I hate dealing with real estate agents of any kind, so I wasn’t happy at the thought of having to get one involved when I failed to sell a home for a year straight.
It was a house that I acquired from a family member for little money and intended to fix myself.
Sadly, I wasn’t able to do the work and needed to turn over the property to get money quickly. It was a big learning experience because I took a loss and had to put it at the back of my mind while I moved on. For years I avoided ever getting involved with real estate again and simply rented. But when I met my partner, she insisted that we eventually purchase a house to get out of being rental slaves. She had a good point, so I listened and we bought a house. As time went on and we saved more money between the two of us, I was eager to dip my toes into the real estate market again because the wounds from the original injury had finally healed and I wasn’t bothered by the memories any longer. I got too eager because I made a mistake buying a house with a broken HVAC system and assuming I could flip it without making the HVAC repairs. It was in an area that is an up-and-comer in terms of the property values of most homes there, so I figured that flipping the home would be easy. That assumption was foolish. We eventually paid to have the HVAC system replaced and then renovated the rest of the house. Our hard work paid off because we made a $40,000 profit after all was said and done.