A lot of real estate investors fall in love with the house that they’re working on. This is a huge mistake. You need to fall in love with the numbers, not the house. Let me say that again: Fall in love with the numbers, not the house.

If you’re doing a rehab, though, you need to remember that your whole goal with the rehab is to get it fixed up and looking pretty as soon as possible so that we can find a new buyer, an end-user buyer who is going to buy it and live in it.

You’re not fixing up that property for you and your wife or husband to live in. Again, don’t fall in love with the house; fall in love with the numbers. It’s so easy to get caught up in the project that you forget why you started, so you can do a quick rehab, sell it and make a profit. Make the numbers work so that way you can move on to the next deal.

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of wanting to continually do new upgrades to a property when you’re doing rehab, but really try to separate yourself from that. Just do what needs to be done to make it look nice and then stop putting money into the property.

At some point you’ve got to stop. It’s like an artist: When they’re drawing a picture, they don’t know when to stop. Somebody else looking at the picture could think it’s perfect, but the artist sees a dozen things that he would like to change. It’s never going to be perfect. So, work from the numbers, not from falling in love with the property.

Now let’s look at the opposite side of the spectrum, and I can definitely vouch that I have made this mistake multiple times, which is trying to turn dud properties into deals. And that’s a huge mistake. I’m just as at fault as a lot of other people out there, but eventually you start to learn that you only want to go after the low-hanging fruit.

Think about it: If you’re hungry, and you want to pick an apple and eat it off a tree, you’re going to pick the one that’s the closest to you. You’re not going to climb the tree and pick the one at the very top.

Same thing with real estate deals, same thing when you’re looking to buy houses. You want to go after the properties that are going to be the easiest deals for you to do. Don’t try to turn a dud into a deal. Go after the low-hanging fruit only.

I can understand in the early days you’re so excited and you want to do a deal and you’re going to do everything you can to do a deal, but unfortunately a lot of people go after the wrong deal. And I’m definitely one who’s been at fault with this. And it ends up biting them down the road.

But that’s how you learn; you’re going to learn by making mistakes. So, take my advice and really try to just go after the low-hanging fruit. I don’t really want to say be more picky, but there are tons of deals out there. If you go after the low-hanging fruit, then you’ll be better off in the long run. Okay? To make a long story short, just go after the low-hanging fruit.