My daughter is in the process of trying to find her first car…always a great experience! She went and looked at one with a friend and instantly fell in love with it. “Dad, this is the best car in the world! I have to have it!”
I openly admit that I know nothing about cars….computers….we’ll that’s another thing. So Sarah returned to the seller’s house to place a deposit on the vehicle but this time she took a friend’s father who happens to be from the automotive industry. It took him ten seconds to glance at the car and say, “No.”
This raises the point, if you want to invest in diamonds don’t ask the butcher for advice, ask the jeweler – it’ll save you a packet! I have domain investors coming to me all the time with a wide variety of deals that they’ve been offered to ask my advice on whether it’s a good deal or not. If you’ve been in the industry as long as I have then you never get surprised by the garbage that some people try to sell at incredible prices.
My 10 rules of buying:
- Never buy when I feel pressured and take your time to think it over.
- Good assets are worth the price, you just need to find the good assets.
- You can ask whatever you want but I’ll pay the price that I’m offering.
- Telling me over and over again how good something is will not change my mind. If it’s a dog it’s a dog, if it’s not then it’s not.
- Fancy deals normally end in tears….keep it simple.
- If it looks too good then it probably is.
- Go for repeatable income not just look out for the big one offs.
- Investigate the person selling the asset as much as the deal itself. If they’re right then the majority of the time the deal will be fair.
- Never do transactions, do deals where everyone wins and both parties will want to do business together into the future.
- Get good advice and then make up your own mind.
Do you have any rules that you use in your own deals? Please add them in the comments below.
