Anyone can invest in real estate. Anyone can succeed in real estate investment. There are, however, certain traits that successful turnkey real estate investors possess. Don’t worry—if you’re afraid you might not possess these traits, you aren’t doomed to failure. Everyone can adapt and transform their thinking to find success in turnkey real estate investment.
1. Those Who Think About Their Future
Forward-thinkers will excel at turnkey real estate investment. Even though investors can be largely passive in their investment efforts, one key thing that separates average investors from exceptional ones is planning ahead. Those that have defined goals. Every investor, to a degree, is thinking about the future. They want to secure financial independence, a retirement, wealth, something.
Thinking about the future is more than just having a financial goal, though. It’s being able to say “I want to own 10 investment properties and I want to acquire two in the next six months.” It’s having cash flow goals. It’s having specific monetary goals. Thinking about the future means thinking in specifics and making plans. Then they use their turnkey investment to make it happen.
2. Those that Recognize the Need for Passive Income
We all have the same 24 hours in a day. The same 10,080 hours each week to do with what we can. Smart real estate investors have already figured out that earning actively and passively is the truest and fastest way to financial independence.
Your money is willing to work for you 24 hours a day. The key is to get it in the game by owning passive real estate investments.
3. Those Who Put Their Fear Aside
One of the biggest obstacles to not only success in real estate investment, but starting, is fear. People fear that they will lose money. They fear that it won’t be the answer to their financial prayers. They fear getting scammed and fear taking on too much of a burden on their time.
Fear of the unknown prevents them from trusting turnkey providers or investing in remote markets.
Fear prevents us from seizing the opportunities that are right in front of us. We put it off, telling ourselves that the time isn’t right or that we’ll wait until we know more about it. We’ll wait until we have more of a financial cushion. We’ll wait until this…and that…
And we just keep waiting.
The people who succeed in real estate investment are the people who actually have the courage to take the plunge. They know that risk is going to be a part of the equation and they aren’t afraid.
4. Those Who Take Initiative
It might be passive investing, but the people who truly thrive in turnkey real estate investment have initiative. It might not be in the day-to-day details, but it’s the sort of initiative that makes things happen. It’s determination. They understand that success isn’t going to come to them if they don’t make it happen for themselves.
They’re not going to dip into this real estate investment thing and expect it to bring them overnight success. They’re not even going to expect it to bring them success within a few years—not without their direction and hard work. You see, real estate investment can make you financially independent in just a few years. It just takes the kind of person who is determined to make it happen!
These are the investors who do what they can to scale, diversify their income, and relentlessly pursue success and a healthy, close relationship with their turnkey providers.
5. Those Who Want More for Themselves
Did you know that accordingly to studies, the vast majority of Americans are woefully underprepared for retirement? According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, half of all Americans have no savings for retirement. None. Nada. Zilch. No savings accounts, no 401(k)s, no IRAs.
The median savings for all U.S. families is $5,000, and the median savings for families with savings is $60,000.
That’s a scary notion. If you’re the type of person who doesn’t want to be caught without savings for retirement, then investing in turnkey real estate is for you. Because you know that saving for retirement isn’t so much about stockpiling cash. You’re not saving nuts for winter here. It’s about creating streams of income.
You want to be bringing it in, reliably, regardless of job or retirement status, defying market downturns or your ability or desire to work. The more passive income you can generate, the better. If you want more than what savings accounts and 401(k)s have to offer and if you’re hungry for a better financial future than what traditional financial advice has always had to offer, then you’re the type of person who will succeed in turnkey real estate investment.
Investors who fit the mold with these five traits are destined to succeed as turnkey real estate investors. Do you have any other traits that mark successful, passive real estate investors? Share them in the comments!
Chris Clothier, author of The Turnkey Revolution manages the development and implementation of sales and marketing for Memphis Invest. He helps potential investors define their purpose for investing in real estate and educates peer companies on best practices in the emerging turnkey real estate industry. He is a contributing columnist for BiggerPockets and an experienced speaker who regularly addresses audiences of real estate investors and business professionals.
