The beginning of a New Year is upon us and this is the perfect time of year to set goals.  I am not talking about the usual New Years resolutions: Loose weight, exercise more, get more organized etc…. most of these are short term and usually don’t make it past January.  I am talking about specific, realistic achievable goals on personal and financial levels.

Early on when I started investing in Real Estate I set goals based on where I wanted to be in the near and distant futures.  I made sure that these goals (both long and short term) were achievable.  Setting goals that are unattainable is self-defeating.  Early on you realize the goal is unattainable and you quickly loose focus (i.e. trying to loose 50 pounds in one month).  Instead set your goals with the knowledge and means that you have available; as both of these increase, you can update or modify your goals.  I had a long term goal of reaching 100 rental units; I made it to over eighty when the real estate market shifted.  I then modified my goals to adapt to these changing conditions.

Steps you can take to set effective goals:

·          Positive Statement: express your goals positively: ‘Execute this technique well’ is a much better goal than ‘don't make this stupid mistake.’

·          Be Precise: if you set a precise goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that achievement can be measured, then you know the exact goal to be achieved, and can take complete satisfaction from having completely achieved it.

·          Set Priorities: when you have several goals, give each a priority.  Sometimes one goal needs to be achieved before another can be reached.  This helps you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many goals, and helps to direct your attention to the most important ones.

·          Write goals down to avoid confusion and give them more force.  Studies have shown that written goals have a much higher success rate than one that is not.  Post it in a place that you can see it daily to keep you focused on the right path.

May 2007 be a successful year for you and your endeavors.

Chris Yatooma, President

Real Estate Investors Association of Oakland