I am an investor...
If I had a dime for every time I heard that statement - I wouldn't be an investor, because I would be a millionaire retiring on some remote island. The truth is that there are a lot of people that call themselves investors. Few of them actually are.
A few months back I dragged myself to a local "investors" meetup group, looking for some connections, and possible investment deals. The room was large and as I sat there waiting for the meeting to start, the crowd started growing larger and larger. 20, 30, then 50 people showed up. Then it filled up with over hundred people. I must say, it was a little intimidating. I thought of the investing world to be much smaller, and this was just one of the meetups of many in the area.
As the meeting started, the organizer got up to make some opening remarks. As part of "breaking the ice" with the audience the organizer asked a pivotal question: "How many of you have never done a deal?" About 90% of people in the room raised their hand. I was supprised, but things started making sense to me quickly.
As the meeting went on, the organizer invited anybody interested to come up to the front and present any opportunities or business deals that they had available. Few people got up peddling their "wholesale" deals that were not really wholesale. I also got up, being curious and wanting to test the waters. After all, I was looking for some deals, and had some money to invest.
When my turn came up, I announced that I was not selling anything, in fact I was here to buy. I was looking for partners who have a deal available, and I was looking to finance it. I stated I was available to look at any deals and ready to invest money right now.
What I really did is removed the only excuse that any would be investor have that would keep them from actually investing. Considering a hundred of potential investors in the room, I thought I would received tons of phone-calls from investors that finally had their opportunity to put their ideas and their secret deals to work.
One day passed.
Two day passed.
A week passed.
Not one phonecall.
Where are all the investors?
Comments (7)
That is one way of making money, and a pretty good one. But I think it requires a special kind of personality... if you know what I mean. For most of us though the only way to the real money is hard work. And investing is hard work. It is equivalent to running your own business 24 hours a day. You have to live it and breath it and do it every day. You have to commit yourself to it, and be ok spending your time looking at 10 bum deals a week, just so you can find one a month that works. The secret in investing in real estate, in my opinion, is always in finding the deal. The rest of it is just mechanics. But luckily that is the best part - the art of the hunt and kill. It is is our nature. This is what gets me going every day, and what keeps me going. The next deal. Where is it going to come from, what is it going to be? The excitement is killing me....
Paul Jazwierski, almost 12 years ago
So is the real money in RE in the guru and training business? There are just so many people that are willing to pay up for training/materials because they want an easy step by step path to wealth laid out for them, and I'm sure the unstable economy and high unemployment has fanned this flame.
David Beard, almost 12 years ago
"no one wants to look foolish or worse " Lorene, There is a difference between looking foolish and being new. Most people are willing to help new investors.
Ned Carey, almost 12 years ago
Back to the original blog. I think part of the problem is people afraid of looking foolish so they pretend to be more experienced than they really are. The expectation is all these experienced investors will call me. The truth is they really weren't experience investor in the first place. While this might not be the total answer to Paul's original question, I be it is part of it.
Ned Carey, almost 12 years ago
I too have been to a few investor meetups and with the exception of two or three people who are actually actively investing, most are there to surround themselves with like minded people (this is in all the seminars, how to books, etc) that will motivate them to start getting ready to begin to maybe make a move forward. This is coming from a newbie myself, so I am speaking (ashamedly) from experience. It is rarely easy to come out of our comfort zone and talk to other people and if they have more experience than us it is even more difficult (no one wants to look foolish or worse - like they don't know what they're talking about). There is no answer to your question, Paul, except maybe like Joshua said - here; but I did want to kind of give not an excuse but hopefully something of a reason, for the behavior of the almost investors. :)
Lorene Fleming, almost 12 years ago
Paul, the answer is simple. They are too busy not calling me back. :-)
Ned Carey, almost 12 years ago
Apparently they aren't at that meeting, Paul.... lots of them here, though!
Joshua Dorkin, almost 12 years ago