BiggerPockets

We're conducting a 2007 real estate goals group writing project for those people who blog about real estate. With that in mind, I thought it would be appropriate to ask our members to set their own real estate goals for next year.

:groovy: What are your 2007 Real Estate Goals? :wowie:

i bought and have been vacant since November 30th. trying to find a tenant in the winter, 20 miles from home, and taking 9 days vacation in Austria, were not the ideal setup.

Thanks for the New Year's wishes, Dick! I think you're dead on with " work less make more!"

Best Wishes!

Goals:

*Purchase 2 or more additional rental properties. More specifically and importantly, doing that with my newfound analysis knowledge. The first prop I got is doing well but I jumped in feet first without the proper research to justify the decision from an investment perspective.
*Complete my first rehab project.
*Join the local RE club to learn and network (next week!)
*Read as many RE books as I can get my grubby hands on. (almost finished with the first)
*Take over the world!! jk

-Kamal

A brief overview of my 2007 Goals

I have never understood why 95% of people spend more time putting together a map of how to get to their vacation spot, than they do putting together the map that will shape their lives. Without goals you are essentially trying to put together a puzzle without having a box to look at the picture on.

1. Rehab 20 homes and sell at least 13 of them

Steps I have taken so far
a. I am currently rebabbing 11 properties so I am off to a good start

2. Make at least $200,000 flipping, buying, and wholesaling real estate

Steps I have taken so far
a. I have 6 homes under contract to sell which I will profit very well on

3. Make at least $120,000 selling other real estate as a realtor
Steps I have taken so far
a. Started running ads
b. Started calling leads back again

4. Help at least 40 people turbo charge their investment careers
Steps I have taken so far
a. Have done 11 phone consultations with new investors

5. Develop a 100 person buyers list for wholesale deals
steps I have taken so far
a. Started running ads again
b. Started calling old buyers back

6. Build up to $4,000 net cash flow
steps I have taken so far
a. I have 33 units, Mostly single families, a couple twos and a couple 3's. To be honest I have no idea what I spend or what I take in. These figures would seem somewhat important so I hired an accountant this year.

7. Be more organized
Steps ive taken
Hired an accountant
Hired 4 contractors to do my work

Thats a brief overview of my real estate goals. I have the long version using the steps below but I will save you the reading. I will say this Goals are powerful tools once written, here is what happened to me with my first goal setting attempts.

When I was around 24 years old, I had started reading about the importance of writing down goals. I was sitting at my desk one day (at a job I wasnt overly fond of) and began writing out my goals, I don't remember all of the details but I do remember the major themes of the goals.
Goal #1 Own a Harley before I was 30 years old
Goal #2 Have at least $30,000 in the bank before I was 30
Goal #3 Make at least $100,000 a year by the time I was 30
Goal #4 Own at least 5 investment properties before I was 30
Goal #5 Have a fun car by the time I was 30

I think I must have been about 29 years old and was working on cleaning out my basement when I discovered my old book of goals. Upon opening the book I realized that I had achieved every single one of these goals without even realizing it. I had a harley in my garage, a convertible corvette in the garage, a jeep wrangler for days I didnt want to drive my vette, a lexus for my winter beater, I had been making 6 figures for a few years already, had over $100k in the bank and had 9 rentals. It was as if once my goals were written down I began to attract all of the tools that the universe could offer. :beer:

1st What is the end result that I would like to have? Be very vivid in your description of your end result. Think of things like how you will feel, what you will look like, and how other will see you.

2nd What time frame would I like to achieve my result in? Does your result need to happen in a week, a month, a year, or a decade.

3rd What am I willing to do, to make these results happen? If I were to pick out the most important step of goal setting it would be this one. Layout every action that will be required in order to achieve your goals. Be sure to include every step that will need to happen in order to make your dreams come true.

4th What will happen if you don't achieve your result? By answering this question as thoroughly as possible you will be creating your big WHY and building your leverage. Building leverage is important because leverage helps you stay on track when the going gets tough. If your end result was too lose 20 pounds, your leverage might be I will die 5 years earlier, I will continue to feel fat, or I wont be able to play sports with my son.

5th What has caused me to fail in the past when I have tried to achieve the results that I desire? This type of brainstorming can help aid you when roadblocks come up. Identifying what has lead to past failure will help you avoid repeating the same failure again

6th What will my new reaction be when the same roadblocks come up in the future? Having a written plan of action in place can help prevent future failures at your goal attempts.

Here is a sample of using the 6 step method.

1st, Make $20,000 wholesaling 3 homes by June 1, 2007

2nd June 1, 2007

3rd Steps to Getting Homes to Wholesale
1. Put out we buy house signs
a. Get 1800 for signs
b. Hire someone to put out signs

2. Call 5 realtors a week
a. Ask them if they have investors that they work with
b. Offer to take them to breakfast to discuss investing

3. Find buyers
a. Run ads in newspaper
b. Call other wholesalers
c. Ask realtors for buyers

4th List of What will happen if I don't achieve my results
1. Be 20,000 poorer
2. Wont be able to put my son through school
3. Wont be able to buy that new car I wanted
4. Wont be able to take my dream vacation

5th List of what has caused me to fail in the past.
1. Analysis paralysis
2. Didn't look at enough properties
3. Didn't have enough properties to see
4. Didn't have enough buyers in place

6th List of what I will do to get past the old road blocks
1. I will prevent analysis paralysis by having all the proper contracts, buyers, and market analysis tools in place.
2. I will run ads, put out signs, and network to find properties
3. I will run ads, put out signs, and network to find buyers.

I hope this helps at least 1 person to sit down and write their goals out, then achieve them.

Goals this year are to buy a very large apartment complex of possibly 44 units and continue to invesment in real estate buying more rental properties and doing a flip somewhere in between.

How many years have you owned the home that you are going to 1031 exchange? Dont you have to own it at least one year and to be safest 2, or have you purchased with the intent of renting, and then decided because of some financial hardships that you need to sell. (wink, wink).
That was my understanding of the 1031 exchange that you can sell faster than 1 year if you bought the property with the intent of renting it, and because of a financial hardship, or relocation you have decided to sell. If you know something that I dont let me know because I am going to be taken to the slaughter house on my gains this year.

I do intend on starting a self directed IRA for the purchase of real estate that I plan on keeping some of my holdings and gains in for the 07 year

I don't believe there are any " required" holding periods for 1031 exchanges. There is some interpretation of case law about it (which is where the 1 year idea comes from), but not any definite guidelines from the IRS. Dealer status and homestead tax free gains are separate subjects from exchanges, though they do intermingle in some ways.

Dealer status comes from flipping " too many" properties (a definition not definitively defined by the IRS). Dealer status means everything you make is tagged as ordinary income with self-employment tax on it. No long term capital gain status even if you hold it for over a year and no 1031's.

Tax free gain on a homestead actually does not require you to live there for 5 years. The law says something to the effect of 2 of the last 5 years, and I believe that 1031's and homestead's can not be intermingled. I don't remember the laws exactly on the latter, but I remember that claiming a 1031 as a homestead was a no-no.

I know enough about these subjects to get myself in trouble, so I'd like Wexeter to take this over. He is the resident expert here on 1031's, but I haven't seen him around for a couple weeks.

goal for 2007:

promotion of the biggest online real estate project in my life - FSBO Site.

increase traffic to this site

Well..... I'm starting school in May. My goal this year is to ace it through school while holding at least 3 multi-family homes.