While it can be tempting to think about giving yourself a break and having some fun for a few months, you’d soon lose focus and motivation. Being out of the market for six months could mean no longer having expert knowledge of your chosen area, and you could also lose major contacts such as your top agents. Be aware that if you are not dealing with them regularly, they will start passing on those hot deals to another investor keen to take your place.
Learning and Teaching Property Investment
Now is not the time to become complacent. I really want to stress the importance of continuing education in the Property Investment field, because there is always more to learn – and if you think you know it all, that’s when you are most likely to get into trouble.
Building up your Property Portfolio
The property I was looking at was situated in a part of Manurewa that was not exceptionally good, it was located on an up-and-coming street. The house was well built and large with four bedrooms, one of which was enormous with its own en suite. The other bedrooms were also generous in size, and so too were the living areas, which included a downstairs rumpus room.
Auckland Property A Rosy Investment
The sales figures for residential property in Auckland December 2011 are impressive. Twenty eight percent more properties were sold than the previous December and that in itself is a positive outcome let alone the other statistics presented by the REINZ. The latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand data also confirmed an increase property prices.
Property Investment and Perseverance
One day when I was bored because my friends were at their jobs and I had no one to play golf with, I rang my two top agents, Phil Thompson and Arn Mehta, and told them I’d like to hang out with them. I’ve done this a few times and find I learn a lot while driving through South Auckland with them for the day
Stick with What Works
A lesson worth learning is that if something is working well, don’t try to change it. When you reach a point where your portfolio is growing well and generating good cashflow, it can be tempting to want to branch out and try something else.
Property Investing is a Business
After two years in the game I had come to the point where, instead of the banks having control and telling me what to do, I had control of them and could tell them what to do. Believe me, that’s a good feeling!
Making your First Purchase
Ten weeks after attending the property seminar I made my first investment property purchase. While 10 weeks can seem like a long time to wait to get started, if you use that time to become knowledgeable in your area of choice you will be able to find a deal that meets all your criteria.
What is Due Diligence
Due diligence is all about qualifying the property based on the numbers, i.e. purchase price, renovation costs and the end result. Making your contract conditional on due diligence means you can do most of your investigations into a property after the contract of sale has been signed. The due diligence condition usually has a time limit (about 15 working days is normal), at the end of which you have the choice to go unconditional, walk away, or renegotiate.
Property Investment Negotiating Basics
Believe it or not, you are not going to find heavily discounted deals with 10% yields leaping out at you from the Property Press or similar publications. The way to get them is through negotiating and setting up your offers correctly. Knowing how to add value is also part of getting a property to meet your criteria.
