Real Estate Lessons Learned the Hard Way!
This past weekend I traveled to Mesa, Arizona to refurbish a rental property. Up until now, I had a realtor managing the property, but he got fed up with the real estate industry as a whole and left me to fend for myself. It was a good thing!
In one short weekend, I realized how much I had learned while...
1) Not paying attention to my gut feelings (intuition);
2) Not listening to the people who really cared about me;
3) Defending a sense of loyalty I had for an individual who didn't deserve it;
4) Putting my hard-earned investments in someone else's hands; and
5) Lastly, remembering that we attract into our lives people who are like us.
Let me explain:
• Not paying attention to my gut feelings (intuition).
I have known for several years that there was something wrong with the realtor through whom I bought this piece of real estate. I had such a difficult time putting my finger on the issues though that I just ignored it. I convinced myself that he was doing what was best for me and the property because nothing I saw pointed to anything different.
HOWEVER, when I visited the property this weekend for the first time (I bought it sight unseen from photos only), I realized he had not taken care of the property the way I had expected. In addition, there was another situation involving the realtor and a mortgage person he had referred me that told me they were in it for themselves and didn't really care about me. More than a few "hits" of intuition. (What was I thinking? I assume people are like me and care about their customers! I listened to the assumption, not the intuition.) Lesson learned.
• Not listening to the people who really cared about me.
Everyone around me—boyfriend, friends, financial advisor—didn't like or trust this man. Why not? I thought. He's never done anything bad to me. He's never been anything but kind, helpful, gracious. Why did everyone not like him? Why was everyone telling me to fire him? Why did my tenants tell me what a horribly angry person he was? I never saw that side of him so it didn't make sense.
HOWEVER, they were right. I realize that because I was kind, helpful and gracious to him, he was like that to me. But he wasn't that way to others. He had a temper, he said mean things to people, he was impatient and thought others were just terrible human beings. I'll listen next time, even when my own experience says everything is peachy. Lesson learned.
• Defending a sense of loyalty I had for an individual who didn't deserve it.
Have you ever done business with a person and then felt obligated to continue doing business with that person even when it didn't make good sense? If you said yes, then I don't feel quite
so stupid or naive. For some reason, after buying two rentals from him (one that I SHOULD NOT have bought), I have felt this unexplainable sense of obligation to him. He was not charging me to manage the properties because his business model was that he would get the commission on the other end when I decided to sell the property down the road. Moral of that story is that you do get what you pay for. Lesson learned.
Though his business concept made sense to me, he really didn't have my best interest at heart. He fixed up the house (he was also a contractor) after a previous tenant destroyed it to a tune of $7500 but it wasn't until this past weekend that I witnessed the second rate work he did in several areas: patching, painting, etc.
I've asked myself over and over again why I felt so obligated? Is it a girl thing (since I teach women and have been studying the difference between men and women in financial matters) or just an insecure, inexperienced issue? I'm happy to report that I think it's a little bit of both. Lesson learned.
• Putting my hard-earned investments in someone else's hands.
 Yes, have a financial advisor to guide you. Yes, seek expert advice. Yes, hire the best to help you take care of your valuable assets so that they can take of you later.
Just don't hand them over and assume someone else will do as good a job at minding them as you will, because chances are, they won't. My mom always said, "If you want something done right, do it yourself." She's right.
At the very least, stay involved, ask lots of questions, hire the best you can afford and check in with your 'stuff' often. You'll be sorry if you don't and glad if you do. Lesson learned.
• We attract into our lives people who are like us
Since owning this particular piece of property, I have had terrible renters. At least terrible in the sense that they didn't pay their rent on time, didn't pay their rent in full, destroyed the place as I mentioned above, moved out five months before their lease expired, stole appliances (fridge, washer and dryer...really, they did!), and more. I realize now that the realtor was attracting his own energy to the place. This was not a good thing.
So, last Saturday evening, after the first hard day of scrubbing, cleaning, fixing and more, I put an ad in Craigslist (you gotta love Craigslist) with some kind words and some nice photos. Sunday morning I got a call from this nice woman who brought over her family in the late afternoon. They loved the place and are moving in December 1st. Guess what? The husband has been working at the same place for 11 years, the wife is employed at a bank and just finished attending some college, they have three kids and a little dog. They were nice, normal and grateful to have found an honest, sincere landlord.
Like attracts like. The ultimate lesson. I learned it long ago but I guess I just needed a swift kick and a subtle reminder. I got it. I got it. Lessons learned.
Next week? What are YOU thankful for? |
It never ceases to amaze me that human beings aren't generally taught about the subjects in life that enable them to live that life to the fullest.
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