Why Do You Invest in Real Estate...No, Really...WHY??

When we start to do anything in life there is always a reason WHY. Now stay with me here…we have many simple “WHY’s”. Take breathing for example, our “WHY” for breathing is to live! Our “WHY” for going to school is to get smart (or because we are forced to!). Our “WHY” for getting a job is to earn an income. Our “WHY” for having children is to?…go insane?? I think you get the point. It is our “WHY’s” that drive us to do what we do, day in and day out. The “WHY” always comes before the “HOW”.

For the sake of this article, lets stay focused on Real Estate Investing. After all, isn’t that why we are all here? Why do we get into real estate investing? I think for many of us it is the same, but see if any of these “WHY’s” are a good fit for you:

Extra Income
Financial Independence
To be Wealthy
Control your own destiny
Fire your boss and not have a 9-5
Residual Income
Set up for Retirement
Time Freedom
Leave a legacy for your Family
Feeling of owning assets you can see, feel and touch (Pride)
Because we love Bank and FHA Regulations?
Because we love the absurd requests of first time home buyers in this market?
Because we just love tenants?

Ok, so the last three were to make sure you were still paying attention!

Once You Have Your “WHY” Your “HOW” Will Take Care of Itself.

There are so many ways we can all reach our goals using Real Estate Investing (the HOW’s). Personally, we primarily use flipping and wholesaling, while others use buy and hold strategies. Others buy and sell notes, some only invest in commercial and on and on. Not one is better than the other, they are all vehicles to an end goal (listed above). Once you know what you want and more importantly WHY you want it, you will figure out your HOW. The strength behind your “WHY” is the most important. Once you determine what you want and you really want it deep in your soul, you will figure our “HOW” to make it happen using one of the many strategies you can find right here on the BiggerPockets site.

How Strong is Your WHY? Will it Push You to Do What You Need to Do?

I like examples to illustrate a point. Again, stay with me and I think this will make sense to most of you. I am a parent, all of us parents know that feeling of complete and total love for our children. There is nothing you would not do for your child, am I right? Imagine this for a minute. Your child is kidnapped (I know, the hair on the back of my neck is standing up just writing this!!) You get a call from the kidnapper saying your child is alive and safe, but before he/she is returned to you, you must buy a house at a discount, renovate it, and sell it for a substantial profit. I never said he was a SANE kidnapper! But seriously, take a minute to imagine if that were indeed the case and you HAD to do it to ever see your child again. Do you think, that even if you NEVER flipped a house, that you could find a way to do it for the sake of getting your child back safe and sound? It’s a fictitious story to illustrate a point, but think about it! I know that all of you reading would do it to save your child in a heartbeat. I would imagine your holding time would be the shortest in history!!

How about one more that may hit close to home for many of us, me included. You want to lose weight, eat right, and exercise daily, but you never really do it like you should because basically you feel ok. One day for no reason you have a chest pains and are rushed to the hospital. You really truly believe this is it! You come within seconds of losing your life. The doc says, “Listen, if you want to live to enjoy your family, you need to lose 20 pounds, eat a balanced diet, and get some regular exercise”. How motivated do you think this near death experience makes this person? How strong did his “WHY” just become?

What is my point to all this? Look, Real estate investing is not usually a life or death situation. However, you can use these extreme examples to drive the point home. If your “WHY” is strong enough or let’s call it your motivation, you will always figure out the “HOW” on your way to accomplishing your goals. So as you decide “WHY” you want invest in Real estate, take the time to really think about your motivation. Make sure it is something that is so solid and concrete that it becomes a MUST, not a wish. You are going to have days that really stink. Some days you will even want to quit! Hey, what we do can be lucrative, but it is NOT easy! You need that “WHY” to drive you through the tough days, but getting through the tough days is the key to long term success. If your “WHY” is something that you truly believe you MUST have, you will figure out the rest and find yourself doing things you never thought you were even capable of!

Remember the “WHY” comes before the “HOW”. The stronger the “WHY”, the more successful you will be.

What are some other “WHY’s” you can think of that aren’t on the list?
Does anybody else think this article has way to many “” “”? 🙂
Photo: e-magic

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.