Dazzling & Wayne I would love to agree with the both of you but I am sure I am not alone when I say sometimes the grief you get in return is just not worth fighting against. I have lost friends (at least I thought they were friends) because of how well I have done with property. Jealousy is a big & powerful beast!!! I am sure if I met any of the people on this forum at a party, we would probably be able to slowly work out what we each do. The sad thing is that you are right that we have a reversed tall poppy syndrome on our hands.
I admit that I am scared of saying what I do because the person I am speaking to might be struggling to pay the household bills & here I am trying to work out how to minimise my land tax bill on my property portfolio. I suppose it is just an issue I need to work on…
Any counsellors on this site – [biggrin]
Hi guys,
Great topic that I think most people who read or reply on this site will have come accross at some point.
I have friends and family who I talk money with and I have friends and family I talk sex drugs and rock & roll with. Sometimes the boundries cross and I find that if people do not understand what you are doing then they are quick to judge you. Water off a ducks back I say.SHOW ME THE MONEY
CATA
Asset Protection Specialist
[email protected]Great topic, love it!!!!
I used to make excuses for being succesful, or at least ATTEMPTING to correct a path that was leading no where.
Nowadays I am confident in myself, for what I have done has been succesful.!!!!So when confronted, I step aside and ask for a piece of paper. Then In write. “The more you do of what youve done, the more youll get of what youve got”
Then I walk away and ask them to think about what is written and will return when my drink is replemished.
The people WORTH talking to will realize that their present situation is not enviable, and here is a person who has seen a fault and made a correction.
Those people who respond positively as opposed to negatively are worth your time, otherwise move onto SPORT.A fine post Dr.X
I find any such comments, as the ones you refer to come from those with some insecurities in their own life. Such comments are also often made without any real knowledge of the facts, they are based off ignorance. I also believe it to be almost impossible to make a great deal of money without helping people. People like Bill Gates and Karl Albrecht create huge amounts of jobs for people. In life we reward those in accordance to their contribution to society, those who are wealthy have a great positive impact on those around them.
You must also consider as to why such people have desire wealth, as very few people simply desire money. They may buy property to fund their retirement, or for charitable reasons, such as Steve Mcknight.
I for one draw great inspiration from Warren Buffett who is worth $US44 billion. Buffett has live nearly all his life in Omaha in the state of Nebraska. In the US the average American has about 20% of their net worth in their house. For Buffett this is the equivolent of owning Iceland and buidling a house on it. Instead Buffett lives in Omaha in a very modest house worth $700 000 (according to appraisal in 2005). Buffett spends very little money, he is the lowest paid CEO of any of the fortune 500 companies, and upon his death all his money will go to charity.
Now an ignorant person could look at Buffett and say “how can this person be so greedy”. Yet their ignorance gives them a completely wrong judgement of the situation.Just tell them that you “work in real estate” for an independant agency/company.
I’m assuming that you’re using the same if not similar structuring with trusts and companies when making your property deals, so aren’t you technically an employee, or even a Director of one of these companies??
You can really tell people anything they want to hear.
Learn, Love, Strive. Make a difference!
Hey Dr. X,
You certainly raised a great topic, and you’ve had a whole bunch of great responses.
Well done. Most of the others have given all of the answers that I could have given, so I’ll just say “Great thread, and similar responses” – one of the best I’ve read here.
Benny
GREAT RESPONSES!!![thumbsupanim]
I just knew that I wasn’t alone in this one. Talking about what we do for a living and money is bound to strikes fear in the heart of many investors. I commend you guys for being proud of what you do and not making other peoples insecurity problems your own.
At the end of the day, unless we are having a conversation with the Dalai Lama or a monk in Tibet, we are likely to be talking with someone that works for money. So why do we feel so bad that we also get paid for what we do?
We have our own business in real estate has been my last response, after explaining that “no we are not agents”, it was taken well, no vicious attacks about chasing money and greedyness. YET!!! So, I’m getting there!!!
Thanks heaps
Xenia
We buy properties in all conditions. Can offer Immediate Cash Settlements, No Real Estate Agents Required
[email protected]
phone 0412 437 582What is it that you do again, Xenia ?….
Only kidding, just trying to stir it up again.I have to agree with Daz and Wayne.
No reason to hide from what you do.
Its not against the law is it ?You will always get the naysayers and doom and gloom merchants, and those with a narrow perspective that respond out of ignorance or envy.
Screen out the positive ppl from the negs in your interactions, and spend as little time with the negs as possible.
They will be detrimental to your success.But seriously, what is it that you do with regard to property ??
A few forumites might be interested in the service..kp
Not rocket science kp, all we do is buy property, value-add and re-sell. Just like all you other guys and gals out there. We use the old trick that in a hot market, if you don’t have a finance clause and offer a quick settlement, our offers get looked at more favourably (sometimes).
What do you do?[biggrin]
Cheers
Xenia
We buy properties in all conditions. Can offer Immediate Cash Settlements, No Real Estate Agents Required
[email protected]
phone 0412 437 582OK I understand.
I thought by the banner under your sig that you were maybe offering a service….Myself ????? mainly buy, subdivide, build, and sell.
Similar to you in that we turnover property and take a profit on a regular basis.Its a bit of a bad habit that I am trying to get away from…( ie…diversify and look at other areas of property investment such as commercial…)
But the current strategy seems to keep the lenders happy in that we are always reducing debt ( before going back and asking for more funds!)
kp
PS….. out of curiousity, where is this ‘hot’ market you are operating in, such that you have to offer ‘cash’ as an inducement / incentive to convince sellers to sell ?
I was of the understanding that most markets for property are steady to luke warm at the mo’
kp
Dr.X,
Great post BTW! I guess I’m fortunate really as I only get this problem very rarely (after all I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left!). But I do think these judgmental people border on the point of being rude. I mean what reply do some people expect? “Ok, I’ll swap property investing with what’s behind door number one?”
I mean, imagine if you’re at a party. The worst thing in the world is when someone says to you ‘what do you do for a living?’ If you’re a comedian (for eg) the next thing they ask you is ‘Cool! Tell me a joke.’ (Pretty unfair on their behalf don’t you think?). I mean, if I went to a party and someone told me they were an accountant, I wouldn’t reply with ‘Cool, can you do my tax?’
Cheers,
Gatsby!“Sometimes the hardest thing to do in life is often the best thing to do.”
Hi Gatsby,
yes I agree, being a real estate investor is not a proffession most people understand. I also find that people that own one negatively geared rental properties also also call themselves investors and think they have something in common with you. Thats, OK, I usually tone my responses down to suit. The biggest problem I have is even before getting to the stage where I explain to people what I do.People that knew me when I was in medical science can’t understand why I left my career to buy real estate, they think I must be greedy or money hungry to do that, they don’t even give me a chance to get into strategies of investing. But as Wayne and Daz mentioned on this thread, Im starting to see it as an insecurity on their part.
KP, I kind of am offering a service, if you have something to sell, I can make you a cash offer and you dont have to go through agents, for sale signs, waiting etc. Provided it fits my criteria. I also have some investor clients that I flip properties to if I dont buy them myself. A few people on this forum have sent properties to me to have a look at.
Although we have offered the asking price and immediate cash settlements before in a hot market just to secure a property (if our due diligence suggests that we can make money on the asking price). Our strategies work better in a cool market, if people have had a property listed with an agent for several months with no results, they come to us and we can offer a private sale, sometimes they end up better off than if they had sold with an agent, if you consider agent fees, advertising etc. I manage to pick up one or two properties a month. not huge compared to some people on this forum, but enough to keep us busy full time.
Cheers
Xenia
We buy properties in all conditions. Can offer Immediate Cash Settlements, No Real Estate Agents Required
[email protected]
phone 0412 437 582Dear Dr X
I got this idea from some motivational tapes by Jim Rohn many years ago.
They are three questions-
Who am I around?
What are they doing to me?
and Is that OK?I find it helps to quota my time and attention towards people and interactions that inspire me, and away from those that don’t.
Congratulations on your successes so far
CheersDear all,
I have a real issue with one of the statements on the list: ‘What’s wrong with being greedy?’, and ‘Is it really that bad to want to be rich?’
I think that sometimes, without meaning to, we can be so caught up by all of the hype around ‘being rich’ as a goal to aspire to that we forget what is really going on.
In some ways, being ‘rich’ could be defined as having more than you need. This by its very nature is exploitive of people who have less than they need.
As an example, if you are a wealthy person who will never work again, why would you not start channelling any more money you make into charitable causes?
There are people dying of starvation all over the world, and yet our latest national epidemic is obesity – does no-one see the inhumanity and ludicrousness of this? Our excesses are causing us problems, so why not give them away rather than being greedy and holding onto them against some intangible rainy day?
In the story that was told in one of the posts about someone’s ignorance in financial matters, I feel this should be a reflection to us that maybe have a little more, about our own ignorance – are we ignorant of humanitarian matters?
I would seriously question the motivation of a person who wants to be ‘rich’. For myself my aim is to be able to retire young, and devote my life to my family and my passions – not to amass more wealth than I will ever use, but to get out of the ‘rat race’ that is so soul destroying, because of the greedy people that exploit others for their own wealth.
With respect,
LukeHi Luke,
Your motives for saying what you have said are certainly well intentioned and to be applauded. There is however, a difference between amassing wealth and being rich. The latter refers to a state rather than simply accumulation of assets/money. It is considered by many as a state of mind, happiness/contentedness etc that comes with having worked hard to achieve something worthwhile over and above wealth. This is when people have freedom rather than just chasing the dollar, and many of these people contribute enormously to the community and society through significant donations and personal time. So in this sense striving to be rich can benefit many.
I’m sure that many people on this forum would love to be in the position where they are rich so they are free from chasing money and free to ehelp others.
Cheers
pr
Hi Luke,
I agree with Peter, that is a good point and one that comes up in my life again and again. Being rich does not mean that you are selfish. I didn’t have enough money to allow me to sponsor children in 3rd world countries when I was a poor student. Now I can!How many poor people do you know that are greedy and selfish? I could name many.
I know many people with loads of accumulated wealth that have not increased their lifestyle to reflect their wealth. True accumulators of wealth “the rich” don’t feel insecure enough to want to wear diamond rings on each finger.
You should read “the millionair next door”. The book made an interesting point, those people driving around in the lastest model sports car, wearing designer label clothes, and living in high end neighbourhoods are not the rich!! Those are poor people in disguise!! And by poor, I mean a poor mentality!
Cheers
Xenia
We buy properties in all conditions. Can offer Immediate Cash Settlements, No Real Estate Agents Required
[email protected]
phone 0412 437 582I always just naively answer the question that has been asked, and ignore the innuendo.
“I’d rather be happy than be rich”
answer -that’s good
“oh so all you do is chase money”
answer -don’t we all
“how many properties do you want,-answer complicated explanation of borrowing against return
isnt that greedy-answer No I think its crazy. It certainly keeps me busy
People are just people. All they are doing is justifying to themselves why they haven’t done the same thing. That’s not your problem.What a fabulous topic!
Unfortunately, we’re all surrounded by people who want to bring us down (ah, yes, the tall poppy syndrome is very alive and well in Australia!)
A couple of years ago, I heard Dolf de Roos say that a person’s income is typically the average of their 5 best friend’s (try it – it’s amazingly true). If you want to raise your income – get different – and wealthier – friends!!!
I’m not trying to be facetious or put people down, however it you mix with successful people you pick up their ideas, learn more, get exposed to their networks (remember, your network equals your net worth), and, best of all, adopt their can-do attitudes. They’re uplifting and fun to be around. I had to put some space between myself and friends in the past, not because I wanted to but because I can’t afford to let their negativity bring me down.
We all have friends – and even family – who want to bring us down. Unfortunately the truth is that the sole reason is jealously. There are some we can put some distance between, there are others we can’t or don’t want to. (I have a family member who tried to poo-poo everything – I’ve jut decided to avoid any conversations that lead in that direction.)
I agree with most – don’t hide what you do. I recently read a quote by Gordon Green (a successful investor) who said “Every Australian owes it to themselves, ther family and their fellow Australians to become as wealthy as they possibly can. Only the rich can contribute and assist the poor” How true! In a crisis (e.g. tsunami) it’s the rich who dig deep to help. Same with you family, if someone need urgent help, your being poor isn’t going to do anyone any favours.
Next time some short-sighted person makes a stupid comment – something like “it allows me to contribute to charity and really help others less fortunate” usually shuts them up!
Thanks for starting this interesting post.
Megan
http//:www.propertyhub.net
From your letter,you have archieved your goals and still more to go.For me,what these people said are irrelevant to what you have accomplished my advice is go and get more money and remember that money is not the most important thing but what you are going to do with the money.By saying that,you understand what I mean you slowly establish time rich and money rich which will allow you to live the life you want.Do not waste your time listening to these people.Go get it girl!!
[biggrin]
stk
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
