Only you can look at yourself and answer those questions. But to do so effectively, you must have some criteria to help make your judgments. In real estate investing, I have found ten personality characteristics that are most likely to contribute to success:

That’s some list of character traits. But don’t worry… no one is or could be exemplary in all of these characteristics, all of the time. When you take an honest look at yourself, don’t rate yourself on the individual character traits, rather, how do you stack up when you consider these ten traits as a whole? Let’s look at the ten characteristics in a little greater detail.

1. ASSERTIVENESS.  Webster defines “assertive” as  “ disposed to or characterized by bold or confident assertion.” BOLD & CONFIDENT are the key words here. But be careful not to confuse assertiveness with outright aggression or arrogance. Would-be investors in the real estate marketplace who are ready to fight or with the proverbial chip on their shoulder are prone to failures not only in negotiating but also in interacting with the many support people who are invariably involved in every deal. In instances when you want or need to proceed in a certain direction with a real estate deal, and run into obstacle(s), the assertive investor will find ways to make the deal work without annoying, repelling or offending the players..

2. ATTENTION TO DETAIL.  Every great real estate deal is the coming together of a myriad of tiny parts. The person who will succeed in making those great deals must be attentive to every part. Real estate investors deal with local property laws, tax laws, and contract law. Owning property requires knowledge of building structure and maintenance. It requires management and accounting skills and it brings up financing and insurance questions. How can one person pay attention to all these tiny details? You can’t…. but you must! Like a good project manager in a large corporation, you must assign qualified people to check on potential problem areas and then you must monitor their work. This is where finding  a good and reliable real estate agent, real estate attorney, Title Company and closing agent to take care of their respective parts of the deal is paramount.

3. AWARENESS. Because real estate responds most strongly to local economic and demographic trends, it is absolutely essential that the investor be aware of what is going on in the area where he or she plans to invest. That is why I stress, the best place to get started is in your own neighborhood or town.

Here we are talking about the observation of details that will directly affect profit and/or loss potential.

Also, if you go into a real estate transaction knowing only your own motivations and goals, you will know very little of what is making (or not making) the deal. A very important detail to be aware of is to find out why the seller is selling.

4. CREATIVITY.  Creativity is perhaps the most important trait required of a successful real estate investor. The success of a choice in investment property can be made or broken by two types of creativity:

Creativity in real estate also means the ability to see many different ways to solve the same problem – perhaps thinking unconventionally to come up with a solution and a true win-win result. The art of the deal is often centered  in finding ways to make a lower offering price more appealing to the seller or allowing for the buyer to get more for a higher price.

5. INITIATIVE.  The real estate road to wealth is not for passive people who wait for something to happen and then react to it. Sellers rarely come knocking  on your door, begging you to buy their property at a bargain! If you really want to make money in real estate, you must take the initiative and
go out to find the property. Then you must estimate market value, calculate cash flow and make the first offer.

Initiative is also the essential character trait in resolving the many problematic situations that can arise.  Sometimes initiative means going the extra mile or two to make something happen the way you want it

to.  Sometimes, initiative means a big investment of time and effort, but it can also mean the difference between success and failure.

6. PERSEVERANCE. In the real estate marketplace, some of the most costly words an investor can speak are “I give up” . Stick-to-it-iveness and a “don’t take no for an answer” attitude are essential. But that perseverance must be tempered by the reality of facts and numbers and rational judgment.

Unfinished real estate projects are rarely profitable. To be successful, the investor must be willing to keep on going to the end of the project. There are limits to the benefits of perseverance however. When actual costs far exceed estimates, you may have to weigh cutting your losses against a potential negative cash flow or capital loss. Persevering beyond the limits of rational judgment can also be defined as stubbornness… and  stubbornness is best left to the large eared creatures in the pasture, if you get my drift!

The investor who, after careful analysis and the use of rational judgment, won’t take no for an answer will return again to knock at a closed door or to make another offer to the seller who says “I won’t take a penny less.”

7. RATIONAL JUDGMENT.  When buying a home, love complicates things. But love should not be a factor when buying an investment property. In fact, emotion of any kind should not play a role in the decision to buy.  Base your selection of investment property on an analysis of market value versus purchase price, structure and condition, income and cash flow, and probable appreciation.

Be advised: Exercising rational judgment  will sometimes try yet another trait: patience. Real estate is a long term investment. The decision to sell must be based not on a whim or convenience but on a careful evaluation of market values, trends and conditions. Tax liabilities and ones ability to withstand large capital gains must also be factored in.

8. SELF-CONFIDENCE.  It takes a great amount of self-confidence to jump into the real estate investment marketplace. You must base your purchase on your own evaluation of how a property meets your specific needs, goals and preferences.

Of course, it is always wise to seek advice or qualified opinion from professionals, but it is ultimately your decision as to how you weigh and judge the merit of the advice you are given. This takes an immense amount of self-confidence. Without it, few purchases would be made.

Self-confidence is also required for property improvements and property management. Decisions must be made and plans must be implemented just about every day. Whatever the task, you must believe that you can do it or that you can get the professional help that you will need. If you do not have

confidence in yourself, your investment goals and timetable will suffer from innumerable delays because of indecision.

9. STRATEGIC PLANNING. Beginners in the real estate investment marketplace most frequently fail to plan for the long term. If you don’t spend the time to set goals and work toward them, you lose some of the essential criteria for making profitable decisions.

Ask most successful real estate investors where they want to be financially in 5 years and they can tell you their plan rather specifically. But, they do not limit their strategies to setting long term investment goals and working toward them. They often spend time planning strategies for negotiations too. They develop strategies for dealing with late paying tenants. They might work up three alternative strategies for getting the best deal on financing.

In short, successful real estate investors must have a positive business outlook and a solid business plan. They make their plans, they continually evaluate them, they work on revising their plans when required by unforeseen circumstance… they utilize the character trait of attention to detail.

ARE YOU RIGHT FOR REAL ESTATE?

So what do you think? Do you think you score somewhere over a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 in all of these traits? If you’ve read this long newsletter this far, you probably do. But hold on! You are still not ready to start investing. Even if you are a perfect real estate type, there is yet another question: