I sometimes wear a string on my finger to remember to do certain things…like looking both ways before crossing the street. Or, like taking stories I hear from tenants with a grain of salt.
And then there are the important ones, like remembering to put my family, my health, and my spiritual side before my business.
There are whole litany of “rules of thumb”, “deadly mistakes to avoid”, and “life lessons learned”.
I’ve decided to a series of blogs about the critical mindset factors that contribute to being a successful real estate investor. This article is the first in that series.
One of the most important one of those is the idea of trying to take a very long view into account when making decisions.
As a property manager with more than a decade under my belt, I see much of the opposite behavior – that is, living for today, tomorrow, and the weekend. But rarely do I see tenants thinking about the long-term ramifications of such decisions as:
1) Continuing to rent from me (I’m not that good looking or entertaining – trust me on that one).
2) Drifting through life on the fringes. At some point, it’s time to grow up and start living like an adult.
3) Little regard for the economic well being (other areas as well) of their children. Ouch. Yes, I’ll speak my mind on this one. If you as a legal adult (in name only, I suppose) want to live without utilities in your house, food in your refrigerator, that’s fine. Just don’t have kids. Ever.
Obviously, not every tenant fits this description. But a fair number do.
People call this group the “have nots”.
There is tons of debate on why the have nots have not, but I believe it all comes down to deciding to live for today at the expense of tomorrow.
These decisions actually become habit…a habit of choosing what feels good in the moment instead of building equity in SOMETHING.
Equity builders are at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Farmers are equity builders. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t keep enough seed from the harvest to grow the crop in the coming season.
People who create and drive a business to success are equity builders. If they weren’t, they would rely on someone else to create an opportunity that would bring them a paycheck.
And, people who choose to invest in something like real estate are equity builders. If they weren’t, they would just save their money or spend it as they earned it.
An equity builder doesn’t expect an instant payoff from their investment. I have quite a few farmers in my family. One of the biggest motivators seems to be passing on the farm to someone in the family. We’re not talking a few years for this to take place. We’re talking decades.
As a business owner and real estate investor, one of my biggest motivators is the satisfaction I get from putting together a winning combination of marketing, systems, and management. It takes time and dedication, but it just feels great when it all works out and creates cash flow.
Again, these results don’t appear over night. It takes time…and what it takes to be an equity builders is plenty of patience and persistence.
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