I Never Planned to Become a Real Estate Investor

If you had told me years ago that I would eventually own rental properties in different states and one day teach other women about real estate investing, I probably wouldn't have believed you.

Because honestly, I never planned to become a real estate investor.

Our first investment property didn't even start out as an investment. It was our vacation home.

At the time, our accountant told us we were paying too much in taxes and suggested buying another property. So we did. But I wasn't thinking, We're going to become real estate investors. I was thinking, We're buying a vacation home.

It was going to be our "gathering place" — somewhere our family and friends could get together for long weekends and holidays. It was very close to a lake and only about an hour or so from skiing, so we thought it would be a great place for everyone to gather and spend time together.

Then one day, my husband said something about maybe selling it in a couple of years. I remember thinking, What? We just bought it!

Then he said we could always rent it out. My reaction was basically: Have other people live in OUR house?

I wasn't excited about that idea at all. I had heard all the tenant horror stories.

I could think of plenty of things that could go wrong. So we didn't rent it out. We kept using it as our vacation home for several more years.

Then Life Changed

As our son got older, he became busier with sports and other activities, and we weren't using the house nearly as much. Eventually, I agreed to rent it out. And that's really how we got started.

Over the years, we purchased other rental properties in different states. We also turned former primary homes into rentals. Some things worked out well. And some things were much more difficult than I ever expected. We had properties where things happened that I honestly didn't even know could happen.

In some cases, I worked with people who came highly recommended and had helped others have great experiences. My experience wasn't always the same, and that taught me an important lesson: no matter who you're working with or how highly they're recommended, you still need to ask questions, do your own due diligence, and understand what you're getting into.

I learned a lot from those experiences — including things I would do differently today and some of the steps we took to deal with problems when they happened. Those are stories for another day.

But those experiences taught me something important too. Just because something worked out a certain way for someone else doesn't mean you'll have the same experience. And the solutions that worked for us may not be the right solutions for everyone.

That's one of the reasons I believe so strongly in education. I can share what I've learned from my own experiences and the practical steps we took, but ultimately, you have to understand your own situation and decide what makes sense for you.

I Was the One Doing the Research

When we were looking at properties, I was usually the one doing the research. My husband trusted me to look into things and figure out whether something made sense.

But there's another side to that. Because I was the one doing the research, when something didn't go as planned, I felt responsible and took it personally. I would wonder:

And then I would research even more. If you're an overthinker, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. I could spend hours researching something and still wonder if there was something else I should know.

Looking back, I don't think my problem was that I was afraid to learn about real estate. I actually enjoyed learning about it. I think what really worried me was making a mistake because there was something I didn't know. And honestly, I didn't want to lose our money.

What I Really Needed Was Education

There is so much information about real estate now. You hear things like:

That may work for some people. It didn't work for me. I didn't need someone to convince me to buy something. I needed to understand what I was doing.

What numbers should I look at? What expenses should I consider? What questions should I ask? What are the risks? What are my different options? And does this even make sense for us and our goals?

I wanted someone to help me understand those things without making me feel like I had to make a decision right away. That experience is a big part of what eventually led me to create Learn With Amy B.

Why I Created Learn With Amy B.

I created Learn With Amy B. for women who may be a lot like me. Maybe you're interested in real estate, but you're cautious. Maybe you ask a lot of questions. Maybe you overthink things.

Maybe you've watched videos, listened to podcasts, read books and saved a ton of posts, but you're still thinking: Where do I actually start? Or maybe you feel like everyone else understands this stuff and you're the only one who doesn't.

You're not.

There are a lot of us who don't want to put our money into something until we understand what we're doing. I don't think that's a bad thing. And I don't think the answer is to stop asking questions. I think it's learning how to work through those questions so you can make your own decisions.

That's where my approach comes from:

Learn first. Prepare based on where you are, what you want and what makes sense for your life. Then Implement when you're ready — not because somebody told you that you're moving too slowly.

One Thing I Would Do Differently

If I could go back, I wish I had learned more about real estate before we owned our first rental. I think I would have worried less. I would have understood more of what I was looking at and probably felt more confident about the decisions we were making.

That's one of the biggest things I took from my own experience, and it's something I now want to share with other women.

I'm not here to convince every woman that she should invest in real estate. Maybe real estate will be part of your future. Maybe it won't. Maybe you're ready now. Maybe you're a few years away. That's okay.

I'd rather you take the time to learn and decide for yourself than feel like you have to do something because everyone else seems to be doing it.

Because for me, confidence didn't come from someone telling me to stop being afraid. It came from learning. It came from understanding the numbers. It came from knowing what questions to ask. And a lot of it came from experience — both the good experiences and the ones I definitely wouldn't want to repeat.

That's really why I created Learn With Amy B. I want to share what I've learned, including some of the practical steps and solutions that helped us, while also helping women understand that there isn't one answer that's right for everyone.

So if you're curious about real estate, but you're cautious, you have a lot of questions, or you tend to overthink things...

I understand. I've been there too.

And that's a pretty good place to start.