You've probably heard the saying "life is a marathon, not a sprint". Or a variation of it. In today's fast-paced world where everyone wants everything done yesterday and instant gratification is all the rage, it's a saying that needs reinforcing.
It's also true for property developers. I love enthusiasm, but there's nothing scarier than a student who signed up a day ago and they're already asking about potential deals. That's a recipe for another well-known saying - "marry in haste, repent at leisure".
Right about now you're probably thinking, hang on Rob, the article is called "Find Your Next Development Deal Fast", and yet now you're talking about marathons and not doing things in haste? Why?
I'm glad you asked.
The truth is, once you have the knowledge, it's possible to do things much faster. So your essential first step is becoming an Area Expert.
I talk about this often - 1 strategy, 1 Council, 3 suburbs. That's it. Once you have those in place, you need to spend time getting to know all 3 elements in great depth. That's the marathon part. Understand all you can about how the strategy works, what your Council's rules and regulations are, and know all the good and bad parts of your suburbs.
Once you've run that marathon, it becomes much quicker and easier to find development sites that work. Now, I know the whole "instant gratification" thing sounds a lot more fun than knuckling down and doing a LOT of work and research. Tough. If you want the results, that's where you need to start.
And yes, I've already guessed your next question - but that's still SLOW Rob - I want to do things fast, like you said in the article's title!
The good thing is that once you've done all that preparation, you can move into the next phase where you put your approach on steroids.
I've chatted to a lot of property developers in my time, and if there's one thing I see over and over again it's shiny object syndrome. They see a property online that looks promising, even though it's not in one of their 3 suburbs. An agent rings them up with a great deal (at least according to the agent!) but it's a different strategy. A friend mentions a potential JV but it's an area you know nothing about.
The problem is, all that knowledge you've built over time to become an Area Expert in your 3 suburbs? Basically useless. Yep, you know the drill. Now you have to switch your focus over to this new suburb that you know nothing about, maybe learn a whole new Council's rules and regulations, all without even knowing if your strategy is feasible there.
And say you've done that initial research and it looks positive, now you need to do all the rest of the necessary due diligence. Some of it will be easy because of your previous work, but some of it will be new because it's a new area for you. More time.
How much time? Depends on your experience and how in depth you want to go, but if it's a great deal, I'm almost certain of one thing - in the time it's taken you to do all the due diligence and background research required, someone who's an Area Expert in that suburb has probably already snapped up the deal. Time wasted.
And here's the crux of the problem - most new developers think the secret to finding a great development deal is to look at as many as possible. They cast the net in any direction they can, racking up lots of hours doing due diligence on areas they may never look at again. It's a huge time drain.
So if you want to find your next development site fast, then the answer is simple - look at less sites, not more.
Okay, I know your jaw just hit the desk in shock, so please close it again. Yes, you heard me correctly - the secret to finding sites fast is to eliminate possibilities as quickly as you can. This is where being an Area Expert pays off.
An agent rings you about a site. He tells you the size, and you know that based on local Council rules, you will be able to get 3 townhouses on there (if there's no other constraints on the site). Then the agent tells you the price.
Being an expert, you've done stacks of feasibilities on similar sites before, and you immediately know that there's no way you're going to make enough profit on the deal. Maybe if the price is close enough it could be worth haggling, but if you say something like "for that deal to work the price would need to be around $x and the agent says "no way", then you hang up the phone and forget about it.
Next!
See how fast this is? Instead of spending hours doing your due diligence on the site only to have it turn out to be a lemon, you've thrown it away in a matter of minutes, and not wasted any more time on it.
And look, I realise that I've made this all sound terrible simple, and glossed over many of the details (like how to become an Area Expert!) but I urge you to give it a try. Focus on finding reasons to throw a site away, instead of reasons to keep researching it, and your deal finding ability will crank up to turbo speed.
The next obvious question? How do you learn what you need to know in order to assess sites so quickly? I'm glad you asked! I've taken all my years of learning and experience and used it to put together a FREE online course - The 7 Step FORMULA to Financial Freedom.
The course breaks down your development path into 7 key steps, including the initial "finding a deal" phase:
Finances
Opportunity
Research
Method
Under Contract
Logistics
Accelerate
Each step is a crucial phase in the 5-year strategy to building lasting wealth through property development. Did I mention it's FREE?
It's my gift to you, to help you get started on the journey of becoming a property developer. The 7 Step FORMULA to Financial Freedom
Now get those running shoes on and start finding development deals fast! Hugs & kisses, Rob xx
It's also true for property developers. I love enthusiasm, but there's nothing scarier than a student who signed up a day ago and they're already asking about potential deals. That's a recipe for another well-known saying - "marry in haste, repent at leisure".
Right about now you're probably thinking, hang on Rob, the article is called "Find Your Next Development Deal Fast", and yet now you're talking about marathons and not doing things in haste? Why?
I'm glad you asked.
The truth is, once you have the knowledge, it's possible to do things much faster. So your essential first step is becoming an Area Expert.
I talk about this often - 1 strategy, 1 Council, 3 suburbs. That's it. Once you have those in place, you need to spend time getting to know all 3 elements in great depth. That's the marathon part. Understand all you can about how the strategy works, what your Council's rules and regulations are, and know all the good and bad parts of your suburbs.Once you've run that marathon, it becomes much quicker and easier to find development sites that work. Now, I know the whole "instant gratification" thing sounds a lot more fun than knuckling down and doing a LOT of work and research. Tough. If you want the results, that's where you need to start.
And yes, I've already guessed your next question - but that's still SLOW Rob - I want to do things fast, like you said in the article's title!
The good thing is that once you've done all that preparation, you can move into the next phase where you put your approach on steroids.
I've chatted to a lot of property developers in my time, and if there's one thing I see over and over again it's shiny object syndrome. They see a property online that looks promising, even though it's not in one of their 3 suburbs. An agent rings them up with a great deal (at least according to the agent!) but it's a different strategy. A friend mentions a potential JV but it's an area you know nothing about.
The problem is, all that knowledge you've built over time to become an Area Expert in your 3 suburbs? Basically useless. Yep, you know the drill. Now you have to switch your focus over to this new suburb that you know nothing about, maybe learn a whole new Council's rules and regulations, all without even knowing if your strategy is feasible there.
And say you've done that initial research and it looks positive, now you need to do all the rest of the necessary due diligence. Some of it will be easy because of your previous work, but some of it will be new because it's a new area for you. More time.
How much time? Depends on your experience and how in depth you want to go, but if it's a great deal, I'm almost certain of one thing - in the time it's taken you to do all the due diligence and background research required, someone who's an Area Expert in that suburb has probably already snapped up the deal. Time wasted.
And here's the crux of the problem - most new developers think the secret to finding a great development deal is to look at as many as possible. They cast the net in any direction they can, racking up lots of hours doing due diligence on areas they may never look at again. It's a huge time drain.
So if you want to find your next development site fast, then the answer is simple - look at less sites, not more.
Okay, I know your jaw just hit the desk in shock, so please close it again. Yes, you heard me correctly - the secret to finding sites fast is to eliminate possibilities as quickly as you can. This is where being an Area Expert pays off.
An agent rings you about a site. He tells you the size, and you know that based on local Council rules, you will be able to get 3 townhouses on there (if there's no other constraints on the site). Then the agent tells you the price.
Being an expert, you've done stacks of feasibilities on similar sites before, and you immediately know that there's no way you're going to make enough profit on the deal. Maybe if the price is close enough it could be worth haggling, but if you say something like "for that deal to work the price would need to be around $x and the agent says "no way", then you hang up the phone and forget about it.
Next!
See how fast this is? Instead of spending hours doing your due diligence on the site only to have it turn out to be a lemon, you've thrown it away in a matter of minutes, and not wasted any more time on it.
And look, I realise that I've made this all sound terrible simple, and glossed over many of the details (like how to become an Area Expert!) but I urge you to give it a try. Focus on finding reasons to throw a site away, instead of reasons to keep researching it, and your deal finding ability will crank up to turbo speed.
The next obvious question? How do you learn what you need to know in order to assess sites so quickly? I'm glad you asked! I've taken all my years of learning and experience and used it to put together a FREE online course - The 7 Step FORMULA to Financial Freedom.
The course breaks down your development path into 7 key steps, including the initial "finding a deal" phase:
Finances
Opportunity
Research
Method
Under Contract
Logistics
Accelerate
Each step is a crucial phase in the 5-year strategy to building lasting wealth through property development. Did I mention it's FREE?
It's my gift to you, to help you get started on the journey of becoming a property developer. The 7 Step FORMULA to Financial Freedom
Now get those running shoes on and start finding development deals fast! Hugs & kisses, Rob xx
