What If You Took More Action and Worried Less | Success in Real Estate Investing

Your success in real estate investing is in direct proportion to the action you take. Have you ever noticed some people are buying all sorts of investment opportunity while you see others who struggle to find a decent property? (Perhaps, this may be you). Why is it some investors buy quickly and repeatedly while others never seem to make an investment purchase?

“Why do they always find the great deals” is a question I hear all the time. Often what differentiates the investors is simply the action they take. I work with and interact with investors every day. It is very easy to suddenly identify 3 types of investors.

The Action Takers:

Commonly known as the people who believe is the concept of Ready, Aim, Fire.

These are seasoned investors who understand that taking action is the key to making it big in any aspect of life, whether it is real estate investing, buying a car or deciding where to take a vacation. These people tend to be quick decision makers. They just want a quick overview and a quick look at the diligence and they are ready to fire (take action). These action takers realize that success is derived from the act of taking action. Every time they take action they make progress. If the results are not 100% where they want them to be then they can re-aim. This strategy of taking action (firing) allows them to quickly assess their aim and adjust accordingly.

The Curiously Cautious:

These tend to be both new and repeat investors. These people like to do their diligence and calculating in their decision making process. They do their diligence and after weighing out the good and the bad they take action.

The Always Getting Prepared to Get Ready:

These people want to check virtually everything they can look into. Then they want to talk to their friends and family and then check out another market and then another property. Wait maybe this place is better, wait maybe this location is better, wait maybe I should invest in oil, no gold, yes I think gold, What? There is a new start up business promising great returns, yes let’s hear more about that.

It is unfortunate but a very large percentage of people actually suffer from this analysis paralysis. The good thing is also the bad thing. On one hand there is so much internet information available today that you can find information for everything. The flip side is also true.

There is so much information that it can actually paralyze you. I have seen people over the past 2 years miss the best investment buying opportunity of their lifetime because they simply are not yet done doing their diligence. They want to see more statistics and talk to more people who have made money investing and attend one more seminar.

A $45,000 Education

Attending a real estate conference about 10 years ago I sat next to a fellow seminar attendee at lunch. He was a semi- retired bus driver for Disney. He aspired to invest in real estate so he would have himself a nice retirement. During lunch I learned he attends many seminars and has purchased every real estate magazine, audio tape and course imaginable. He simply wanted to identify which one of these strategies was the best for him. The sad part is he spent three years and $45,000 and is no closer to purchasing now than before he started. He is one of those people who are always preparing to get ready and unfortunately never really makes an investment.

Learning is Great but Make Some Money Too

I have found that the number one reason people fail to take action is that they do not have a clear picture of what that action is that they want to take action on. To avoid the analysis paralysis cycle it is imperative to set a clear (written) set of goals that you want to accomplish. What will you buy? Single family homes or multi-family homes, you should also have a clear understanding of why you made that choice and what are the realistic returns you wish to get from these investments.

When an investor has a clear set of objectives and understands why they have made those choices they are more apt to stick to the objective. With these clearly defined objectives, an investor is less likely to stray into the analysis paralysis and move into the purposeful investing.

Want to escape ANALYSIS PARALYSIS of real estate investing? Check out our free resource, Real Estate Investing Plan Worksheet. Just getting your thoughts on paper can actually stop the "getting ready" and start the "getting going"!