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Back in the days of the wild, Wild West, when easterners traveled across this vast country looking for opportunity in the newly opened territories, they were often referred to as a ‘tenderfoot’. Though South Africa is not the Wild West, many say it is an emerging country.
The Wild West was emerging and maybe far from the development we see in South Africa today nonetheless, South Africa and many other countries are emerging both in real estate and property investing for many reasons including economic an political.
Tenderfoot’ wasn’t a complimentary term but it was a rather apt one.
The easterners wore ‘city’ shoes that weren’t designed to withstand the
rigors of the western terrain. Their hats didn’t have wide brims to
protect them from the sun and their clothing wasn’t made of tough
material like denim.
These new westerners didn’t know how to take care of themselves and
because they didn’t know where and what the dangers were they didn’t
have any idea how to avoid them.
I wrote this blog after reading the state of debt of the South African
public, which is sad though I hope some lessons have been learnt: NCR warns against abuse of debt review .
If you are just beginning to consider the idea of investing in real
estate you are a tenderfoot and you do need some instruction to avoid
losing your shirt…and probably your pants, hat and boots, as well.
First you will need to determine what your strategy will be in
property investing. Do you want to buy a property, fix it up and sell
it quickly or do you want to buy a property, hold it forever for the
rental income or do you want to wait for the market to increase to sell
it? Do you want to deal with renters? All of these questions are ones
that you need to answer before you invest in any investment
property. Real estate as you know does not come cheap these days, not
in South Africa and not in many places in the world.
You will need to learn how to investigate the value of properties
yourself and calculate your returns in various probable scenarios. It
is not a good idea to let other make decisions for you if the property
is appropriate for your circumstances or your strategy. Real estate
agents can and may say what ever their opinion is, which is right for
them, but that does not make the purchase right for you.
Only you know what is right for your investment and what property would suit your needs.
Bottom line a lot of property purchasers and investors have found
themselves losing their shirts and boots and hat in this last
residential property downturn because they thought that buying property
is more important than learning about property and getting knowledge to
purchase correctly and safely.
At Property Investor Network I help daily to bring awareness of this
serious problem of people lacking knowledge in property and moving
forward in purchases just to make sure they don’ lose out.
I think now, that times of property has slowed down, you will find
that many would have preferred to pass on some purchases rather than
losing everything when they can no longer afford the payment.
Property and property investing is great way to create wealth, but
do not think for one moment that without knowledge anyone became rich
over night.
And then consider strongly the value of educating yourself about
property investing and taking a few property courses before you invest
the next time. Ensure that when you invest the next time you are on the
winning side no matter what the economy. Make sure you next purchase
brings you close to your financial freedom and you can sleep at night
while the economy is in turmoil because you made the right purchase and
you know you are safe in the ups and down of the property market (which
by the way are inevitable, normal and pretty consistent every so many
years.)
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