Not everyone has or needs a business plan. I always had one when I was in my first few years of real estate. After that, I realized that the painstaking business plan that required time and much thought was useless, when the market changed.
The market continually changes. Niche areas of focus continually change. The bottom line for me was there were too many changes to have any goals that were based on any one specific area that was prevalent at the time of creating the plan.
The market changes in many ways. One might create a niche of “single family homes.” However, when the tax laws changed, the rush in real estate was to secure as many multi-family homes or other investment properties as possible. What do you do with that original business plan?
Another change in the market might be condo conversion. I can remember when that occurred, and I jumped all over that new real estate niche. I made it a niche of mine for many years. It was never on a business plan. However, I bought, converted and flipped many multi-family apartments that were sold as condos. I also contacted every multifamily homeowner; met with each of them; gave them a market analysis after converting to condos and most of them converted. They made a bundle flipping condos rather than selling the home as a multi-family. I had a steady flow of converted condo listings, and they all sold.
New construction came into vogue, and there I was with a phase of real estate that I knew nothing about. I made sure I knew the details of land and construction as quickly as possible via college courses from a local college. Next was the MA Builders License, unrestricted. Yes, I was qualified to build residential AND commercial buildings. I built nothing but ran with that education and used it to list a total of 40 subdivisions.
I could go on “ad nauseam,” but I’ll spare all of us. The bottom line, in my opinion, is we don’t need a yearly plan. Within a short period of time, the market could change leaving you in the dust.
Having an “awareness of the existing market conditions” for a variety of real estate phases is the precursor to making the proper decisions on which direction would be the strongest. That decision would result in obtaining education in that field, in order to perform intelligently and feel confident in your ability to secure business.
There is life beyond the Annual Business Plan. Mine was always filed in my mind, and when I recognized positive signs, my focus and discipline were like a laser beam on that phase.
It always worked well for me, and decades of real estate seems more like a flash from the past. There was nothing in the residential real estate market that I did not have as a niche, when that particular market was “top dog.”
Just a thought for the moment….
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