The property market is one of the most lucrative investment opportunities. Return on investment is almost guaranteed long-term, and is one of the most reliable sources of income for all property types. But, this doesn’t mean that property investment is easy, and there are plenty of chances to fall into common traps and make simple mistakes.
From Lakshmi Mittal, the owner of some of London’s most expensive houses, to Sameer Gehlaut, the brains behind The Residences at the London Mandarin Oriental Hotel, here are the 5 most important skills that property investors use in their work – and can be applied to your business.
Negotiation Skills
Negotiating is a skill that property investors know very well, and it is a hugely useful skill to add to any entrepreneur’s arsenal. It is important to be up-front and honest during negotiations with key stakeholders, but you must also enter negotiations with a clear idea of what you are looking for and the confidence to push for that wherever possible.
It is also necessary to be open to compromise, as no stakeholder will want to feel like they are being forced into a decision or being pushed too far. This can sour relations with those most central to your business’ potential success.
Keeping calm is possibly the most important aspect of negotiation. Staying level headed puts you in the best mindset to make logical, positive decisions and not get carried away with the excitement of negotiations.
Making the Most of Opportunities
Property investors are brilliant at finding up-and-coming areas or gaps in the market that can be exploited. This requires knowing your area of interest inside out, and monitoring how it is changing over time. Part of the skill of knowing the right time to pounce as well as recognising when a potential opportunity is simply a passing trend comes with experience in the industry, but there is still plenty to learn here.
Always being aware of your surroundings and being prepared to grab those opportunities with both hands – and crucially before any of your peers have had a chance to – is essential.
Market Research
It is hugely beneficial to understand the market you are working in before you put money into it. By failing to researching first, you are putting your business into serious jeopardy because you will not have not taken into account the variables which could impact your success. Especially when you are investing abroad, it is crucial to understand the cultural differences in the market you are entering, the legal restrictions and requirements, where the gaps in the market are, and how others have adapted to the environment to maximise their potential.
It can be easy to think that research simply requires understanding whether a deal will be profitable or not on paper. But, there are many other factors that play into a successful deal beyond cost and projected earnings. You need to take into account what other businesses are doing in the area, who exactly your customers/clients will be, and how the industry is likely to change going forward.
Patience
Property investment often requires the patience to wait for your investments to produce profit. Some property investments can take decades to start showing returns and, while there aren’t many businesses that require quite that level of patience, patience is still a virtue in entrepreneurship.
Hasty decisions are rarely good decisions. Launching a business quickly without thinking about whether it’s the right time or without fleshing out your ideas fully will more often than not leave you with an unsatisfactory product and a badly thought-out execution. It can also leave the business itself badly structured and lower the satisfaction and productivity of your staff.
Communication Skills
Communication runs through all aspects of managing a business. Property investors are required to keep open lines of communication with a huge number of moving parts, and they are masters at managing these relationships. Successful communication is at the very core of this.
Project management calls for the ability to be able to communicate with people from all areas of business, whether that be your investors, your own staff, producers, PR and advertising agencies, and many more. Good communication helps this web of relationships operate smoothly, as well as keep everyone on-side and on the same page, allowing them to do their jobs correctly and efficiently.
Particularly in the early stages of entrepreneurship, you may need to present pitches to those interested in providing funding for your business or potential producers when creating a product. This can be a daunting task, but if you are an effective communicator then it will be much easier for you to get your ideas across and persuade your audience. Being able to do this can make or break your business, so this is a skill worth honing.
