My Real Estate Goals for 2014; House Flips and Rentals
Last Updated on March 29, 2023 by Mark Ferguson
I am a big believer in big goals and big plans. What better way to hold myself accountable for those goals than to write about them publicly! A few days ago I wrote about my goals and accomplishments in my amazing 2013. Now it is time to go over my plans and goals for 2014. I have big goals, big plans and writing them down will help me achieve my real estate goals. Writing them in an article for thousands of people to read gives me even more motivation to accomplish them! I had a great 2013 with a lot of change, but I think 2014 can surpass 2013 by leaps and bounds.
My goal articles for other years
I have a lot of goals for 2014 and beyond
Goals help me achieve more by keeping me motivated and focused. The more goals I have, the better I do in business and in my personal life. I have over 100 written goals that range from big to small, short to long and everywhere in between. This article will focus on my 2014 goals, but I have many more goals that I constantly review including my goal to purchase 100 rental properties.Â
Some of my 2014 goals involve my real estate team, my fix and flipping business, my long-term rentals, total income and fun stuff for myself and my family. My goals aren’t all about work and investing; we need downtime too. For more information on my long-term investing strategy, please check out my complete guide to investing in long-term rentals.
External factors that may affect my goals for 2014
Many people worry about outside factors affecting their goals. People worry about the economy, the housing market, interest rates, and many other things we can’t control. Some people even fail to make goals or make smaller goals because of these unknowns. People ask me how I could make long-term goals when things I can’t control could throw me off track. To me it’s simple; I don’t worry about things I can’t control. I don’t worry about the economy, interest rates or the future housing market. I pay attention to outside factors as they happen, but I don’t worry about future events that may or may not occur. I do the best I can do and adapt to outside factors when they happen. Â Don’t limit yourself because you are worried about things you can’t control!
My long-term rental property goal for 2014
I hoped to buy four long-term rentals in 2013, but I was only able to buy three. I am okay with not reaching my goal and I still have plenty of time to get to 100 long-term rentals in the next 9 years. My goal for 2014 is to buy 6 more long-term rental properties which will push me. Right now my biggest problem is finding great deals that meet my criteria. Our market is very hot and very few deals are out there, but I am finding fix and flips so I know I can find long-term rentals. I anticipate I will have enough money to buy 6 long-term rentals thanks to taking over my parents’ real estate business. This goal will definitely push me to work hard and motivate me to find properties and would give me a total of 15 long-term rentals at the end of 2014. I am financing all my rentals thanks to my portfolio lender who will lend on as many properties as I want.
My fix and flip real estate goals for 2014
Since I took over the fix and flip business from my parents, I have started to set goals for it. I believe we sold 10 fix as flips in 2013 and I want to increase that number to 15 in 2014. I have five fix and flips in the pipeline now, with a sixth under contract. It takes some time to repair a fix and flip, market and sell the home. Having six properties now will give me a great start, but I will still have to work hard to sell 15 in 2014. Buying 9 more in 2014 won’t be enough as I will probably have to buy 9 more by August or September to get them sold by the end of the year. Here is an article on the fix and flip I purchased since I took over the fix and flip business.
Of course, I want to have a steady stream of properties ready to sell for 2015 and I will need to buy 15 fix and flips in 2014 as well as sell 15. I will have to buy at least 21 houses well below market value in order to reach my fix and flipping and long-term rental goals.
In order to buy this many houses, I am going to have to ramp up my direct marketing. I have sent out letters to out-of-state and probate owners for the last 6 months with mixed results. I have had a lot of calls, but no motivated sellers calling. The calls have been from sellers who don’t want my letters or want retail value for their properties. I am going to make some changes in marketing and hopefully, that will produce some positive results. I may also hand off the job to my assistant because I don’t like talking to people upset over the fact that I am sending them letters!
My real estate team goals for 2014
I took over the real estate team as well as the fix and flip business in September. We have made big changes with the team and we have big plans. Our team sold 184 houses in 2013, mostly from my REO listings.  For 2014 I want to sell 300 houses as a team. Selling 300 homes is a huge increase from our total in 2013, but I think we can do it for multiple reasons.
- I added a team member who will be actively selling houses. He likes big goals as well and wants to sell 6 houses a month in his first year!
- Another team member who primarily worked on BPOs wants to sell more houses in 2014.
- I am going to start working harder to go after regular listings, not just REO. Colorado has one of the lowest foreclosure rates in the country and I can’t count on just REO to provide enough inventory to reach 300 sales.
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We are ramping up our marketing for our real estate team significantly. In the last few years our team has done little to market itself. We have primarily used my REO listings to get buyers and business. In 2014 we are going to farm neighborhoods, send out newsletters to our database, use Trulia for buyer leads and much more. This marketing should increase listings and buyers for the entire team.
My goals for InvestFourMore for 2014
I started InvestFourMore in March of 2013 and it had been an awesome experience. In December InvestFourMore had over 50,000 visits which amazes me. The blog continues to gain momentum and I have discovered I love writing. Here are a few goals for the upcoming year for InvestFourMore.
- I want to have 150,000 visits a month at the end of 2014.
- I want to finish a full-length book that describes all the techniques I use and have discussed on my blog about investing in real estate.
Personal goals for 2014
I have a lot of personal goals which I won’t share here because they are personal. I will share one big goal that is very exciting to me.
This last year I drove a Lamborghini Gallardo and it was a blast. The Gallardo is a newer model Lamborghini that has a V-10- engine. I have always loved cars and growing up in the 1980s, I loved the Lamborghini Countach. The Countach was a rear-engine V-12 supercar. One of my long-term goals before this year was to buy a Countach by 2016 or sooner. Things changed drastically in 2013 as far as my business and this goal.
The first thing that changed was I realized I may not fit in a Countach. They are extremely tight inside and built for race car drivers. Racecar drivers are very small because they need to be light to save weight. Unfortunately, I was not able to sit in a Countach, because I could not find one. At any one time, there may be two or three Countach’s for sale in the entire country.
I went on a trip to Dallas in September for a real estate conference, and there happened to be a Lamborghini Diablo at Lamborghini of Dallas. Not a Countach, but the Diablo replaced the Countach and is the most similar car to it. I was able to sit in the Diablo to see if I fit, and I did! I had to take my shoe off to get my foot in between the brake pedal and sidewall to reach the gas pedal, but I fit. The car sales rep also told me he has sat in a few Countach’s and they are much smaller. He was six feet tall and could not sit up straight in a Countach. I think that made my decision that a Countach would not be a practical car to buy (practical being relative). If I buy a Lamborghini, it is not going to sit in the garage all year long; I will drive it.
I learned that I won’t fit in a Countach in Dallas, but I love the Diablo. I also learned companies offer long-term financing on exotic cars. Meaning you can buy a $100,000 car for $1,000 a month car payment with 20 percent down. When the car dealer told me that, it blew my mind. I thought I would have to pay cash for a car like this and that is why it was such a long-term goal. Now the purchase of an exotic car became much more realistic.
I changed my goal to buying a Lamborghini Diablo, and I am buying it in 2014! I may even be able to write it off as a business expense. I can use the car to market our business in many ways. List with us and we will park a Lamborghini in your driveway for the open houses! Who wouldn’t list with us?
I am looking forward to 2014!
These are some of my big goals for 2014; I have many smaller goals that I won’t bore you with. I have many other big goals that are long-term and have timelines well past 2014. However, in the last year, many of my long-term goals turned into much shorter goals or were even accomplished already. I created a story earlier this year that included my dream house that I wanted in 10 years. I bought almost that same house this last July! Instead of 10 years, it took only 6 months! I would encourage everyone to write their goals, make them big goals and review them as much as possible. I hope everyone has a wonderful 2014!