Real estate has always been regarded as the industry where you can get rich in a few years or even months, especially when it comes to wholesaling and residential or commercial property management. As reported by NAR, 86% of today’s investment buyers say that now it is a perfect time to purchase real estate. But when you decide to fling yourself into the reality of real estate investment, you will realize that it actually doesn't matter whether you have a degree of Science of Real Estate, if you are not following some specific rules designed by real estate sharks, the risk of failure tends to be very high. Being a real estate investor means being a businessman, and every businessman has to have their habits in order to succeed.
Here’s the outline of top eight habits every real estate investor should have:
1. Systematize it
Having a look at any successful company or business, you will realize that they are profitable mainly because they have a system for everything. This doesn't mean you have to buy a software for business automatization. Do some homework and try to develop a list of rules that will help you react correctly in certain situations and circumstances. For example, if you know that your tenant is not paying in time, you have to know how to react in this case.
2. Leverage your time
Once again, as in any other business, your success depends on how effectively you can leverage your time. There are hundreds of articles on time management and tasks prioritization, however, if you follow these rules most likely that you’re not going to fail:
Set Up Goals Goals;
Analyze How You Spend Your Time;
Create a To Do List;
Prioritize Your Tasks;
Avoid Procrastination;
Don’t be Afraid to Delegate;
It is OK to say No;
Take Care of Yourself.
3. Be focused
What makes a real estate investor successful and highly efficient? Value and profits. You should try working with one specific part of the market so you can better keep track of the latest trends and become a real specialist in it. For example, try to invest in foreclosures. However, foreclosures can get you a license to bring money on one hand, and lose your investment on the other. For the last six years, investors have turned more than 3 million foreclosed homes into rentals. In case you want to go after foreclosure, you should consider doing a thorough market analysis and strike a balance between investing in preforeclosures and already foreclosed homes.
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4. Know Where to Get Help
You are obviously not the first real estate investor on the market, try to reach out to some experts in this field so you can avoid common stumbling blocks all newbies are going through. You can find these people at some local real estate events or better on the internet, there are a lot of people online willing to share their expertise with newcomers.
5. Stay Informed and Educate Yourself
Lots of investors are diminishing the value of business education and adapting to regulatory changes thus falling behind the risk of not only losing their businesses but legal issues, in case of law is broken. Make sure that you know your state’s Real Estate and Property Law and spend some time on education, this is the best investment in your business.
6. Follow the Strategy
While being agile is extremely important towards determining you as a successful real estate investor, you still need to have a crafted strategy so you can not only make profits but have an opportunity to grow and expand.
7. Understand the Risks
For greenhorn real estate investors it’s essential to understand the risks of potential capital loss. As in any other investment business, you can lose a lot of money within months or days. One of the real estate investment rules is that you can lose money as fast as you can earn them here.
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8. Be Consistent
If you want to succeed in your real estate investment business you have to treat it like an ordinary business. Develop a business plan so you can set up goals for your business and what most important it will allow you to keep track of your return on investment and other important indexes that determine you as a successful professional. If you are not sure about your business planning skills, just try to Google something like “real estate investment plan template” and you will see hundreds of relevant results with free templates, tips, and instructions.
Hope these tips will help you to become a successful real estate investor.
Contributed by Jacob Gragson
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