There could be monumental opportunities in the Wellington property market right now. Human nature dictates that we follow the masses. If I could introduce a quote from Warren Buffet – “be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful”.
Too many times I have heard from buyers that they are proposing to wait until the market strikes the bottom. Well, the bottom can be an exceedingly tough position to pinpoint. The only way you truly know where the bottom is, is once it has been found. Once found, sentiment tends to change quickly among the buying public and confidence returns.
The mentality that makes a buyer want to sit back and wait to see how far the market is going to descend is the same mentality that makes a seller possibly panic a little when selling and sell for less than they should right now. This is what creates opportunity. People with vision will consider, anticipate and make a decision.
It goes without saying that humans have proven themselves time and time again to possess herd behavior, or at least a herd style of thought. This starts from a young age where it is easy for children to get caught up with and influenced by the wrong crowd (enter stage right a steady parental influence). It continues into adulthood. It takes courage to step out and make decisions of your own volition. But these decisions can often pay off handsomely.
There is usually no shortage of family, friends and other “advisers” who are always willing to lend knowledge. Heck, I am doing so right now. However, trust yourself and your own intuition. Many of these conversations with “advisers” lead to would be homeowners sitting on the side-lines instead of taking advantage. Remember, sometimes people advise you not to do things because they don’t have the courage to personally step outside of their comfort zone. Just because they wouldn’t do something themselves doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.
“Doing the opposite” is something that can assist people in fast tracking success in their life. This doesn’t just apply to real estate. This could apply to many things or aspects of our lives. Doing the opposite could pertain to:
- Waking up an hour earlier than most
- Becoming physically fit and exercising daily as opposed to sitting on the couch when you get home from work
- Reading educational information daily as opposed to scrolling on your phone
- Investing quality time with your family as opposed to being absent or not really engaged
- Working on your business instead of going out and drinking heavily (and consequently often wasting a lot of the next day)
If you were looking for the consent to chart your own course, here it is. Do your groundwork but trust your gut. The older I get the more I realise that everybody in life is making it up to some degree as they go along and often even the perceived experts don’t really know the answers.
People want to make perfect decisions at the perfect time. Apart from being almost impossible to do, this attitude breed hesitation and procrastination. It is the people who are out there doing who make the moves. Mistakes will always be made; this is inevitable but without mistakes there is no learning and without learning there is no progress.
Go out and do.
Disclaimer – the views in this opinion piece are my own and should by no means constitute financial advice.
