Investors Looked Down On Me
As some of you may be aware, I attended a lot of courses by many guru out there and happily belong to many investors’ clubs.
There is this one incident that is so funny that I will never forget.
The host was going encouraging people to network.
I was speaking to this new acquaintance, a young man in his 30s and he asked me a question … “ so Marko, what have you been buying ? “.
I replied, “one condo and a number of industrial pty“. I was so proud to say that.
He looked at me strangely like I am an alien with two heads.
Then he turned and asked an older man standing besides me.
His reply was “oh, I bought a house in Sentosa last year”.
The young man was so impressed and exclaimed “ that’s so smart, wow. It must be nice right?”.
The elder man replied “no doubt its nice. But I could not sell it (those days no SSD and owner can sell the next day upon collecting key) and the rental market is very soft. I have to pay thru my nose every month to the banks”.
The young man, a little paiseh, finished his soda and excused himself to get more drinks.
I took the chance to nod my head and move to another part of the room.
I was thinking to myself; there is something wrong with some people in this room.
Here we are, talking about ways to financial freedom, i.e. making passive income more than expenses. And yet, while what I am doing is giving me exactly that, there are people out there who think that capital gains will set them free.
While its not wrong to think like this, I have witnessed many people making a few hundred thousands selling condo and apt, and yet putting the sales proceeds into the market to buy some more.
Meanwhile, they are working very hard to pay the bank loans as the rental cannot cover the bank instalments.
I have seen, so many of them.
They make some money in several properties and in the downturn cycle, they lost all the money in the wrong property.
Economic cycles come and go. What used to be a good property to buy, like a nice condo, may not make money in the next cycle, like now !
Its very sad seeing all these happening around me.
Learn how to ride the current wave. Its different from the previous recessions.
And DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT buy properties with bling bling brochures and designs. The more un-usual the property, the unlikely its going to be rented out fast, so sell at a high price. The more unique the design, the more difficult to rent and sell. The more special features the project has, the more MCST it costs. Tenants are unlikely to pay you higher rental becos your condo has a pool with waterfall.
Stick to the most popular design as this will cater to the largest pool of tenants and buyers.
These days, bling bling may lead to financial disaster.
Instead of focus on bling bling pty, consider the suggestions below. …
Focus on creating passive income.
Focus on hunting for property gems.
Focus on Nego to own the unit cheaper than the other people.
And finally, focus on creating more rental dollars out of this property.
Stick to the basics. Can’t go wrong. It has helped many real guru retire.
Love, Marko
Investor, Practitioner and Full-Time Coach
