10 Factors You Should Consider Before Starting
Below are 10 factors I wish I would have realized a long time ago. Just my opinions, but perhaps one or two will resonate within you and change the way you think about investing and life in general. Here’s to getting all you want in life, and then wanting all you get.
1) The Shark Tank Factor – Terrific show that is highly entertaining and educational on so many levels. The contestants are a constant reminder of the endless ways there are to generate money outside of real estate, assuming you have the passion to take action. Having learned many years ago that real estate is the “Best” investment, I ignored opportunities where I could have been successful but passed because they weren’t “real estate”. I believed the only way to make money involved a house. Real estate was a grand slam and everything else were singles.
The truth is, investments are neutral and it is people combined with effort that make something great. It's not the car as much as the driver, and making sure you take the right road with enough gas to go the distance. The best investment is whatever you say it is, not the IRS nor gurus nor ROI.
2) The Success Magazine Factor – The best magazine on Success principles, should be required reading by everyone to maintain a positive attitude. Since I learned years ago that real estate is the “Best”, I quickly realized my job sucked. Further, my manager and my company and my industry all sucked. Going to real estate meetings and reading forums online further confirmed my belief that everything sucked except real estate. It took me years to realize that people and companies and jobs don’t suck, just attitudes and mine sucked. I wasted so much time being unhappy because I had a poor outlook on life, something that I could have changed for free anytime I wanted. What a fool I was.
The truth is, it is impossible to have a lousy attitude and be successful at the same time. We owe the world our best every day regardless of our endeavor. We owe the world a smile too.
3) The Beauty and the Beast Factor – In the beginning I thought real estate was about contracts, square footage, and exit strategies. Later on, I realized real estate like life is really about people. Thus, I tried to only deal with the beautiful people and avoid the beasts. That meant I was only going to deal with people who were rich and smart and nice and experienced. The problem I learned far too late was some of these people were really beasts. Perhaps on the inside we are all both and just better to avoid the judgments altogether. Every day I try never to confuse greed with capitalism, nor malice with stupidity, nor opinion with fact.
The truth is, when you deal with people only three things matter. Is it legal and ethical, do they understand the deal and are they happy, do you understand the deal and are you happy? If these three are all “Yes”, and they really should be, then beasts will never appear.
4 ) The Law of Attraction Factor – I have spent hundreds of hours reading, thinking, and observing this Law and still haven’t found a single bit of evidence to the contrary. As far as I know, the Law of Attraction exists, is Universal, and is undefeated should you try to beat it. The point here is that unless you are aligned, unless your mind, heart, beliefs, and feelings are right, then taking “Massive Action” is really a bad idea. I realize I am going to get pummeled on this point, but some of us would be better off not doing anything until they have the energy to “attract” success. All I know is every time I take action in alignment I make money. When I’m not aligned, I lose money.
The truth is, there are huge differences among real estate investors in results achieved and effort spent, that one must conclude there is more to achieving than action alone.
5) The Time Factor – In real estate, everything is measured in time, with the faster you can earn money the higher your ROI. You always hear how time is finite and precious so spend it wisely. While all true, time matters more in passive investing, less when you are actively working in real estate. Passively, yes it is better to earn $1 in interest in six months than one year. Actively such as rehabbing, more important than time spent is time enjoyed. Do you even like real estate, is this something you even want to do? Or are you here just for the money?
If you would rather be doing something else, which is an individual and unique preference, then money earned is secondary. I decided to become a rehabber a few years back, and made $70K net on my very first flip. Great you say, but the truth was I didn’t like rehabbing, too much stress for me and retired after one flip. The money didn’t matter because I wanted to do something else.
The truth is, everything is a waste of time if you can’t find the joy in what you do. Conversely, nothing is a waste of time if you have passion for the job at hand.
I hope you enjoy. I will post 6-10 later.