“When one door closes another door opens; but we so
often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see
the ones which open for us.” Alexander
Graham Bell
Everyone has
opportunities they have missed over the years. One of the goals of this site is to help you recognize a good
opportunity when you see it, so you will have as few regrets as possible as
life goes on. This pertains not only to
investing, but to every aspect of your life.
I made a huge
mistake in the dot-com era by taking a job with considerable stock options, but
I kept moving forward - and today, I’m in a better financial position than I
would have been if my shares of stock had been what they were projected to have
been worth. In the end it would have
been a trap, because I would have been required to stay in that job for the “carrot,”
the stock options. I know several other
business professionals who were in the same position and to this day, they are
bitter about the millions they almost made; it has prevented them from moving forward.
The best advice
I can give from my own personal experience is to keep moving forward. Another opportunity will come your way; you
simply need to know what you are looking for, so when the opportunity presents
itself you will recognize it.
In addition to
the dot-com disaster, I have missed two opportunities that I still kick myself
for from time to time. One was the opportunity to buy a home in a divorce sale
from a woman who did not want any cash out of the sale; she simply wanted
someone to take over her payments. The
house was in a great area of Tucson, and I could have afforded it. Although I
was in the real estate industry, I still had not bought my first home, and I
was single - the bottom line is, I chickened out. The house needed lots of work, but it was
several thousands of dollars below market, even for its condition. Instead of buying it myself, my wife sold the
house and made a commission of a couple thousand, when we could have made over
$30K and had a great house to live in.
This is very
common for first-time investors and homebuyers. Taking the plunge from renter
to homeowner,
or from homeowner to investor, is overwhelming for many people. Even more surprising is how many real estate
professionals avoid investing.
The second
opportunity we missed was our first year in California. We moved from our little beach apartment to a
small house in Redondo Beach. We needed
to rent a house that allowed dogs; we had two, each weighing about 100
pounds. We found a place and the
landlord offered to sell us the house for $230,000 with terms! We had just moved from Tucson, where similar
houses were selling for about $65K; plus, since we already were living in the
house, we knew it needed everything: a new roof, plumbing, etc.
We thought our
landlord was crazy, so we bought a newer townhouse in Lawndale, a significantly
less desirable neighborhood - but the house was only a couple of years old, was
much larger and the owner was selling it to us with very little down payment
and an AITD. About a year later we tried
to refinance the house, but the real estate market was depressed at the time;
we could not get it to appraise for the loan amount, so eventually we gave it
back to the original owner.
However, time
gives us great perspective. The “deal” I
missed in Tucson has always inspired me to go for it when I come across a good
deal. And, had we not purchased the
Lawndale townhouse (and lost money), we likely would not have been inspired to
buy our triplex in Torrance, which has been phenomenal moneymaker for us.
Although we’re
landlords and like collecting our rent each and every month, we like to help
our tenants get into their own house or investment property, especially if we
like them. We have a tenant who
completely missed the market and a great opportunity to buy, in spite of our
efforts and encouragements. When he
moved in was being relocated; he has a great job, and his company would have
paid his closing costs to buy a home as long as he did so within the first 12
months after he relocated. Instead, he
moved into one of our units over seven years ago and is paying about $1,500 per
month in rent - slightly lower than market rent for the area, but he’s a good
tenant.
The bad news
for him is that he could have bought something that first year he moved in. Whether he bought a house or a duplex
, his mortgage payment would have been about the same
as his rent is today. Since he moved to
the area, home prices have more than doubled during one of the best real estate
markets California has experienced. Since he did not act when he had the chance, he is no longer able to
afford a home in the area he lives and rents in, and he missed the opportunity
to have the extra couple hundred thousand dollars in equity from purchasing
something that first year.
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