Recently, I got an email that went something like: “Sure, right, easy for you to say.  You can buy rental property because you have a law degree and money and credit.”

Huh?

Let me just say, that when I started investing in real estate with my son, I was fresh out of law school with huge student debt, in my mid-40s, no money, no time, no retirement plan, and barely any credit.  Plus, I had just finished a 14 year stint as a single-mom.

Yep, I was really special.

We made only a tiny bit of profit on our first investment, after investing a whole summer of work.  (We made the mistake of trying to be flippers.  Now that I think of it, that was only one of a huge number of mistakes!)

We went negative on our second investment, a condo, which went down in value about $25K the first year we owned it because of a ton of foreclosures in that development.  The condo is now worth double what we paid for it with a nice positive cash flow.

On our third investment, an eight-plex (which we had no business buying), we found out at the last minute after investing $15,000.00 earnest money, $3500+ for an appraisal and inspections, etc., that we couldn’t qualify for the loan.  I wasn’t willing to walk away, so I broke down and begged a relative for the loan.  It was horribly embarrassing.  The relative gave us the loan and took a first position lien (because the property was a good investment) at a whopping 8.5% interest.  We had no track record, so we paid through the nose for the first three years that we owned that property.  My son and I did all the work (in our spare time after hours and weekends) for the first three years.  Plus it was negative cash flow and Josh and I had to work to feed the creditors.  (Please don’t follow this example!)  After that we were able to refinance at 6.5% interest and we finally had positive cash flow.  Today, 8.5 years after the purchase, the property is worth twice what we paid for it and we are currently refinancing for about 3.85%.  Booya!  Now we’re talking cash flow.

So don’t be a big stinking crybaby!  (To paraphrase Donald Trump.)

Let me tell you what is way more valuable than money or credit.  It’s the burning DESIRE, the drive, the motivation to be successful, to win, to be self-made.  This is the entry ticket to the game.  If you have this great desire, it’s game on.

You are going to make mistakes.  You will sometimes lose money.  You will experience frustration and aggravation and nasty little punks that get all up in your face.  You will start out working long hours.  You won’t know how to do a thousand things.

But over time, you will experience pride and accomplishment.  You will have a ton of fun making things look great and renting it to nice people, and you will fund your fabulous retirement before you know it.

You may have to be creative, especially to start.  But if you actively look and actively make offers, suddenly you’ll find a property and a situation that will click.

Now get out there with a smile on your face and put together a great retirement…one cash-flowing rental property at a time!