First Rental Property

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well.

As a new real estate investor, you may not yet understand the importance of associating yourself with goal oriented and like minded people.

Doing this is absolutely critical to ensuring your success as a real estate investor.

Fellow Canadian Real Estate Investors and Bloggers Tom and Nick Karadza have done a lot of reading on the topics of real estate and business.  They have a number of great recommended readings over at their Rock Star Inner Circle Blog. A number of books that they recommend discuss the importance of associating yourself with goal oriented and like minded people.  In addition, topics such as ‘accountability partners’ are discussed in some of these books.

We will now dive into today’s blog post, as I will discuss with you 3 reasons why you need an accountability partner…

The First Reason you need an accountability partner…

Real Estate investors are an entrepreneurial lot.  As entrepreneurs, we all personally hold ourselves accountable in different ways.  Some of us are very good at being accountable, and some of us are not very good at being accountable.

From my observation of real estate investors, I believe that most lack an ability to keep themselves accountable.

Due to the fact that most of us have a poor ability of keeping ourselves accountable, we need all the help we can get with this.

Therefore, the first reason you need an accountability partner is because your partner will keep you on track. When you are on track, you stay focused on your goals.  Due to this rediscovered focus you are able to complete tasks and accomplish goals more rapidly than you would have been able to, had you not been matched up with your accountability partner.

The Second Reason Why you need an accountability partner…

A good accountability partner can be a great help.  Not only can this person help us, they can also serve as a gauge as we measure our own success in comparison to our partner’s.

For example, you may have two individuals acting as accountability knockoff richard mille rm 52 02 partners for one another.  The first partner, let’s call him Sanjay, owns 3 rental properties.  The second partner, let’s call him Frank, has not bought his first rental property yet.

As Frank and Sanjay engage in their discussions as accountability partners, Sanjay’s experience in purchasing 3 rental properties can prove to be a great help for Frank.

Frank can try to reproduce Sanjay’s success, by purchasing his own rental property.

No one really likes to be left behind.  As such, Frank can use Sanjay’s success as a motivator in order to push him closer to the goal of owning his first rental property.

The Third Reason Why you need an accountability partner…

An accountability partner will help you to become smarter.  Each person in a 2 person accountability partner relationship has different strengths.

For instance, one partner may be great at raising joint venture money, while the other partner might be great at building a strong real estate team.

Because of the different skills sets that you and your partner have, you can easily learn from one another.  With dedication and commitment, you can learn from your partner and become better at tasks that perhaps you were previously not very good at.  Since you will now be better at tasks that you were once not very good at, your level of overall intelligence and general knowledge will have increased!

So in summary, the 3 reasons why you need an accountability partner are as follows:

• Your partner will keep you on track. When you are on track, you stay focused on your goals.
• They can also serve as a gauge as we measure our own success in comparison to the success of our partner.
  
• An accountability partner will help you to become smarter.

Best Regards,

Neil Uttamsingh

PS: To keep up to date with my blog, enter your e-mail address on the LEFT hand side of the blog.  To receive The First Rental Property Newsletter, enter your e-mail address on the RIGHT hand side of the blog.  In The First Rental Property Newsletter, experienced real estate investors will share with you how they bought their first rental property.  They will also share with you some ‘tips’ and ‘tricks’ to help you buy your first rental property.

If you talk to any experienced real estate investor about their path to ’success’, chances are that they will share that their journey was not a smooth one.

At the end of the day, when you remove all of the B.S., real estate investment is not a walk in the park. It can be stressful at times, and many experienced investor reaches the point where they consider throwing in the towel, and giving up all together.

I have considered giving up once. It was at this time that I was considering selling all of the real estate assets and going back to school. Looking back, I am glad that I chose to stick with real estate investing because, this is really what I am interested in and what I like to do.

With investing, since the road is not always a smooth one, I have included some tips on how to stay motivated in the real estate investment game. These are all tips that I personally practice. As time goes on, I am sure that this list may very well expand. For now, here are some of the ways one can keep motivated, and thus continue to stay invested in real estate.

1) Surround Yourself with Like Minded People

There is no better way than to stay motivated. When you align yourself with people with common goals, this encourages you to stay the course with your own goals. Comparing notes with people with a similar vision makes you feel that you are not alone. Conversations with like minded people often help to recharge your batteries and give you enough energy to keep on moving forward.

This past Sunday I had a real estate meeting scheduled with some fellow real estate investors. I didn’t really feel like going as it was dark outside, and the weather has just changed as the winter is upon us here (December 2009). This was problematic for me as I am not a fan of the Winter or cold weather. Despite the outdoor climate, I knew that I had to go to the meeting. I know that if I did, I would feel better and more motivated after my meeting. As such, I bit the bullet and went to my meeting. I spent some time talking to investors who were using the same investment strategy that I currently am using (rent to own). After my conversation with them, I felt so much better, and I had increased confidence and reassurance that I was on the right track.

When you surround yourself with like minded people, they will charge your batteries. They will give you the energy you need in order to keep on moving forward.

2) Surround Yourself with Action Takers

Action takers and Like minded people are not one and the same. There is a big difference between the two. Like minded people may believe in the same things that you believe in. For example, that real estate investment is a good way to generate monthly cash flow. However, action takers are the ones who are not only talking about the benefits of monthly cash flow, however, they are implementing things and actually DOING something. They are the ones that are buying properties, and leading by example. Action Takers are powerful people to be associated with. Their actions rub off on you and force you yourself to take action.
A friend of mine is a big time action taker. This year he, and his joint venture partner have purchased 11 properties. He is an inspiration to be around because he has such positive energy. This positive energy is no doubt a result of his recent success with all of his purchases. As human beings we often compare ourselves to other people. Comparing yourself with an action taker is a good thing, because if they are taking action and you are not, you will want to take action as well, just like them.

3) Read as much as you can about real estate investment

The more you read about real estate investment, the smarter you will become on the topic. Being smart is important because smart people can find solutions for problems. As well, smart people can come up with creative ways of solving different problems. Not only that, but knowledge is power. The more you know the better.

For example, I was recently reading about a real estate investment strategy called RRSP second mortgages. It is an interesting strategy which allows a real estate investor to utilize RRSPs as a second mortgage on an investment property. With my initial reading, I had discovered that this strategy was only permitted as an Arms Length transaction, which means that the 2 individuals involved (Real estate investor and RRSP lender) cannot be blood related. This discovery posed some problems for me, as I was looking to implement this strategy with family members.
I was not content with my findings, so I continued to read further on this topic. After further reading, I came across some information that confirmed that the RRSP second mortgage strategy was in fact allowable between blood related people. This was a big breakthrough for me, as this discovery will potentially lead to 3 or 4 new investment properties in 2010.
If I did not continue to read more on this topic, I would not have found this solution. Reading about real estate investment is powerful because it allows you to gain more knowledge. Knowledge creates options.