Perfectio, Perfectere, ...

Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.

I made that title up, by the way. No, it's NOT proper Latin.

I must confess myself disillusioned. After writing an entry on this blog called, "Nobody's Perfect", I have since viewed some more of these TV shows like "Flip This House", "Property Ladder" and such.

My favorite is actually Mike Holmes's "Holmes Inspection". He at least knows what he's doing and focuses on how to correct what he finds wrong when he's called in at a property.

In the other shows, they seem more like "(How NOT to) Flip This House" and "(How to Miss The First Wrung of the) Property Ladder".

Ok, I'm showing my colors here. Now you'll begin to understand a little bit of why my ex left me.

That said, maybe I'm missing the point of these shows. Maybe they're trying to convey the message that we should learn from the mistakes of others rather than repeat them.

THAT is a message I am behind, whole-heartedly. Many mistakes have already been made, many lessons have already been learned - we don't need to repeat them. These shows document the pitfalls to avoid so that we can benefit from others' missteps.

Still, too often, we go forth believing that since we've been successful as, for example, an IT problem solver or one example from "Property Ladder" was a hairdresser who believed that on a budget of only $10,000 she could pull off a rehab in six weeks on a house she'd bought sight-unseen... We go forth believing that we can accomplish a fix-and-flip or a rehab on sheer attitude alone, even if we have no building or "handyman" skills.

If something seems "easy", it probably isn't - until you learn how. That is, until you learn how to avoid the major mistakes people can make doing it, whatever it is. Often times, tasks we may attempt are "easy" once we have acquired some experience and certain basic skills, yet before then the mistakes we might make through inexperience or just not knowing can ruin us financially.

If you're contemplating undertaking a fix-and-flip or a rehab, consider your own experience when setting your timelines and budgets. The less experience you have, the more time and resources you should allocate.

Remember: Bringing a project in ahead of schedule and under budget makes you look a LOT better to prospective future partners than over budget and behind schedule.

Am I saying to "fudge" the numbers and over-estimate? Of course not. What I AM saying is that your first projects are your most powerful learning experiences. Expect stuff to go wrong. Expect the unexpected: material issues, structural issues, financial issues.

Go ahead and cut those crooked furrows when you can, but remember to call the utiity locating services first!

Even if you think you can do it yourself, try to avoid that. Hire it out! In fact, your trades people will be much better able to provide estimates of time, materials and cost until you've acquired some experience, seen what can go wrong and seen what kind of unexpected issues can turn up.

Remember: There's only one of you. If you can have two or more trades working your project at the same time the work gets done that much faster.

Oh, yeah - one more thing: try to avoid painting a brick exterior! People buy brick because it is relatively maintenance-free. If you paint it, brick immediately goes from low-maintenance to high-maintenance, and your likely selling price comes down by a BIG margin! Brick, regardless of its color, is never "dated" - it's timeless! Clean it up with acid wash, if necessary, but NEVER try to paint brick!

We'll talk again soon!

Take care - be well!

Much Success!