HOW IT FELT TO BUY MY FIRST RENTAL (HINT, IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK)

Ever since I stumbled upon “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, I knew what my goal was. 

Passive Income.

I lost focus of that goal many times, and it wasn’t until years later that I actually bought my first rental property. 

It was a little one bedroom house. The seller only wanted 19K (This was 6 years ago or so, when things were still cheap. Plus this wasn’t the greatest part of town).

I told my then-business partner that I wanted to buy it. I wanted to finally take the plunge and create that passive income I had always been craving.

I also offered to go in on it with him 50/50. 

He hesitated. It would be his first rental as well. Having never taken ownership of anything, he feared that we would screw something up and lose money. 

Honestly, I felt the exact same way. I was scared shitless. I was really hoping he would partner with me so we could share the risk.

But I said to him: “I’m buying it, with or without you. Are you in or out?”

After hearing that, he agreed to do it. He didn’t want me to be the only one with a rental property.

So we took the plunge together, and we bought it!

You know what’s really funny? I didn’t even get a contractor’s estimate or an inspection. I had no idea of how much work it was going to take to get rent-ready.

That WAS really risky, but I didn’t know it at the time. 

But even if we had, we still would have been really scared. 

When you’ve never done something before, there’s so much vague fear and so many unanswered questions - questions that can only be answered through experience. 

Now, I’m sitting here telling everyone that they should buy rentals. To me, it’s easy, and obvious. 

What I forget is how I felt when I was in your shoes.

I wanted passive income - sure, who doesn’t?

But I was really scared, almost to the point of paralysis.

The only thing that cured my fear was to take that risk and just ACT. I had to get at least one real-world experience of what it would be like.

I had to see the process for myself. 

After a few more newbie mistakes, we got that first rental fixed up and rented out. 

After that, the floodgates opened. 

I saw how easy it could be. I saw how I could control the risk with proper due diligence. I received the checks as the cashflow came in.

THAT is what really set it in stone for me. 

“This stuff works, and I’m going to keep doing it”.

Are you at this stage right now, where the fear is just a bit stronger than the desire?

If so, know that it’s totally normal. It’s incredibly common. 

You will need to get uncomfortable to push past where you currently are.

That’s, unfortunately, always true for anything.

(I know, sucks, right?)

If you want to hear a more detailed version of my story and how I ended up getting enough rentals to pay all my bills, click the link below:

FIND OUT HOW I RETIRED AT 31

To your success!

Brian