Apartment Investing
“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” — Theophrastus
I get a lot of questions from apartment investors, and one that comes up often is, “How can I be successful in apartment investing while balancing time with my family?”
This is a great question and one that every successful investor has had to tackle at one point in their lives. It also shows how many ambitious individuals truly do want balance in their lives between money and family. I applaud this desire, and want you to know that you can achieve this balance.
A story for you.
I remember the first time I said to myself, “There has got to be a better way!”
It was about 14 years ago and I was talking to a guy about a lease with an option to buy on his apartment property. I really wanted to lease the entire building with an option to buy badly.
He agreed to meet with me and talk seriously about doing this. The only time (he said) he could meet was 11:30 pm on a Friday night. I agreed.
Well, when Friday night came my relatives were over from out of town for the weekend and were getting ready for bed. Here I go off into the night telling them I was working on a real estate deal…
“At 11:30 at night?” they replied. I said, “YEP.”
They all look at me strange and go to bed. Then I got to thinking. This is a little goofy.
But, out the door I went determined to get a deal here.
So, I drive the 30 minutes to this place that turned out to be a BAR. Well, the BAR was packed and there was cover charge to get in! I decide to go in since I knew what the guy looked like. So much for the coffee shop.
I go into the smoky haze and the loud music and decide to walk around a couple of times and if I did not spot him I was leaving.
Sure enough on my first go around I see him sitting at a table with four other guys. I go over and introduce myself and the guy was drunk. He remembered who I was and why I was there but he was drunk nonetheless and came prepared for nothing.
I left mad, upset and feeling like an idiot running around past midnight to meet a guy in a bar to get a real estate deal done. Does any of this even smell a bit stupid??
What I Learned and What You Can Too…
I was running from one great possible deal to the next to the next with no plan, agenda or anything, just running. Once I sat down made a plan and included in the plan was how much time I was going to spend with my family kids, etc. AND how much I was going to devote to real estate, my whole life changed. Things happened easier, more predictably and no more late nights at the bar looking for a great deal.
Three keys here:
Once you have taken the time to do this and focus on it, you will find that meeting your goals and having a life will be that much easier.
