Reflecting on Lessons Learned & Planning for the New Year

In this episode of Uncontested Investing, we hit pause on deals and dive into something every real estate investor needs to do at least once a year: reflect, reassess, and reset your plan for the new year. We talk through how to review your wins, losses, systems, market strategy, portfolio performance, team, and mindset so you're not just repeating the same year over and over.  We cover how to celebrate business highlights, identify what actually moved the needle, and cut the processes, platforms, and partnerships that didn't. We also dig into market insights, changing interest rates, new legislation, tenant screening, BRRRR, non-core dispositions, portfolio optimization, alternative capital (IRAs, 1031 exchanges), new markets, hiring, culture, personal habits, and community. If you're serious about leveling up your real estate investing business in 2026 and beyond, this episode will give you a practical framework to turn this past year's lessons into a better plan, better systems, and better results Key Talking Points of the Episode 00:00 Introduction 01:16 Why investors should start with the wins before anything else 02:10 Did you stay flexible when the plan broke? 03:13 Owning the good and the bad 04:11 Leading by example and being in the trenches with your team 06:03 Operational lessons: systems that scaled vs. systems that broke 07:25 Deal-level lessons: best vs. worst deals 08:38 The importance of learning from your mistakes 09:11 Team & partnership lessons: hiring, firing, and fit 10:37 Firing is painful… but not firing can be worse 12:00 Mindset lessons: did you actually become the CEO? 13:44 Leveraging market insights for planning for the year 14:15 Interest rates, scarcity & competitiveness 15:22 New legislation & unlawful occupancy (squatting) 16:50 Improving tenant screening processes 18:17 Predictions vs. reality: did you pivot quickly enough? 19:41 Reviewing your portfolio to choose properties to keep, fix, or sell 20:45 Non-core strategy & using BRRRR to recycle equity 21:36 Get your documentation and data ready before you need capital 22:08 Goal-setting that actually sticks 23:07 Strategic focus: new markets, assets, and models 25:26 Team growth, onboarding & culture by design 27:19 Professional & personal development 28:31 Tracking results & embracing automation 29:32 Community: one of the most underused levers 30:03 Competition vs. collaboration Quotables "You need to personally acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses… being ready to relinquish control… that's a huge hurdle when you transition from employee to owner." "Every successful investor that we've had on the show… they've all learned lessons the hard way. But it's about taking those lessons and then turning them into success." "One of the most important lessons that we hope investors learn throughout the course of any year is that they can't do this by themselves." Links RCN Capital https://www.rcncapital.com/podcast https://www.instagram.com/rcn_capital/ [email protected] REI INK https://rei-ink.com/