In This Issue:

- A Note from John: I've finally escaped the box room...

- Feature Article:  Being Effective At Avoiding Your Deals Falling Through

- John Recommends:  John Rattigan's Call Guide

A Note From John

Well it has sure been a month of change for property investors with the hike in interest rates being followed by instant remortgaging being pulled by Mortgage Express. Personally I am delighted and more hopeful than ever about the future. It has forced the market to consider alternatives to the MX monopoly, and in turn the solutions will open up the market to a much bigger choice of lenders, which can only be good for us as the consumers. The panic to address cashflow issues has become all too evident too. Canny investors have anticipated difficult times and addressed cashflow as a priority, and judging by the response to my article on cashflow and passive income opportunities last month, there are many investors looking for solutions.

On a personal note I am very pleased to be writing this article from my new dedicated office and meeting room to the side of my home. Having escaped the rat race to work from home is fantastic and liberating – but I have to admit that working in a small box room between your children’s bedrooms is not the ideal working environment :-)

This change of environment has had a massive impact on my effectiveness and productivity. A well known investor and I were chatting yesterday and we agreed that on a smaller scale, you can have a similar impact just by clearing out your working environment and not leaving everything cluttered around you – just a thought as we leave the spring clean time of year.
 

Feature Article

Being Effective at Avoiding Your Deals Falling Through

With the well-documented finance situation affecting investor activity right now, the last thing you want is to lose a deal through mismanagement or miscommunication. I had an investor friend call me this week who was extremely exasperated at the lack of efficiency with the so-called professionals that had cost him to lose a deal.

We all experience these situations from time to time, and I think it is important to accept that we simply don’t live in a perfect world and so things WILL go wrong occasionally. There are many issues that we cannot control such as a vendor having a genuine change of heart, gazumping, mortgage lenders pulling rates, or even as abstract as acts of god that damage a property before completion – it happens!

But there are many aspects that we can control and the biggest and most important is communication – its timing, its content, its clarity and the medium we use all have an affect on the results we get. Miscommunication is the biggest problem in business in my experience: Someone assuming what someone else will do and neither party seeking or providing clarification. Hence the need to always follow up important conversations with your professionals in writing – email has made this so easy to do.

When things do go wrong, there is a time for throwing your dummy out of the pram, but this should be an absolute last resort. The problem with losing your rag is that your argument is then based more on emotion than fact and holds far less credibility.

A better approach is to remain calm but authoritative and use the 4 W’s or What-Why, What-When:
 

• Explain WHAT the problem is

• WHY it is a problem

• WHAT you would like to happen

• WHEN you would like it to happen
   

If you are still met with blockages, then the key is to just stop apportioning blame and instead take a deep breath and focus on a solution rather than the problem. I simply ASK them: "How can we achieve what we need to achieve here?"

Finally, whether it is a solicitor, broker, project manager or surveyor, don’t just leave your expert team to get on with it and assume that they are doing it. If you have not had confirmation that something has happened, or have any concerns, check in with the service provider sooner rather than later. Chase regularly but chase politely and constructively. Remember poor service by others reflects poorly on YOU and costs time, money and ultimately deals.
 

John Recommends

JOHN RATTIGAN'S CALL GUIDE - An innovative guide to show you step-by-step how to make confident and effective lead qualification calls to vendors. As well as sharing all my tips and techniques in a 40+ page guide covering every element of the call, you also get over an hour of audio which covers 15 REAL calls to REAL vendors. Be a fly on the wall and listen in on how and how NOT to talk to vendors, and follow a 27% BMV cashback deal I personally completed. I tell you EVERYTHING! From where I sourced the deal, to showing you the original lead info, and letting you listen in on the whole call I made to the vendor. I'll also give you full access to my 'Deal Diary' as I progressed and closed the deal. NO WONDER THIS 'MUST HAVE GUIDE' IS SUCH A BEST SELLER!

About The Property Investor PA

www.ThePropertyInvestorPA.com is a dedicated UK support service for Below Market Value Property Investors. Established in 2006, we specialize in helping you with the time consuming parts of your property business – leaving YOU to get on with doing the deals and running the business. Visit our website to read case studies and testimonials plus download our free brochure.