Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa February 2014 | Page 56

INSIGHTS

BY NEALE PETERSEN

Making a Difference in
People’s Lives

DE WET’S PRINCIPLES TO INVEST
SUCCESSFULLY IN PROPERTY

1

Invest in people! Relationships are
more important than any deal. Build
strong relationships with people that
share your core values. Deals and
opportunities come and go: rather
hang on to great people. Great deals
will start following you once people
know they can trust you.

2

You make money when you BUY, not
when you sell!

3

Partner with the right people! You can
get far more than just funding when
partnering with the right people. You
can learn so much from people that
have already walked the walk. And
once trust has been established, you
will have even greater access to their
knowledge, experience and networks.

4

Location is not as important as good
cash flow! Evaluate every property
individually as you would evaluate a
business. No one will buy a business
that isn’t profitable; don’t buy
properties that aren’t profitable either.

5

Do the calculations first! Trusting your
intuition and getting a feel for the
transaction is important, but if the
numbers don’t work, walk away.

6

Speed of implementation is crucial.
It’s better to take action based on
the knowledge you have now and
make mistakes from which you can
learn, than to wait until every [