Do you feel as if you’re too old to get into property development? I am now 56 and I feel younger than I have ever felt and it’s because I am my own boss and set my own agenda. Yes, I have been a property developer for years however I believe you’re never too old to get into this game.

I have met a lot of people through my property developing courses and, in general, the investors who are that little bit older seem to be more cautious and make good property developers and investors. This is not the case for everyone, however the older developer seem to do more research, mull things over that little bit more and have more equity to invest with.

Of course buying property for investment is stressful and this is what puts a lot of people off. There are always hitches when it comes to buying property but the hitches and the stress far outweigh the potential gains you can make. With the older investor the stress is a more of a factor as it can literally cause serious health problems. Don’t let that put you off you can still invest in property and hire someone to do the worrying for you. Yes you would be giving some of the gains away but you also relinquish the worry and let somebody else do it for you.

Another way to invest passively when you are older, or for anyone that matter is to buy land. There are a lot of companies now who buy land that has no planning permission. They start to sell that land off in plots say for £5,000- £25,000 and then apply for planning permission. This typically takes place every 5 years. Once the planning permission goes through the company then tries to sell to a big property developer for a premium so your could double, triple or even quadruple your money in the space of 5 – 15 years. This is investing without the worry and is ideal for the older investor trying to make some money.

Are you too old for property developing, not a chance! It’s good to live a little, it’s good to have a hobby and property developing and investing is an ideal way to make some money and have a hobby and an interest after retirement.

Popularity: 47% [?]

In the current climate of property a lot of people have given up the idea of selling their home for fear of losing money. This is the time that l a lot of people are thinking about extending their homes to add extra space.

This can be a great way to save on money whilst adding that much needed extra space to your home. Extending your home needn’t be a difficult process if you research, plan, and take action, my philosophy in most everything I do.

The first thing to do before making any structural changes is find out if the changes you intend to make will add value to your home. There may be others in your area who have a similar house and have done something similar to what you have in mind. Check out the selling price of homes that have been extended. You could even speak to an estate agent and ask their advice on what the property value would be if you extended your home.

If you plan to stay in your house for a long time you won’t need to think about the value of your house as much but it is still important as you never know what’s around the corner.

Does your home really need extended

A lot of people rush in to home extensions when a few simple changes in their current living area would be a lot more beneficial. Think about the layout of your current home and think what could be a better layout. Once you have a better layout plan you can then find out if it is possible to do, for example you can’t take down a load bearing wall without proper advice and support.

9 Tips to help with extending your home

Popularity: 47% [?]

Develop a desire to achieve

One of the first steps I teach in my P.I.P.S. course is about setting goals and the system I use is the SMART system which I spoke about in ‘The secret to making money from property developing’. Well after nearly 8 months here is the second part to the secret of making money from property developing.

We’ve all set ourselves targets and goals and failed at them, it’s part of the learning game of life. However did you ever stop to ask yourself why you failed? A lot of people fail at something and just brush themselves off and get on with it. I have encountered many people in my life and one of the main reasons I see people failing is the lack of desire. Now you might be thinking ‘I have failed in the past and it’s nothing to do with desire’, I have to tell you it was because you didn’t have enough desire. I have the desire to make myself a cup of tea as soon as I wake up in the morning but sometimes I fail to do this because I fall back asleep. That’s an oversimplified example but if I truly had the desire to make that cup of tea, I mean real burning desire, I made it my sole focus each morning to get up and make that tea what would happen? I would get up and make that cup of tea because my desire is strong, it is burning, there is a passion there to succeed. A lot of people might think they have desire but they have a want and a hope which is totally different from desire.

I know when someone has a true desire, I have seen it so many times. How do I know? Well there are signs:

I constantly think about my property projects and how I am going to succeed, and I am always on the lookout for my next project. I go to bed late thinking about property and I wake up early thinking about property, it always there because I have a true desire to succeed.

How to develop desire and passion

I use and teach a two part strategy to developing desire and passion.

The first part involves making two separate lists. I hear you groaning, ‘not a list, I hate lists’. This list is different, this list can literally change your life so bear with me.

I want you to think about a goal you want to achieve. When you have this in mind take a sheet of paper and list all the benefits that achieving this goal will give you. It could be financial freedom, personal happiness, spiritual freedom, wealth, more time with the family. Think of as many as you can. Once you have hit around 20 you will find that your goal will be unstoppable.

Now what I want you to do is make a second list of all the challenges you might face if you do not achieve this goal. Warning! This can be pretty scary and a real eye opener.

Reward and fear

The observant among will have noticed that the above lists represent to two motivating factors in every single action we take in life: reward and fear. The first lists represents reward and its all the benefits that happen when you achieve your goal. The second list represents fear of what might happen if you don’t achieve your goal.

Think about it for a second. You are reading this as you feel there may be some benefit to be gained from reading it which is a reward. There is a small goal to your action which is to learn something. What about the fear factor, well you wake up every morning to go to work as you fear you will not be able to pay the bills every month if you don’t get up and go to work.

The fear factor can be a huge motivator in life and has been shown to be one of the best motivators when trying to reach a goal.

When you are first starting out in the property developing field the fear factor may be high but as you go along and stick with it and the desire becomes stronger the fear factor will diminish and move toward the reward factor.

When is the time to take action?

RIGHT NOW! There is never a better time to take action than right now. Get that piece of paper out and start writing about the benefits of your goal and then the consequences if you don’t achieve that goal.

Popularity: 62% [?]