You either make money or you make excuses, you can’t do both

Have you ever had a dream? We’ve had a number of BIG dreams, the key one being the desire to build our home in Sydney Australia, that was almost impossible to achieve when starting out , if the usual doom and gloom of Gen Y being priced out of the Sydney property market are to go by – the median house price last weekend was close to $1.2 million dollars! The dream was driven by the challenges we had when we came to Australia, in high school, in year 2000. It came down to having a BIG “WHY” we wanted to get to our goal – the “HOW” worked itself out. It takes discomfort so at all points in time, we like a little discomfort to keep growing and doing better every time.

We often talk to aspiring property investors. Many have big goals – such as building “x million” real estate portfolios or buying 101 properties. However, only a fraction take action and only a few are able to get past the hesitation of jumping in the water and getting “wet”. Though the majority are focused on saving a few hundred dollars either on a) fees b) interest rates or c) land tax, instead of positioning themselves to making a few hundred thousand or millions through real estate, which is a long term game.

Let’s put it this way, as you may have read in our Cover Story in the Australian Property Investor (API) magazine that two of our purchases at the start of the Sydney boom were purchased using secured credit cards paving way for the deposits and stamp duty. We paid 5.6%+ interest rates when everybody else was paying 4.5%. The properties have grown 60% in 3 years; i.e. we were paying the extra 1% plus in interest repayments for a few years till we refinanced. Was it really worth it? Hundred percent! Had we been counting every fee that was deducted or the extra interest repayments, we wouldn’t have built a solid real estate portfolio which is positively geared and has been growing well over the last couple of years. Property investment is a business. Fees, interest repayments and land tax are costs of doing business. Naturally property doesn’t grow in a straight line and there are peaks and troughs, we can safely say, taking ACTION was and is worth it.

It’s important to remember that property is only a “vehicle” to access “finance”. If you can’t access finance, the game is effectively over. There is no other asset class that allows you to similarly leverage “other people’s money” (OPM). By the way, while you read this, it may well be your money that’s sitting in the deposit account that the banks are lending forward to the investors with a true GOAL and commitment to building a portfolio, while your cash loses value with inflation – not today, not tomorrow, but in the next 5 years, 10 years or 20 years, what will be the true cost? Same applies to your home – you may have lazy equity sitting in your home – how are you making it work for you?

Look at it this way….

If you could keep $500k in one property [Scenario A] or build a $2 million portfolio [Scenario B]- which would you choose and WHY? Naturally, with a larger portfolio you will have greater costs in both interest and package fees.

Provided you had the ability to buy in a market that offers decent returns (neutral cash flow to enable little impact on your lifestyle), and that you buy in an area with strong fundamentals… What’s the cost of not taking action to YOU?

Scenario A: Your $500k property increases by 10%, you make $50k in equity

Scenario B: Your $2 million property portfolio increases by 10% you make $200k in equity

Ten percent growth is conservative if you buy in a recovering to a rising market. What if there is 50% capital growth over the next 3 years? If you chose scenario A, you’ve saved the hypothetical $1000 or $2000 in the fees / interest per annum, but you’ve just lost the opportunity to gain $1 million in capital growth.  It’s scary!

What if you could build a $3 million portfolio? What will be the cost of non action and rationalisation behind the fear? You may not be able to see this now, but you will in hindsight.

It’s easy to do and easy not to do. Easy, because, if you have a goal big enough, you will find a way to make it happen. Easy not to do, because, while you continue finding justifications against taking action, to have enough resolve to STAND BY YOUR OWN SIDE, BACK YOUR OWN FINANCIAL FUTURE, you are putting YOUR family’s Financial Future at risk and dependent on Superannuation.

Your comfort zone is the enemy. You don’t grow there. You either make money or you are busy making excuses as to why your vision / goal / dream is not possible. You cannot do both. Focusing on the bigger picture yields results. Focusing on the minute details is perfectionism and procrastination i.e. an expensive lesson.

Dream BIG. GO make it happen for YOU. PRIORITISE your family’s financial future!

Note: Property doesn’t always go up in value. It depends on where you are buying, at what time in the cycle you’re buying and on the supply and demand factors.

To Get Started: Schedule A Chat with the Property Twins Team
Join Our Exclusive Facebook Community of 6,000+ Property Investors: Property Addicts Australia
Join our Exclusive Search & Select The Right Property in 90 Days 5-Day challenge

Note: Please ensure you always seek specific specific credit, tax, financial, legal or investment advice. Property Twins' Blogs are not a substitute for personal and specific, taxation, financial, legal or investment advice