I've been investing in real estate for 22 years and I still think about a few of the deals I didn't do

or a couple of properties I sold too soon and one decision that cost me years of progress.

These are my biggest real estate regrets and I'm sharing them with you so you don't have to learn

the hard way like I did. So to share these regrets, I'm going to tell you three simple stories.

And the first story is about a deal that got away,

one that I did not buy. And it was all the way back when I was 25 years old, 2005. And to give you

some context, I'd just been in the business a couple of years. I started investing in real

estate in 2003. I graduated college in 2002. So I was in my early mid-20s. Did not have a lot of capital, but I was hustling. I was out there talking to people, sending out letters, wanting to buy properties. And some of these properties, I would wholesale. And I had a business partner, so a 50-50 business partner. So we would just flip them to other people, meaning we would get them under contract, maybe do a little bit of work or clean up, and then sell them to another investor almost as is. Other times, we'd fix them up and resell them. But I was very

interested in rental properties and owning these long-term rentals because I'd heard that's where

the wealth comes and the cash flow comes. And I sent out some letters to some multifamily unit

owners in my hometown in Clemson, South Carolina. And I got a call from a super nice gentleman,

somebody I really respect and learned, went out to lunch several times with and really admired

because he had been in business for 40 years. I was also a Clemson fan like I was, Clemson Tigers,

Clemson football. And he had accumulated some rental properties. And this is one particular rental property.

He said, hey, Chad, I'm thinking about selling this one. I've owned it for you. Actually,

he built it and he's a beautiful brick buildings in the best location in my town in Clemson near

downtown, up on a hill, five different buildings, 20 units total. And we discussed them. I looked at

them with him, went out to lunch a couple times. And he basically told me, you know, I think I'd part

with him for a million dollars. So a million dollars, 20 units, that is $50,000 per unit. And back

at the time, the rents were probably $450, $4.95. I can't remember the exact number, but they weren't like a screamer of a deal, but kind of, you know, a little bit below the 1% rule, but in an excellent location. So what did I do? I thought about it. I said, let me, let me work on this. I didn't have any concept of how to come up with a million dollars or to come up with two or three hundred thousand dollars in a down payment it felt very risky to me at that

point any concept of how to come up with a million dollars or to come up with two or three hundred thousand dollars in a down payment. It felt very risky to me at that point. And I went to a mentor of mine and this just wasn't his type of deal. He liked kind of lower price properties and, you know, he just said he didn't really give me like a green light that he would invest with me. And so I was kind of stuck. And I made him an offer. It was kind of a week offer where I would have said, would you be willing to sell or finance it to me if I paid you $50,000 down and then the other $950,000, I would make payments to you over time. He was nice about it, but he said, no, I don't think that's what I want to do. But looking back on this, so I did not

buy the deal, passed on it. Many years have passed. And I want to give you the kind of the fast forward of this building, this best location in town. I had the best zoning. It was another thing I didn't mention earlier in addition to being this great location. It had like multifamily dense zoning and very convenient to a lot of things.

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