Once you’ve decided to invest in property, and you’ve started your property investment journey, it’s very easy to slip into bad habits that can make your experience hard work. Even established property investors are guilty of sliding into routines which aren’t good for them.

To keep your property investment journey less demanding, here are some common bad habits to avoid:

1. Comparing yourself to other investors

Everyone’s investment journey is different. Some people have bigger budgets and do get lucky breaks, but don’t become jealous. Yes, it’s good to network with other investors and aspire to being a great investor, but remember you are where you are and you’re working towards your financial goals with the budget you have.

Constantly comparing yourself to top investors and getting depressed because you haven’t got there isn’t good for your mental health. Remember it’s your investment journey, not theirs.

2. Afraid of Failure

Every successful property investor has made a mistake at some point; indeed many successful entrepreneurs have failed in the past. The main thing is they’ve learned from them. They’ve got back up, done things differently and moved on.

And who says you’re going to fail anyway? You’ve done your budget, you’ve assessed the risks, you’ve bought the property and it’s tenanted. Why are you afraid of failure?

3. Over analysing

We’ve seen lots of armchair investors. They do vast amounts of research and can always give advice about locations and the type of properties that make a good investment.

Even though they know interest rates are still low, there are many tax-deductible benefits, and property investment can be used to help reach financial goals, they still over analyse the situation and don’t move from the armchair to actually getting out and doing it.

Create your plan, do your research, sort out the finances and then do it!

4. Not setting proper goals

Setting goals will keep you focused and motivated, and will help with creating investment property strategies to help you reach your goals. Setting a goal of ‘I want to make money’ isn’t enough. You can make money by working for someone else. But setting the goal of ‘I want enough money so I can retire early and spend more time doing my favourite hobby or travelling’ is a goal.

Too many investors buy a property without a strategy and hope they’ll make money. Yes, the chances are they will make some money, but probably not enough to help them realise their financial dreams.

5. Thinking I can do it myself

Yes, there are a lot of things you can do yourself in property investment, such as researching the market, but at times it’s good to engage a professional. Financial specialists such as mortgage brokers can get you a good deal on your mortgage, a good accountant knows absolutely everything you can claim tax on and using a good property management agent can save you a lot of time, not to mention hassle.

By surrounding yourself by a team of trusted experts, you’ll make your property investment journey a lot easier and a lot less stressful.

If you want to know more about investing in property, get in touch. Simply give us a ring on 02 4956 9777, send us an email to mail@newcastlepropertymanagement.com.au or pop into our Cardiff office for a chat.

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