How to become a real estate millionaire?

The 10-Step approach

In order to achieve success in real estate, it's crucial that you have a clear vision, set achievable goals and take decisive action. Becoming a millionaire is possible if you are willing to work hard and put in the time and effort.  

Whether you are just starting out or have been in the business for a while, these tips will help you move closer to your goal. So, whether you're looking to become a full-time investor or want to use real estate to create passive income, keep reading!

Step 1 - Understand how money flows

Start your journey to becoming a real estate multimillionaire by understanding how the money flows. Understanding the money flow will help you to make better decisions and maximise profits. Your choices will determine how much money you will have in the future. 

Consider the flow of money like a river with many branches. Some rivers grow, while some dry out. Similarly, some of your decisions will help you grow your money, while others may drain and reduce it.

By strategically investing your money, you could become a real estate millionaire. Millionaires invest their money in areas that would provide them with the most financial gain. So their investment criteria is underpinned by more than one long or short term goal.

How do ordinary investors use their money?

They spend the majority of it, save some of it, donate a small portion of it, and do not invest any of it. The game is over for these investors—the flow of money stops right there.

How do millionaires use their money and make more from it?

They don't want to be stopped since they have a higher goal in mind. They ensure that they always have enough money to invest by planning. 

If you want to be a millionaire by investing in real estate, follow the latter one, where you will end up having enough money to invest. You can take the benefits of other options also, such as - you can lend your money to someone else for a specific rate of return, or you can purchase an asset that will either increase its value or pay cash flow, or both. 

You will always have two options: lending or owning actively and passively.

What option you should use is the stage where you must learn to play the money game.

Learn the money game and be a millionaire real estate developer

There's passive lending, which is a money-saving approach. The rates of return you'll get from passive lending aren't exceptionally high. When inflation is taken into account, passive lending rarely results in a considerable gain in net value. 

Active lending, on the other hand, is when you lend money to businesses or individuals. It generates higher returns than passive lending. 

When it comes to asset ownership, here is where significant wealth is created. In general, passive options while purchasing and owning assets will not produce considerable wealth.

I advise my students to actively invest in real estate since it has substantial upsides and minor drawbacks. Along with this, real estate investing offers personal control.

Step 2 - Set your budget as a millionaire investor 

Setting a budget and implementing it early in your business is critical.  Plan it once a year, review it regularly, and then stick to it. 

In the above section, you understand how money flows; this budgeting part tells you what happens to all your money. Setting your budget will show you where you should put your money to make the most money. 

First learn, then earn. This means that you need to learn how to budget your monthly spending. You should know where your money is going, regardless of whether it's rent or other bills. 

You should also consider saving money whenever possible. Don't think of it as something extra. There is nothing like that. Keep in mind your ultimate goal to become a millionaire. Therefore you should master the fundamental skill of financial management. 

The amount you need to save to become a millionaire depends on the return you get on your investments and the time it takes to save.

Step 3 - Keep track of your net worth 

Setting a budget to become a millionaire in real estate is only half the equation. The other part is knowing and tracking your net worth. You will need a personal balance sheet and an income statement or a profit and loss statement for tracking your net worth. 

You should update your balance sheet every time you make a significant investment. This will allow you to understand the effect different investments have on your net worth.  

Your money path becomes more precise as you analyse and review the investments performance and the budget sheet. Your net worth is the measure of your success in building financial wealth.

Step 4 - Build your equity

The equity you build will increase the value of your real estate assets. This is due to two factors: price appreciation and debt pay-down.

As you rent out the property, both the natural forces of price appreciation and debt repayment work together to increase equity. When the home's market value rises, so does your equity, but it also rises because you're paying down the debt with the mortgage. 

The amount of the loan you owe decreases with each monthly payment; as a result, your mortgage debt will reduce over the loan term, and your equity will increase steadily.

Step 5 - Cash flow growth

Cash flow is income minus expenses.  

Say, if the rental income of an investment property exceeds higher than the costs of operating, owning, and managing it, then you will have positive cash flow. However, negative cash flow is when property costs you more than what it generates. 

In short, Cash Flow Growth provides a stream of unearned income.

Step 6 - Build your financial wealth like a millionaire

To become a multimillionaire, you should not be afraid of making multiple real estate investments over a few years. Although there are some risks involved, it can lead to a successful career. 

To create financial wealth as a millionaire, you must work like one.

This is the only way to build financial wealth through property development. 

You can ensure the highest Equity Build-up and Cash Flow Growth by "purchasing it right".  

You will increase your Equity Build-up by "paying it down". You will see more net cash flow in your financial life if you "pay it off" and then continue to rent it.

Step 7 - Grow your network

If you want to be a millionaire real estate investor, you need to surround yourself with a significant work network to do more than one deal. You can multiply your success several times by building strong, long-term, and mutually beneficial professional relationships.

When you know what you want out of your financial life, you'll understand who you need to surround yourself with and what you need to do to attract them. 

This will provide you with the following advantages: 

1. Leadership
2. Management and suggestions
3. Work and Results

As a result, you'll need 3 different groups in your work network:

Your inner team

Your Inner team consists of crucial individuals who genuinely care about your financial success. They should all have more investment experience, knowledge, and success than you and be willing to mentor and guide you. Consider them your millionaire strategists.

These people may be contractors, managers, experienced property developers, consultants, real estate agents, mentors, and partners.

Your support team 

Your Support Team includes the most critical and trustworthy people in your real estate investment life. They are continuously looking out for your best interests as fiduciaries. 

These people could be the real estate brokers, lenders, accountants, and others who are called in on every occasion and play a significant role in nearly every transaction. 

Your contractor, for example, may recommend or employ a landscaper for you. A property manager may be suggested by your real estate agent or provided as a service. 

Your Support Team is the backbone of the professional team you rely on, and you interact with them constantly.

Your service team 

Your Service Team consists of specialised freelancers and independent contractors. For a specific property or transaction, these service providers will execute specified functions. 

Inspectors, electricians, painters, and other professionals may be required depending on the context.

These are your wealth-building foot soldiers, and you won't be able to accomplish success without them. Keep in mind that what they do, how well they do it, how quickly they do it, and how much they charge for it can make or break a contract.  

Your Service Team delivers the exact job you require for any given situation, and you will contact them whenever you need their assistance.

Hire people when needed 

It's critical to recognise that you can't always do things independently since there's more work than you can handle. It's just as vital to invest in the proper individual to build your business as investing in marketing.  

After you've hired the right people, you'll be able to focus on the things that matter most, such as lead generation.

Step 8 - Plan a lead generation strategy

"Now that I'm ready to invest, how can I find amazing investment properties?" is probably the most typical question on any novice investor's mind. 

You'll know the answer if you plan the ideal lead generation strategy.

You'll need a lot of leads to be profitable; the more, the better. With more leads, you'll have more options to choose from, and with more opportunities, you'll be able to pick the finest of them.

This way, you'll have a lot of options (Quantity) to choose from, and you'll be able to pick the best ones (Quality). After all, in real estate, Quality is the actual Quantity.  

Lead generation is an essential step in achieving millionaire status in real estate.

Step 9 - Stay organized and manage work systematically

Finally, being systematic and organized is what keeps you a millionaire.

Your time is at risk while you're looking for real estate investment opportunities or prospecting for them.  

When you consider all the things you could be doing instead, your time is a valuable resource. Furthermore, when you're looking for new opportunities, you're risking something even more tangible: the money you've spent on promotions and advertising. That's also valuable. 

Each week, you must schedule committed time to search for leads, implement your marketing strategy, and track your progress. 

The connections will become apparent and fascinating if you commit to being highly systematic (and a little organized) in your lead creation. You will notice how much time and money you save and how much money you make.  

That's when your efforts start to take on a new tone. That's when you understand you're doing more than prospecting, marketing, and tracking results - you're genuinely participating in an essential wealth-building activity that's changing your life.

Step 10 - Work on acquisition model

If you can buy a property with a sufficient profit built-in, you will have ensured that your investments will reward you at the moment of purchase.  

This is critical because, once you begin making real estate purchases, your performance will be documented permanently and forever—there will be no replays or do-overs. You won't need any if you stick to the Acquisition Model.

You have four primary options for accumulating cash:

Find and refer 

Find & Refer is a great way to get paid without investing money or signing a contract. You can work as a scout and look for good investment prospects and present them to investors.  

If the opportunities are good and they would not have found them otherwise, they may be willing to pay you a "finder's fee." 

This is the quickest and most efficient way to generate money. The disadvantage is that it costs the least among the four options.

Manage and assign

This implies you get an option or an assignable contract on a rental property and then find someone else to buy it. You have negotiating leverage since you manage the property. This method has a little higher margin than Find & Refer, but it has a lower volume potential.

Purchase and sell

You purchase the property, make no renovations, and resell it for a higher price. With this option, your profit margin starts to improve. The problem now is that you'll have to devote more time to these transactions, and the volume will be lower. The profit is the reward.

Purchase, hold, renovate, and sell

This way of accumulating wealth can provide even greater margins than Buy & Sell, but it requires a lot more time and money, and there are likely to be fewer deals to complete.

Summary 

You now understand the Path of Money, have planned for investment, and have created your Balance Sheet to track your progress. Now you know how real estate investing can boost your net worth through equity and cash flow.  

You've started building your Work Network to get support and service your investments. You've created your criteria and are generating leads. Now you have leads, potential investment prospects, and you just need to start making decisions.  

Your decisions and actions at this time can impact your financial wealth building significantly.