This one already had good bones, meaning the roof and the AC were done. So we took part of the living room and turned it into a big master suite with its own closet and bathroom. When you look at a house, don't just look at what it is. Look at what it could be. An extra bedroom can change who your buyer is and what the house is worth. Have you ever looked at a floor plan and seen a bedroom hiding in it? Tell me about it below.

AI version of April, made with her permission. I make a lot of offers, but I don't write up a formal one on every house. First I take the temperature with the agent: "The seller has it at 300. I can do 260. Think they'd entertain that?" The agent has to bring every offer to the seller, and they don't really know what the seller will take until they ask. Try it this week. Pick one listing you've been watching, text the agent your number before you write anything up, and bring what they say to Wednesday's free call at 3:30 Eastern. What's the last listing you looked at, and what number would you open with? Drop it below.

When you're new, you won't know what a deal is yet. That's normal. The most important skill you can learn is how to comp a property. If you don't know how yet, comp a friend: find someone in your market who does it and learn from them. A great deal in one market can be a terrible deal in another, so learn what makes a deal where you're buying. I'm recording a whole section on comping and analyzing deals for Academy Pro right now. Do you comp your own properties yet? Reply yes, no, or learning.

How many hours a week are you working on this? Real hours, not watching videos. Somebody putting 20 hours a week into their business gets there about twice as fast as somebody putting in 10. Somebody putting in 40 gets there twice as fast as somebody putting in 20. And most of those hours should be spent talking to people. Calling agents, sending emails, writing offers. When I started, my goal was 30 hours a week. If my baby was sick on Monday and I couldn't get my five hours in, I moved them to Saturday. The goal wasn't a deal yet. The goal was the hours. The deals come from the hours. One more thing that helps a lot: put your hours on a calendar and share it with your family. Then everybody knows when you're working, and when you're all theirs. How many hours a week can you commit right now? Reply with the number.

I wanted to share a recent incident since I believe many of us who invest in real estate might learn something from it. I was trying to close what I believed would be my final contract of the year. At first, everything appeared hopeful as I worked with two new investors that I had only recently gotten in touch with. On paper, everything was going well, the figures were positive, and everyone was pleased with the way things were going. However, I made the decision to give the deal one last look before proceeding. At that moment, I noticed something that had previously unnerved me. Upon closer examination of the numbers and the whole situation, I came to the conclusion that if we proceeded, we might lose a significant sum of money with little to no reward. I had to tell the investors the truth about why I didn't think we should move forward. They were understandably unhappy. After all the effort and conversations that had gone into getting this far, they felt that their time had been squandered. Although it wasn't an easy talk, I think it's better to walk away from a bad transaction than to continue just because you've already put in the time and effort. This is what I want to know: If you were in my position, what would you have done?