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A Property Guru does not anyhow invest in properties but a Property Goondu does invest in a property to be slayed by the market. The key differences between a Property Guru and a Property Goondu are their habits and thinking. It does not matter if a Property Guru has a degree or not. But it does matter if a Property Guru has adequate property investment education and knowledge to help in his or her decision making process. If one thinks that property investment in land scarce Singapore is a no brainer, then he or she can further try on what we call the ignorance. Like any form of property investment Singapore, it does come with risk even though property investment is perceived to be safe with asset protection and also a key success factor to many wealthy Singaporeans.

6 Property Guru’s Characteristics

1. Right Education
Property Guru not only has the right property investment education but education is always ought to be a continual learning process. It is imperative to stay up to date with the laws, tax policy, cooling measures, regulations and market trend that form the basis of the property investor’s business. By having continual education, it takes additional time but it also treated like an investment for your future property investment. Successful property guru takes the time and make the effort to stay educated, adapting to any regulatory changes or economic trends.

2. Right Network
Property Guru’s net worth may be obvious by seeing what type of people he or she usually mix with. Savvy property guru will know how to leverage a network to achieve the intended goal and thus there is always an urgency of keeping building a network. It is not just a network for social gathering but it is a property investment or business network that can provide valuable support and jointly create opportunities. This network group of property investors can be composed of a well-chosen property guru / mentor, business partners, clients with passion in property investments. Members within the network allows positive investors to collaborate rather than to compete.

3. Treat Your Property Investments as Businesses
Property Guru engages his or her property investment activities as a business with an end in mind, i.e. to achieve specific goals. To a greater extent, a Property Guru may also craft a business plan to detail the set goals and to determine what it takes to achieve them. A solid business plan also allows Property Guru to visualize the big picture and to maintain focus on the goals rather than letting any minor issue to obstruct the original plan. While property investment may look good from the outside, it may took a hell of work from the inside due to the need to do due dilgence checks, site visits and market research for further validation on the deal itself. Property investing can be complicated and it takes time to work on it before the Property Guru can see steady rental income.

4. Be Focused
As per listed in this Property Investment Singapore Blog, there are quite a few property investment options out there including physical property, property funding, REIT and property stock investments. All can make money. But for physical properties alone, there are many different types of residential , commercial and industrial properties. A Property Guru cannot be an expert for all these segments and there should be some strong focus in some of these segments that the Property Guru knows well. In each of the property types, there are regulations, policies and pricing trends that as a Property Guru cannot afford not to understand and to keep abreast of the on-going updates. By having in depth knowledge on certain segments, it helps a Property Guru to make decisions much faster to seize the opportunity or in some cases to identify what is an unpolished “diamond” property and close such undervalued deals.

4. Be Sharp To Risk Analysis
We often see full page or large property advertisements in the local newspapers such as The Strait Times, Today and The News Paper. The advertisements can be for local and overseas properties. In one of the recent news dated 21 May 2014, Singapore’s central bank has issued a warning to investors about the risks posed by buying property overseas, as high house prices at home prompt a growing number of its residents to invest in real estate abroad. A strong Singapore dollar and curbs on mortgage lending at home have encouraged more Singaporeans to buy property in the likes of Britain and Australia.
MAS has quoted this particular statement in the press release : “Risks are more difficult to assess or manage when investors are unfamiliar with conditions in overseas markets, such as the prospects for oversupply of properties, or of a deterioration in economic conditions” . It also flagged the foreign exchange risk of borrowing in one currency but collecting rent in another.
Therefore, a Property Guru may not be in hurry to buy a property from a show flat due to peer to peer pressure for not getting the desired units or to commit in some overseas property investment projects in property seminars.
Those choosing to invest in the property related stocks should also be aware that 95% of the investors actually lose money. Personally, i tried too but i went further by investing stocks using Contract For Difference (CFD) in volatile markets such as the Hang Seng market. Of course, i got burnt badly too and learnt my lesson at that time. This lesson of not be able to control my emotions to overcome the most common obstacles of stock trading, then leads me to the concept of value investing for some selected REITs and property stocks.
Be risk averse and yet be ready to take actions when assessments. A Property Guru will be able to differentiate that both are actually different.

5. Be Ethical.
Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) is setup on 22 October 2010 to promote the integrity and competence of estate agents and salespersons and engage in public education efforts to help consumers in property transactions. The reason is obvious that the Singapore Government wishes to curb the underhand or unethical transactional cases done by some of the real estate sales agents. On the other side, a Property Guru should also need to understand the risks and implications of breaking the rules get by the relevant government authority such as URA, MAS, SLA and IRAS. Properties will take time to appreciate and to complete a sale transaction and it is always good to be ethical than be greedy.

6. Find Help Whenever Necessary
Property deals can be straightforward or complicated. To structure a good deal or to come up with a workable and yet creative deal, it requires a great deal of expertise. A Property Guru will know how to work around them by leveraging on other experts instead of doing everything on himself or herself. To certain extent, a Property Guru may invest in additional expenses to embrace others’ expertises. Successful Property Gurus often appreciate and attribute their investment success to others. be it a mentor, lawyer, property developer, sub contractor, accountant or co-investor friends.
For the benefits of our property investment community and improving many Singaporeans’ lives, Property Investment Singapore Blog is setup to share factual information about property investment as well as available property resources to help the novice property investors.

Summary
A Property Guru plays property investment game in a long term perspective. Property flipping for quick profits in the earlier days are over with the series of property cooling measures introduced by the Singapore government. To be a successful property investor and eventually a Property Guru, treat property investments like running a business which require expertise and knowledge built up as well as planning. In the midst of clutter advertisements and so much information presented via offline and online media, be focused on the property investment segments you know best. Work with integrity and showing respect to associates and clients will surely help you to build a wider network to excel.