Although it is likely that no one will ever see it, it is essential that you create a business plan for your real estate business. You are treating your real estate investing like a business aren’t you? Just the process of putting the plan together is extremely valuable. You will be forced to ask yourself questions and come up with solutions for problems that you don’t even know you have. At the very least, it will expose some threats to your business or identify potential opportunities, so you are aware of what is around you.
Here are four reasons why you need a business plan:
Evaluating your strategy
There is no process that will teach you more about your business. When you are done with the plan, you will have a clear understanding of your SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.) With this information, you will be able to accurately plan for success. Creating the business plan should take a fair amount of time and there are some key areas you will be focusing on. These include your product, your competition, the market and of course your numbers.
I love numbers, so going through the financial section is one of the most important pieces of the business plan in my opinion. You will want to tie in your financial goals with your plan to narrow down what your margins need to be and how many deals you need to be doing. Of course these are all projections, and a business plan is a breathing document which needs to be updated throughout the year.
Monitor performance
Several times through the year you need to run your financials and update your business plan. Read about your industry and check into your competition. Stay on top of what is going on. It is easy to over look this and get caught up in the everyday business operations, but without keeping current, you will not be able to make necessary changes to stay or become successful.
Let’s say you are really focusing on flipping properties in Thornton. Thornton becomes saturated with investors and wholesale pricing starts to increase. Prices for materials are also increasing, but you are not seeing higher resale prices. Your plan calls for $15,000 profit per property, but you are now making $5,000 or $10,000. The sooner you identify this and research other neighborhoods, the closer you will be to staying on track with your yearend projections.
Locating your target market
Most of the successful investors we work with focus their business. With real estate, it is most often focusing on location. I met with an investor yesterday that only buys houses in Washington Park. He never adds square footage, but does full renovations. He does this over and over and makes a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. This is great because he knows the area and makes offers on almost all properties that come on the market. He buys houses that no one else knows about because he markets his business in this area. He knows the market and the competition.
