03 Feb Start with the end in mind

When it comes to property investments, it seems everyone has a habit of jumping in feet first, without first thinking it through. Why? Because it seems investing in property is a sure thing to help you retire wealthy.

In fact nothing can be further from the truth. Many investors end up being disillusioned and burnt from this exercise, and there seems to be forever a property spruiker ready to take advantage of their misplaced enthusiasm.

Yet done in a structured way, property investing can indeed be very rewarding, to the point of enhancing your lifestyle, and allowing you to reach your investing goal.

which brings me back to the first two paragraphs in this article, where I have made a fairly bold statement. Well, let me draw a parallel in life.

Lets say you were planning to go to a restaurant in Glebe ( I seriously don’t know if there are any good ones there, so work with me on this one!). You have heard about this restaurant from friends and family, and also from media articles. Everyones raving about this restaurant in Glebe.

Now you don’t drive that often, in fact you have never been past Liverpool, let alone Glebe. Nevertheless, since everyones raving about it, one fine Sunday you jump in the car, and start driving towards Glebe….you cant recall the name of the restaurant but you do know that you need to be in Glebe to find it! So your first hurdle is to find Glebe, and then find the restaurant, before they stop taking orders for lunch.

So lets see how this relates to property investing.

1.       You know your destination, being Glebe

2.       You know your preferred outcome, which is arriving at the restaurant for a delicious lunch

3.       You know your timeframe to get there, which is before they stop taking orders for lunch, so I daresay, you would want to get there before 2PM.

How does it relate?

1.       You know the REASON for investing in property, ie you have a GOAL

2.       You know the OUTCOME you want from investing, which is whether you are investing to get passive income, or equity or a blend of both

3.       You know the TIMEFRAME in which you want to achieve the above.

Of course there are several roads to take to this destination, and would depend on whether you would want to take the scenic route, or barrel straight down the freeway.

By having a specific measurable outcome with property investing which addresses what you want to achieve expressed in dollar amount and timeframe, the goal is tangible, and also achievable, and you then end up buying investment properties that get you closer to this rather than speculating and hoping it will all work out in the end.