Well, I made it through the weekend. The schools are closed and a bunch of other things are cancelled. No coronavirus exposures in the ER as far as I can tell. Used a lot of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) like masks, gowns, and gloves. Those are on short supply as I’m sure you have heard.
I spent some time with the kids outdoors as I’m staying home from work. Kayaking on the lake. It was a blast. We can talk viruses all day but we need to think about other things sometimes. Let’s move forward.
You can get started in real estate. You need to start moving. Just getting the wheels turning is the most difficult part in your process becoming an investor to start and your comfortable zone, investing the maximum amount into your 401k every year. It’s so easy, your employer does it for you and you have no idea where that money is going.
And bam!, war starts, OPEC drops the price of oil, or global pandemic happens. A month ago it would have been hyperbole to talk about a global pandemic but now it’s a real thing in the stock market is taking a big hit and for any of you who wasn’t too scared to look at your 401k will know that you’ve lost a lot of money. Now you know that those safe comfortable areas are not safe.
Now people really understand the importance of truly diversifying but it’s so hard to find out where to begin. You could start by finding a house to spend a little money on to fix flip or to rent out and I’ve told you how to do some of those things in the past episodes. What’s really important is taking that first step to finding those houses. Lot of people think about it a lot and then never make that first step because they’re worried that that will make it real and they’ll actually have to put up real money and that’s hard to do during the best of times.
Now in difficult times it’s very hard but talking to a real estate agent and starting the process to finding a property costs you nothing. Its just a mental hurdle that you have to get by. You have no control over your investment future until you start to move. It’s like a boat out on the water: if you’ve ever driven a boat you know that there’s so much friction in that water, so much resistance to movement that the engine has to be going before you can even steer. So get started with that engine, take the first step, talk to an agent, get started.
Or, maybe you don’t want to talk to an agent. Maybe you don’t want to be the guy who is buying properties and doing the work to flip them. Maybe you don’t have enough time to do that and I completely understand. In the past you might have thought about buying a exchange-traded index fund related to real estate but you know now that those have crashed along with the rest of the stock market. Perhaps you know someone who syndicates property, meaning they put together a deal and find investors. This is a way for you to have an interest in the property without having to do all of the work. It can be small scale and related to a single property purchase and you can have ownership of that. It can be a great way to learn the ropes in real estate investing. The principal or the sponsor the person who’s running that will be more than happy to show you the details of the process of investing because you’re an investor and she wants you to keep coming back.
There are many other ways to invest. Just get started. Identify that first simple step and take it. The next will feel easier and easier and before you know it, you will be an Investor! Get Moving!
