How My Real Estate Mentor Saved Me From A $32,000 Rookie Mistake

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I'm a big fan of mentors. I have to constantly remember to put my ego aside and learn from the best. My most recent example was when my husband and I started our journey. We knew we had no idea about real estate. So we found a mastermind led by someone we trusted and jumped right into the information.

I didn't always get answers as quickly as I wanted sometimes. So we just started doing things the best way we know how and started taking massive action. Soon we had a house under contract, and it was on her that we cut our teeth, as I like to say.

It didn't look so bad, but I made a big mistake. I wouldn't know until my deal was torn up in front of my peers on a live group call.

Related: Looking for a Mentor? The 7 best places to start.

The $32,000 Real Estate Mistake

The mentor asked me about the offer and displayed it on the screen. He was running the comps on his end, and we seemed to have done a good job there. However, when I started talking about how many repairs the house would have and what I needed to do, his eyes widened. This house was not your average rehab. This house was a complete project.

By then, I had gone from $124,900 to $107,000 on the house after some back and forth. The owner had never seen the house and thought it was ready to rent.

It was not ready to rent at all, and we had to reduce it a lot. The case almost failed. But eventually they got our point and accepted our initial offer of $75,000.

Recover my investment

We had paid $25,000 for the real estate mastermind annual fee, and it had already saved me $32,000.

It's easy to watch the money go out and think you could manage on your own. The truth is you can. However, I believe that life is short and the best shortcut to success is to use OPE, i.e. the experience of others.

According to The Motley Fool, the average real estate investor makes between $70,000 and $124,000 per year. Learning how to make that much money from real estate could change your life. Most real estate investors keep their other sources of income. Real estate can often be a passive or semi-passive source of income that can generate healthy returns.

Related: 5 Reasons You Need a Business Mentor

Continuing to grow my real estate business as a woman

As a woman, it can be a bit daunting to be in the real estate world. Most of the time when I come to my call or go to real estate meetings, there is a majority of men. Some women might see this as an inconvenience or worry that men won't take them seriously. That's not how I see things.

I believe that men and women will respect you if you continue to show what you can do versus what you can talk about. Talking is cheap. Taking action and making things happen will allow any savvy person to realize your ability to operate in the field of real estate or in any other field of activity.

Don't let obstacles hold you back

Having the group of masterminds and mentors to help guide me allows me to be confident enough to move forward and speak to even the biggest names in the business. Anything you don't already know you can learn with enough time in the business, by reading books, listening to podcasts and more.

Even if a mentor isn't in your budget, and podcasts only cost your time and attention. You can go at your own pace until it's within budget.

Related: You Need a Mentor. Here's where to get one for free