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Building Your Blueprint for Real Estate Success

When your goals aren’t focused, they don’t constitute a strategy – they’re more of a mission statement or a vision for leadership. To experience investing real estate success you need a blueprint to keep you on the straight and narrow; without it your dreams of investment wealth can quickly fall short.

So what exactly am I talking about? Certainly not a treasure map leading to a goldmine of opportunities, nor is it a specific outline of success steps to be followed precisely. In this case, your real estate investing blueprint is a personal design for success based upon listening to your instincts and making smart decisions based on the tried-and-true techniques you gather like pearls along your way.

Let’s take a look at some of the elements involved with assembling a strong core foundation to build your business on:

Find Your Edge and Keep It!

Real estate is a complex and ever-changing market, and it takes flexibility, vigilance and a big helping of optimism to carve out and maintain a steady investing career. Find a specific niche in your local region and become the source for knowledge. Stay abreast of changes in the market, and in the world.

It’s really important that, after all your hard work, you don’t just fall into complacency  – there is always someone, somewhere who will make a move if you don’t. Many real estate professionals (agents and investors alike) have found themselves left in the dust when inquisitive, confident forward-thinkers have marched past them to embrace new ideas.

One of the most striking examples of this was during the housing crisis of 2007-2010, when daring investor entrepreneurs dug in and outwitted traditional brokers who watched in disbelief as the recession spread like fire across our nation. We needed a new blueprint – and passionate trailblazers who could see through the all the smoke, and mirrors. And luckily for our country, they appeared and challenged the set-in-stone real estate industry to change its ways.

Take Action when it’s Needed

Much too often people will put so much time into weighing their options that they fall into ‘analysis paralysis’ and end up missing the boat altogether. It’s not a bad thing to ponder on a decision, just don’t get so caught up in the details that you never act. Take a look at the pros and cons of the situation, considering where you are and where you want to be.

Pay attention to red flags and trust your instincts. Breathe in, breathe out, then make a move. What’s the worst that can happen? Mistakes are part of the learning process, and when you try too hard to constantly avoid making them it can give you anxiety; and pressure isn’t going to bring out your best behavior or your wisest choices.

Turn things around by transforming the negative into a positive. Draw a picture; visualizing an issue will inject your right brain creativity into all that left brain logic. Interrupt your regular problem solving method by doing something physical that is new and challenging; it will boost your confidence, and your endorphins.

Too Much of a Good Thing, is Bad

It’s easy to fall into a familiar and well-worn rut, and you could end up losing your shirt in the process. It’s critical to diversify your portfolio so that you are not just producing cash flow, but more importantly building capital. Temper your buy and hold income property acquisitions so you aren’t putting all your eggs in one basket. Though it’s seductive to have a nice positive cash flow (rental cash on cash return may be as high as 15-20%), property management is risky business – not to mention that you’re sitting on a lot of mortgage debt.

Investment real estate success requires growing capital first and cash flow second, and if you lose sight of this rule-of-thumb you’ll be selling yourself short of what’s possible to achieve. Don’t forget that things can change on a dime – and  the repetitive strategy of amassing as many rentals as you can put your hands on is exactly what bankrupted a great many investors during the housing crisis.

Diversity for Best Real Estate Success

Not only is there more to real estate success as an investor than becoming a landlord, there are actually 3 different niches open to you in the current market. When you diversify your interests it allows you to ‘pad your corners’ by generating income from private lending and rentals, while simultaneously growing your capital with profits from wholesaling or flipping fixer uppers.

First, you have the ever-popular Wholesaling niche. It takes great timing – as you learn how to buy low, and sell low – while developing the ability to build and nurture relationships with area cash buyers (or work with assistants who can). Second, would be the Fix and Flip homes – mostly found on the MLS or for sale by owner (FSBO) – which you buy low and sell for retail. Using  other people’s money (OPM) gives you more control over the transaction and higher profits are earned by both you and your financier.

Third, and the most alluring of the group, is Passive Income – because who wouldn’t want to collect money every month for little to no effort? Besides rental properties (buy and hold), you can also buy and sell notes. The benefits are several; appreciation, cash flow, high return on investment (ROI), tax benefits, and potential retirement income.

One of the most beneficial things you can do as an aspiring real estate investment professional is to learn from someone who has already made their way through the quagmire and come out successfully on the bright side of this business. And now, you don’t have to go it alone!

Mentorship with Laura Alamery

By providing everything from personalized
group and private Coaching and a
treasure trove of online REI Courses
to plentiful Live Events and virtual Webinars,
Laura teaches the strategies which
she has perfected from nearly 30 years of experience!
The success of Laura’s students is a testament
to her passion for empowering others.