Lost MILLIONS of dollars in property ... and still smiling

I just thought I would post @Kate Moloney book above, which has just been launched. I asked Kate to email me as I was keen to read this.

Thanks @Kate Moloney looking forward to learning from your experience.

MTR

 

Thanks Marisa. Its called Bright Yellow Happiness and the aim is to empower people to learn from life experiences. It is possible to be grateful for anything.... including losing millions of dollars.

 

I gather your book is more about what you learnt about yourself, but i wonder how many other investors were burnt investing in mining towns? Its not something ive heard much about, even here.

 

I think when most people lose in property they probably avoid this website. I know for a few years after my first Spanish purchase when prices kept dropping I avoided real estate windows and websites, didn't want to know.

 

...and that is totally understandable.......welcome back

 

Congratulations Kate
lots will benefit from the experience and yes it takes a bigger person to face the reality of it all.

good to have you back here too Casteller.

 

I love spain. Do you live there or just invest?

 

Live here permanently now, and have two small Catalan/Australian children here so could be around for a while. First purchase here 4 years ago was a holiday place about 2/3 of the way down into the crash, so it has dropped in value but I didn't suffer from the peak. I just bought another place here in Barcelona to rent out on medium term lets. I have a tourist license for the other place, fines are huge for illegal letting but many seem to risk it rather than pay tax. I just pay the tax and sleep easy.

Many pundits forecast 2016 is the bottom, could be right, first price rises in 8 years are being recorded. My plan is to buy 1 or 2 more if this second purchase goes ok. But watching your property value drop every year is painful, my approach was just to ignore it and think "I wasn't going to sell anyway so what is the difference?". The rental on the tourist place has not dropped through the crash since it appeals to northern European tourists (just rented 2 weeks in July to some Dutch people, 6 months in advance), permanent rents have dropped however.

Your book sounds interesting Kate might get a copy when its on Amazon.

 

Sorry to hear about your loss Kate keep up the positive vibe Iam sure you are , I lost 150k in a mining town SEQ Australia not great news and hard to come to terms with I bought it a 25 and have been really suffering finiancialy since but I am sorounding my self with positive people which helps a lot cheers

 

Yes it's our personal journey, lots of mindset stuff too. Hundreds if not thousands of others investors are affected. People are so embarrassed and I suspect that's why you haven't heard about it. Plus certain large companies are keeping it quiet too. No one wants this in the media!

There are some shocking stats which I'll be able to reveal in a few weeks.... This situation is coming soon to light in a VERY public way. And it needs to so that people know they are not alone.

 

I can understand the reasoning behind it, and I really want to smash that belief.

Surely we can all learn to feel good about ourselves, and real estate, even during a failure ?

 

You learn more from your failures than you do your success. I'm sure you've learnt that your stronger than you thought you ever were ?

Money is just a number anyway. You always find a way to get by and thrive.

Yes it will be on Amazon - in a few weeks.

 

Good for you! The sooner you can find a solution to fix your loss the sooner you can move forward. The people that have a path generally have a better mindset.

Where I am, the losses on ONE property are enough to drive someone into bankruptcy .....

 

Yes its true failures teach you a lot. Another thing I've observed (in my case at least) is that you usually make your biggest mistakes when everything is going well. When you have to hunker down and find a way forward you are more focused and aware of avoiding mistakes.

 

Yes that's true too ... In my case the biggest mistakes were made from following / listening to so called experts. Trust yourself first and foremost, never exclusively listen to an expert.

 

We had two weeks in a gorgeous villa in Andalusia last year. Much better value than france or italy.

Glad to hear the market is improving in europe. I have a cousin in Dublin who got stuck with massive negative equity in a one bedroom flat with a baby. If anything, i think the crash in ireland was worse than spain.

 

Thanks @Xenia ... No one is perfect. People respect those who own their mistakes.

I hear a few people are having sleepless nights at the moment, worried about what I'm going to say.

 

Exciting times, good on you.
Did you actually lose millions of dollars or did the bank?

 

Also, I believe you must formally monitor your progress, etc on a regular basis. If things aren't going right or you now believe you make a potentially big mistake, take corrective action (plan and enact it).

I was once in business with two others. At board meetings for over a year, I told them I didn't like where/how the company was travelling via past performance analysis and future scenario planning. I told them that we needed to take some severe corrective action. In the end, the board did agree to take some corrective action but I told them it wasn't enough. I was told I was f.king, negative pr.ck (end of quote) on more than one occasion. I thought this was an interesting compliment.

Based on my ongoing analysis, this corrective action wasn't enough. So, I planned and enacted my own (severe) corrective action. I sold the business to my two business partners.

BTW, once I sold, they stopped board meetings (hence, no formal monitoring). Two years after I sold, the business was placed into liquidation. It is rumoured that my two business partners lost everything and owed the banks $xxM, where xx makes @Kate Moloney losses look like a drop in the ocean.

I am not belittling Kate's situation (to me, it is honorific). Investment is a serious business with lots of risks and it can make you financially independent or homeless. I have seen both extremes on many occasions. To increase your chance of success, have a plan (including doing your risk analysis), monitor your progress and, if things aren't going right, don't stick your head in the sand - take corrective action.

 

Properties dropped in value millions of dollars, which ultimately both us & the banks are responsible for.