Episode 78: $100k in the bank... and still stuck

I’m gonna be real with you… I thought having $100,000 ready to invest was going to change everything.

I thought deals would be easier to find.
I thought I could move faster.
Maybe even take down multiple deals at once.

But right now? I can’t find a deal that actually makes sense.

In this episode, I break down what’s really happening behind the scenes — analyzing multiple properties, watching deals sit on the market that used to sell in days, and realizing that forcing a deal right now could be one of the biggest mistakes I make.

This is the part of real estate nobody really talks about…
The waiting. The uncertainty. The pressure to move… but knowing you shouldn’t.

I also dive into:

• Why $100K doesn’t feel like what it used to
• What I’m seeing in the market right now
• The mental battle between action vs patience
• Whether I should switch markets or stay where I’ve built relationships
• And the reality of trying to grow this while working a full-time job

This is a real-time look at what it feels like when you’re in between deals… and trying to figure out your next move without blowing up everything you’ve built.

🎥 Watch the full video episode on YouTube:
 youtube.com/@therickyricardoshow

📲 Instagram:
 @rickyricardoshow

About the show:
The Ricky Ricardo Show documents the real journey of building financial freedom through leverage, better decision-making, and real-world lessons — in real time.
Real estate is the current vehicle, but the principles apply far beyond it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I'm gonna be completely honest with you guys. I thought having $100,000 ready to invest was gonna change everything. I thought deals would be easier to find. I thought I'd be able to move quicker, maybe even do multiple deals at one time. But right now, I can't find a deal that actually makes sense. What's up everybody and welcome back to the Ricky Ricardo show where I'm documenting my journey from beginner investor to financial freedom through real estate as the vehicle now. I keep telling you guys that the wins, the mistakes, the numbers, and everything in between. And you guys know, four or five months ago, back in what was it, Thanksgiving, I finished a flip. I got a decent payday, a pretty nice payday, in comparison to what I was getting my first couple properties. Um, close to $100,000. I finally had capital sitting there, and in my head, I was like, I have enough to move. I have enough to move forward with whatever, you know, but I've come to a realization that $100,000 isn't what it used to be. It's just the game that we're currently in it. There's a lot of things going on right now, right? The reality is I can't move because I've I've analyzed, I've gone over multiple deals, multiple properties that I was willing and waiting, or I should say wanting to put in an offer, but I did it. And the reason I didn't put in an offer was because it just didn't pan out. And the sellers, you know, and talking with some of them, gosh, it's it's not going to benefit me to just force a deal and right, because everything happens in the buy. You don't buy and then force to cross your fingers and hope that a sale is gonna come and save the day. I mean, there's a lot of things politically going on right now. Uh, there's a whole war. Um, there is scare with that. We've talked about this before. I've kind of dealt with it with my flip. Um, you know, and this last property when I bought it, when I officially closed, I didn't think there was gonna be a war that started the very next day. What does that do? That makes a lot of people scared. That that makes a lot of uncertainty with the market. Um, as you've noticed, you know, if you listen to other podcasts or just are in the news, you'll know certain information's being given, whether it's true or whether it's not, uh, about this war. And next thing you know, markets going up and down, and that's affecting certain things. It's gonna affect buyers, it's gonna affect uh sellers, it's it's gonna affect uh investors. I mean, everybody's involved, right? It's just gonna affect you at the store. I mean, gas prices are up, and everything's just ah, but what do you do? People still need places to live. Real estate, it has its trends, it has its ups and downs, and we're in that right now. We're we're part of that. I'm still trying to find deals. I still want to be active and and actually see if I can get multiple deals. That's one thing I really wanted to do with this hundred thousand dollars was to be involved in more than one deal. Because I felt like I did one deal at a time because I was fresh, I was new, and I was trying to, you know, cut my well, how should I say this? I I wasn't wanting to get too much into the deep end, which the flip almost had me there, which I got lucky. Um, but I I just wanted to not risk it all. And now that I have $100,000, I don't want to risk it all either. You know, I made this first property, I thought I was gonna get into the other flip, but you know, we found extra items that would have made the flip not make sense. So we moved on. And like I said, I've analyzed about five properties, and I was looking at doing flips and they're just not panning out. My buy box, I've I changed a little bit to kind of squeeze other properties in there and see if I can make something happen, and it's just not working out, it's not so I haven't worked as much because of the flip. I'll be honest, you know, I have a little bit extra money in my pocket, but it's so slow, I don't have another deal, I don't know what else to do right now. I want time freedom, you know. I'm I picked up a challenge 40 miles before turning 40, so that's nothing crazy, but it's just a challenge I I want to do, and I want something else, but I don't know what to do because I don't have anything else right now. And the crazy thing about the deals I've analyzed is I've been watching my market since I bought my first property, uh, the flip, I should say, and homes that popped up during the time of my flip, I mean they would sell within weeks, if not days. And some of these properties that I'm looking at that I've analyzed, they're not selling. I keep seeing price drops and price drops. And that that says a lot, right? You know, I'm sure it's happening all over the country, but in the market that I'm actually in, I see the change. I can actually feel it. There's inventory out there. And I was just listening to another podcast, and because of that, sellers might be willing to give you a better deal. I haven't been too aggressive in putting out extremely low ball offers, but maybe that's time, you know. Like I said, you you make the deal in the buy, so maybe I'll just keep forcing and and see if someone bites, you know. But it's hard right now because if things change, you know, they might be able to get the dollar that they're looking for or what have you, but it's a weird time right now. It is. And on top of that, $100,000 it's not what it used to be. There's inflation, there's gosh, you would think that you could make moves, you could actually buy bigger properties, you can do bigger deals, but I feel like it's not helping me at all. It's almost like if it didn't have it. But part of me wants to move, this is where it gets real, right? Um, I don't want to just sit on the cash. I am doing everything I can to try and deploy that capital out. But the other part of me knows forcing a deal can get really bad, especially now. It could be a mistake, it could take all my money. Uh, just because I have it doesn't mean I need to spend it. Um, and I think that's where I'm starting to shift because when I bought my first few properties, that's all I did. I I had some money, I said, go, let's let's figure this out. And now that I've had a little bit of success again with my flip property, it's like slow down. Like a lot of things could have turned that to where you didn't make any money. Um, so thankfully I did. Uh, but it needs to make sense because now I'm not just in and I've shared this analogy before, I'm not just in Vegas throwing craps and and crossing my fingers and hoping for a payday. Like, I want to structure this that the business makes sound decisions and you know, as foolproof as I can to continue this moving forward. And and it's it's uh it's hard right now. I wish flips like what I did always popped up where I can make a decent penny and I would be good to go. But you hear and you talk to other flippers and they're turning a lot of deals, you know, it might only make them not only, but twenty, thirty, forty thousand dollars, and that's a win, that's okay, but because they're doing a lot of them, they're not just doing one at a time, you know. When you do hard money, they'll let you grab three to five loans. So you don't have to do one. You can actually get really active, but you have to have deal. You have to have deals, you have to have deal flow. And right now I feel like I have a little bit of that. It's just in my market, it's just not making any sense. It it is what it is. So right now I don't have a lot of updates. I feel like I'm kind of in the middle of things. Uh, just back to where I started a few years ago, or I should say a couple years ago. It's like, what do I do? Where do I get another property? Where do I where do I get more deals? And maybe it's a market switch. And I'm just talking out loud right now. Maybe it's completely looking elsewhere, not being so stuck in on my Alabama market, but the reason I'm there is because I had some success. Like I told you guys, I have relationships there that I can trust, and I'm trying to see what I can do in the city that I'm in. But maybe it's time to look elsewhere. Maybe it's time to look down here, you know. Maybe in California there's something for me. I don't know. Um my mind's gonna go all over the place, and I'm trying to combat shiny object syndrome. I don't want to just jump into random things, but my mind is is uh is powerful. All of our minds are. So we'll see what I do, we'll see where I go. Uh, maybe this is just uh, you know, a little bump in the road and it's supposed to be slow. There's a lot of things going on, let's be completely honest. If you are having deals, if you are having any issues, any problems, let me know. I'd love to know that I'm not the only one. Um, and if I am, let me know that too. And I need to think harder into my systems and really get active in a in a way. But the reality is when I start work every single day as a W-2 employee, there's only so much time. There's only so much time to actually put the effort to really systematize and create processes uh and put time in to try and grow this into something. That's the hard reality of this all. I'll be completely honest. If I quit and I went all in, what does that mean? What does that look like? I would like to think that I I'd make boatloads of money and I'd be super successful, and you know, you hear the stories of a lot of others that did it, and there's a few of them that have had some success, um, some mentors of mine and what have you, but that's the scary part because do you quit after one deal and say, I'm gonna go? Well, not if you have responsibilities, you're not gonna do that. So I don't know. I don't know what I'm gonna do. Let's talk about it. I'll let you guys know every step, everything that I do. I think this is the part of the real estate where there's people out there that say you're not gonna be able to quit your job doing just real estate and buying cash flowing properties. Um, because realistically, to replace most incomes, I mean, you're gonna be having to look at purchasing 20, 30, 40, 50 homes, doors, or whatever you want to call it, and get a couple hundred bucks cash flow each month. Uh, that's why I'm trying to midterm rental, trying to see if I can get, you know, 10x, a lot more cash flow than that $200 a month that can really put pressure. And if I can, you know, turn this business into this stream of income, then also do flips and also do something else, and just put multiple businesses in the real estate realm, um, but just find different streams of income, then I think you really are putting pressure on you on leaving your job. Um, but it's not that easy. So thanks for listening. This is the Ricky Ricardo show. I'm being completely honest with you guys. Uh hit that follow button, let me know how you feel, and uh hope to get some interviews. I've told you guys that before. Hope to get some interviews soon, and we'll keep learning, we'll keep hustling. Appreciate you guys. Have a good week. Take care.