| This week I was made aware of an unexpected plumbing problem on one of my flips that’s going to cost me upwards of fifteen thousand dollars to fix. It turns out the lateral was rotted out from the street all the way to the back of the house. The fix? We’re going to have to replace all the plumbing from the sidewalk to the very rear of the house. Sound bad? It gets worse. Turns out the pipes run UNDERNEATH the cement slab of the house! My plumber is going to have to jackhammer through the cement flooring of various rooms in order to have access to the pipes. |
| The truth is that sometimes these kinds of things will happen in a flip. But there’s a silver lining – I always cushion enough of a spread in my deals. Sure, my total profit is reduced a bit, but if you follow my system of property acquisition (which I teach in my Probate Fox Gold course) you’ll always be profitable. In the big scheme of things, this is one more profitable property (maybe a little less profitable than I had first expected, but still profitable) added to our total yearly revenue of income. In the heat of the moment, most people crumble when faced with problems like this and let anxiety and stress wear them down. I have flipped so many properties over the past 20 years that I know problems like this work out fine in the end. I was talking with a colleague about my plumbing problem today and it almost sounded like he was going to have a heart attack when I explained my situation. I told him it’s not that big of a deal and that my solution to this problem was to just laugh at it. He was completely shocked at my response. I shared with him that some things are beyond our control, such as this unexpected plumbing problem. What is in our control is how we show up to these surprises. It really is a choice that we have an opportunity to make. My best solution is to always just laugh it off, smile, and go to work to find the best solution for the problem at hand and move on. My friend told me he loved this perspective and that he would like to consciously approach his next big unwanted surprise with the same mindset. Like I said last Friday, studies show that laughter reduces stress, releases endorphins a.k.a. feel-good hormones, and will boost your immune system. It tough to argue with that! Next time you are presented with a problem, put on a great big smile and laugh it off. |
| Committed to your success, Ernie “Your Laughing Friend” Vargas | The Probate Fox |
