Start your real estate investing journey in these 3 simple steps
With the celebration of the 2022 IWD, came a lot of talks highlighting the need to #BreakTheBias which is the theme this year. And because so much of this was centred on women, it felt like a gender war was brewing under the surface. (I don’t like drama, so staying away from it can be a default setting – like this time).
But an interesting and enlightening discussion that should be had about breaking the bias is related to real estate investing – if we are being honest, the bias here is quite rotten already.
As a female, I have been lucky to only witness a few instances where a gender bias would have been placed on me. But when I think back to how a particular landlord stated specifically that I needed to have a man (boyfriend or father figure) be the one who paid my rent for me – it feels like an insult all over again.
(PS. I didn’t rent that house in the end but I almost did)
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As a human being, you will always first be entitled to your personal views and psychological concerns. But when those views come into your investments then you are crossing the line of bias for lack of a better word.
But this isn’t even the biggest bias in real estate ….. Shocked? Don’t be!!
The biggest bias for real estate in Nigeria is towards investing in it and it is in our largest population group (the middle-lower income group mostly) that you will see it the most.
The Bias: “Seemingly” not being able to afford to invest in real estate successfully.
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I highlight and bolden the word seemingly because it’s not proven that you cannot invest in real estate successfully and chances are that you can.
Below is how you can get into real estate in 3 steps:
1. EARN MORE MONEY: Yes, the reality is that our financial economy is such that our income is so stressed out for the things we need. But instead of complaining and wasting time and energy on it, have you considered other ways to make more money? If you are reading this, you can make more money digitally (ie online) and via skills that you have or can gain. Technology has made it much easier to learn a skill and start using it to make money from your smartphone. And the best part is that you don’t need to have more than N5,000 to get started (with learning)
2. LEARN ABOUT REAL ESTATE INVESTING: If I got US$100 for every time that I reminded people how important this is, I might very well be close to being a 6-figure earner by now. Learning real estate is necessary because what we know about real estate investing is so little compared to all the opportunities that exist.
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“Do you know that if you buy a first property that is able to appreciate well, you might not need to pay up to 70% of the cost of your next property?”
With the way that smart people use real estate to make money, they truly can’t be broke in a hurry and that wealth can be transferred to their kids.
3. START SMALL: If Rome wasn’t built in a day, then why do you want to build your empire in such a rush? Even millionaires don’t just start by being millionaires – they built up.
Don’t let the hype around showing off what you are doing push you into doing it for the gram or for show – those are the wrong reasons for doing anything and you should do it for yourself.
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Starting small gives you the flexibility to learn on the go and scale-up.
A few ways that you can start small when investing in real estate include long leasing residential apartments, co-investing for investment units and buying plots of land in less expensive cities and suburbs.
Investing in real estate is a long term game and getting it right is very important if not you can lose everything and end up worse off.
To #BreakTheBias in anything requires an actual change in behaviour and mindset and if you want to, you can.
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I am here and rooting for you.