There is something so satisfying about reaching settlement. It’s the culmination of weeks, sometimes months, spent researching, flying, inspecting, negotiating, reporting, conducting due diligence, bidding, more negotiating and finally signing. I never get tired of it.
We do that over a hundred times a year – no transaction is ever the same and each time, I learn something new.
The art of learning
There’s a Chinese proverb I heard once: The wise man knows he knows nothing, the fool thinks he knows all.
Property investment is a dynamic industry with so many elements to consider. Every day I rely on our property research team at 1Group to source the right opportunities, to advise me on the functionality of the floor plan, discover what can be improved or renovated to maximise the value of the property, to know about council zoning, what developments are slated for the area, the demographics of the region, infrastructure, schools, public transport scores – and that’s before I’ve even inspected a property.
On the commercial side, our 1 Group property experts are guns at dissecting the opportunity and scope for the business we are supporting, providing sufficient data for our negotiations. And the research team bring it home with independent assessment so I can start the negotiations armed with data.
I would be a fool to think I could do it all.
Fool’s gold
Many punters and business owners take it upon themselves to nail their property strategy with minimal experience or time for independent research – all this on top of running their busy lives and businesses, being great parents, partners and friends.
Too many times I’ve witnessed business owners realise the site they bought wasn’t quite right and didn’t allow them to grow or capture their target market, or the residential investor who didn’t consider the difficulty of accessing the house from the train station, didn’t have time to walk it before auction or didn’t realise the row of shops next door was scheduled to turn into a multi-story apartment block.
And what really makes me cringe is when a home owner misses out on their ideal home, or perhaps worse, paid too much and now, what should otherwise be exciting times, is diluted by holding onto an asset that will take years to break even on.
If you weren’t a mechanic, would you try to fix your car yourself? If you weren’t a chef would you open a restaurant? If you couldn’t swim would you dive into the ocean without a friend?
Is it worth it?
The value of teamwork
There is something beautiful about collaboration, different perspectives and opinions, our own personal way of seeing opportunity and situations that creates a unique and stronger outcome; one that’s impossible to see on your own. What Tal and I are really proud of is the team behind us that enables us to deliver exceptional value to our clients.
Take care in the property market. Buying is easy, we can all do that. Maximising your return and ensuring it’s the right property for the long term takes a team.
If you couldn’t swim would you dive into the ocean without a friend? Is it worth it?
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