It's better to start and stumble than procrastinate: Chris Lang

Some would-be investors never get around to taking the plunge into commercial property.

They certainly know quite a lot, because they read plenty of books and regularly attend seminars. But even so, they remain what are affectionately called 'armchair investors'.

How to cure procrastination

There is a certain hesitancy that sometimes accompanies the transition from residential to commercial property investing.

Perhaps this stems from having to move out of your comfort zone and the fear of 'not getting everything right' from the outset.

Management guru Tom Peters provided this simple formula to help people who find themselves procrastinating:

Ready, Fire, Aim.

However, with property investing, this has often been rephrased as:

Start, Stumble, and Succeed.

You will always gain far more (in both knowledge and profit) whenever you start and stumble, rather than by holding back in the fond hope of finding some magical way of getting it right on your very first attempt.

Along the path, you will have the chance to make adjustments — because you can always change something, but you can't change nothing.

The importance of position

Clearly, the location of your property is important — but here again, you need to be prepared to step outside your comfort zone.

It's okay to purchase a home, based upon where you want to live. But when it comes to commercial property investing, you need to seek out where the market is now, and where it's heading.

That may mean buying just around the corner. But equally, it could be across town, or even interstate.

And that's where having a top consulting team can quickly provide you with this vital market intelligence.

Strive to build a reputation

Naturally, you want to make every deal a winner. But you can never place revenue above reputation AND expect to enjoy any long-term success.

This relates to your dealings with selling agents, vendors, property managers and contractors in general.

It's possible for you to be firm and still remain fair in all your dealings.

You want to be known as a straight shooter if you intend becoming a serious long-term investor in commercial property. That extends to paying people promptly, instead of stringing them out for as long as you can.

You see, contractors have long memories. And they will respond when you need them if you have quickly paid their accounts in the past.

Surprisingly, it is small actions like these that can help build (or destroy) reputations.

Bottom line: always be looking for opportunities. And remember, until you actually sign a contract, nothing is binding.

Knowing this, you should be making offers on a regular basis. And always strive to ensure things end up in a win-win outcome.

That way, you'll quickly build a solid reputation — as someone who is a significant player, but also absolutely fair.

Chris Lang is an advisor to commercial property investors and gives keynote speeches and regular seminars on the best way to invest in commercial property. He maintains a blog, his-best.biz, which he updates regularly about the best way to get the most out of your commercial property investment.