Surrounding yourself with like minded people

[Jakk]

Originally posted by agent007
[BThis question goes to Jakk,

I would be very interested in listening and learning from you how one can accumulate 17 or 50+ properties in a short life time. This type of achievement fascinates me. What's the right strategy?, how to find the funds?, how can I do it?. How much time do I need?. How can I join the club?

Regards,

eager to learn,

James. [/B]

James, Don't be fascinated by my achievement, go out and better it, lots of others have. As for strategy, that really depends on the individual, what has worked for me might not work for you.
Funds are always available, seek and thou shalt find.
Not so long ago, I had real borrowing issues, not any more, it's amazing how a good broker can do magic, I have totally given away the traditional banks, their idea of property investment is that I take all the risks and they make all the profits, this sort of arrangement doesn't suit me.
How can you do it?? make a start and keep going and stay FOCUSED, never lose sight of what you want to achieve.
Time required.......as long as it takes, once again stay focused.

Originally posted by handyandy
Hi Jakk

Great story!! Can you eleborate as to the mix of properties and type of locations, Capiatal cities country etc.

From previous posts you called yourself the slumlord just wandering where that originates.

Cheers

mix of properties.......mainly 1 and 2 bedroom flats, 4 commercial properties (shops), 6 industrial (group of 4 factoriettes and 2 self storage complexes) 3 nearly derelict houses that will be redeveloped (townhouses/units) over time and a few parcels of vacant land and 1 PPOR that will be buldozed later this year for 3 townhouses. all located outer east of melbourne and beyond.

The slumlord tag actually originated from this forum, TW used the term in reference to one of my posts and I just adopted it.

Originally posted by Kristine..
Dear Jakk

Although I find just about everyone and everything on this forum inspiring, there is something about what you say and how you say it, which always seems to flick a switch for me.

.....make sure you turn it off on the way out

I have been wallowing about in self pity the past couple of days since VCAT, where the objectors to my clinic application decided to make personal comments about me, and when I defended myself, the Chairman reprimanded me rather harshly. (Think: et tu, Brutus?)
Ahhh VCAT, I am starting to know everyone by first name there

..........and I really can't listen to stories about how awful and wicked real estate agents are (being one and really proud of my hard worked for licence).
awful??, wicked???.... surely people don't really think that of us
So I appreciate your posts, Jakk, and your droll sense of humour.
Droll??? ...and I thought we were getting on so well

Thanks again

Kristine

Originally posted by asy
I remember that!!! It was a great chat session Jakk, I think I have the logs here somewhere...

I remember my first time in the chat room... TW pounced on me too!!

Not many ppl know this, but that's how I got the 'asy' nickname...

lets clarify this, is it Assy or Asy?
asy

Originally posted by elwyn.d


PS. Footy's back!! Go Cats..

Hey, I live across the road from Gary Abletts Mum

and to everyone else that has sent me private messages, I will reply soon

regards

 

[itinerantotter]

Rick - you said "I haven't been the source of the spark for anyone yet. I get most of my inspiration from this forum and I'm sure a lot of other people do as well."

I experienced being the source of the spark a few days ago - and what a buzz!!! I ran into an acquaintance (he works in one of my favourite coffee shops) I hadn't seen for a while. He came up to me and said "I'm on my way! You were right! Thanks so much for starting me in the right direction!" We had chatted about what my husband and I were doing and the sources of our inspiration (Somers/Kiyosaki), and I had (at his request) provided him with a reading list.

'Property' is not a subject I introduce to a conversation when I'm not with the 'converted'. It sounds like I'm bragging - which I'm not. I get really fed up with the responses "you're so lucky" and "I really should do something like that", especially when they come from the same people ad nauseam. If someone really wants to pursue the matter I'll give them all the help they could desire. But I always say they must do a heap of reading first - and hit them with my book list - and now I recommend this forum as well.

It's really wonderful to talk enthusiastically about our achievements with like-minded people, and not have eyes glass over or turn green!!

A bonus for me is that both of my (adult) children have been absorbing 'property' talk and are also 'on their way"!

Jakk - my hat's off to you!!!!

Cheers

 

[Kevin Hockey]

Thank you Jakk and everyone who has posted here, it's been fascinating reading. Great to see a few other agents coming out of the closet too.

I loved the way Jakk put it. "Don't be fascinated by my achievement, go out and better it, lots of others have". We should never limit ourselves, life is full of endless possibilities. We can be or have anything we want in life.

I had a furniture business before getting into Real Estate. I manufactured at first until I realised I could only make so much in one day. If I just retailed I could sell as much as others could make in one day. It's one reason I love selling, the possibilities are endless and there is no limit.

Has anyone else noticed the same ingredient in forumites as I have. We all seem to read a lot. It's the power of knowledge. I encourage my boys to do the same. I gave Richest Man in Babylon to my 10 y.o. the other day but I dont think he has started it yet. He loved Who Moved my Cheese.

Have a great Easter guys.

Kev

www.nundahrealestate.com.au

P.S. John McGrath said to me once "Success is not in the learning but in the implementation".

 

[MLC]

This is a first post from someone who is a recent "convert" to investing.

I started on a new project a few years ago and sat next to a very addicted property investor, who bored me to tears about how I could buy a house and make money "without costing me more than $50 or so a week".

I listened.... more often I was mearly nodding my head and thinking about who I was meeting at the pub after work. This fellow was extreamly anoying, so off cause we became good friends but I was still no "convert".

Two years passed and he kept buy houses (actually he bought 4), I earned more money than him so how did he do it?

The penny dropped!

I bought my first IP last year and I settle the second IP on the 9th May, a few rough calcs and after I pre-pay next years interest and get my depreciation sched done I expect I will do better than $50 per week.... may even be positive after all the tax breaks.

I find myself this year on another project sitting next to another guy who I bore the tears out off talking about investment property, he nods his head but I think he's planning to meet someone at the pub after work.

Somtimes someone listens, the best part is my freind who got me into IP's is now my mentor. Instead of starting at the bottom learning from mistakes I have the benifit of his knowledge and can start with as many years experience as he has.

Enjoy the break.

MLC

 

[petercro]

A big hello to all from yet another virgin poster!

I cant exactly remember how I made my way to this forum but am very greatful that I have.

I was one that was always sitting on the sideline being the sceptic thinking that you had to work 100 hours a week (usually for somebody else) to get somewhere and that strategies whether they were involved in shares or property would never work.

For the last couple of years I was being told by a friend (who I now classify as my mentor) of how he became a succesful business owner and investor......... but was under the infuence of MLC's pub syndrome.

I have had a big turn around in my way of thinking just recently which has come about by reading books, posts on forums, attending a couple seminars and talking to "like minded people"!!

I have an investment property and am looking forward to expanding my portfolio!!!

Anway thought I would add my two bobs worth here and hope to contribute to the forum.

Happy Easter!!

Peter

 

[steven]

Thanks Jakk for the reply to my pm, and sharing
your wonderfull story with us all,
And a big thank you to each and everyone on this forum.
Happy Easter
Kind Regards Steven.

 

[Dose]

Everyday I come to this site to read what like minded people have to say. I don't post much but I learn so much from reading everyones posts. We have friends who have one investment property each but they are very conservative and very negative when you suggest things outside their own comfort zone which is completely understandable. You would not believe the negative response we have had from them when we suggested they might be interested in Steve Navras course.
So now I just log on to this site and read and learn. I'm the reader and my husband is the doer. We try not to bore people with our interest in property investment anymore (though sometimes its hard not to).
We have 4 IP's in Geelong Elwyn.d but would like to dip out toes in Melbourne or Brisbane next.

 

[Kevin Hockey]

Originally posted by Dose
We try not to bore people with our interest in property investment anymore (though sometimes its hard not to).
We have 4 IP's in Geelong Elwyn.d but would like to dip out toes in Melbourne or Brisbane next.

You have to give to receive, if you give your opinion you will receive someone else's. We all decide what information we want to accept and that's better than nothing at all.

If we do nothing - we may as well go to a funeral home and wait.

I urge everyone to get involved, don't be shy. God knows Brains has given me plenty at times on this forum but I don't mind. I've learnt from him too. And I don't mean just here either, any time you have the opportunity to discuss wealth creation take the opportunity to increase your knowledge.

Dose, I look forward to your next post.

Kev

www.nundahrealestate.com.au

 

[Sunstone]

Dear guys,

What a response! Certainly this has turned into one of the best threads for a while with a heap of great posts. Thanks for all the quality efforts from the many people who have posted.

Surrounding yourself with likeminded people? You betcha. It pinpoints the importance of this forum, encouraging the people that you meet through it and getting out there and going to the real life meetings that are happening with groups in each of the local cities. Here is the place to find likeminded people and challenge yourself to do more.

It helps with your own indominitable drives to achieve your own objectives of financial freedom, but energy from others helps recharge your batteries when they need topping up or for helping us all when occassionally things don't go the way we want them to. The ability to tenanciously hang on and keep trying until you achieve it is not only a skill but in some ways a virtue.

The energy you gain and give from contributing and reading the posts of the many great people on this forum is certainly what I consider an important part of my life.

Heres to "Soaring with the Eagles" whilst keeping a reasonable SANF intact.

Cheers,

Sunstone.

 

[brains]

Originally posted by Kevin Hockey
You have to give to receive, if you give your opinion you will receive someone else's. We all decide what information we want to accept and that's better than nothing at all.

If we do nothing - we may as well go to a funeral home and wait.

I urge everyone to get involved, don't be shy. God knows Brains has given me plenty at times on this forum but I don't mind. I've learnt from him too. And I don't mean just here either, any time you have the opportunity to discuss wealth creation take the opportunity to increase your knowledge.

Dose, I look forward to your next post.

Kev

www.nundahrealestate.com.au

Thanks for the mention Kevin, i think i have criticised the real estate industry in general rather than you in particular, im not into personal insults. And you would agree yourself the RE industry needs some cleaning up.

Id also like to say that while i agree surrounding yourself with like minded people works for some people, particualrly those that need extra motivation when things arent going so good as a few posters have mentioned here.

I think most really successful people dont go along with the herd mentality, they think differently to most of the population, they are free thinkers, individualistic, even iconaclastic in their approach to life and business.

The pursuit of success is their life,and its just not an option to think of giving up or getting down when things arent working out, as that would be like giving up on life itself so theres no need for motivation from external sources, its all inside, if its not it should be.

As to trying to convert the pagans, i think its a waste of time. If people want to be successful they will do it regardless, what i say to them wont make any difference. Even tho i used to explain what i am doing with property to some friends, their response is "its far too risky". So i gave up on that.

I dont think theres any right or wrong answer to Sunstone's excellent, thought provoking question, just personal opinions and as usual im going against the grain with this thread, but thats ok.
Its just the way I think.

 

[itinerantotter]

Brains, you said "I think most really successful people dont go along with the herd mentality, they think differently to most of the population, they are free thinkers, individualistic, even iconaclastic in their approach to life and business.

The pursuit of success is their life,and its just not an option to think of giving up or getting down when things arent working out, as that would be like giving up on life itself so theres no need for motivation from external sources, its all inside, if its not it should be."

I wholeheartedly agree with this, particularly "it's all inside".

But I also strongly believe that our good fortune (despite the fact that it has come from a lot of hard work and sleepless nights and not just the Capital Growth Fairy) should be shared.

After a lot of wasted breath, I'm now more reactive than proactive in "converting the pagans" - so the first approach has to come from them, but the door is always open.

Cheers

 

[WillG]

Great post,

After reading the Rich Dad series of books I learned a couple of things.. One thing in particular relates to this thread.

Kiosabi talks about 'giving something back' when you have made it. Filanthropy (probably wrong spelling ... who cares)

I try to 'drop hints' to my friends and family that may help them see what property investing can do for them. Some people aren't worth the effort so I dont bother. By doing this I have found several colleagues(from my day job) I regularly talk to about investment ideas (several of them use this forum). Other colleagues often ask me 'how many properties do I have now' for a joke. Other colleagues have come to me several years later wanting to know more about investing.

This forum has helped me with tennant problems, organising finance, identify a good deal from a bad one, renovations and countless other things. I carry around financial calulator and have an IP spreadsheet on my palm pilot ready to do the numbers on a deal at a seconds notice (sick I know)

I hope somebody gets some value out of my posts.

Cheers,
Will

 

[JoannaK]

I am so impressed by the quality of this thread, and the number of "lurkers" who have come out of the woodwork - congratulations and thank you to everyone!!

Me personally, I have no one to discuss my ambitions, intentions, strategies, difficulties with other than my husband, and I find it extremely frustrating and difficult. My friends and family, no matter how much I try to explain, just don't get it (except for one of my sisters who is about to start developing with her husband), so I've gotten to the point where I just couldn't be bothered anymore. I dream, I strategise, I develop myself on my own, in my own mind.

I need to bounce ideas off people, I need interaction with others, and I need to get ideas from others....

So all of you who are in the same situation, when you see someone post about a get together close to you....GO!

Go and meet these other forumites, you will be welcomed, and you will meet some great people, and you will get that interaction and likemindedness that you thirst.

 

[sbe]

Great Thread.

I've had the priveledge of seeing one of my friends get into property. He was around when I bought my first one (are you crazy!! Young kids, etc, what are you thinking!!).

He was around when I bought the next one.

Then 2 years ago, he rings me up all excited - he's noticed after 3 years, I haven't crashed and burned, so he's getting his first one.

Last year, he bought his second, around the same time I got my third.

Of course, in the same time, my brother keeps talking about it......and talking about it......

I haven't told him I have any yet, cause until he's serious, there's not much point.....

Two different experiences....

Encourage those who appear interested. Spare those who aren't. Keep yourself encouraged regardless.

Thankfully, my wife shared my addiction.......

Cheerio

Simon.

 

[natmarie73]

This IS a great thread.

But has anyone else had the "experience" of defending their choice to invest, in particular invest in property? Has anyone had people inferring that they are being "distasteful" by wanting to accumulate assets? I have. Not from a friend of course as they wouldn't be considered a friend for long but from an acquaintance who was a friend of a (non-investor) friend. this person was appalled that I wanted to have more and more assets and even when I explained to her that I didn't intend on surviving on the pension she got very huffy and said that money isn't the most important part of life (etc etc blah blah blah).

Like others have said, you can't preach to those who refuse to be converted so I just kept my mouth shut and smiled politely and made it a point never to be in the same room as this person again. Thankfully, I have found that since becoming a property investor, many like-minded people have crawled out of the woodwork - 3 fellow workers also have property, my sister and her boyfriend are investors now and a few of my friends have also purchased houses and are keen to buy investment properties as well.

The information and knowledge found here on this forum is invaluable to beginners like myself and I thank each and every one of you who are generous in sharing that knowledge.

Nat

 

[itinerantotter]

Nat said "But has anyone else had the "experience" of defending their choice to invest, in particular invest in property? Has anyone had people inferring that they are being "distasteful" by wanting to accumulate assets?"

I sure recognise this!!!! We have often been accused of being greedy ("don't you have enough yet??"), despite the fact that this is our super. As you say, Nat, these are not true friends; real friends understand in principle what we are trying to achieve and know that we're not just being covetous.

Cheers

 

[Gladstone]

Great thread

I have experienced both sides of the coin. Having paid off ppor and read all the Richdad, Jan Somers etc books it was time to start looking for ips. When I found IP1 one of my work colleagues comments was "you're beeping mad the tenants will wreck the beeping place" I replied that I was looking to accummulate assets for my family and the conversation deteriorated from there.

The other side of the coin is that I have like minded friends who have had similar experiences so we generally talk property in each others company only. If the 4 of us are with other people we don't talk property at all because we are all sick of defending our position.

From this there are 2 bits of common wisdom I follow with IPs

1. Don't argue with fools (author unknown)
2. When feeling a lack of direction coming on ask yourself are you are wimp or a warrior ( Robert Kiyosaki)
I feel in wimp mode at the moment as I am stuck at IP No2 trying to progress to N03 and beyond. This forum however is inspirational.

Regards

 

[always_learning]

I must admit that if I say I have a goal of being "financially independant" then some (most) people start giving me the: dont get greedy line.

What are these people thinking? " Financially independant = BAD, Financially dependant = GOOD". Being dependant on your job and then handouts from the government is somehow noble and good! BUT to seek to be able to live your life as you want without expecting a free-lunch at someone else's expense is being a greedy bastard.

However because I was brought up in a family which thinks this way I will try to give their version of reality: "There is a limited supply of money, the only way to get more money is to take it at the expense of someone else, and the easiest target is poor working class battlers", thus to be financially independant in many respects means living off the backs of the working class". So in comparison to being a parasite of the noble workers, it is much better to be living off the unlimited ablity of the government to print pension cheques.

I choose to believe that since we live in a capitalist system we each have the obligation to seek financial independance. I dont mean financial independance by theft, fraud or deception, but by adding-value, finding a better way, taking something of lower value and with our thoughts and labor creating something of higher value and in doing so contributing in a small way to society.

 

[elwyn.d]

To Gladstone42
I think the full quote runs " Don't argue with fools, they will bring you down to thier level and beat you with experience" (lol)
Good luck son we are at least heading in the right direction.
Elwyn.D

 

[natmarie73]

I think it's the good old "tall poppy syndrome" raising its ugly head - if you strive to do well for yourself and your family and aren't satisfied to live off government handouts or a low-paid factory job you are automatically labelled a money grubbing, greedy capitalist pig.

I totally agree with always_learning. Most people seem to think that you can't be rich and successful without having ripped someone off or stolen someone elses money. Perhaps the media have a lot to do with it, and perhaps it goes further back to the bible - ie the love of money is the root of all evil or whatever.

Nat