.
Summarizing points:
In the beginning, I read for years - almost 3 full years I spent reading every REI book I could get my hands on. During this same period, I would scour realtor.com - if not on a daily basis, really close. I would build spreadsheets for each investment opportunity and do the numbers, over and over again - researching tax records, calling my poor insurance agent - How much would it cost to insure this??
Finally, I started making offers. Not sure what put me over the hump here but, most likely, it was some sense of confidence from all the reading partnered with an aching need to get out of my full time consulting gig. Offers were ridiculously low, of course....almost too low to even be considered but it made me feel safe and at least I was doing something - it was a small step forward and got me comfortable with the offer process. After a few, I suppose I got tired of the simple rejection (I like to win), so I brought my offers up to a reasonable place and eventually one was accepted.
Settlement - I was in my early 20's, in a room with approx. 5 men (seller, seller's agent, seller's title co., seller's attorney), who were at least 20 years my senior. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous; yet, at the same time, it was a great rush. I had done the numbers 600 times by this point and I knew it was a good deal.
I wish I could say that it all ended here and I moved forward at warp speed, from this point on - unfortunately, not the case. I wanted to get comfortable with my new investment, see what might go wrong, see how it affected my year end tax return, etc : ) I would estimate to say that I bought another new property about once every 1.5 years for the next 3-4 years.
Later, my husband and brother joined me in the game - they both really liked the business model, so (once the numbers were right), we all left our jobs and went into RE full time. My partners were MUCH more aggressive that I - they wanted to buy everything in sight...but wait, I have to do the numbers!!! They would say, 'ok, you've done them, now let's buy it'. Having never operated this way, I can say that, at first, it made me sick. Only do the numbers once? What about all the expenses I forgot today and will think of tomorrow, next week???? Ughhh?.. but the boys weren't having it. We had to keep moving and you know what? They were right.
Summarizing points:
- Practice - practice each individual step if you have to-analysis, offers, etc. but keep moving forward
- Partners - if you are comfortable with partnering, find a partner who has the exact opposite skills of your own. You will save each other in the end. They would have forgotten the analysis and you may have never been done with the analysis.
- Ask yourself what is the worst that can happen??? What is the most you could lose? Assess the risks, mitigate and move on
- On the reverse angle, ask yourself what will happen if you do nothing? What will happen if you never make a deal? Is your current lifestyle enough for you? Are you content with what you have?
- Set goals/deadlines - we analytical types do really well with deadlines. In Corp Amer, it is someone in upper management giving us a deadline. We will analyze and analyze up until the due date, but once the deadline arrives, we are prepared with an answer/report. Outside of the job, you need to set your own deadlines - in writing! Treat them just as seriously as if you had been given the deadline by a superior, at work (if not even more so).