Why I Hate Real Estate...and why I need to fall in like with it

Hey there,

It's been many months since I actually wrote a newsletter. I want to apologize to you for falling off the wagon. I have my reasons for stopping over the last few months, but I want you to know that I am back on the wagon and ready to share what is happening in the trenches of real estate today as well as how I am personally navigating this market and my investment strategy. As I reminder that I feel like needs to be said, I do personally write all these "Inside the Trenches" newsletters (which is why they are not always consistently written)

That said, thanks for following what I do and I hope you get something out of this content that helps improve your business and your lives.

Inside the Trenches

Why I've Hated Real Estate...and why I am committed to fall in like with it...

In 2015 I had a business coach change my entire perspective on my business and my real estate investment career.

By this time in my career I had: done hundreds of real estate projects, had a dramatically bad business partnership break up, averaged over 20 projects at a time, been in multiple states, made a bunch of money, made no money, and had plenty of stress. However, I also had no perspective on how well I had done or why I had done so well, especially since I hated just about every minute of the journey except when the cash hit the bank account.

Real estate was my life and I hated it. I saw it constantly as what I 'had to do' and every time my phone rang or beeped it gave me anxiety or anger. I was completely looking for something new to do with my life and I was willing to shut my business down. Which is why I was meeting with this business coach...

The coach had me show him how I ran my business, how I averaged over 20 projects at a time with a super small team (there were three of us at the time), how we had finish packets, SOW's, used project management software, had a system with drop box, outsourced as much as possible and how I looked at everything as a commodity with very little emotion (other than frustration, anger, and the occasional moment of celebration when a deal sold).

After this coach looked at everything, I told him that I wanted to quit real estate and I came to him to help me figure out what else i could be doing with my life. I told him very clearly "I Hate Real Estate" (first time I said outloud)...

He looked at me and said something I will never forget..."You hate real estate, sure, but that is exactly WHY you are so good at it and why you should keep doing it."

I got pissed, and challenged him on the comment. This not what I wanted to hear at all, and not what I hired him for.

He stopped me and explained the following:

The reason I had so many systems, processing and outsourcing was exactly due to me not liking real estate. If I liked it, I would do more of the work my self, especially if I loved it

I had almost no emotion to my decision to buy a project or not, it was pure numbers to me. Not a passion, not a love to see old messed of projects turned to new shiny ones.

I was extremely conservative and not optimistic about potential projects, which protected my bottom line at all times

I only saw the bad on a project when underwriting it. All the things that could go wrong (and not right). Which, in turn, had me have to solve for each problem in order to make a deal work and prevent issues later down the line

Most people are not like this...

This hit me hard, and made complete sense at the time. Because I did not enjoy any aspect of real estate (other than networking with other like minded people in the business), I did EVERYTHING I could to get others to do the work and/or make sure we did not need to do the work at all.

Despite this revelation...I still hated what I did everyday, and this is no way to live life at all...so what to do?

After further discussion with the business coach, everything changed when I remembered a firefighter I met when I was 18 years old who was a large real estate investor. I questioned why he was a firefighter if he had all the money from real estate investing, to which he said "I am a FIREFIGHTER, that is who I am and what I love, I would burn all those houses down before giving up firefighting. The real estate just gives me more money. You can do something you love, and make money doing something else."

Basically, I needed to find something I loved doing in order to keep me in real estate.

Additionally, I needed to redefine WHO I was. Real estate investing is NOT me, its what I do so I can do all the things I love to do, it is my vehicle to live my life on my terms.

Not more than a few months later after this conversation, I decided to start a meetup in the Seattle area (which I loved). Which led to creating the largest investor conference in the pacific northwest for four years. Which created my events company. Which introduced me to Ken McElroy. Which lead to him and I becoming business partners and creating the Limitless Financial Freedom Expo, which we are now on the FOURTH year (Go.LimitlessExpo.com, discount Tarl10, prices go up this Friday btw).

Crazy how one conversation ultimately led to all my best friends I have now (all my best friends came from me running my events business), as well as becoming partners with Ken.

But now...I need to like real estate...

Despite seeing real estate as my vehicle to live my life, I still didn't like it. I was for sure able to cope with it, build my business to where I only did what I do best in it, and structure my business around my life (instead of having my business dictate my life). I still run into the issue even today of NOT wanting to do real estate, avoiding work I don't like to do (like rehab), and dragging my feet.

Sure, hating real estate made me successful, but it would be WAY easier and even more successful if I was at least more interested in it and liked it more! Which is exactly why...I need another change in perspective.

Today, I truly believe, is one of my last opportunities to make a real run at real estate and 10x my portfolio.

Why? I have a ton of reasons and will for sure write about them in future newsletters but here are a couple:

There is a lot of disruption in the current market, creating fear and uncertainty for consumer and investor both...good time to look for opportunity

Long term thinking wins over short term in REI just about every time. Now is the time to think long term.

My passive income is not where I ultimately want it to be, and it won't be unless I start building it again

Got to keep street cred if I am going to be partners with Ken in Limitless for many years to come...so gotta stay in the game!

Real estate purchasing will change over the years. Tech disruptions, data, seller knowledge, AI, wall street, funds, whatever...will change the playing field at some point in the coming years...and I don't like real estate enough to change with it, so now is the time to act for me.

Ultimately, my life will be a lot more fun, if i can find the fun in real estate. We all tend to gravitate to what 'feels light' and what we are best at and like to do. I am no different.

How am I going to begin my process of liking real estate?

For me, there are two first steps. First, accept my fate and look at this as something I GET to do and not what I HAVE to do (big thing for me). Second, gamify it. I love logic problem games (I have a stash of books on these, I don't even think my wife knows about them), I was also a long time gamer growing up (I quit though...I cannot do it recreationally, I'm all in or all out). So next time we get a text from a contractor that discovered something wrong, how can I gamify the solution? How can I change my expectations on a project and gamify it placing bets with friends and partners on what might go wrong?

There are a lot of ways I can do this, if you have suggestions, I am happy to hear them!

Announcements:

Ticket prices go up this Friday at midnight (3/28) for the Limitless Expo with Ken McElroy and I. Save over $700 this week before prices go up, use Tarl10 for an additional 10% off! Go.LimitlessExpo.com See you there!

Talk soon,

Tarl