Ihave to say, I live in one of the toughest states in the country for investing. Our Maryland legislature is constantly passing new laws that have serious effects on the business of real estate investors.

And you know what? It doesn’t matter if you are a landlord or a flipper, new laws are being passed more and more frequently that will directly impact your business.

For example: I had a discussion with a student yesterday, who was discouraged by the recently passed Maryland foreclosure laws. Thanks to the dramatic statutes, his business model has suddenly become obsolete.

I could feel his pain!  He had a great thing going, and he felt like he was just put out of business by the stroke of a bureaucrats’ pen.

Look for the next open door…

Rather than allowing him to be discouraged, I challenged him to look at things differently.

You know the ins and outs of this law. Do you see a void left by the changes in the law? Perhaps the law closed one door while opening another.

As it turned out, he was well positioned to make a simple adjustment and go right through one of the doors that the new legislation had opened.

Before our talk, it seemed to him that all the doors were closed, and for a moment that was probably the case.  But with just a moment’s creativity, he was able to find the new opportunities embedded in his current challenge.

I share this with you, because I want you all to think this way:

There are always obstacles, and there are always opportunities…

I’ve been in the wonderful world of real estate over 10 years. If I had kept doing the same things I did when I started, I would have shut my doors after only two years in the business.

But, after many adjustments, here I am, still going strong, even in this new, buyers’ market.

When I look back, my strategies have changed numerous times over the years. A part of me feels like I’ve been unfocused. But the reality of the situation is that I’ve been adjusting.

If you’re going to survive, you too must learn how to adjust.  When the proverbial “cheese” moves, you must learn how to move with it rather than focusing on how wronged you feel that it’s not right where it used to be.

I’m always looking for the void that needs to be filled…

…and when I find it, I carve my niche right there.

Sometimes that void only lasts for a short period of time before the opportunity is gone, but that is how people make money.

It’s one of the best takeaways from Napoleon Hill’s book, Think And Grow Rich: Look for the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit in every difficulty.  Or, put simply, find the void and fill it.

Start by opening your eyes to begin looking for open doors of opportunity that open up in your market.  Then adjust your business to exploit the windows of opportunity from time to time.

Rather than being stopped by difficulty, take each challenge on, cash in on the trend, and start searching for the next void that you can fill. When you do, you’ll be celebrating many new successes.

About Steve Cook…

Since 1998 Steve Cook has been actively flipping houses as a full time, Baltimore-area real estate investor and has taught thousands of his students how to follow successfully in his footsteps. Steve’s specialty is his “flipping homes 1-2 punch”, a proven system of real estate investing that powerfully combines wholesaling and rehabbing houses.