Episode 80: I Didn’t Look at a Single Deal This Week (Here’s Why)

This week, I didn’t look at a single real estate deal… and that bothered me more than anything else going on.

Not because I didn’t want to—but because real life hit all at once.

In this episode, I break down what actually happened behind the scenes:

• A $20,000 Tesla battery scare
• A property under contract but not closed yet
• Another property sitting with no offers
• A renovation project paused with money going out every month

And how all of that forced me to slow down.

This isn’t a highlight reel episode.

This is what it actually feels like when:

• Your momentum stops
• Your pipeline disappears
• And you’re forced to face the reality of where you are

I also talk about:

• Why liquidity matters more than you think
• How one problem can stop everything
• And the importance of consistently having deals in front of you

If you’ve ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or like you’re not moving forward…

This episode is for you.

🎥 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

This week, I didn't look at a single real estate deal. And honestly, that bothered me more than anything else going on. Welcome back to the Ricky Ricardo show. It's your boy Ricky Ricardo. And it feels like I haven't talked to you guys in a little bit. So my apologies. Uh, I took a week off. Life happened. There's a lot of things going on. And I kind of talked about it on Instagram. Again, if you're not following me at Ricky Ricardo Show on Instagram, show some love. Uh let me know you're a listener. And uh let's have some conversations. You know, appreciate the support, but I just want to let you guys know what's going on. You know, it's not really real estate related, but it kinda is because it if if it affects my pockets, then it affects what I'm able to do, right? And in this goal, this dream to really make an impact and find some freedoms, as I always share with you guys. That is the goal of this. But real quick, I had a scare with my car, right? I have a Tesla. The battery alone in my vehicle is was about $20,000. $20,000. Like, how is that going to allow me to continue to actually, you know, be aggressive in this chase? So what did I have to do? I had to stop, look back, and be like, this isn't happening. And I had a warranty. So I was okay. But with warranties these days, it's like they're gonna find a way to pin this on me because I didn't do X, Y, or Z. Um, and I haven't sold my first property in Indiana yet. It is in contract. It'll let you guys know I should be getting those monies within the next uh two weeks. Um that would be really nice. But I kept thinking like, well, I'll pay for this battery and I'm prepared to because of my flip monies, but then my property's gonna sell, and we're not talking big money from Indiana. That would have basically covered my new battery, and then it's just a sunk cost. And you know, I I hear these professionals, and there's so many people say you don't need an expensive car, you don't need a luxury car because you need that money to go into real estate if you're actually going to try and have some success is part of the sacrifice, all this and that, right? But my mental is like, whoa, what do I do? I had to stop. Realistically, I was down. I I couldn't get home, couldn't get back to the studio to get a recording in, it was super late. But that enough of that. My Indiana property, we're two weeks away. I mentioned that a little bit earlier, so it'll be nice to get that money. And real quick, the battery on the Tesla was was fully covered. And all that to say, that the Tesla battery's covered, so I don't have to spend that money. And moving on to my first Indiana property. We're almost to the finish line there. It was, you know, the last episode I showed I showed you guys and told you it made what $135, I think it was. It's it's time. It's I'm excited to get rid of that and and move forward. Just you know, be able to say that got me started and I'm out of there. No action on my second property yet. I am trying to actively sell that. My agent let me know no, no one has shown any interest in that one. And that's you know, I don't know. I don't know. Maybe there's things going on, you know, have my opinion in terms of maybe my agent's not as active or aggressive in that one, trying to get this one done first. Um, I don't know what his thought process is, but I trust them, and you know, it's a slower market, and so I'm just trying to eventually get out of there and it will happen, and I'll keep you guys updated when it does. My property in Alabama, just to give a quick update on that one, we are kind of considering not doing the kitchen renovations. The only thing I have to consider on that is it's going to affect the DSCR loan if I can't get a high enough appraisal. So that is the conversation I'm having with my team in Alabama right now. Sure, we can get the contracts, the contractors are knocking on the door. I don't know exact numbers yet. So there is some renovations going on, but we need to get through that first. The biggest or the most important piece of that is the HVAC system. So we'll get that done and see if we can make some monies on that. It's a it's a year term for the hard money loan. I've shared that with you guys. So there is some room here to cover some expenses and actually make some cash flow. We'll see. We'll see how that goes. Uh at the end of the day, in order to do a refinance, because I don't want to pay this off. The whole idea was to get a 30-year uh term on this, cash flow like crazy, and you know, move forward and move on into bigger and better things. So, in order to do that, I think the kitchen needs to be renovated. I know my team may not be thinking as much and just trying to get some income in. But like I said, I'll share with you guys more on that and we'll see how that goes. I do need to visit the property. Uh, I think I told you guys that's one of the requirements I will be doing, even though I like the team and I trust them. I think I wouldn't have had as many problems on my flip had I actually just flown there early and identified issues, which we'll see. I'll share with you guys. I'm excited to look at the property in person. Uh, that would be pretty cool. So I will share more of that with you guys as that happens. The monthly payment on that property is just under $1,000. So we'll just say $900 a month. Um so if I have to forego that, I need my rents to you know get me excited or my cash flow. So that's the number, the bottom number I'm working with. And you always want to put money away for the what-if scenarios. But yeah, like I said, I don't have numbers right now. I don't know what the contractors are actually offering, but I do know that they are knocking on our door asking if we have uh this property available so they can put their employees in there. So back to the Tesla story, back to the mental and all that, and how this actually connects to real estate. I kind of talked about it earlier, but one problem, one problem can stop everything. That's why you have to have your finances and your debts in order somewhat, and you have to not over-leverage yourself. You can't just put all your eggs in one basket and give it a try. I kind of did with my flip, so just speaking from experience, uh, but it could have bit me hard. I mean, if I was fully into this new property, for example, and then I gotta fork out 20 grand to a vehicle, I mean, what are we doing here? It it depends on your situation. So everybody's situation is different. Thankfully, I have a little bit of wiggle room because of the the flip uh profits, um, but still that would hurt. And that actually takes away the momentum feeling. I'll be completely honest. When you have a big expense like that on a personal level, it's like uh I can't ever leave this rat race because the security of this paycheck in this job, let's say I had to pay it. Well, guess what? I can grind over time, I can, you know, cut back costs. I know that paycheck's coming, I can do whatever I need to to cover the amount, but the security of the W-2 actually makes me want to rethink a lot of things. That's scary. That's what we're all scared of. I mean, I shouldn't say we, that's what I'm scared of, to be completely honest, is what if those things happen and you don't have a pipeline of real estate, which is another thing that I'm learning, is you need deals constantly coming in. Whether they're you're taking action and actually putting in offers and doing certain things, you need to be able to see things constantly. And that's where I'm messing up. That's where I'm trying to get better at. That's what I know I need to get better at because I need pipeline, I need deals constantly on my desk, on my phone, and my laptop that I can analyze really quick and determine if I'm going to jump into another deal or not. Currently, I haven't looked at any deals. I'll be completely honest. I kind of got scared and set back. And so just being completely open and honest with you guys, you know, there's there's the market. We're getting into the summer season, so prices naturally are a little bit higher than normal, actually, a decent amount higher than normal. So I've analyzed deals, like I said, in the market, but nothing's really stood out. I've had offers, but when this happens, it actually stops me. So I'm curious how many of you guys actually get stopped? How many of you guys have had things happen? You know, I've I've talked to some investors, they lost their job, they, you know, didn't get the raise, they didn't get the position that they were hoping to. Overtime was cut back, and so we lose a lot of that, which you know, of our fail-safe systems or or our lifeline that keeps us excited to, you know, take these risks, take these calculated risks, and that's just the reality of it. It's hard, it's hard. Not everybody can just jump in and leave their job. I know we say those things, and I I want to do that, I would like to do that, but the reality is maybe I can put some pressure and obtain some freedoms in my current job because I actually like the idea of that consistent paycheck, unless I get pipeline of deals coming in, unless I you know really thrive and get a few home runs and flips and and huge cash flows. As far as the conversation of real estate helping me leave the the job, we're far from that. And and I'm understanding that that's the reality. It's a slow game. A lot of people tell you that. There's a lot of people that there's not a lot of people. There are people that have success in leaving, but that's few and far between. That's few and far between. And not everyone's journey is the exact same. So I can tell you my journey up to this point has got me nowhere close to wanting to put in a two week's notice to to leave the the current paycheck. So that's just a quick update. Things going on, you know, everything doesn't happen perfect. I feel like I I hit some strides and had some great momentums, but I'm getting hit with real life reality, and it's okay. I'm not stopping. I'm trying to find more motivation to get excited again and and you know look at deals, but I'm trying to, you know, see about how I can get pipeline for myself. And I think if I can get that down, obviously I can share more numbers and things with you. But you don't realize how real this gets until everything hits at once and you still have to make decisions. And I got lucky with that warranty covering a big personal expense. Again, just sharing the frustrations, the realities of an investor trying to make things happen in real estate. Not every week, not every month, not every season is completely full of success, and that is okay. I'm learning that that is okay. You don't always have to actively be doing something, but just don't lose that drive and whatever you got to do. You know, I've been sharing with you guys a fitness challenge I've been doing, so I'm still with that. Keep my health in check and make it better. So that's what I'm trying to do. But if you feel like you're not moving forward this week or this season, or this first quarter, the first four or five months, it's okay. It's part of it. This is part of the journey to whatever it is you're trying to get. Myself, I'm trying to get some freedoms, and and I if I stay at it, I'll get there. I can I can tell you that now, I will get there. You know, you just have to keep turning, and the road's not always straight. So I appreciate your listen as always. I appreciate your time. You know, subscribe, hit that follow button to to the show, to the podcast. I keep it completely real with you guys. If you have Instagram, you know, make sure you follow me at Ricky Ricardo Show. And like I've told you before, there's a link in the in the episode description. You know, send me some information, send me a question, send me thoughts. Um, if you'd love to be a guest on the show or like to, um, then I would love to have you, and uh, and we can go from there. It's Monday. Have a great start to your week, and uh, I will talk to you guys on the next one. Take care. Bye bye.