Perhaps the wealthy achieve their success because they have been taught the perils of neglecting the basics. Many people , for instance, may harbor the misconception that successful investors are just very lucky or that they have been blessed with an innate knowledge about dealing with money.
This just isn’t the case.
What the wealthy do differently from other people, and what every successful property investor does, is prepare. The successful property investor does his homework.
“The ABCs of Property Investing” author Ken McElroy relates a story about a client of his that became a client only after turning his investment into an utter disaster. McElroy and his company manage properties for investors. In the best case scenario, a property owner will hire a property management firm immediately, as opposed to taking a stab at managing his property from a distance. That is what this investor tried to do, and he quickly found out that the time commitment to manage his own property was unreasonable.
This was not his only error. In addition, he had neglected even to visit his investment property prior to buying it, and as a result he had no idea it was filled with criminals and deadbeats. He had neglected to engage a team of real estate experts who would’ve gladly told him to steer clear of that neighborhood, which was also filled with criminals. It was not a good area, and he should’ve known to steer clear of it. He could, however, have avoided it easily if had he only done his research.
It’s easy to imagine the enormous amount of money he spent rehabilitating the property—an expense he could’ve spared himself just by hiring the real estate experts he needed. There wasn’t any way to fix the neighborhood in which the property was located; therefore, the property didn’t have the potential to fetch top-dollar rent.
More often than not, the wise investor can’t afford NOT to employ a team of experts.
Wealthy investors are also possessed of an amazing degree of focus. That’s the reason they are wealthy. They decide on their target and they narrow their scope until they are looking at one piece of property. They already know what type of investment property they are interested in. In fact, they may make a specialty of hotels or apartment buildings or another type of property. They always keep in mind the locations that they’re interested in and the age of buildings they’re willing to look at.
In the event that their preferred neighborhood doesn’t yield anything that interests them, they try the next best, and so on. But they always keep in mind the acceptable parameters.
One important thing being rich teaches people is that money opens many doors. They know you do not have to wait until a For Sale sign goes up in order to make a purchase. If a potential buyer surprises the current owner of a piece of property with an offer, it is often possible to get a great price on a piece of property that is not actually up for sale. And there aren’t any competitors to drive up the price.
The rich do appear to reside in another world. For them, funds are not scarce. They will not break a sweat in the event that a deal doesn’t go through, as they know another is right around the bend. A person who is seeking to improve his life significantly by investing may be afraid to let a deal get away.
McElroy suggests that it is best to be aloof, and to work under the assumption that every negotiation will result in the potential buyer leaving the table. The vast majority of deals just are not deals, he said. The savvy investor understands that it is dangerous to become attached to the idea of closing the deal.
Successful investors are aware of this stuff, not because it is innate information, but because they have been educated on the subject, or else they’ve made the effort to educate themselves. Anyone can potentially learn to invest like the rich. It just takes research and practice.
Perhaps the wealthy achieve their success because they have been taught the perils of neglecting the basics. Many people , for instance, may harbor the misconception that successful investors are just very lucky or that they have been blessed with an innate knowledge about dealing with money.
This just isn’t the case.
What the wealthy do differently from other people, and what every successful property investor does, is prepare. The successful property investor does his homework.
“The ABCs of Property Investing” author Ken McElroy relates a story about a client of his that became a client only after turning his investment into an utter disaster. McElroy and his company manage properties for investors. In the best case scenario, a property owner will hire a property management firm immediately, as opposed to taking a stab at managing his property from a distance. That is what this investor tried to do, and he quickly found out that the time commitment to manage his own property was unreasonable.
This was not his only error. In addition, he had neglected even to visit his investment property prior to buying it, and as a result he had no idea it was filled with criminals and deadbeats. He had neglected to engage a team of real estate experts who would’ve gladly told him to steer clear of that neighborhood, which was also filled with criminals. It was not a good area, and he should’ve known to steer clear of it. He could, however, have avoided it easily if had he only done his research.
It’s easy to imagine the enormous amount of money he spent rehabilitating the property—an expense he could’ve spared himself just by hiring the real estate experts he needed. There wasn’t any way to fix the neighborhood in which the property was located; therefore, the property didn’t have the potential to fetch top-dollar rent.
More often than not, the wise investor can’t afford NOT to employ a team of experts.
Wealthy investors are also possessed of an amazing degree of focus. That’s the reason they are wealthy. They decide on their target and they narrow their scope until they are looking at one piece of property. They already know what type of investment property they are interested in. In fact, they may make a specialty of hotels or apartment buildings or another type of property. They always keep in mind the locations that they’re interested in and the age of buildings they’re willing to look at.
In the event that their preferred neighborhood doesn’t yield anything that interests them, they try the next best, and so on. But they always keep in mind the acceptable parameters.
One important thing being rich teaches people is that money opens many doors. They know you do not have to wait until a For Sale sign goes up in order to make a purchase. If a potential buyer surprises the current owner of a piece of property with an offer, it is often possible to get a great price on a piece of property that is not actually up for sale. And there aren’t any competitors to drive up the price.
The rich do appear to reside in another world. For them, funds are not scarce. They will not break a sweat in the event that a deal doesn’t go through, as they know another is right around the bend. A person who is seeking to improve his life significantly by investing may be afraid to let a deal get away.
McElroy suggests that it is best to be aloof, and to work under the assumption that every negotiation will result in the potential buyer leaving the table. The vast majority of deals just are not deals, he said. The savvy investor understands that it is dangerous to become attached to the idea of closing the deal.
Successful investors are aware of this stuff, not because it is innate information, but because they have been educated on the subject, or else they’ve made the effort to educate themselves. Anyone can potentially learn to invest like the rich. It just takes research and practice.
When you have a picky, sophisticated style, it can be difficult to decorate your home. Learning to appreciate the little things will keep you in the loop with life and loving your home, sophisticated or not.
Decorating your home can be difficult. We all know that. But if you’re one of those people that has a slightly sophisticated taste, if you yourself may not be a sophisticated person, decorating your home can be a veritable nightmare.
As a Home Decorating Sophisticate, or HDS as it were, you have a refined taste in furniture, flooring, sashes, throw pillows, drapery, rugs, lighting, hanging artwork and pretty much everything else that comes through your line of vision. You can sense imbalance in your sleep and your aura blends with Zen decorating on an ultimately frightening level.
Never fear, though. You don’t have to go to a professional decorator to get the look you want and can be happy with for your home-which is great because with your picky style, a professional decorator would be a complete waste of thousands of dollars.
First things first. Learn to appreciate imbalance and make it work with your extreme sense of balance. When you’re learning to appreciate the simple things in life, the sophisticated side of you can break lose and make it difficult. One of the most important things a sophisticate must know when trying to decorate a home for reality is that there can never be perfect balance in everything. Life may be about learning achieve balance, but if you have kids, or a life that moves with the speed of the world, there’s bound to be an occasional dirty sock on the floor, traffic marks and hand smudges on your walls. Decorate to suit those needs.
You may need to purchase an area rug to cover the places where people walk the most. Oriental rugs are perfect for parlors, living rooms and dining rooms as well as any other place your sophisticated little heart needs to put one. In outdoor spaces or sunrooms a well made bamboo area rug or seagrass area rug can be an excellent addition to your motif. Remember though, that an area rug is more than just a way to cover up the little imperfections that send your sophistication radar blaring up a storm. An area rug is a way to bring warmth and life into your otherwise over-perfected home.
But don’t think that it’s only about area rugs and covering things up that you don’t want to see. Decorating as a sophisticate is also about learning to appreciate the macaroni and glitter jewelry box your daughter made enough to proudly display it next to the Faberge egg knock off your grandmother left you.
Remind yourself everyday that sophistication is less important than the little things in life. As a sophisticate you can always have a beautiful home that you love. But it is so few and far between that a sophisticate can have both a beloved home and home that’s full of love.
It’s not easy to have a sophisticated home that is also full of life and ready for reality. Give life a change and you may find it’s more sophisticated than you thought.
