After reading everyone’s posts regarding the goals they want to achieve I feel like a bit of a small fish in a huge pond. Perhaps I’m out of my league…
I started wondering a few things about your situations:
1. Age
2. Income
3. Number of properties & total value
4. Years experience in property investing
5. Largest single loss!!!
6. How much (to the nearest mill – ha ha) do you owe lending institutions?It astounds me that one could own millions of $$$ worth of property but I guess I’ve just never seen the big picture & am possibly a little scared of the ‘d’ word (debt). Is it realistic to expect that little ole me could actually set myself up to do something like this?
Hi Belladonna,regardless of who wrote the posts remember we all started as little fish{even Steve}.I unfortunately only started to understand at 40.If only I knew at 20!Also remember that you are investing for you and no-one else.The goals are your’s alone.Go for it,just don’t bite too big too early.P.S.I bet next year this year’s goals will seem trite.Mick
Hey bella,
I bet unequivocally that little ole you could do all this and more. You are so young and are starting at the right time. Maybe it would be worth buying Steve’s Fasttrack tape. Check out the resources page. Keep asking thise questions.Enjoy
AD [:0)]Success is not the result of sponataneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.
Reggie LeachDon’t worry! you are never too young or too old to start! I am just almost 24 now and I started (with the help of my parents) at around 20. It is a great learning experiance! [
] The earlier you start, the earlier you can retire..remember…
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Tomorrow, you might wish you started today.
#####################Hi Bella, I am also a newbie to this exciting arena. After learning that Debt is not a scary thing, it opened up the possiblity of having all the things I dream of. Im learning from everyone’s input and experience all the time to be able to live the life that others scoff at. It astounds me that the vast majority are, it seems afraid or perhaps, just ignorant, of what they are capable of, yet, they still blindly put their lottery tix in weekly, hoping for thier lucky numbers to get them out of working for the rest of their lives!! If only they knew what we do~ IT IS ALL POSSIBLE![
][]Hello Belladonna,
What a lovely name!
Thanks for your post and indeed to all who have replied too (especially Ursh246….welcome to the community Ursh!)
We all have to start somewhere as the road to 100+ properties starts with one.
For me it was May 1999… I didn’t own any property at that time, nor did I have much of a clue what I was doing.
But I did know a good thing when I started, which is why I have expanded my investing model by replicating the simple theory that if you only did things that made money then you’d have to make money.
Like I was saying to AD on the phone b4… this is not rocket science.
From your post I sense there is a few issues with fear… both in terms of “can I do it?” and also “wow… you must owe a lot. What if…”
By way of encouragement let me reply by saying:
1. You can do it… anyone can. The problem is that people mistake passive income for doing nothing. It takes work, sometimes hard work, but I believe that (in my case) it has all be worth it. You are only limited by your vision (as I have to remind myself all the time).
2. Draw a distincition b/w good debt and bad debt. It doesn’t matter how much I owe if someone else is paying it back on my behalf. Sure, I owe several million, but I am worth a few million more (on paper anyway [
])I have never lost money on a property deal to date because I pride myself in the due diligence I always do b4 buying. It might happen… but prevention is much better than a cure.
What I am trying to say is that there is little luck in success, and what luck there is you create yourself.
quote:
Is it realistic to expect that little ole me could actually set myself up to do something like this?If that’s what you want… then yes. Absolutely.
Regards,
Steve McKnight
**********
Remember that success comes from doing things differently.
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Steve McKnight | PropertyInvesting.com Pty Ltd | CEO
https://www.propertyinvesting.comSuccess comes from doing things differently
A big thanks to everyone who has replied to this post… your stories are all inspiring and I’m still marvelling at it all.
You’re right Steve… there’s loads of apprehension & ‘what if’s’ going on in my head! What if I can’t tenant a place?
What if I lose my job & can’t make the payments? What if the interest rates go thru the roof again like the early 90’s?
What if a tenant trashes my place/skips town without paying the rent?It seems easy once you have a few properties under your belt… if one is going through a difficult patch the others can prop it up for a while & the hit to the hip pocket is minimal. In my case I would be looking to rent the unit & buy a home to live in so there would be nothing to absorb any cash flow problems. I saw mentioned somewhere earlier that in this case it’s better to rent your principal residence & keep acquiring investment properties until you can afford to pay cash for your home? Is this correct & will it really work?
Another person has advised me to take my $15K & use it as a deposit for another investment property now (+ive cash flow this time!) rather than add it to my exising mortgage on the unit. Would this be biting off more than I can chew? Should I do as you (Steve) say & pour all my spare cash into getting my mortgage down on the unit in the hope that it will become a +ive cash flow property when I can get it to a point that the repayments are below the rental return? I know it is just sitting there doing nothing productive for me right now so I may as well put it to good use. For info, my loan already has a redraw facility (min $2000) and as far as I can remember there is no fee attached to this. (I’d have to check my paperwork).
Sorry to keep asking dumb questions…but hey the dumbest people are those who never ask!
Mate,
I wasn’t telling you what to do… just giving you an option.
If it were me though I’d be thinking about two things…
1. How can I turn my -ve cashflow property into a +ve cashflow one, and
2. What do I have to do to invest in such a way as it will bring me to my goal in the quickest time.
Perhaps your indecision stems from not having a structured plan beyond making money?
OK – that’s it… see you tomorrow.
Bye
Steve McKnight
**********
Remember that success comes from doing things differently.
**********Steve McKnight | PropertyInvesting.com Pty Ltd | CEO
https://www.propertyinvesting.comSuccess comes from doing things differently
Hey Steve, I know you weren’t telling me what to do… nobody has done that for a very long time!!![
] I was merely comparing the advice I had received from someone else to the suggestions you had made and wondering which would have the better outcome.And yes, you’re right I don’t have a structured plan yet. I make no secret of that. It’s difficult to get to a point where one can write down a structured plan when one doesn’t know what the options are, where to start and what is possible…
Perhaps my structured plan should begin with understanding all this stuff & then discussing it with a financial adviser who can assess the whole situation and suggest a few paths I should follow whether that be property investment, shares, managed funds or whatever.
Ideally, within the next 5-10 years I want to be able to work only 3-4 days a week so I can persue other interests (my love of sailing & music!) and later down the track to bring some rugrats into the world without having to worry about how my partner & I will survive on one pay packet at that time. So I guess I do have goals, I’m just not really at the point where I can quantify the goals nor make inroads into how I’m going to go about achieving them (this is a most frustrating thing indeed).
But anyway, I really value the advice everyone, including yourself, has been giving me so I can come closer to realising those goals & actually doing something about it instead of just talking about it & whinging about a crummy investment decision I made without doing my homework!
Cheers,
BellaGday Belladonna, the hardest part l found was at the start all the people that tell you “NO” Push through them and belive in yourself.You can make it happen becouse no one else is going to do it for you Mitch
Steve,
Having read thru this & most of the forum related info, I’ve notice that belladonna has exposed a real hole, to which you’ve replied & that is that we need to have clearly defined goals.
In the wrap pack, you state that Dave Bradley & yourself have your goal framed on the office wall & use this as an evaluation tool (“Is doing this deal going to get me closer to my dream?”).
Can I suggest that the first place that everyone start is to set goals, then work the plan around this. How else do you know if what you’re doing’s the right thing….[?]
Start with a goal, shape the plan to suit(doesn’t have to be in too much detail), then look for deals which move you closer to the goal[
].The most important part of doing this exercise is to write down YOUR goals, post them where you have to look at them EVERYDAY and where others will see them. It’s great for motivation (ie, internal/external locus of control stuff).
Might be a good one for the masters session?
Michael[:0)]
Hi Bella,
I like to think about using all my resources the best way I can until a better opportunity comes up. One of your stragieies seemed to be paying down your mortgage until it would be positively geared when you rent it out.
Steve uses the 11 second rule as part of selecting properties which are suitable, and give a good return on investment. If you have to use too many of your scarce resources to make a property positively geared then it may stop you achieving your goals as quickly as you could.
In your current situation, you have money that is not returning a great investment. So putting it on your mortgage would be a step up. Whether it is the best step you can take is another question. You mentioned that you do have redraw and can pay extra in lump sums. Check to see if there are any charges on paying those lump sums in, but also check if there are any penalties for the redrawing of those funds when you need them.
You also need to know what sort of time frame you are working with for further investments. A lump sum placed on your mortgage may be a good idea for a time frame of 6 months, but may not be such a good idea if there are fees involved, and you are working with a short time frame.
Happy investing[
][]
Nathan
] The earlier you start, the earlier you can retire..
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