Dancing… and Real Estate? What gives?

Good question! Let me explain…

I don’t know if you knew this, but before I started investing in real estate, I was a professional Ballroom & Latin Dance Instructor/Competitor of 14 years!

Although it might not seem like these two careers have much in common, I actually began to realize just how similar these apparently different disciplines really are during my early days as an investor.

For example, I remember this one time when I was talking with a seller of an ugly house and trying to get her bottom price.

I asked her the notorious question, “Janice, if I paid you all cash & closed quickly, what’s the least you could accept for your house?”

“Well, what could you offer me?” She replied.

“That all depends. What’s the least you could take?” I shot back.

“I really don’t know. Why don’t you just make me an offer?”

Do you recognize that dance? It’s the “Scared Swing!” The “Cheap Chicken Cha-Cha!”

“Ok,” I said, sensing where this was going. I used Ron’s reply, “How about a dollar?”

“One dollar? That’s ridiculous. The least I could take for this house is $100k!”

I thought to myself, “At least now we’re getting somewhere!”

“$100k??” I remember asking. “Is that the Best you can do?”

“I don’t know… How much can you give me?”…

Aaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!

Well, to make a long story short, we finally did get the deal done, but only after some fancy footwork.

And that’s when it hit me…

Being a Real Estate Investor is Just Like Dancing!!

Why & how you ask? Simple! Here’s how – I made a list, just for you:

1. You have to LEAD!

In dancing, it’s normally the man that leads, because he’s the one who supposedly knows what he’s doing & where he wants to go.

He’s the ‘expert.’

It’s gonna be a hard dance that won’t be much fun to watch if both partners are trying to lead!

Just like dancing, the investor has to be the one to take the lead, because…

WE are the professionals who know what to do, and it’s up to US to successfully lead our ‘partner’ through the dance, er deal!

By the way, that ‘partner’ could be a seller, a buyer, another investor, etc.

2. You have to deal with OBSTACLES.

Yes, when you’re dancing, you have some obstacles in your way. The floor is only so big.

There’s tables, chairs, and people to go around – or on!

In a real estate transaction, you have many more obstacles that may stand in the way of closing the deal. Even after you have a deal under contract, you still need to find a qualified buyer, deal with a title company, loan officers, underwriters, banks, appraisers, inspectors, and on & on.

Hey, there’s a TON of obstacles that could get in your way – some of ‘em on a daily basis! Like, what if you still have one of those JOB-things? :0

3. You’ve gotta have RHYTHM!

Well, that should be fairly obvious for dancing. And if you’re dancing, there’s

hopefully some music playing (at least in your head!). Yeah, it helps tremendously to move WITH the music, not against it!

Being an instructor, I could tell you some horror stories that’ll curl your hair of people who were so rhythmically-challenged, it’s a wonder how they walked in to my studio without falling down!

I remember this one guy who… Never mind, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you!

Now, in business, rhythm can be a tricky thing. It’s there, but maybe not as obvious as it is in dancing.

But the good news is that rhythm – to some extent – can be learned.

You can develop your business rhythm by first organizing your schedule.

Set times to do your marketing, to make offers, to follow up, to find & hire the right staff, etc.

And set some time to spend with yourself & your family! (See the next section). After a while of developing this habit, I’m sure you’ll find yourself in a nice groove, baby!

…Just like those people who walked in to my studio… But danced out!

4. You need BALANCE.

Now this should be obvious as well. We have 2 legs for a reason – to balance ourselves. If you’re gonna dance, you don’t want to fall down, and you don’t want your partner to, either.

So, in the dance of real estate investing, it helps to always make sure that not only are you doing well, but that the person with whom you’re doing business is getting what they want out of the deal as well.

Not only that, but I’ve been told that it’s a good thing to balance your business by selling some houses & to keeping some houses.

That way, you get the best of both worlds – big piles of cash to go with your diet of a residual income stream that you get from rents/lease options.

5. You’ve gotta have the right PARTNER!

Like the old expression, “It Takes TWO to Tango,” this is definitely true!

If you’re dancing with someone who is fighting you the whole time, doesn’t like how you dance, or just doesn’t want to dance with you in the first place, do yourself a favor & get OFF the floor immediately!

How this relates to our illustrious business is easy… DON’T deal with unmotivated sellers!

Don’t do business with someone who doesn’t want to do business with you. And don’t do business with someone who doesn’t care to understand how we do business!

If you only work with people who want to work with you, you’ll save yourself a TON of headache, heartache, time, stress, and effort. So just steer clear of anyone else and let ‘em be somebody else’s problem!

How do you think I know this? Yeah, I’ve got my share of horror stories in both departments – dancing AND business!

How do you think I got so smart? :)

So are you starting to see just how similar dancing & Real Estate Investing can be now?

And believe it or not, these are just a few of the things that they have in common!

I’ve got lots more to share with you, but you’ll have to read them in Part Two, where this article will be continued to see what they are!

Hey, I’m just gettin’ warmed up! How about you?

So, until next time… Why don’t you try looking at your next business situation as a dance?

…And this time, try staying on beat!!

Cha-Cha-Cha!!

Tony Pearl