What sort of property investor persona do you have?

If you’re thinking of buying an investment property but don’t know much about where to start, my advice is to start at the end. Which is really the beginning. What do I mean? Read on, and I’ll explain.

I’m probably showing my age a bit here, but when I was a teenager, all the cool kids were listening to The Smashing Pumpkins in high school. My favourite song was one called ‘The End is the Beginning Is the End’. I liked the song and the name of it too.

Fast forward almost twenty years and I find myself applying this philosophy to my property investing career.

See, when you’re making your start in property investing, you should best begin by thinking about what the end result will be. What is your specific property goal?

A common end result, or goal, amongst many younger investors, is to build a portfolio that will pay its own way whilst you live your work/career life nine to five. Then when you stop working a couple of decades later and the properties have grown – both in value as well as rental income you receive – you’ll be able to quit work and have that extra revenue not only pay off the property mortgages, but also become your new salary.

So yes, the end is the beginning is the end. Start at the end result, which is really your beginning. Plan to work, then work the plan and that beginning becomes the end you originally hoped for. Make sense? Great!

The thing is once you’ve identified your goal, you’ll learn there’s more than one way to get you there. Depending on many variables – such as your income now versus your income in say five years, lifestyle factors and future projected cash-flow factors – different strategies will serve different purposes.

So today I thought I’d outline two main investor personas that I’ve affectionately called ‘cash-flow kings’ and ‘capital growth commandos’. I’ll cover what each means in growth terms, and the kind of investor each persona suits. I’ll then make quick mention of two more personas; who I’ve affectionately called ‘best of both barons’ and ‘flip and reno ringleaders’.

Understanding your investor persona will help you get you growing towards your goals in the most efficient way possible.

Cash-flow kings:

• These investors chase either neutral or slightly positive gearing in their portfolio.
• Whilst capital growth is important to them, they are in it for the medium-long term and favour balancing their books, effectively holding on to several properties where the rent covers all expenses for these properties each month, rather than immediate value growth.
• This may mean that a cash-flow king will hold say three properties for several years before the property starts going up much in value.
• This strategy can work well for low-middle income bracket earners and younger investors, who are unlikely to see as much benefit from say negative gearing strategies.
• Key to mention is that this strategy needn’t be set in stone. During your younger ‘acquisition’ years, you may wish to procure a few properties that just pay for themselves. Then, as you start earning a higher salary you may want to pick up a property or two that has more capital-growth potential, but puts you out of pocket a little bit each month to hold.

Story continues on page 2. Please click below.