No doubt many of you would have spent some time during the Christmas or New Year break contemplating life and where you are going. Its a great time to spend navel gazing. With this in mind, the Auckland Property Investors Association had William Farmer, Managing Director of Dale Carnegie in New Zealand, to speak to members on staying focussed and getting results. It challenged the audience of well over 400 property investors and was an inspirational start to the New Year.
William talked about the essentialness of having a business plan. He asked us to picture someone coming to Auckland without any information and leading a group of people to find the suburb of Henderson. Eventually they would have got there, but how much simpler the task would have been with a map.
Your business plan is that map, however using the above example, many property investors don’t even know that their destination is Henderson. The first stage in a Property Business Plan is a vision of what you want your life to be like. This is a very personal thing and is likely to be specific to you and no-one else. Your vision is the dream that will inspire you to put in the effort that is necessary to reach its achievement. Visions are wonderful to spur you on, however they are not specific enough or focus your efforts. For this you require specific and measurable goals for your property investments that will help you to achieve your vision. Asking yourself what you actually want to achieve from your property investments is a good start to establishing goals.
With goals established, you now know where you are going and your vision establishes why you are gong there. The next question is “How?” and is answered by considering strategies that you can undertake. Will you buy and hold, will you sell a few along the way, will you add value to houses or buy ready to go flats? Will you buy locally or look in a different area? Who will you target as tenants for your property? What skills have you got? What is your current financial situation? So many factors come into the decision on what the best strategy is for you. What is right for you may not be right for someone else. As with most industries, there is no single “right” strategy for you to embark on. However once a strategy has been developed, you now have a clear direction of what you want, why you want it and how your going to get it.
There will be many specific issues that you will need to establish, however the above exercise will focus your attention onto what those specific issues are. There are many great sources of independent help available to help you with your planning. I have written a book called Planning for Property Success, which goes over the issues raised above in more detail and is only $24.95. (see www.PropertyInvestor.Info)
If you would like specific advice, join your local Property Investors Association. They are made up of wonderful people who can be of invaluable help.
If you would like more confidential help then consider contacting someone like myself who provides help to people planning their property businesses and has tools and experience to make the task easier. (see www.PropertyInvestor.Info)
Regardless of what you do, make sure you do something. Planning certainly helps provided you with direction and confidence, but at the end of the day you need to put it into action.
All the best with your investments
