Real Estate Investing Lessons, Mistakes and Growth After 7 Years

Real Estate Is Not Passive. And Sometimes It Sucks.

It’s been almost 7 years since I started investing in real estate. And if someone tells you investing is a smooth sailing journey, they’re either lying or leaving shit out.

The truth is that real estate investing sometime sucks. Some mornings I wake up and think, is this even worth it?

The Passive Dream… That Was a Lie

Real estate doesn’t come without challenges. And it sure as hell isn’t the passive dream everyone sells you. (Yep! I said that…)

It’s more like a passive-aggressive business.

It’s like being in a relationship with a toxic boyfriend. High highs, low lows, emotional whiplash… except unlike real toxic relationships, this one can actually lead to freedom if you survive the chaos.

Why I’d Still Do It All Over Again

In my 7-year journey, I have plenty of regrets. But starting? Not one of them.

Even on the days I want to burn everything down, I’m still deeply grateful. Because without real estate, I wouldn’t have the freedom I have today. I wouldn’t wake up at my own pace, go to the gym, read a book, or decide on a random Tuesday to do whatever the hell my heart wants.

Instead, my husband and I would still be stuck in the hamster wheel of corporate accounting. Miserable. Drained. And our son would get the tired, burnt-out version of us.

The Part No One Likes to Talk About

Here’s the thing. Not enough people talk about their failures.

And when they do, most people sugarcoat them. Or minimize them. Or blame someone else.

There’s something I’ve avoided talking about publicly for a long time because, honestly, I was embarrassed. But I keep seeing more people fall into the same trap. And if my mistakes can help even one person avoid it, or stop beating themselves up, then it’s worth saying out loud.

So here goes to nothing!

When I Thought I Had It All Figured Out

In 2022, I was at the peak of our investing journey. That’s the year I quit my corporate job. At the end of 2021, we added 13 units to our portfolio.

Holy shit, right?!

I was deep into heavier rehab projects and convinced I had cracked the code. I wanted more units. Bigger deals. A bigger empire.

My New Year’s resolution for 2022 was to get into multifamily investing.

And then… the “perfect” deal showed up.

The Deal That “Penciled Out Perfectly”

It looked flawless on paper. My partner and I locked it up while we were on a trip to Guatemala. It felt badass.

Then I got home and saw the property in person.

Every single cell in my body said RUN.

But we were already committed. The numbers worked. So I ignored my gut and let my “I’ll make this work no matter what” mentality take over.

Here’s the truth no spreadsheet will tell you: you can fix a property, but you can’t fix a neighborhood. And trying to do so requires stupid amounts of money, and sometimes it’s just not worth it.

After closing, I realized kids were walking down the street holding AK-47s. Yes, KIDS! 😱

I grew up in Miami. I’m not scared of the hood. But this neighborhood scared the shit out of me.

When Success Makes You Ignore Red Flags

At first, it worked. We got tenants out, fixed the place, built equity, and cashed out most of our funds. It cash flowed. Phew! I felt like a champ!

So when another deal in the same area showed up, I jumped.

This one was a small building with drug dealers living on the property. Once again, my gut screamed RUN. But I did not listen.

Yes… I filed evictions on drug dealers. Then negotiated cash-for-keys. Living on the edge doesn’t even begin to describe it.

But it was 8+units. Instagram-worthy, right? And again… it penciled out perfectly.

Everything Works. Until It Doesn’t.

The economy shifted. Quality tenants got harder to find. Rent prices declined. Vacancies stretched. Evictions piled up.

People moved out early. Leases weren’t renewed. Shootings started happening.

The anxiety was constant.

Motherhood Changed Everything

When I became a mom in 2024… Suddenly, none of it made sense anymore. The stress wasn’t just there, it was loud. Constant. Impossible to ignore.

I realized I was no longer investing in alignment. I had lost sight of why I started. For what? So I could brag about unit count?

And when I looked back, it wasn’t just those properties. Almost everything I bought after December 2021 was out of alignment.

The numbers confirmed it.

And that’s when it hit me, we had fucked this up. Almost half of our portfolio fell into this category.

That’s when I knew it was time to clean up the mess and start letting certain properties go and restructure our portfolio to something that is more aligned. That’s what I’ve been working on for the last two years.

Not scaling. Not chasing more.
Cleaning. Simplifying. Realigning.

Choosing Peace Over Ego

Let me be clear about something. We’re not going to make a lot of money on these sales. We will lose money on some of them. And for a while, that absolutely wrecked me.

I beat myself up, replayed every decision. I sat in the “what ifs.” I dreaded the word failure.

But here’s what I finally accepted: my peace of mind is worth way more than squeezing out a win that keeps me up at night.

I don’t want to build wealth at the cost of constant anxiety anymore. I don’t want to feel sick every time my phone rings. And, I don’t want to force myself to “push through” something that doesn’t align just to say I made it work.

And that alone made the decision worth it.

It Wasn’t All Bad (Not Even Close)

And no, it wasn’t all bad. I learned A LOT.

I managed rehabs on 20+ units in a single year and even I opened my own property management company (which is now closed, and honestly… good riddance). I dealt with contractors, evictions, tenant drama, inspectors, lenders, partners, and problems I didn’t even know existed.

That experience taught me far more than sitting idle ever could.

I never finished my MBA. But I’m pretty sure this counts as one in the real estate investing world.

Because none of that came from playing it safe. It came from taking action. From messing up. From learning the hard way. From being willing to admit when something no longer made sense.

The Real Win

So yeah, these deals are not home runs. And that’s okay.

The real win was clarity. Alignment. Growth. And knowing when to walk away instead of proving I could survive chaos.

If you’re in a season where something looks good on paper but feels wrong in your gut, hear me when I say this:

It’s okay to choose peace.
It’s okay to change direction.
It’s okay to admit something didn’t work the way you hoped.

That doesn’t make you a bad investor.

It makes you a wiser one.

If You’re Ready to Build Smarter 👇

If you want more clarity, better systems, and fewer expensive lessons, I created two resources for you.

• 📌 Investing Made Simple– Your No-BS Guide to Getting Started in Real Estate. 👉 Get Investing Made Simple here: [Roadmap]

• 📊 The Real Estate Investor’s Bookkeeping Playbook– A simple, step-by-step guide to clean books, better decisions, and scaling with confidence. 👉 Grab the Bookkeeping Playbook here:[Playbook]