Posts Tagged ‘No-Brainer’

PostHeaderIcon Apartment Investment, The No-Brainer Plan of Business

 No doubt you’ve heard that if you fail to plan then you definitely intend to fail. That’s good advice. Planning is paramount to success in any business and it’s no different in the multifamily apartment investing business. I will show you how to create a super-simple business plan based on my own business plan.Now, I should let you know first tell you that there actually are two different kinds of business plans. The first is the type you use to present to potential investors should you be looking for capital, or the bank if you are going following a loan. It’s clean and polished and appears pretty. That isn’t the type I’m talking about.

Another kind is really a down-and-dirty, roll-up-your-sleeves, dog-eared document that you pull out each day and review. (Before long, you will be so acquainted with it that you will pull it out every other day, then every other week, and shortly you will know it by heart, when i do). It’s things i call a “living document” because you’re always in it, always changing it, and which makes it useful to you. Nobody else might find it and you will use this intend to drive your business.

Your own business plan should be a document where, if you were to wake up with total amnesia one morning, your partner could say to you “you are a successful multifamily apartment building investor which may be the step-by-step plan of what you’ve done”, and then you go out there and repeat exactly the same success. So that your business plan should be useful, user-friendly, and enjoyable to have interaction with. (Unfortunately, too many people believe that their business plan needs to the be the first kind – the polished kind – therefore it sits on a shelf and collects dust). You can create it on your computer, print it out, and make it along with you, making notes and updating it regularly.

So, exactly what does your plan include? Well, mine includes the three main activities I perform: Acquire, Operate, and Improve. I began by writing one page for every step with ideas and best practices and reminders to myself, all in a step-by-step format. “Acquire” is about finding multifamily apartments and determining my exit strategy; “operate” is about running them, “improve” is all about making them better.

As my company grew and my processes developed, I started to hone my plan. I aggressively modified each one of these the items I learned from every new multifamily investment. Today, my plan’s structure isn’t that not the same as my beginning after i performed those three tasks, however, you can be sure that each of these steps is tightly defined and rich in value. If I were to suddenly lose everything I had, that plan would still be worth millions in my experience.

Under each one of the three headings I range from the steps around what I do, where I actually do it, just how long it should take, who Sometimes with, what my intended outcomes are, and what happens if things set off the rails. It’s inside a step-by-step format so that I’m able to simply follow step one, step two, third step, etc. Of course, I depend on my instincts and bank of expertise but this plan of action ensures it gets done. But I’ve added a fourth heading – teach.

Today, I not just acquire, operate, and improve multifamily investments, I additionally teach others how you can perform the same. Your plan will most likely begin with the first three and also you will dsicover in time that it may grow to include your fourth too. However, you need to start somewhere. So begin with a 3 point Acquire, operate, improve strategic business plan making it the most valuable bits of paper you have.

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