Are You Taking Responsibility For Your Property Investing?

By taking complete and utter responsibility for your property investing you can learn from your mistakes quicker and achieve your goals faster than you would otherwise.

Hey guys, Ryan here from On Property and I just want to create a quick episode to talk about a big issue that I see with a lot of people who are investing in property. And this is a big mistake that I see a lot of people are making that does not move them towards their financial goals, towards their dreams of financial freedom and success in life, and that is this issue of taking 100% responsibility for the performance of your property portfolio even when you get screwed over by someone else.

So I want to talk a lot about this in 2016 because I think as people rise up and as people take full responsibility even if things are not their fault then they are going to actually move forward towards their dreams. So I want to try and keep things in perspective for you and I really want to try and encourage you as you go about this property investing journey that I hope you take this lesson with you and that you take it to heart.

And so I guess before I get into talking about that, I do think that one of the most important things when it comes to investing in property is to actually have a goal, have something that you are working towards that is specific, that is definable and you can say when you reach it, “Yeah, I have achieved it.” And a lot of people go into property, they invest in property, they get drawn in by someone promising they are going to make money or promising capital growth or whatever it may be.

Maybe they want to get rich or they want to quit their job in the next 12 months, they get drawn into property without a specific goal in mind. And so I really encourage you before we get into discussions about taking responsibility is to just be aware of what you actually want and just take a second, it does not have to be long; just take a second to just sit down and say, “Okay, what do I want to get out of my property portfolio? What do I want to earn?” And let us be realistic, you are not Richard Branson.

You are not going to earn a billion dollars unless you are willing to work seriously hard, do a lot of sacrifices and think severely out of the box. So billion dollars, probably out of the question, but just think what do I need to be happy? What do I need to live the life the way that I want to live. And I just encourage you, if you do not know what that figure is just look at how much you are earning in your job right now and just make it that figure and just say, “I want to replace my income from my job because that then frees me up.

I can quit my job and join the circus if I want or I could do whatever I want because my income has been replaced.” And that is really the first step on the journey towards the life that you want because once you have separated yourself from having to work, well then you can explore the things that you would like to be doing, businesses that you would like to be starting or jobs you would like to be working in.

It gives you the freedom to change careers without any repercussions because you have an income. And so firstly, when it comes to investing in property, try and have a goal. Try and have something that you are working towards so you know if you are making progress and you know what you are making progress towards and when you reach it you can say, “Great I have reached it,” and then you can celebrate and then say, “Now, what’s next?”

So onto the issue that I have and I wish I could convey this like I hear it in my head, and this is my first attempt at doing it so please bear with me. But what I see happening to a lot of people – there are a lot of property spruikers out there. We know that there are out there, there are a lot of people selling new developments that are overpriced properties, and they are selling them to uneducated investors by promising the investors capital growth of x percent per year or they will use some sort of draw card to get people in, “Pay off your home in  7 years instead of 30,” or they will talk about how there is great depreciation benefits so you do not pay as much tax on your income.

There are a hundred different ways to market these properties, but know that of all the new build properties out there – I think it is something like 80% of those properties, are sold through property marketers who are getting a large commission on that sale.

A lot of those properties are overpriced properties for the area and in a lot of cases you could potentially be better off just buying an existing property in the area if you really want to invest in that area and you really think that it is going to grow. So what happens is, there are a lot of property spruikers, there are a lot of people who are selling these overpriced properties to people and even if the area does grow, the person has already overpaid for the property so it takes a couple of years or if not, more to make your money back. And then what we see in some areas especially like these hot spot mining towns and stuff like that, are these over-inflated properties prop up the market and then as soon as the growth stops or as soon as there are no more developments being listed, then we can see prices plummet and people lose a lot of money.

I get a lot of comments on my blog every single day about how people are being screwed over by XYZ company and how those people are just absolute spruikers. They are bastards, stealing their money and how do they sleep at night. And look I have the same concerns. How do they sleep at night doing what they are doing and that is part of the reason I run On Property and continue to run it because I am so passionate about you guys and helping you guys make good financial decisions. So you can go on and live the life that you want. I do not want someone to steal $50,000 or $100,000 from you.

It is going to take you another 5 years of working a job that you hate to begin to do what you love and to actually make the positive impact you want to make on the world, so I am pretty passionate about getting you to the way you want to go so that you can have the best positive impact you can have.

The problem that I see occurring is there are a lot of people getting stung by these and this may be you, and look I am very sorry that you had to go through this. But I see a lot of people not taking responsibility for the role that they played in these sorts of transactions. They are not taking responsibility for their investment careers in particular. Look, I am guilty of this to some aspect in terms of my Super, it is in an account, I have no idea what is happening with that.

So when it comes to that, I really have to get my ass off my chair and work out what is happening with my Super and to take more action in terms of that. But what I am saying with a lot of property investors is they are getting screwed over by these people and they spend years of their lives hating on these companies that have sold them these properties.

Obviously, it has been a bad situation for them and I feel sorry for that. But they do not actually take responsibility for the role they played in the situation, for the fact that they signed the papers, that they bought a property without doing the research that they probably should have had, for the fact that they just were not educated enough in terms of investing in property to know a good deal from a bad deal, and it is hard to say these stuff because a lot of people have been screwed over. And I am the first to admit it, if that is you, then yes, these people definitely should not have done that.

It is within the law of Australia that they can do it but that does not mean that it is ethical or that they should do it. And I do not think that it is okay. I want to make that clear that I do not think it is okay. But I want the best outcome for you. I want you to move towards your financial goals. I want you to move towards your financial dreams and seeing them blaming someone else for something that they did wrong to you, is not going to help you move towards that.

So what I want to encourage you to do whether you have been screwed over in the past or whether you are yet to buy a property and you want to move towards it, I want you to say to yourself, “Look, I am going to take full responsibility for my investment decisions. And whatever investment decisions I make, I am going to take responsibility for that.

If it ends up going well, great; if it ends up going poorly, by taking, responsibility, I can then say, ‘Okay, there, its responsibility, it is all on me. What can I do better next time? What can I learn from this situation?'” Because what you will find is that when you put the responsibility or the blame onto someone else and you say, “Those people! How dare they take my money and how dare they treat me like that?!,” you are not learning anything from the situation and moving on.

Rather, say, “Those people, evil people, how could they do that?” Yes. But then say, “Okay, what part did I play in this? How could I have done better? What can I do better next time? And what shall I be doing to move forward in my life, to move forward towards my financial goals given this situation that has happened?” And I have talked a lot about people who have been screwed in the past but this also applies to people who have yet to buy a property for you to say, “Okay, I am going to take responsibility for the properties that I do purchase,” rather than relying on someone like me or relying on a buyer’s agent or relying on some property marketer to say, “Here is what you should buy.

Go ahead and do it.” And you can just throw your hands up and say, “Yep, I listened to you,” and if it goes bad it is your fault. Because really at the end of the day, it is your money, it is your life, and so I just want you to take responsibility so you can get the best outcome and you can begin moving towards your financial goals.

Now, this has not come through as clearly as I would have liked. I feel like in a way, I sounded like I was talking down to you guys that you should take responsibility, and that is not how I meant it to come across. I love my audience. I have a deep respect for you guys.

I am passionate about seeing you succeed and what I just want to get across is encourage you that when you own up and you take responsibility, whether it is your fault or not, but if you take responsibility and say, “This is on me because it is my life,” then it just puts you in a such a better head space to then move forward and to make better decisions next time.

So I just want to encourage you in that. I will be talking more about this in 2016. I am not saying do not use a buyer’s agent or do not buy any educational products or anything like that. Do not go with a property marketer – absolutely, I do not think property marketers add much value at all, so I would definitely be cautious of them. But I am not saying do not enlist the help of someone else because the help of other people, whether it be someone like Ben, who is the buyer’s agent that I recommend.

You are getting his help to set your goals and to help you find a good property in a good area, then that is great! Some of us are time-poor and we need the help. We are just overwhelmed and we need it. That is fine. But do not put the blame on Ben or the responsibility on Ben, for your financial situation and the reason you are not achieving your dreams.

Take responsibility for yourself and say, “I am going to get the help of Ben, but I am also going to research these properties myself – the ones he presented me.” Make sure that they are at market value, make sure it is a good area and do your own research yourself, so you are getting the help of other people but you are taking responsibility yourself. The same as if you sign up for Jane Slack-Smith’s Ultimate Guide to Renovation Course, great course but it is not in Jane’s responsibility if you buy a property and it does not work out. What you want to do is get the help from other people, but still the responsibility is on you. You want to learn from the situation and move forward.

I wish I could say this better. I wish I could speak better and I am learning every single day to become a better presenter and better educator to you guys. I hope that this has encouraged you. You do have the power and you do have the control to take control of your own lives, to take control of your financial situation and to move towards your dreams. You have that power. You have that control. I absolutely believe in you and I want to see you succeed. I want to see you take that in stride and say, “Yes, I can do this and I am going to do it myself!” Then move towards it and not let anyone stop you.

So on this day, all the best, I hope that you begin to educate yourself, move yourself towards the goals that you want, and maybe for some people, today is the day that you say, “I am going to take responsibility for the part that I played in what happened in the past. I am going to take responsibility in the properties that I purchase in the future.” And if I get that concept across to just one person, then I will be very happy for today’s episode.

So I wish you guys the best of luck. I will be here all year round. You can always email me, [email protected] or see the new episodes that are coming out at OnProperty.com.au. I have some exciting stuff in store for 2016. Until next time, stay positive!