Dear {{contact.first_name}}
Happy spring!
As winter fades we look ahead in hope to the warmer and brighter days ahead.
Well done for surviving a tough winter in every sense of the word!
Our theme for this month is breaking through the challenges that have been overwhelming many, overcoming our dragons and moving forward stronger together!
I recently read the excellent book by Richard Mulholland: Here be dragons.
He talks about the journey of story selling and the dragons (long-standing problems) that stand between our heroes (you) and the treasure (the reward).
It really got me thinking about the dragons we all have in our own property businesses and the ones we have encountered in our own and our clients' worlds.
That one property where you just cannot fill the vacancies.
That one property where the tenants just drive you crazy.
Or that one property with the problem tenant, you know you need to renovate, but the cost and effort needed has just become such a dragon that you would rather not think about it.
I know exactly how that feels. Property is a business and the stories of passive investment returns are just that, fairy tales. Dreams that, if not professionally managed, turn into nightmares.
Let me share a bit of our own story.
The second property we ever bought, way back in 2005 was an office in Tygervalley. The first three years it stood vacant.
The investment plan went up in flames and became a monthly cash sink. The plan was to break even on the investment. But with no tenant and no income, all the expenses still had to be paid. Every single month, the shortfall of over R20 000 was due.
That dragon was eating our lunch every single month for years. Eventually we found a tenant and adjusted our investment strategy by selling the high risk office to an owner occupier.
Even though we got a decent price, we never made up for those years of lost income, it was lost forever.
The reality is tough to swallow.
Problems do not fix themselves. Especially in property.
That tenant paying late, if left unattended, will quickly start paying short as well.
Before you know it they are not paying at all.
So the cycle begins. You've already lost the income, now you need to face reality that you will most likely evict. But you know the tenant personally. They are struggling, but are such nice people. They are really trying to catch up. Or are they just telling you that...
However the eviction will cost you even more money, money that you do not have.
More months of lost income as the tenant now completely stops even trying to make payments, they will go as far as to blame you and make up every excuse in the book as to why they cannot move out.
On top of that you will need to spend more money to renovate once the tenant is out.
Find a new tenant or agency. But what if...what if it goes wrong again next time...
It is all really just too much to bear! It starts affecting your life and you just don't want to think about it, much less face reality. You have not even started the process. You know you should have, but there is just SO MUCH going on right now.
But here is the thing. It will only get worse...
The dragon will keep eating your money every month and you will get more and more overwhelmed.
Until you get the right help to decisively overcome these dragons once and for all by working together and treating your portfolio like a business.
A business needs management, all the time.
There are lots of dragons in this industry.
We have seen them all and have slain most of them. However that comes at a great cost, both financially and in terms of the experience and often the regret, what if things were different.
It is often the reason people give up on property investment. They had a bad experience or 2 and never found ways to mitigate their risk going forward. The sour taste just becomes too much.
TAKE A DEEP BREATH...
Here is the good news. You are not alone!
The greatest lessons come from the toughest experiences.
Every dragon can be slain and the sun will shine again.
What is that dragon in your property portfolio that has you overwhelmed?
That is why we created Grove Properties. We know what it is really like on the ground in property. We have had our own lows and highs.
Been there, done that and got the t-shirt to prove it. We keep it real, every step of the way.
Talk to us and let's work together to identify and slay the dragons that are making your life a living hell.
A highlight this August, I was honored to be crowned the first Stellenbosch Finmaster!
Because asset management is what I love and wealth creation is my passion!
Yours in property
Jacques Grove
Principal and Dreamer
