The Four Life Changing Stages Of
A Real Estate Investor
By Jason Hanson
The author has permitted the reprinting and redistribution of this
article.
There are four stages to a real estate investor’s career. If
you make it to stage four, you’ll be rewarded with a life
spent on your own terms, where you control your own destiny.
Stage one begins at 300 am one morning. You’re channel
surfing and you stop on an infomercial of Carleton Sheets sitting on
the beaches of Hawaii. Because there’s nothing else on TV at
that time, you sit through the 30 minute infomercial. The next morning
you wake up and you can’t get real estate investing out of
your mind. You’re sick of your job and have wanted to get out
of the rat race for a while now. You know that many fortunes have been
made in real estate and you decide that you’re going to begin
on the path to a better lifestyle.
You don’t have the foggiest idea in the world how to invest
in real estate so you go to the bookstore and read a few real estate
books. After two or three books you think you’re pretty much
an expert. Maybe you try to buy a house through a Realtor, or maybe you
put out some signs and find a motivated seller that way.
Stage one is a very dangerous stage. This is where a lot of people get
taken advantage of by con artists, because you don’t know
what you don’t know. You also might do a terrible deal and
lose thousands of dollars (I did a horrible deal in this stage that
cost me $20,000). If you survive stage one, then you move on to stage
two. Unfortunately, 95% of people quit at stage one (this is why less
than 5% of people in this country are millionaires).
In stage two, you quickly realize that you need help. You realize you
need to get a mentor and purchase some quality courses and read this
magazine to give you a proper education. You also attend a few seminars
and attend your local real estate investment meetings. You set up your
LLC, get business cards, set up a website, get a dedicated phone number
and make sure your infrastructure is in place.
You also learn the importance of marketing. You create a marketing plan
and start putting up your bandit signs, mailing your postcards and
letters and networking every chance you get. Through the help of your
mentor and your education, you get your first deal and make your first
profit in this business (mine was a check for $3,500). The feeling you
get in stage two is amazing. You finally believe in yourself and in
this business. You know that the business works and your
self-confidence explodes. In stage two you close 1-4 deals.
In stage three you continue to invest heavily in your education. You
get another mentor, buy more educational products and attend more
seminars. You also learn multiple investing techniques. If you started
out as a wholesaler, you learn how to do subject-to and lease options.
It’s very important to learn multiple techniques in this
stage. If you aren’t able to create several solutions every
time you evaluate a property, you won’t last very long in
this business. Also, you need to learn how to use other
people’s money and other people’s credit. Using OPM
and OPC is what makes people millionaires.
This is also a time to build your power team. You get an accountant, a
lawyer, a title company and a home inspector. It’s very
important to remember that all of these people work for you. Most
lawyers and title companies have no idea how creative real estate
works. If you mention the word “subject-to” they
will either tell you its illegal or have no idea what you’re
talking about. This is why you need to interview several people until
you find quality team members. Also, don’t be afraid to fire
someone if they can’t accomplish tasks in a timely manner or
don’t live up to your expectations.
Stage three is a lot of fun because everything is starting to come
together. You get the big picture of this business and you are starting
to make some serious money. Toward the end of stage three
you’re able to fire your boss and become a full time
investor. This is an incredible moment because your dreams are coming
true. In stage three you close 5-15 deals.
Stage four is what I like to call the lifestyle stage. This is where
you start to put your business on auto-pilot. You implement systems and
outsource everything so you only have to work a few hours a day, if
that. Here are a few things to do to free up your time as a stage four
investor
1. Get a virtual assistant – Getting a VA was one of the best
decisions I ever made. Your VA will answer all of your phone calls.
They will take down seller information, coordinate closings, screen
tenants and do a number of other things.
2. Hire someone to do your bandit signs – Post an ad on
Craigslist.com. Have your virtual assistant order your signs and have
them delivered and put up by the person you hire.
3. All of your marketing should be automated so that your assistant can
take care of everything through sites such as click2mail.com
4. Through your networking you’ll have people bringing you
deals left and right. These deals will be faxed or emailed to your
assistant who can evaluate them for you.
5. Avoid unnecessary meetings. Do everything over the phone, fax and
email.
6. Only meet a seller in person after they have been thoroughly
screened over the phone first by your assistant and then by you.
7. If you have a vacant property, hire someone from Craigslist.com to
put a lockbox on the property so that you never have to show it.
The best part of stage four is all of the free time that you have to
spend how you wish. For me, it means vacationing a lot. I head to
Florida once a month, I go whitewater rafting, I go hiking and
I’ve been all over Europe. For you, it could mean the fancy
car, the dream house or being able to spend more quality time with your
family.
Also, in this stage most entrepreneurs explore other business
opportunities (we’re not just real estate investors,
we’re entrepreneurs at heart). Stage four is 16 deals through
however big you want your empire to be.
I sincerely hope that you survive the beginning stages so you can live
the lifestyle you deserve. Nobody should have to spend 40 years in a
cubicle and luckily real estate is the answer for many of us.
Jason R. Hanson is the founder of National Real Estate Investor Month,
author of “How to Build a Real Estate Empire” and
mentor to students all across America. To get a FREE copy of
Jason’s Special Report “The Insider’s
Guide To Buying Your First Investment Property in 83 Days or
Less!” visit httpwww.PrimoCoach.com or call
800-865-1702.
If
you would like to take advantage of the market and learn how to invest
in real estate and you are local to the Dallas Fort Worth area, I know
a really great teacher and mentor here in Arlington Texas. Please take
a look at his web site: DennisJHenson.com,
Dennis has a great Mentoring and training program, I know because I am
one of his former students. I learned a lot from his one on one
teaching technique. - Michael Harman 817-457-7572
mchfun.business@gmail.com
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