Guided by this basic information that you’ve taken in, the logical questions become, What’s Next? How should I move forward, where should I begin?
It can seem overwhelming with so many options and directions that your real estate investing and wealth building journey can take. To answer the question of “what’s next”, it’s time to look inward and ask yourself a number of questions about you and your personal goals. This is your personal journey, and the path must be defined by where you are now, where you want to be in one year, five years, and beyond.
Factors to Consider When Planning Your Real Estate Investing Approach
What are Your Objectives and Needs?
- Do I need immediate income and cash flow from my investing to live on?
- Do I have the desire to be heavily involved on a daily basis, or would I prefer to let others do most of the work?
- Am I seeking a replacement of my current standard of living, or am I looking to significant grow wealth, to get to a point where money is not a concern or factor in how I choose to live day to day?
And finally, what resources and skills do you have now that you can bring to the table today?
Your answers to these important questions will determine where you should invest your time, effort and financial resources.
Honestly Evaluate What You Have and Bring to the Table
Start with these questions: about your resources, skills and abilities:
- Do I have financial resources, money that is readily available to invest in real estate?
- How much time do I have available to focus on investing, managing properties, finding deals, negotiating with sellers, buyers, real estate agents, etc.?
- Do I already have skills that can be applied to the real estate investing business?
Such skills might include:- Expertise in trades (plumbing, electrical, etc.) or construction and carpentry skills to rehab properties.
- Management skills that will allow me to effectively oversee and manage the work of others.
- Negotiation skills to develop and get agreement on deals that are a win/win for all involved.
- Relationship building and maintaining to find, develop and align a success team for your business so that you have support in achieving your goals and fill areas of skills gap.
- Strategic thinking and planning – the ability plan and then execute on many interdependent tasks
- Property Management skills – Have I ever managed properties and tenants? These can be skills that you’ve already done within the realm of property and real estate, or they might be skills that are transferable from previous experience that you have and include both management skills and relationship building noted above.
Armed with answers to these questions, you are ready to start evaluating and considering specific investing strategies and planning your next steps.