Want to invest in property but can´t find the time? Here is the secret

Every week, people get in touch with me (usually via our website) to state that they have money to invest and they are willing to push the button when the right deal comes along. 

However, in my experience, only a small minority of people who begin to research investment property actually end up buying one. After a couple of initial calls and emails, they will often slow things down by saying that they don´t have the money or that they haven´t found the right deal yet.

To my mind, neither of those excuses ring true as (a) there are lots of ways to make a modest budget stretch very far and (b) there are always deals out there.

I think one of the main reason people don´t take the plunge is time. It can be really difficult to find the time to do something outside your normal routines, and researching a deal that will cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars requires a lot of work.

A Short Case Study:

Mike from Toronto is one of our best clients. He has purchased 7 properties from us in the last 5 years and he knew exactly what he was getting into each time. If he has bought 7 properties it is safe to assume he has researched and turned down a lot more than that.

Want to know where Mike finds the time to research all these properties? He certainly isn´t retired or working at this full time. He works long hours as a doctor and he has two young kids.

The difference between Mike and most regular people is not that he spends all his spare time researching deals and has no social life. I can tell you for a fact that he has a great social life. He takes long holidays, he golfs regularly and he eats at the best restaurants in town several times a month!

What sets Mike apart from the crowd is his discipline during the periods when he has accumulated enough cash to purchase an additional property. If he wants to add to his portfolio you will not catch him with his feet up watching TV every evening after work. He won´t be Googling investment options with a glass of wine on a Friday night only to forget all about it the following day.

When Mike is “in the zone” or in the middle of a potential purchase, he goes into his home office early in the mornings before work starts and he goes back in there again in the evenings after the kids are asleep. On weekends, he skips a couple of games of golf and does his real estate homework instead.

Outside of these intense research periods, Mike reads a lot of real estate books, listens to real estate podcasts and uses the tips and lessons within them to refine his own checklists and strategies. Like all successful investors, he treats this as a continuous learning process and he enjoys doing it.

Conclusion:

Mike takes real estate seriously and understands that investing takes time and research. Some people want to buy quickly once they have reached a certain goal, like saving $50,000. The truth is that having money to invest is just the first step. Capital is simply the vehicle you use to facilitate the investment that suits your real estate and life goals.

If you like the idea of building a property portfolio in the coming years, you need to be prepared to change your routines to make it happen. You willl need to emulate the common traits that successful investors share such as discipline and continuous learning.

We do business with a very wide range of investors, and people like Mike are always the most hard working and focused on success. That is how he became a millionaire before he turned 50. How great is that?!?

If you would like to get started on this road, the best place to start is by talking to fellow investors and reading the right kinds of books and blogs.