Finding Financial Success In Property Investments

Financial success can take many forms, but Pure Property Investment founder Paul Glossop (pictured) said it is all about freedom — freedom to spend more time with family, to have more time to pursue one's passions and to give back to the community.

Glossop, a professional property investor and a property investment adviser, believes having the right mindset is important when planning to invest in property. In his latest book, A Surfer's Guide to Property Investing, he talks about several strategies which investors can utilize to attain financial freedom.

Your Mortgage reached out to Glossop to learn more about his investment philosophy. In this exclusive interview, he shares some tips on knowing the right time to invest in a property. He also gives tips on how to succeed in property investing.

Your Mortgage: What mindset should potential investors have?

Glossop: I believe gaining the investor mind-set and preparing your mental mettle for becoming the master of your destiny is a conscious decision. Here are some steps to help you get there:

1. Set your barometer

Not everyone wants a bigger boat – in fact, most don’t need it. Step one is to set your barometer. It is the key take-off point for your investment journey and your future self will thank you for making time to define this first.

2. Set your goals

Once you’ve discovered what makes you be the best you can be, start considering goals to aim for.

3. Create a scratch map

Build a timeline of when those things are going to happen. Mark down when you’re retiring and when the kids move out. Make note of when those big events will occur.

4. Get educated

There has never been a better time to get an education about the world of property and finance.

The amount of information available online and throughout the media is incredible. Almost anyone who has an opinion on property has a forum to discuss, argue, and agree on ideas. Look up the various groups and see what discussions are trending. Check if there are local meet-ups for real estate-interested folks in your area too. You never know who you might meet that will change your life.

5. Mentor up

Taking on a mentor helps create some certainty in an environment where you must expect the unexpected.

Mentors come in all forms — family members and friends who’ve already completed the investing journey and can help you wade through the vagaries of what lies ahead. The best thing is most mentors from this pool are trustworthy and have your best interests at heart. The downside is some family will not be on board when it comes to property investment. These are your associates that will oversell the horror stories of investments gone bad and help you relive the lousy times they’ve had in real estate. Constructive caution is fine. Destructive horror tales that halt you in your tracks are not.

Your Mortgage: Is there really a right time to invest in a property?

Glossop: Timing is everything. There are two great regrets I’ve heard from seasoned property investors: “I started too late” and “I sold too soon”.

The former can be remedied by looking at my steps for getting the investor mind-set. The latter is a factor of preparations and risk mitigation.

Most investors looking for solid gains across their portfolio’s lifetime need to be prepared for the long haul. Buying quality property with the right ingredients means in some cases, you can ride a rising market and profit quickly — just ask Sydney owners who bought in 2011. However, if you look back over a 15-year period, you’ll find somewhere like Sydney lagged for most of a decade before its boom run.

Big money comes from patience so compound growth can do its thing over the long term.

Be prepared to repel the temptation of making the ‘fast buck’ offered by selling too soon. Remember, long-term investors sit at the pointy end of the plane.

Your Mortgage: When choosing where to invest, what are the top things to consider?

Glossop: Nothing beats location. You can’t out-train a bad diet. It’s fine to have a big home with the tasty finishes, but if it’s positioned on a main road in an isolated suburb with an oversupply problem, then your chances of realising a great return is limited.

Location is the lynchpin to success because it’s of limited supply and can’t be changed regardless of how much money, time, and effort you have at your disposal.

Make sure you research your locations well, including region, suburb, street and individual property to ensure you maximise your chances.

Your Mortgage: Tell us about how you define financial success in the realm of property investments

Glossop: I personally define financial success as having enough cashflow/equity/liquidity to enjoy life’s three pillars. Everyone will have a different number that is needed fulfil these pillars; however, I find that this exercise is to key to setting your barometer correctly before you jump in.

· Health

You do not want to be the richest man in the graveyard. There is no sugar coating the fact. The world is littered with unhealthy rich capitalists whose unabashed obsession with wealth has left them ignoring the most basic need for a happy life: good health.

I challenge you to name one multi-millionaire who, near the end of their time and wracked with illness, wouldn’t give their entire fortune to have their health back.

You cannot enjoy the fruits of your labour if all the effort and exertion has left you unable and unwilling to take care of the body you’ve been blessed with.

· Wealth

Wealth is not necessarily defined as having “giraffe money”. Rather, it’s a level of financial income that will enable you to fulfil the goals, desires and objectives you hold most valued.

· Happiness

Making time to be happy is often the single biggest mistake made by anyone whose life has become a mediocre personal feedback loop of daily waking, working, eating, sleeping — repeat ad infinitum.

As pleasant as a cycle of familiarity can be, it starts to wear thin. Find paths to break through the mundane. Otherwise, you’ll eventually work yourself into an unhappy circle if you don’t break out of it every now and then.

What’s most important is to plan it — don’t be reactive. Don’t be a person who thinks, “I’m unhappy. I’ve got to do something!” Don’t get to that stage. Take out your calendar rally your troops and say, ‘Let’s do this.’ It gives you something additional to live for.

Your Mortgage: What is the biggest lesson property investments can teach investors?

Glossop: Remember to breathe. Panic does you no good.

It can suck the oxygen right out of your system, and as any wave of uncertainty comes down on your skull, you can be left gasping for relief.

This feeling is common for first-time investors in particular, so remember — you’re not the first. Relax, breathe, and let the experts help guide you.

In my business, I see it all the time. I’ve even been guilty in the past of fuelling that panicked feeling among clients making their initial forays into the world of property investing. As a devout property tragic, I have been known to get caught up in the process and vernacular of real estate – using terms and acronyms that can be a foreign language to a client who doesn’t know their way around a spreadsheet. It can be confronting for the novice investor.

Another reason to find ways to address these misgivings is to avoid the “well-meaning” but vocal and ill-informed voices that surround you. These are family, friends and casual acquaintances who sow seeds of doubt about your decision to become a property investor. We’ve all heard them.

“Why are you doing this?” or “Why didn’t you buy in this location instead of that location?” or “You should have bought shares,” or my least favourite, “If only you’d bought Bitcoin. You’d be loaded by now!”

The Scottish writer Alexander Chalmers is attributed with the saying: “The three grand essentials of happiness are: Something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for." Happiness is a noble pursuit. It’s certainly not trivial, so don’t neglect this important pillar.