What is a property investment strategy?
A property investment strategy is the approach you take to build your wealth through property investment.
For someone who’s just come into the idea of investing, where do you start?
The first place to start, is to understand what it is that you want to achieve. It’s no different from getting a taxi, the first thing you do is tell the driver where you want to go. From there, it is fundamental that you apply a strategy that is proven to work and that you understand what it will require to get you where you want to be.
For the first time investor, starting at the beginning, what is the best thing they can do?
There’s so much to learn about property investing that you can’t just start at the beginning and wait to build up your knowledge. It will take you years and years. The market is not waiting for anyone and it will continue to increase. So, what I find to be the best way to start is to find people who have done it extensively and pick their brains to really fast-track your education. From there you need to not hold back on taking action, noone is going to be an expert on their first investment property. It’s a matter of following a process that has worked for others in the past and applying it.
So, you’ve picked the brains of a few mentors. Where to from there?
It’s fundamental to understand what you’re capable of from a borrowing perspective. So, understanding your financial position and how much a bank will loan you because that will determine the type of properties that you can start looking at. You always want to make sure that you’ve done your due diligence on your borrowing capacity so your not committing to property that is more than what you can get finance for.
In that regard, what about dealing with setbacks? Just say you get rejected for finance?
Embrace them, life is full of hurdles. You’re always going to have setbacks. The financial rewards of an investment property are amazing and the journey is not without hurdles and u-turns. Embrace setbacks and understand that it is just the next step forward on your journey. Continue to learn about the lending landscape, continue to move forward and continue learn from any mistakes that you or those around you encounter on your investment journey.
Should you expect setbacks?
Yes. Expect setbacks and expect that things won’t be easy arund finance. There’s no doubt that right now, finance is the hardest part of the journey, it’s the most daunting for most people. It’s the part where using external expertise can really help you navigate the lending landscape and find areas where you can move forward where others can’t.
How important are goals in an investment journey?
Fundamental, there’s no point starting without them. You can’t kick the footy straight if you don’t know where your aiming.
Can you ever deviate from a property investment strategy?
Ideally not, if you understand why you’re following the approach you are when you start. Having said that, people come across information at different points in their journey. The only time I would suggest reviewing your investment strategy is if things aren’t working for you. If you realise that the strategy you’re applying is inconsistent with goals you want to achieve or you find that a property is underperforming and doesn’t have good medium term prospects, it may be better to offload that property and move into something that is likely to reach those goals.
