Today is January 1st, 2021.  It’s a new year that also marks the end of 2020.  This means 2020 is behind us. Nothing good comes from reflecting back on the drama of 2020. There is no need to look back on your past, instead, let’s get focused on the changes we can make moving forward to better ourselves and those around us.  If you have bad credit or low credit as some say, start paying your bills and correct the situation. Call your creditors and work out a resolution.  If you can’t work through this one problem I guarantee you will fail as a real estate investor because you will certainly encounter greater challenges as an investor than negotiating with creditors. If you are saddled with credit card debt, stop using them today and begin paying them off as fast as possible.  Dave Ramsey teaches Financial Peace University which will make it simple to get out of debt if you are willing to do the work. If you are under-earning, stop overspending and focus on earning what you are worth. If you are not earning what you are worth, change jobs, change careers, or work more hours to get out from underneath the grasp of your creditors. You can fix your own problems, that begins with admitting you have a spending and/or earning problem.  Please stop lying to yourself. Do not leverage the equity in your home, it’s a trap that could leave you homeless. Learn how to raise private money instead.  If you refuse to learn how to raise private money you will most likely fail as a real estate investor because banks only loan money to people who do no need it.  Closing costs alone will greatly reduce and profits you hope to make in the first few years.  Don’t leave your financial future to be decided by some salaried loan officer making chump change as an annual salary. If you are about to do a deal, will it pay for itself?  Are you taking the opinion of those who stand to benefit by you proceeding with the deal?  Sellers Lie, Realtors Lie, Wholesalers Lie…facts are facts so verify everything. Embrace the idea that you MUST generate motivated seller leads to survive.  Nobody will bring a great deal to your front door ever, instead you will need to go out and seek motivated sellers. There is no such thing as a property that is priced right.  Everything is overpriced, always has been always will be so stop looking for a “great deal” to be advertised.  Finding a great deal has nothing to do with the asking price. Sellers, Realtors, and Wholesalers are not appraisers.  Also, the appraiser’s opinion of value doesn’t really matter either.  What matters is knowing if the property will yield the profit margin you believe it will, if not, you are not done negotiating. Don’t guess about anything in 2021.  Don’t guess as to why someone is selling, ASK Don’t try to guess what number a seller will say yes to…talk to them instead. Remove as many middlemen from the equation as ethically possible.  That doesn’t mean you should go around Realtors or wholesalers who have a written agreement with a seller, instead, market directly to non represented sellers yourself and filter them down such that you only speak to the non-motivated ones. The Bottom line is that 2021 can and will be your best year ever.  For that to happen, you have to give yourself permission to fail and continue to fail until you succeed.  You know right from wrong, you know what’s logical and what’s not.  You don’t need to invest tens of thousands of dollars into education to buy an investment property, instead, apply basic logic and you will far exceed your expectations.