Easy Real Estate Riches... Or Not!

It all sounds so simple doesn’t it?  We hear so many real estate “gurus” promise that you can become a millionaire, quit your job, purchase boats and airplanes, be surrounded by beautiful people… all in just days, weeks, months.  Just add water, and there you have it an instant real estate millionaire.  NOT! 

That isn’t to say that anyone of us won’t achieve great financial success in real estate in a very short period of time, but for most of us, real estate investing should not be a ‘Get Rich Scheme”.  The streets have very recently been littered with the bodies of those poor souls who rushed into the real estate market, so sure they were on their way to great riches, only to be hammered by that very same market.  To be sure there have been winners, but there were and most likely will continue to be losers.  So, how can each of us become real estate investment winners, regardless of what the market is doing? Here are a couple pointers which I hope will help:

 

You have got to get prepared!  I spent a fair amount of time better preparing myself through networking, reading and education, and mentoring.  I am an active participant in my local real estate investment club.  I read at least two new books a month on the subject of real estate investment. 

 

You have got to develop a plan!  I can’t tell you how many times I get asked by both beginning investors and some experienced investors.  “Pete, they say, what steps should I take to accomplish this, or should I get into wholesaling, or rehabbing?  My short answer most of the time is… I don’t know!  What I really mean is that it all depends on their plan.  I always ask, why are they in real estate?  What are they intending to accomplish by being involved in real estate? And then I ask this really simple question, “what does your plan say?”  I am sure you can guess the response I receive.  Actually instead of just telling you, just envision the old “deer in the headlights” analogy.  You get the picture. 

 

You have got to become an expert in ONE Formula!  The formulas I’m referring to are the ones all of you are familiar with.  Starting as a Birddog, Wholesaler, Rehabber, Landlord.  These are the biggies, and there are variations on each that can provide very meaningful profits, provided you know what you are doing!  I always tell investors who ask where they should begin, this would be after we have the “plan” discussion, that they need to pick one of the above and become an expert in that area before they start getting involved with other formulas.  To do anything else only dilutes your efforts and in almost every case severely lengthens the learning curve while creating many “learning opportunities”!  As an example, when I started in real estate investing, my plan was to own only rentals.  And I followed that plan without exception!  I would be telling a fib if I told you that I overlooked some very profitable rehab deals because of that formula, but in the end when I sold the entire rental inventory I was rewarded.  

 

You have got to establish goals and criteria!  Imagine that I would even have to make that statement!  Less then 10% of the individuals I speak with have well defined goals and fewer than 30% have established criteria to help them quickly, confidently, and without emotion purchase real estate properties.  Can you imagine that?   I know that each of you have well written goals that you refer to often that guide your business plan, you know the plan we discussed above.  And I am very confident that each of you reading this email has written criteria.  Criteria you use when evaluating every deal.  Criteria that you have never changed just fit to a deal, because you knew this was the deal of a life-time.  Criteria that have allowed you to quickly, faster than other investors, evaluate and secure a deal while your competitors were still trying to see the deal! 

 

You have got to develop your team!  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could “get rich quick” without the help of others?  I know there are some of us out there who believe we are superhuman and can execute our well thought out plans without assistance from anyone.  Well, perhaps they can, but perhaps they won’t!  At least not in a reasonable timeframe!  Your team needs to be on your “agenda”.  And of course your agenda is well thought-out and represented in your plan.  Right?  So who are the members of this team?  Well they can be a realtor, one or more contractors, lenders, closing attorneys, birddogs.  You get the idea.  But one team member I want to spend just a few more sentences on would be a “partner”.  For those of you who know my story I have had the opportunity to work with some great partners when I got started in real estate.  As a team we amassed a substantial real estate portfolio in just 5 years and established our real estate investment company as one of the best run real estate partnerships in our area.  

 

I hope I haven’t discouraged some of you with the amount of work it requires to become RICH?  It won’t happen overnight, but I guarantee that if you accomplish a few well established items, you will become wealthy.  But perhaps more importantly, you will achieve freedom and gain real control over your life!

 

To Your Success...

 

Peter Giardini

 

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Peter R, Giardini is the founder of The Club, Real Estate Mastermind a National Real Estate Investor Coaching program whose philosophy is that real estate investing coaching/ mentoring can only be provided by experenced "local" coaches in a one-on-one environment. To find out more about The Club visit or send an email to .

You can listen in and participate in Pete's Real Estate Investors' Mastermind radio show every Thursday night at 11:00PM on BlogTalkRadio... .  All rights reserved 2009.