What is the time Mr Wolf?

“What is the time Mr Wolf?”

Well my friend, it’s time for you to learn to tell the time, and buy your own watch.

Many people rely on others to tell them how, why, where, when. They claim to want the knowledge, but the reality is that they want someone to take away the risk, take away the responsibility and to make the decision for them. Why?

Fear.

Just like the game…
What is the time Mr Wolf?

If I’m wearing the watch, I hold the risk. I hold the responsibility, for being wrong or right. If you are wearing the watch, you must tell yourself the time, you must hold responsibility for not losing the watch. What if you get it wrong? Well, it was yours, and so was the risk.

This makes many people afraid. Afraid to make their own decisions, afraid to tell themselves this is the time, just in case they are wrong.

I was in sales for 10 years. In sales there is a term called ‘overcoming objection’s’. This is when a salesperson must overcome all the customers’ objections to buying the product.

For example; the salesperson has heard what the customer requires and has recommended the right product for the customer’s needs. The customer knows that this product is right for them; they have come to buy it. But they object due to fear. Fear of making the wrong decision.

This applies to property investing.

In your own mind, you have fear. You have objections to doing a deal, making an investment, taking the first leap. You need to overcome those objections.

What is stopping you from saying yes, from getting on with the job and committing to getting into a property investment?

In retail the most common objections are, “my husband/wife wont like it” (removing own responsibility), “ I’ve done so much research and I’m sure this is right, but I just don’t know” (analysis paralysis), “what if something better comes along  tomorrow?” – Not having a clear unemotional handle on the excellent deal that’s right there, otherwise known as ‘the grass might be greener’ objection.

Then there are objections on price. “I mean this looks great, but why would I buy this over the cheaper one?” Well, why would you buy a more expensive investment over a cheaper one? Better yield, better capital growth historically, it may suit your personal needs more; you don’t always buy on price.

There comes a point in the cycle of investment. You’ve asked everyone you know, and probably a few you don’t, about the deal. You’ve run the numbers, on this deal, on hundreds of deals now it seems. The strategy is sound, the numbers don’t lie. You need to make the step.

No one can absolve you of the risk; of the responsibility and at the end the reward is all yours. When you have the finer points of your chosen strategy firmly fixed in your mind, you take away part of the risk. When you have the real numbers firmly fixed in your mind, on paper, you take away another part of the risk. You will still have plenty of risk. You are still the responsible person. You call the shots.

You are in charge of your life.

Will you choose to remove your personal responsibility by using a life partner or family as an excuse? Or will you set out to prove to them that you do understand this investment inside and out and explain to them not only the features, but how this will benefit your lives into the future.

Will you analyse investments to inconclusive ends and pursue dead end deals, and paralyse yourself with fear? Or will you understand that there is a finite amount of data you can collect and that eventually you will have to act and to make a decision.

Will you miss the perfectly good deal that is right in front of you by lacking the confidence to understand when a deal is right? Or will you value your own opinion and your reason and understand yourself enough to know the right investment for you and your situation.

Whether you make the right decision or not, it is you who must make that decision.

Property investing is about knowing the investment inside and out. It’s also about knowing yourself, and about telling yourself when the time is right.

Dianna Wolfe is a passionate property developer and renovator. She and her husband, Lee, run their property development and home staging company, Red Door Residential, in the metro area of Melbourne. To find out more about Dianna Wolfe or the home staging services Red Door Residential provide you can check out their website, www.reddoor.net.au

By Steve McKnight

Steve McKnight, the founder of PropertyInvesting.com, is a respected property investing authority as well as Australia's #1 best-selling business author.