NUTS & BOLTS COACHES CORNER
STRATEGIES: REITs Panel in Print
BEN RAO
SONIA BOOKER
Courses: Investment Criteria, Market Research, Investment Planning, Creative Real Estate Investment, How to Fund Real Estate Deals
Courses: Buying Your Investment Property, Building a Real Estate Investment Business
Real estate investing is all about community, even on a personal level. One of the best things that I think a real estate investor can do in terms of adding value to a personal project and on a higher level as well is to keep their community in mind when they are investing. Community can mean the real estate investing community or the local community in which your
I think the greatest value you can get out of real estate is access to more time and, by extension, you add value to your real estate business when you understand very clearly how you are using your time and how you want to be using it. I think we’ve all heard the saying, “Lost time is never found.” You can immediately add huge value to yourself and your real estate business by not los-
investment is located. When you start to look at a project from a community standpoint, it helps you as well. For example, I got started on a recent project because I heard the local city government really wanted to develop a co-working community to foster entrepre- neurship, but no one could figure out how to get it done. Well, I’ve been an entrepreneur for 20 years, so I made creating that community my next entrepreneurial project! I’m working right now to create an incubator for entrepreneurs and a co-working space, but we also will be renting some commercial space and creating a new, self-sustaining business. I was able to use a combination of cash, equity, existing properties, historic tax preservation credits, and other types of incentives and credits to fund the project along with a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan. Learning about SBA loans is a value-add in and of itself for any real estate investor or en- trepreneur. I now have a new project underway thanks to being aware of and alert to needs in my community, and I funded that project by meeting those needs.
ing that time in the first place. How many times have you said, “If I had more time, I could make more money,” to yourself? I bet about a thousand. However, there simply is not more time available; there is only figuring out better ways to use the time we have. We all have the same 24 hours to use. What we do with them will determine how successful we are and how much value we add to our own lives and to our investing business. Ask yourself these five questions: 1 How much time do I need? 2 How much money do I need? 3 Am I spending my time wisely? 4 Am I using my resources wisely? 5 How could I buy more time? The more you drill down into knowing what you want to achieve in real estate, the better you will be equipped to succeed in that task, including making the most of your time in the most effective ways possible. should always treat people fairly and be professional, but there is another aspect of support you should provide: appreciation. Peo- ple will work hard for you, whether they actually work for you or not, if you show appreciation for the good things they do. When you interact with your real estate investing team, hand out those emotional paychecks freely. They don’t cost you anything, and they build up loyalty and performance in everyone who gets one. You can handle emotional paychecks in several different ways, but they all rely on the power of words. They are literally an issue of saying, “Hey, great job. Well done.” Maybe you wish them happy birthday without them telling you it’s their birthday first. Maybe you just send them a text telling them that you appreciate some work they recently did. You have to put a little time and effort in, but the rewards are exponential.
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Panel in Print: Adding Value uccessful real estate investing hinges on the ability to add value to a property, either in terms of appreciation or per- formance. However, that skill only addresses one angle of success THINK REALTY COACHES DISCUSS ADDING VALUE. S
in real estate. In this month’s “Panel in Print,” the Think Realty coaching team discusses other ways to add value to yourself, your business, and your real estate projects. •
PAMELA J. GOODWIN
GARY HARPER
Courses: Commercial Real Estate 101
Courses: Vision, Personal Growth
I find there are so many people in residential real estate who would like to break into commercial real estate but think they cannot do it because they just do not have the knowledge. Of course, that education angle is really important, and education is always a good value if you get the right type of education to meet your needs and goals. Then, take action to get started! If you want to break into commercial real estate, the best value you can get is to do some work into identifying the different types of commercial real estate and which one you want to target as your niche, learning what types of agreements you need in place to protect yourself in these deals, and discovering where to find properties and hidden opportunities. For example, I specialize 100-percent in retail and restaurant space, and that is a great space for me because it is still booming in Texas. Don’t let anyone tell you online shopping is taking over. 90 percent of people still do most of their shopping in a physical store.
One of the best things you can do to add value to your business is to build up your team. Sure, not every real estate investor has a huge team on the payroll, but I bet you interact with a lot of people
on a regular basis in your real estate investing. Those people are your team, and the best way to keep that relation- ship positive is to invest in them with emotional capital. I have seen so many situations where a person opted not to work with someone anymore or where someone just did not give an investor priority when the investor expected it because they did not get an “emotional paycheck” from that investor. Of course, you
You will also find you can add huge value to your real estate business, commercial or residential, just by changing your per- spective on what constitutes an opportunity. I always treat every single experience in my day as an opportunity. I may drive my husband and boys crazy because I talk to everyone I meet about real estate. I see everything as a deal, and it has served me very well in this business.
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