INVESTORS’ CORNER: Hit real estate ‘singles’, not ‘home runs’

“The turtle has been beating the rabbit since Aesop started writing his fables.  One might think that beginners run the highest risks, but the danger comes to most of us when we’ve accumulated enough money to play for larger stakes.”

• Jack Miller, Success Secrets

In baseball, the big, strong, exciting home run hitters get most of the attention, but the most consistently valuable players in my memory were the hitters who just got base hits.  They don’t experience as many glorious highs (home runs) but they also don’t fail as much (strikeouts). These players just produce results and win games.

In football, the two-minute drill is the time of a game when a team needs to score points QUICKLY.  You might think they should just throw the ball down field as far as possible. But actually they do the opposite.

To move quickly down the field, a quarterback quickly makes many small, safe passes. When combined, these safe, small passes move the team down the field for a touchdown.

Just like baseball and football, the little deals in real estate done consistently make big impacts. One of my favorite real estate books is called Building Wealth One House At a Time by John Schaub. It’s all about little deals and big wealth.

But some people get bored with the little deals.  They want excitement from their investments. I say if you want excitement, go to a car race!  If you want to make money, stick with boring investments.

So, a winning strategy in real estate is this: Buy the consistent, safe, profitable investments, and then do it again, and again, and again until you meet your goals.

Chad Carson is a member of Metrolina Real Estate Investors Association, www.MetrolinaREIA.com, which provides education, networking, and networking for real estate investing in the Charlotte region.  Chad also writes a newsletter about real estate, money, and life at coachcarson.com