By Richard Crabb | CEO Aspire Network | Pipa Board Member

The end of the year gives us a break from the everyday cycle. We find ourselves with moments of self-reflection. A chance to sit and muse about how far we’ve come and where we’re going both professionally and personally.

Among these ruminations will be thoughts about financial plans, and for many that means their property investment journey.

So now is the time for me to ask, did you achieve all you wanted in 2023? For many, if they’re completely honest with themselves, the answer will be no.

Here’s my challenge to you. Right now, as we herald in Christmas and New Year, make a firm resolution to reach (and even exceed) your property investment goals this coming year.

To help get your mindset moving, I’ve put together these top 10 tips for investment success in 2024.

1. Use an advisor

Drawing on the experience of specialists is the number one thing you can do to reach your goals in 2024. Too many people try to DIY their way through real estate investment. In my vast experience, you will expend more effort and achieve far less by going solo.

Advisors not only provide analytical insight on the best way to reach your aspirational summit, they’re also your investment coach keeping you on track. Specialists in all sorts of fields can help from legal to accounting to construction, but your first and foremost team captain must be an experienced property advisor.

2. Don’t believe the drama

This is an absolute imperative proven by the range of media commentary that has crossed the airwaves throughout the past two years. You will have seen all sorts of hair-raising stories about the extraordinary market highs and plummeting nightmarish lows.

Right now, it is all doom and gloom about the economy and market outlook. But these clickbait audience-chasing tales of woe are designed to shock and are rarely based in the logic set by long-term investment strategies.

Instead, rely on sound data and analysis delivered by advisors with multi-cycle experience. They will put what’s happening into perspective and show you where the opportunities lie.

3. Write down your goals

It’s OK to dream big when thinking about investing, but you must write down clearly and plainly what you want to achieve.

Think about when you’d like to stop working and how much you’d like to have in retirement. What sort of things will you do? What resources will you need to do them?

Now, set these out somewhere where you can reference them whenever needed. When you have rough patches during the financial growth plan – and make no mistake, you will have trying times – you need to refer back to your goals so you stay on track.

4. Have a strategy

Too many folk plough into the new year with great intentions but no clear strategy – don’t be one of those people.

Instead take the time now to assess your plans in detail. Look at what resources you have at your disposal – equity and income. Think about your liabilities and costs. Look at what can be achieved and what time frame is reasonable.

Again, using an advisor to walk you through this process will make sure you do a comprehensive job of it and that you have a realistic roadmap towards that successful end point.

5. Act!

To bastardise a well-known saying, the road to failure is paved with good intentions.

All the due diligence and equational effort in the world does you no good if you don’t act on your convictions.

So I say make sure you set hard and fast deadlines as part of your strategy. Lay out the steps you must take that will bring you to a property purchase and know the dates for achieving those steps.

When it comes time to buy, move forward with conviction. Hesitation will cost you thousands, particularly in 2024. As we all know, time in the market is far more profitable than timing the market, so make sure you act as soon as you can.

6. Learn about due diligence

Acquiring the skills to properly assess an opportunity is a valuable tool in your investor utility belt.

Understand how to source great data, especially comparable sales evidence. Learn how to consider the pros and cons of each investment and be aware of the risks and how to mitigate them.

This is also where an advisor’s guidance will deliver huge benefits. They can assist with all sorts of due diligence to ensure you take advantage of the right prospects when they come along.

7. Use Buffers

This top tip is always a good one, but in 2024 it will be an absolute imperative.

I allow for a range of buffers in my planning. For example, I need to know I can service my loans if the interest rate was double what I currently pay. I also ensure I have adequate funds available in either an offset account or drawdown facility to see me through things such as tenant vacancy periods or emergency repairs.

Buffers allow you to sleep easy at night knowing that if things suddenly go badly, there’s a financial cushion to soften the fall.

8. Ongoing assessment

Being an active investor ensures you stay on track with your strategy.

A property investment advisor will deliver regular updates on your portfolio’s value and rental returns. They can also look at how your personal circumstances may change for the better or worse and help you adapt to those variations.

While many may quote set-and-forget passive investing as the way to go, the fact remains you must be engaged and proactive to make the most of your investment journey.

9. Understand your limitations

There are a lot of strategies when it comes to property investment. These can include renovation, small development and short stay. Some out in the advisory space will sell you the dream returns that can be achieved. What they won’t explain is the high risk and hard work associated with many of these approaches.

People rarely make proper profits out of renovation ventures once things like rising costs and natural capital gains are factored in. Small development can go very wrong at many points along the process and short-stay needs a lot of intensive high-cost management.

Make sure you understand what you can and can’t contribute to your investment and don’t bite off more than you can chew.

10. Learn by review

Not enough investors take the time to look back regularly to see what they’ve learned from their journey. When assessing your portfolio’s performance, ask two important questions:

• What could have gone worse here?
• How could I have achieved more?

Answers to these queries will help you become a smarter investor through the wisdom of experience. The sort of knowledge that will see you advance your property outcomes many times over.

I think 2024 will be a prime opportunity to invest in the right markets throughout Australia. Don’t look back in regret come next December and feel let down for not achieving more. Instead, resolve to adopt my top 10 tips and move forward with confidence in 2024.

Happy New Year to you all.

Talk to us about how we can help you to create long term wealth with property investing.