Keep The Faith: If it were easy everyone would do it

I help by admitting the following that other investors can gain strength and courage to keep moving forward as this business seems to reward tenure more than initial excitement.

“When I started Investing 15 Years ago I thought it was going to be Easy!!!!”

There I said it, I feel better.

From where I sat I couldn’t go wrong, what little did I know. I had an advanced degree (not required), a nice day job (helps) and a head for numbers and after all real estate investing is just a numbers game right? Wrong.

The longer you are in this business the more you will learn that this is a people business first and foremost! Your people skills are far more valuable than any number crunching Excel macro building skills you have.The world of real estate investing is “real” as you can see it and touch it so get out of your Excel files and go meet some people.

The more real estate agents, investors and the plethora of extend team members you meet in your market the better off you will be.

Now keep in mind as a people business your reputation is extremely valuable and as you build it over time it will actually become a kind of currency you can actually use to help your business.The following are just a two examples of why this is a people business and your reputation is a currency you can use to improve your business.

About 6 months ago we had one of those storms blow through our investment area and because of the wind and volume of rain roof issues sprung up. We had a few just like lots of folks did but we got the fastest and best service because of our reputation for paying promptly when work was completed. I know for a fact our total expense for roof damage would have been much – much worse had we not built up this reputation.

The final example is for my real estate agent friends and it starts with a question to the investors. Do you know when an agent gets paid?Yes you are right at closing. Not during the drive around, the evaluation, the questions, the disclosures, the etc- etc. We have gotten many deals because agents go into escrow with a buyer only to see the deal fall apart at the 11th hour. We are proud of the fact that we have closed 100% of the Escrows we have opened and agents know that about us so we get calls several times a year. We don’t always take the deal, but we appreciate the offer and we give a very quick yes/no answer.

In closing please know this is a people business, get out of your Excel files at the beginning and know that your reputation matters.

Z