Sometime's you might need to step into your investment - Sam Zell.
I have had this on in the back ground today and caught some absolute golden nuggets out of it. Have a listen.
Sam Zell is an American billionaire businessman rebel, legendary deal maker and investor.
One thing that hit home was what I was talking about the other day, about not investing into an industry you're unsure of. 'just incase you need to step in to make it work' - as Zell put it. He said I don't invest in Bio-tech or Rockets because if I had to step in, I wouldn't know what to do.
This happened to me on a property deal I invested in. The building was 4 hours away, in the country side of northern England where it smelt of cow poo, dew and freshly brewed Yorkshire tea, none other than sunny Derby.
To cut a long story short, the building wasn't selling, it should have been a relatively quick refurb and sell, from memory I was pitched 4 - 6 months, but it took the best part of 2 years in total after stepping in to get it sold.
There must have been something wrong, surely?
After being told that we have tried several estate agents, dual agents and discussions of an auction I thought 'I need to go and check this out', something was fishy. By this point I checked out the building prior to investing and two times during the refit.
The refurb had been done terribly, the kitchen was falling apart, the stairs didn't meet building regs and the attention to detail was shocking - rubbish thrown into the shed, an overgrown garden and drive, cables randomly hanging out of sockets and extraction fans, cement splashed everywhere, it was almost like they had let children run around with grey, cement covered pain brushes and said - 'Go wild.'.
Unknowingly taking Zell's advice, I stepped in. Me and my dad spent 4 days - day and night - to bring it back up to scratch. It was graft but we knew what to do. I've fitted a kitchen, I knew what the banister regulations were, my Dad can do electrics and lots of other things, oh and my Mum came to do the garden.
I knew what was an acceptable standard for the price we was asking for for the building. I put it on with Purple bricks, paid the upfront fee and managed the viewing from home.
3 weeks later it sold, we didn't make the expected profits but no one lost.
#keepatit #makeithappen
really enjoyed this