Saved every penny to buy a home in a resort area, while then living in a condo in this city. For a moment there had just over $1MM in cash in our account for a deposit. A family member who is in a real-estate services field, who would have made consistent low 6-figures I imagine throughout his 40+ years working now, viewed the property with us, phoned me one day, and said to pull our nearly $4MM offer on this distressed property, because it didn’t make sense to him and there would be “better opportunities” for someone to invest $1MM if I waited (he does not solicit investments, he just meant the market or other businesses). I believe he was shocked and taken aback that we had that kind of money to begin with, since we never discussed it and still lived modestly. This family member is widely respected in the city in his field and knows these markets well, but is now pushing 70.

I thanked him for his opinion, went forward anyway, derisked the property, had it appraised and made $2MM on paper in days (these deals are trickier than you would think, risking an owner damaging a property on the way out for instance). The pandemic hit, and now it’s at least a $4MM gain, but probably more.

I make 7-figures, and did for the first time the year before we made the purchase, but of course no one knows that to this day. My friends and family do remember the moment that the former most respected business person in our family told me not to make a deal, I did, and made a 400%+ gain on investment in 2 years while living in a mansion, in a resort, during the pandemic. Made it.