I have spent a lot of time over the past several weeks reflecting on my business in 2015, as many of the rest of you probably have, regardless of your profession, or whether you’re an investor or not. The end of the year is always a great time for me as a full-time real estate investor to review the challenges I faced and how successful I was at overcoming them. It’s also a great time of anticipation and goal setting, as I plan how I and my HomeVestors franchise in Dallas can achieve even greater success in the year ahead.

The thing that resonates the most with me is looking back on the resources that it took to attain the success that I enjoyed last year. And that inevitably leads me to consider what resources will be required to achieve the goals that I have for my real estate investing business in 2016.

With that being said, I would like to share several points regarding resources with those new, part-time or soon-to-be real estate investors who are excited about this brand-new goal to become a real estate investor in 2016. Perhaps I can save them some pain or some suffering, or help them sidestep some obstacles by sharing my thoughts and experiences about what it is going to take for you to be successful in 2016 as a new investor, or part-time investor, or growing investor.

There are three specific “buckets” or categories of resources in which I invest heavily each year with respect to my business. These are: time—obviously, money—perhaps more obviously, and then good old-fashioned sacrifice. Let’s talk about how you can prepare within each of those categories to be successful and achieve the goals you have for 2016 as an investor. In doing so, let’s also debunk some of the myths that surround these different resources.

Let’s start with time.

Time is probably first and foremost on many part-time investors’ minds. They already have a full-time career and that career make take 40, 50, 60, 70 hours a week of their time already, so the thought of adding more time or finding more time to invest in real estate and build a business may seem very scary or maybe even unrealistic. What makes things potentially more frustrating is that they will hear, and they will read, and they will be told, “You can invest in real estate in your spare time.” Or, “Anybody can do it, with minimal time investment.”

I can tell you, from my personal experience, that I dedicate over 50 hours a week to my investment business. Granted, I am doing this full-time, so a part time investor would not be investing that much time, nor be seeking to achieve the scale of a full-time investor. Still, as a part time investor, be sure that you understand the time commitment that will be required for you to achieve your goals. Either be prepared to invest that amount of time, or adjust your goals accordingly, based on the time resources that are available to you in 2016.

This is very important for the part-time investor who has already got a full-time job commitment. It’s even more important for the new investor who is going to have a learning curve to overcome. On top of everything it takes to be a successful part-time investor, if you’re new to investing, be prepared. It’s going to take you longer to do things, to figure things out, and to achieve whatever it is you are seeking to achieve in your investing in 2016.

It takes time to be an investor, despite the myth that you can do it “in your spare time” or do it “with no or little time at all.” It takes hours from your week, and it takes months out of your year, so be prepared for that. Whether you have the time to spend each night or over the weekend, keep in mind that those real estate deals may take months before they pay off.

Don’t go into this thinking that you won’t have to invest a lot of time during the weeks or your weekends, and don’t go into it thinking that you will be enjoying profits 10 days, or a week, or less, after entering into your first transaction. It takes time out of your week and it takes time throughout the year in order to generate those benefits or those profits.

I’ll be the first to say that there are some investors out there who are incredibly successful and who are getting full-time results with part-time investments of time. But keep in mind that those are skilled professional investors who have resources, systems and processes that allow them to boast the limited number of hours that they work and the grand results they get. As a part time investor, you won’t be there yet, especially not as a new investor, so be prepared for the time investment it’s going to take for you to be successful, and plan accordingly.

Number two: The money investment.

Now, let’s talk about the obvious: The money resources.

Let’s debunk the myth that “You need no money to get started.” We’ve all heard it. We’ve all seen it. We’ve all read it. We’ve all been to seminars. We’ve all watched late-night television commercials that state this as fact. But as I have talked about in the past with this same audience, it does take money to be a successful real estate investor. It may not be your own money, but it does take money, regardless of where you get it.

Those who regularly follow my blogs and podcast know that I have a six-figure annual advertising budget for my business. That’s a significant investment. Granted, that’s to fuel a full-time business. Your investment and advertising will be much less, but I say that to make a point. If you‘re expecting full-time results, you better be prepared to make full-time monetary investments.

The capital is what allows you to take action. Maybe you are not into advertising; maybe you are buying homes directly off the MLS. Don’t forget, you’re still going to need money or capital for acquisition costs—the money down on each property you buy. Twenty percent down is a good planning number. Then there are the closing costs—just another example of money that you are going to have to make and plan to have for each house you buy.

Capital allows you to create the value in those properties after you buy them. Your expenditures are not over. Maybe you are going to have to rehab that property, fix it up, get it ready to resale, or get it ready to rent, or even clean it up and get it ready if you’re just going to wholesale it. Whatever your plan, there is money required to make it happen.

Capital also allows you to sustain your business. You’re going to have holding costs in those properties, whether you are flipping them or holding them as rental properties. There will be principal, interest, taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, etc., whether you are holding that property for one week, one month or 10 years. Don’t underestimate the monetary resources required to achieve your goals.

The key takeaway, once again, is that you will hear those skilled investors talking “no money down” and how successful they are, but keep in mind those individuals have track records. They have experience. They have networks. They have relationships. They have assets. And that is what allows them to run their businesses, perhaps very successfully, with very little money of their own. They didn’t get there on Day One as new investors or part-time investors. It took time. You, on the other hand, as a new investor or part-time investor may need to depend on your own resources initially before you can begin to leverage the resources and the trust of others.

Finally: Be prepared to work.
The final bucket is the sacrifice that you will need to make to be a successful part-time investor and achieve your goals. Here’s the myth: “It’s so easy, anyone can do it.” You see it. You hear it. You read it. It’s right in front of you whenever you watch a television show, go to a seminar or read an article about real estate investing, especially these days when it seems to be such a popular fad.

The reality is that if something really is easy, it means there probably are no sacrifices in order to do it, and I just talked to you about two of the big sacrifices: time and money. There are many others. When you are making sacrifices like that, it is not an easy task, whatever it is you are doing, especially real estate investing. It’s going to take time, and it’s going take money. And those are two incredible sacrifices, I think we would all agree.

If it were easy, everyone would do it. Not everyone has the time, or more commonly, not everyone is willing to find or give the time. So make sure you are. Not everyone has the money, or more commonly, not everyone is willing to find or spend the money. So make sure you are.

Once again, trust me, you will hear those skilled investors, those large investors, those professional investors will tell you about the sacrifices they made: Time, money and hard work.

So my aim here is not to scare the new investor, but rather it is to prepare the new investor, to educate the new investor, to enable the new investor—whether part-time or full time—to be successful in 2016.

You have got to assemble your resources, recognize your needs, plan for them, and set your goals and objectives accordingly. If you do not have access to the resources that you need and can’t figure how to get access to those resources, whether it’s time or money or other sacrifices, then adjust your goals accordingly so that you can have realistic goals and achieve success.

I want to stress that in 2016, to achieve your goals as a part-time investor, you must resource yourself properly. Prepare to make a time investment. Prepare to make the appropriate monetary investment. And prepare to make the necessary sacrifices to start your real estate investing, or grow your real estate investing, or continue your part-time real estate investing. That, in turn, will enable you to feel good about what you achieved in 2016. And then you can look back on this year and celebrate the goals you achieved, the results you achieved and the successes that you will be able to achieve next year, in 2017.

Listen to Kevin’s podcast here.

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  • Kevin Guz

    Kevin Guz is a Dallas, Texas-based residential real estate investor with more than 10 years of investing experience. He owns a HomeVestors (or “We Buy Ugly Houses”) franchise as well as the Clear Key companies, which focus on residential real estate wholesaling, rental property management and self-storage leasing. He also is a licensed real estate agent in the state of Texas. He enjoys sharing his ongoing personal experiences, perspectives and learnings from his start as a part-time or “weekend investor” and full-time corporate professional through his ultimate transition to a full-time real estate investor and business owner. You can listen to his podcasts at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kevinguz.

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