A friend said, she will start to buy properties soon. That was few months ago, she has yet to start though she kept telling me that she saw so many advertisements etc. I think the reason why she has yet to start is simple. She has yet to understand what she really wanted to achieve, thus eventhough she has the money, she does not know if she should really start. Have you started and now a little lost due to the many new advertisements that you see everyday, each touting itself to be the best investment you can make? To be honest, if you have signed up for any Facebook pages on property investments, you are bombarded with new projects and they all seem worthwhile! No worries, you should still sign up for all these resources so that you have sufficient choices. Below would be to tell you, Focus is Key.
Clear Goal. What is your final goal in property investment? To have a second income? (not clear enough) To have 10 properties by 40? (good enough) To buy 3 properties in 5 years? (clear). Write down a goal that you want. It can be something which you think a little far fetched or can be something that is easily achievable. Write it down. If you achieve it, write a new one. A clear goal is needed because the fact is, our resources are limited but our wants are infinite. Follow what you have set out in the first place and ONLY change if the situation really warrants it. The first goal I ever written down was 10 properties by 42 years old.
Get a partner. If your wife shares the same goal, great. If your wife does not, it is ok, get to know people who share the same goal. Share. This allow you to continue to be strong in your pursuit and have another point of view. I can not tell you how important is this and how many times I have gained through sharing with my wife and she said something which I forgotten to evaluate. Men… sometimes we are just too rushed in everything we do. If we do it alone, chances are we may be bogged down by something else, no time, lazy etc. A partner will keep you in check.
Actions to hit the milestones. Remember I said my first goal was 10 properties by 42? At the time of saying that, I had 15 years till 42. Thus, on average I should buy one new property every 1.5 years. Put down actions to hit these. For example, attend 10 different previews every 6 months. Read through online property sites, FB sites such as Property Talk and Lifestyle Malaysia (PLTM) and on and off take a look at newspapers. I said on and off because whatever you see on newspaper is already online and with much more information compared to just the one page that you see on paper.
Note: Knowledge is needed for you to be able to think straight. Experience will come after you have understood and are able to analyse all the knowledge that you have. Success comes when you combine your knowledge and experience for a good decision. It may not be the best decision. It just needs to be a good decision. We are not trying to strike a lottery. We are looking to complete our first marathon.
Repeat the steps. After a while, you realised that your first goal may need some adjusting. Perfectly fine. Readjust them after talking to your partner and continue your journey. If property investment is easy, everyone would be doing it and you would have no chance. FYI, even in Australia, despite them being much more advanced investors, only 6% of all Australians have a property investment today. This tells you that the opportunity remains huge though risks are aplenty too if you took the wrong step.
Happy property investing.
written on 21st March 2014
next suggested article: 40 years later – Malaysia property market in my personal view
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