Real estate investing has been a great business for myself
and also for thousands of others, creating more millionaires
than any other vehicle. You’ve probably heard this statement
numerous times.

However, all too often we discuss the technical aspects to
completing deals. New real estate investors want to know
all the paperwork they need, how to get financing, along
with the technical aspects to successful deal structuring, but the one thing we never seem to talk about- what makes one successful with real estate investing.

Real estate investing has been very good to me. For the last five years, I have been investing in real estate full time. It seems there are always people asking me exactly what I do or how I do it and more importantly they’ll ask me – “how can I profit from buying and selling real estate?”

The question I have for anyone just starting out or someone that wants to get started is “Do you have what it takes?”

Here I will tell you the 4 traits to becoming successful as
a real estate entrepreneur:

1.) Staying Focused.

Real Estate investors are opportunist, looking for the next
deal. It seems that around every corner, there lies some
opportunity. And as a matter of fact, if you chase every
opportunity, you’ll end up frustrated, scattered, and
overwhelmed by all the projects you’re attempting to
complete. You should concentrate all of your efforts to
getting one deal completed at a time, then work on your
system to acquiring more. This has been extremely hard at times even
for myself.

2.) Set short-term goals and reward yourself.

You should focus on 90-day goals and commit to your goals to seeing them through the end. Keep your goals listed in
front of you at all times. Set up a reward system for
yourself for when you obtain your goal. When you get cashed out of that deal, then take a set percentage and reward yourself with something that you want. Maybe, you’re paying off debt, however you should also be rewarding yourself at the same time.

3.) Make Fast Informed Decisions

Conduct your due diligence in a timely manner or else if
it’s a real deal, then someone will scoop up the deal while
you’re still analyzing the deal. Some call it “Analysis
Paralysis”, where you’re paralyzed by the fear of making
the wrong decision, therefore you analyze it to death.
Analyze the deal, then have some faith making an informed
choice.

4.) Willingness To Learn Lessons.

Let me ask you this, do you blame everything on someone
else? Do you avoid taking responsibility for your actions?
Be honest with yourself here. See, in this business, you
are your own competition, you are the one responsible for
the success or failure of your business. And that’s why
sometimes it can be tough because you see exactly what
you’re made of. In all business ventures, there are valuable
lessons that you must be willing to accept. Some are good,
while some can be painful. You must remain patient and
persistent focusing at the goal at hand.

After all, it’s too easy to get sidetracked with
the latest get rich quick information. It’s vital to your business that you remain focused, persistent to the tasks at hand, without wavering.

Apply these four traits to your business with focus, yet
flexible plans to reach your goals and you’ll see you’re way
to the top.

Where does the San Diego real estate market seem to be headed for 2012? Once again at this time of year, when all the pundits come out with their forecast, it’s the rare individual that does not go along with the real estate industry’s proverbial ‘now’s the time to buy’ mantra. I’m going to be part of the 1% who deviates from the traditional ‘by now before you’re priced out of the market’ end of the year talking points.

I bet you have an idea where I’m going with my report for the Outlook for home values in 2012.

Now let’s look at 2012 for San Diego home values. Back in the summer of ’05, one of the main factors for my calling a market drop was the drop in sales activity while home values continued to increase basically because of the lag time in reporting. Well, I believe the same could be occurring now, except in reverse!

What I see for San Diego real estate in 2012.

My opinions here are basically geared toward the San Carlos, SDSU neighborhoods westward through the Claremont and Pacific Beach neighborhoods.

With sales increasing (hopefully this trend will stay in place) I believe the San Diego housing market will finally see home values stabilize in 2012.

I’m not calling for some slingshot snap-back in home values next year. I’m calling for, to be precise, the continued modest decline in San Diego resale home prices through at least the first half of 2012. Naturally, barring some major detrimental economic news either here or in Europe, I think the second half of 2012 could see some solid base building, with perhaps, some modest single-digit appreciation by year’s end.

There continues to be talk about pent-up buyers to getting into the market. The theory goes that many potential first-time buyers and move up buyers have been holding off getting into the market and once they see some improvement will rush back in a big way. I said this in a number of prior posts, and I’ll say it again now: I believe there is pent-up demand in today’s real estate market! The ‘you can never go wrong buying real estate’ crowd has this pent-up demand theory 180 degrees backwards! Personally, I see it not as pent-up demand to buy, but just the reverse! Yes, pent-up demand to sell!

I’ve seen many current San Diego homeowners who have seen their home values drop 30% or more during the last six years who would love to recapture a small amount of that decline. They could then move on to a home more suitable for their current family and economic situation. When we finally do see some modest San Diego home value appreciation, I believe we’ll see a lot more inventory become available from these homeowners.

I usually end these forecast by saying that I hope I’m wrong and things turn out better for homeowners that I’m forecasting. I’d like home prices to make a sharp upswing in 2012, but with the magnitude and longevity of San Diego’s real estate home value bust, I don’t really believe that there is NO chance for such a fairytale snap-back.