Most likely, no matter how much of a real estate mogul you become, you’ll only buy so many properties. How many that is remains to be seen. Maybe you’ll buy only one. Maybe it’ll be a handful. Or maybe it will be an empire.

 

Regardless of how big an investor you become, there’s always going to be a lot more potential properties for you to invest in than you’ll ever actually be able to invest in.

 

But no matter how many you do end up buying, your success depends an awful lot on the deals you don’t do.

 

One bad investment can easily undo all of the good investments you make, and it’s especially important not to make a bad investment on the first investment. Once you’ve made some good investments, they can offset a bad one. You can recover or keep going. But if the first one is a bust, it will most likely hurt your chances of investing again — whether it’s because you get frustrated, or feel defeated, or are just plain unable to financially.

 

So the trick is to be patient. Sometimes the best deals you’ll ever do are the ones you don’t do. Be willing to let a deal go if it doesn’t make sense or just doesn’t feel quite right. There’ll be others.

 

(On the other hand, don’t be afraid to go after a deal. Many would-be investors never actually invest because they never feel like a deal is good enough or safe enough. That won’t do you any good either! Be as willing to say yes as you are to say no, and you’ll be in good shape.)