1. Find out what you really want from your investments.
Set goals. Where do you want to be in 5 years? Do you want a much bigger and nicer house for your family? How about walking into a car dealership and paying cash? Imagine what you want.
Your investment must provide you with a livelihood and a lifestyle. You have to be able to look forward and enjoy your life and your family.
If you want to coach your kids’ sports teams, your real estate needs to give you time, not take time away from those precious events.
With proper planning, you can learn to outsource, but you need to know where you want to go before you can get there.
2. Start simple and keep it simple
Sometimes it’s all too easy to lose focus due to information overload. Our generation is being bombarded with more knowledge than any other in history. And it’s only going to get worse.
Real estate is basic investments. Stick to the basics. Go to the old gurus like Tyler Hicks and read the old books. Markets come and go, but the basics never change.
3. Make your investment step by step
Don’t try to compete with Donald Trump with your first property. Start small.
Launch your first property. Then go to the second and third. Don’t worry about what the stars and experts are doing in online forums. They have been at it for a long time. Naturally, they can do more. And so will you if you don’t let your investment get too complicated.
4. Focus on one aspect of investing for six months
What is it that really interests you? Foreclosures, Buy and Hold, Short Sales?
How is the market in your area of interest? Focus on one type of investment and absorb as much as you can about it for six months. Not only will you become an expert, but it will be almost second nature to you.
5. Design your investment around your strengths and weaknesses.
Well, this is the challenger.
We’ve been taught our whole lives that winners do what they hate. It is a conditioning process. To do this, we have to force ourselves to do the dog’s work.
That’s fine for high school football or algebra, but real estate investing is different.
You need to like it. If there are parts you don’t like, don’t be discouraged. Sub those parts out. Outsourcing is one of the most valuable lessons you can learn for yourself.
Don’t be mad about having an owner if it’s not your thing. Outside the source that too. The most important point is to invest. There is the money.
6. Stop analyzing and buying something
There are investors who are paralyzed to death by market analysis. Another way of saying it is that they are afraid to do it. Skip. Get your feet wet. Sure, you can make some mistakes, but if you read the right real estate materials and study the right courses, in addition to networking, you can reduce those mistakes to little potatoes.
7. Reserve some properties for your lifetime earnings.
This is your own personal bank. If you are a flipper, a wholesaler, a rehabber and want to move those properties quickly, this advice still applies to you.
It amazes me how some investors let great properties slip through their fingers because they want a quick profit. From time to time, keep some of them. Wait and watch them appreciate. They may actually pay for your old age.