3 Reasons Why You Haven’t Bought Your First Rental Property (Yet)

Real Estate Rookie

BiggerPockets

Business, Education, Entrepreneurship, Investing, How To

4.7 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you’re like most rookies, you probably won’t buy a rental property in 2026. After all, there are too many things working against you: high mortgage rates, fewer deals, and concerns about the housing market. Plus, you’re just not “ready” yet, right? Welcome back to the Real Estate Rookie podcast! Today, we’re breaking down the three biggest reasons why most rookies won’t invest in real estate this year. These hurdles have one thing in common: fear. It might be that you lack the confidence to make an offer, or perhaps you’re waiting for the “perfect” deal to fall into your lap. Maybe you’re convinced you need more education, when really, you’ve got a bad case of analysis paralysis. Whatever the reason, it’s time to stop merely dreaming about building wealth with real estate and start executing. In this episode, we’ll show you the huge opportunity cost of sitting on the sidelines, how getting creative can make the numbers work, and why it’s okay to submit a “lowball” offer. Stick around for a simple rookie challenge that will help you make serious progress in your investing journey this year! In This Episode We Cover The three reasons why most rookies won’t buy a rental property in 2026 Common fears that could stop you from taking down your first real estate deal Why your nine-to-five job isn’t actually any “safer” than real estate investing Why waiting for the “perfect” deal could cause you to miss out on great deals The 2026 challenge that will help you break free from analysis paralysis And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-678 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Most rookies believe there's a moment coming when they'll finally feel ready to buy a deal.
0:04.8	When the market makes sense, the numbers feel safer and the fear goes away.
0:09.1	But the truth is, that moment almost never comes. And in 26, that belief alone is the biggest reason most rookies will say stuck on the sidelines.
0:23.7	This is the Real Estate Rookie Podcast, and I'm Ashley Carey.
0:27.2	And I'm Tony J. Robinson.
0:29.0	And today we're going to break down the reasons why most Rikis will not buy a deal in
0:34.0	2026. And as we go through these reasons, we're also going to call out how you can be the
0:39.1	exception. So if you hear yourself being echoed in some of these points, don't worry. We'll try and
0:43.7	show you how to fix it as well. All right. So the first reason that you probably won't buy a deal in
0:50.0	26 is because you're confusing comfort with confidence. And we've talked about this in the podcast
0:56.7	before, but oftentimes rookie investors want to feel comfortable with the idea of buying their first
1:06.4	rental. They want this comfort when they submit the offer. They want this comfort when they sign the closing docs.
1:12.6	They want this comfort when they welcome in their first tenant or their guests or their first slip or whatever it may be.
1:18.6	But here's the truth, guys.
1:19.6	It is physically impossible to be comfortable and to be growing at the same time. Because by definition, growth only happens
1:30.4	when you're stepping outside of whatever comfort zone you currently exist in. So if you're waiting
1:36.2	for this moment of this comfort to appear in order to do this thing you've never done,
1:41.4	you'll get stuck in this endless loop where you never actually take action,
1:45.0	right? Now, confidence, on the other hand, is something that you can build towards.
1:50.5	Like, the more deals that you underwrite, the more people that you talk to who have already
1:53.9	successfully done the thing you're trying to do, the more agents you talk with, the more
1:57.9	property managers, the more general contractors, the more data points you
	...

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