The beginning of 2017 follows on from one of the two periods of the year when many of us have some ‘quality time’ to reflect on what we are doing with our property related ventures.  

As Benjamin Franklin inferred in his profound quote: “those who fail to plan could well have a plan to fail”. Therefore I would hope that many of you have already taken note from the recent article by John Corey in the December edition and have already put together at least an outline plan of what you expect to achieve from your property investments in 2017. On page 48 of this edition John offers more ‘food for thought’ with another article on the same theme.

Note that above I used the term ‘expect’ rather than ‘hope’ about planning ahead, as that is an indication that you are probably more committed than some others to the business of ‘property investment’. From my own experiences over many years, you generally receive in life directly in proportion to what you are prepared to put in.

Having attending many hundreds of property events since we launched this magazine over fifteen years ago, I still see far too many people that I meet who are just ‘dabbling’ with property investing. They seem to take the business too lightly but then are then quick to complain about their inability to succeed in property investing, often blaming others rather than taking personal responsibility.  

If you really are serious about meeting the challenges of property investing in 2017 then for me the most important part of the equation is the person facing you in the bathroom mirror and your desire to succeed. Many of us will make personal New Year resolutions with good intentions, but by the time February comes the discipline required to go to the gym regularly, to eat less
fast food etc. is put aside because our desire to achieve our stated goals is just not strong enough. Property investing is no different
in my experience.