UPCLOSE & PERSONAL
WEEKEND INVESTOR
are not as limited as you think. I encour- age you to embrace the mind-set that you need to go forward and spend what you have of each of these resources—time, money and knowledge—because you will be shocked how easy it is to acquire more. In my case, I was hesitant about the time I had available to become a part-time or weekend real estate investor. It wasn’t until I bought my first rental property that I realized I actually did have the time. In fact, that time had always been there. My experience of buying that first property—on my lunch hour—didn’t detract from my career or my work, and I was able then to rehab that property during the evenings and on the weekends in order to get it ready to rent. So I found the time that I needed. And as I moved on to my second and third properties, I was more confident that I knew what I was doing—and I was getting better at it. As I became more proficient, productive and knowledgeable, time became less of an issue. It is a well-known fact that as you get better at doing something, typically it will take less time to accomplish that task. I found that to be very true in my real estate investing. It was the same with my concern about money. The typical hesitation is, “I don’t have the money to become a real estate investor.” But you may be surprised to find that once you make that first investment and you begin to understand the finan- cials and begin to build relationships with lenders—whether they are private lenders, institutional lenders or family, friends or whatever—then it becomes easier to acquire even more money. And as you are able to invest further, you begin to prove yourself as you gain experience and even profit from your investments, and you will start to accumulate incremental capital dollars that you can use to move forward. LEARN AS YOU GO Now, let’s discuss your fear that you aren’t knowledgeable enough. Obviously, once you get started, and the more you do, you learn a tremendous amount. I will repeat again what another real estate investor once said: Go as far as you can
go, and when you get there, you will be able to see farther. I cannot stress enough how much that summarizes my experience as a real estate investor. Yes, real estate can be very com- plex. It can be very daunting due to all the intricacies, the legalities, the financial aspects, etc. But I cannot overemphasize how, as I just started with what I knew and progressed forward in my investing and acquired more properties—whether they were rental properties, wholesale properties or fix-and-flip properties—I was learning as I went. My knowledge continued to accumulate. You will never know everything. So you just need to get started with what you do know, and learn as you go. In my experience, action created attraction. Meaning, as I took action and became a part-time and weekend real es- tate investor, that action started to attract all sorts of new resources, information, solutions and partners and providers. Before I got started, I didn’t even know I had access to those resources. Once I started and got involved, I began to find places to buy houses that I never knew were resources. I began to find solutions to problems that I never thought I would be able to figure out. I found business partners, and I found different vendor service providers. Once I got started, bought that first property and submerged myself into real estate invest- ing, it all started to come together. Let me share how I found my main- tenance provider, over 10 years ago. Property maintenance is probably one of the greatest nightmares, hesitancies or obstacles for new investors. “Gosh, once I get that rental property, what am I going to do when they call on a Sunday evening and the water heater has burst? Or there is a plumbing leak, or an electrical problem, or there is no air conditioning and it’s a 95-degree summer day here in Dallas?” I found my maintenance provider when I purchased my second rental property. He lived two doors down from HOW I FOUND MY PROPERTY MAINTENANCE PROVIDER
that property. He just happened to have his truck parked in front of his house one evening when I was at my new rental property. We met on the sidewalk. I asked him about what he did, and I told him what I was doing. Lo and behold, here we are—more than 10 years later— and that same individual is overseeing my entire portfolio of rental properties as my key maintenance provider. I would have never met him if I hadn’t taken ac- tion, started investing and put myself in that position. He has literally solved one of the greatest obstacles that I thought I had as a real estate investor, and that was the proper, timely and affordable mainte- nance of my rental portfolio. Finally, let’s talk about the lack of mo- mentum and how to get over that hump and take that first step. What I recom- mend to you as a new, upcoming or want- to-be part-time investor is to focus on the concept of making money twice. What I mean by that is, get that first investment under your belt. Whether it is a rental, wholesale property or a complete rehab or fix-and-flip—do that first investment. It may go great, and that is going to propel you to want to do it again. That would be wonderful, and I hope that is how it goes for you. But be prepared that it may not go great. The key, though, is that even a less-than-spectacular expe- rience has got to propel you to go do it again with a second investment property. In either scenario, take the lessons, the re- lationships you have built, the knowledge you have accumulated and, hopefully the profits you have acquired, and go forward FOCUS ON MAKING MONEY TWICE
Get in the Game ARE YOU SITTING ON THE SIDELINES, WATCHING INSTEAD OF PARTICIPATING IN REAL ESTATE INVESTING? HERE’S HOW TO GET UP AND MOVING.
by Kevin Guz
A
re you one of those would-be investors sitting on the sidelines
today. I saw all the same obstacles. I had all the same hesitancies about starting out in real estate investing and being unsure whether to start part time or to dive all-in and invest full time. I’m sure the worries I had are similar to what many of today’s “bench sitters” may be thinking: “There are so many unknowns when it comes to real estate investing! How am I ever going to learn? How am I ever going to get enough con- fidence or competency to be a successful real estate investor and protect myself from catastrophe? And what if I can’t find the motivation to get started or the momentum to sustain my efforts?” Without momentum, real estate
investing seemed like a huge mountain to climb, and I questioned whether I had the energy to do that. What I have found, through my experience, is that all of these obstacles that I thought were holding me back were actually all the opportunities that would ultimately push me forward as a real estate investor.
because you think you may not necessar- ily be qualified enough, you may not nec- essarily know enough and you may not necessarily be strong enough financially to invest in real estate right now? I was there once. Let me tell you how I got myself off the sidelines and into the game—and how you can do that, too. Here I am now, more than 10 years later, a full-time investor who started out investing part time while I still had a dif- ferent, full-time career. I’ll admit, I never really thought I would be where I am to- day. I had all the same apprehensions and worries as those who are on the sidelines
> Continued on :: PG 120
THE RESOURCES ARE WAITING FOR YOU
Kevin Guz is a Dallas, Texas-based residential real estate investor with more than 10 years of investing experience. He owns a HomeVestors (or “We Buy
For instance, you may think you don’t have the time, the money or the knowl- edge to move forward with part-time real estate investing. But I will tell you that those resources
Ugly Houses”) franchise as well as the Clear Key companies. He also is a licensed real estate agent in the state of Texas. You can listen to his podcasts at www.blogtalkradio.com/kevinguz.
92 | think realty magazine september :: october 2016
thinkrealty . com / mag | 93
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker