| Do People Still Make New Year’s Resolutions? I know I do! (But thank God for Unanswered Prayers) Just last month, my long-time secretary, Yvonne, and I were digging around in some old files in the basement of Regency Prop. Mgmt & Real Estate and we came across my old personal day timer from 2003. On the first page, I had written my New Year’s Resolution for that year. We howled with laughter at how miserably Paulo and I have failed on that year’s resolution. |
| I remember 2003 like it was just yesterday. Paulo and I had recently moved back to Canada from Japan and we had started a couple of new businesses, neither of which were making any money at the time. We had two young kids and owned a small handful of rental houses. I remember thinking that life couldn’t get any harder or more complicated than it already was, so it was my goal to stop growing; to stay and hold. That was the plan!I think I can ‘blame’/’thank’ my mother for our change of hearts. She gets sparkles in her eyes when she hears of a good investment and the next thing you know, we’ve bought the darn thing. Everyone needs a believer on their team, and my mother believed like no other! We will be eternally grateful to her for being the instigator of growth. And to my father for taking care of all of the important things in the buildings like the boilers and the sewers and the roofs and anything that requires cash to fix (ie: everything!) I will admit, I definitely got ‘lucky’ to be born into the perfect real estate investing team. It’s been a great run. Here’s our current challenge in 2017: Buying properties has become somewhat of an addiction, with the word ‘addiction’ being somewhat of a negative thing. Ironically, my New Year’s resolution for 2017 was exactly the same as 2003’s. I typed it out and printed it, and pasted in my new 2017 day timer in early December, long before Yvonne and I found the one from 14 years ago. Now here’s the stupid part, the first thing Paulo and I were doing (before 2016 was even over) was considering jumping into buying another property here in Honduras. We’ve grown so accustomed to taking on more and more that we have forgotten how to say ‘No thanks’. One might say that that we are motivated by greed, which I emphatically disagree with. I’m beginning to believe that it has just become a way of life and we don’t know how to un-condition our brains. We live a simple life and we love to work, but maybe it’s time to re-think that formula? Those who know us best are always asking us, “So how’s that working for ya?” So how does this story apply to the readers of this newsletter? Perhaps it doesn’t. Or perhaps it does? For those of you who are or are considering becoming a real estate investor/landlord, I hope this newsletter sheds some light on the topic. Here are the cold hard facts about being a real estate investor: (in my opinion) There is rarely a surplus of cash and in fact, there is usually a shortage of cash, especially at the beginning and during any times of growth. It’s not a game of chance or timing. In fact, there is no perfect year to get into the game. The only perfect time to start is NOW. There is no such thing as being lucky! Yes, it IS possible for some investors to get in by a stroke of luck right before a big boom, but this is not the norm and not worth waiting for. There will be some fun years as a real estate investor when the market unexpectedly booms, but there are many more years when the market is normal or even stagnant. It’s during both of these down times when one has to stay calm and stick to the plan. It’s a long process. You must surround yourself with like-minded folks to be successful. No one gets to the top alone! I would like to share with you my favorite poem from the book ‘Think and Grow Rich’. I believe that this poem applies to anyone and to everyone around the world in any walk of life. I hope it resonates with you as it did with me many years ago. |
| May this be YOUR year to make the changes you need to do to get what you want out of life. Or maybe you’re already there? If the latter is the case, may this year be YOUR year to help those who would love to learn about your success. Many Blessings! by Kathy Berner |
