Heartland Investment Partners - March 2022

Heartland Investment Partners - March 2022

& STRIPES

HEARTLAND INVESTMEN T COMPANIES STARS

MARCH 2022

AN.COM

DARINGARM 319-350-5378

Back in 2008, I owned a miracle property. It was student housing, and when the whole economy crashed, that property kept right on chugging. The kids paid the rent on time. The cash flow was positive. Overall, it was a big win for me and my investors. Then we got some bad news: Our loan was due and we needed to refinance. This wouldn’t have been a big deal, except that it was 2008. We were smack in the middle of the Great Recession, and the banks just weren’t lending. I searched for weeks and couldn’t find a single bank that would give me the time of day. Finally, I found one that would offer a loan, but there was a big catch: Because property values had declined substantially (despite this particular property’s positive cash flow), the bank wouldn’t cough up the loan amount I’d asked for. They were $1,100,000 short. When Life Kicks You, Kick Back! WHAT I LEARNED FROM A $1 MILLION MISTAKE

me hang on to dozens of better ones later on. And because I persevered through the financial crisis back then, I’m still around doing positive deals and making money for my investors today. Without that big failure, I might not have learned that important financial lesson. Now, I’m not saying I look for failure or I’m over the moon when life hands me a big bag of lemons. You’ll never see me dancing around celebrating, “Whoohoo, I got lemons today!” I hate when I mess up or get hit with bad luck like I did back then, and I don’t want it to happen. But I’ve found that it’s a necessary part of life. I need those screw-ups in my personal and professional

life because they push me to keep growing — as an investor, a leader, a boss, a husband, and a dad.

Here’s my take: If you’re not running into problems, challenges, and failures from time to time, then you’re not really living much of a life. That’s why you’ll never see me back down from a challenge or pass over a good opportunity just because there might be failure on the other side. Instead, I’ll go for it, and if life knocks me down, I’ll get right back up. The knocks are few and far between in a business as stable as real estate in the heartland, but they do hit from time to time, and when they do, I’m ready.

This might sound harsh, but here it is: If you’re not running into problems, challenges, and failures from time to time, then you’re not really living much of a life.

My partners and I had a hard decision to make: Do we let the property go back to the bank, or do we bring another million of our own money to the table to keep it?

It was a tough call, but ultimately, we decided to let the bank have the property back. Man, that hurt! When the deal closed, we were all angry, frustrated, and disappointed — with the bank and with each other. But in retrospect, I wouldn’t have wanted it to go down any other way. Why is that, you ask? Well, I learned a lot from that crappy experience. It made me a better investor. Today, my partners and I no longer borrow big chunks of money to buy our properties. We put down big down payments instead so we’re not at the mercy of the banks. Losing that one great property helped

Persistence and resilience are two of the most important qualities an investor can have. If bouncing back is something you struggle with, try reframing one of your past failures. Instead of focusing on how bad it felt, think about what you learned instead. That just might give you the push you need to get back up, try again, and do even better. –Darin Garman

319-350-5378 1

Published by Newsletter Pro • www.NewsletterPro.com

PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY AND KICK SCAMMERS TO THE CURB 5 Ways to Deal With Annoying Robocalls

2. Download an ad blocker. For extra protection, you can download a separate ad blocker from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Hiya is a free app that will give you caller ID and block spam calls, and Nomorobo is an award-winning option that’s free for landlines and costs $1.99 per month for cellphones. 3. When in doubt, let it ring out. If you don’t recognize the number calling, don’t answer. You can always call back if they leave a legitimate voicemail.

According to the latest >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5

www.daringarman.com

Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator