World class athletes are something to be admired and revered. Think of the Olympic Games and how people sit enthralled, watching their fellow human beings commit extraordinary feats of athleticism. The truth is, most anyone could become such a competitor, but it takes extreme focus, commitment, dedication and a refusal to quit. The same attributes can be used by a real estate agent to build a successful business. Do you think you have what it takes to train for success like a world class athlete?

Years ago I swam for the German National team. In fact, I was a member for four years. I committed a large portion of my young life to swimming. There were ten years of intense training. My relationships with friends and my education at school suffered. And when I travelled for competitions, I missed my family terribly. Yet I learned to take some of the very same characteristics that took me to the national level of swimming and use them in my own business. I learned how to take the focus, the determination, and use them in such a way to build a solid real estate business, without losing precious time for myself, my family and my pursuits.

When looking for a pre investment property to invest in, it is imperative that you remember most of the same qualities that a good existing property will have. This includes the neighborhood and state of repair. State of repair will involve what the land is like and how much work and money will need to be expended before it is suitable to build on. Consider this investment carefully and how much money you’ll need to begin. more…

Here are some ways you can incorporate the training principles of top notch athletes into your business mindset:

1 – Create the right environment. World class athletes train in the best of environments for their particular sport. A skier will live near the slopes with the best snow and the best skiing in order to hone her skill. A gymnast will train at a quality facility with the latest equipment and with coaches who know what they are doing. Choosing the right broker is imperative. How can you and your real estate business flourish if you don’t have access to a proper office, to transaction coordinators and other personnel who can help guide your real estate career? Even top producers make sure they are surrounded with the best in the workplace, because they know it permeates every aspect of their business.

2 – Study the competition and then remember that YOU are your own competitor. Have you heard the saying, “You are your own worst enemy?” Well, the saying can be true in different ways. It means we can act in self-defeating ways, but it can also be taken to mean that we truly are the only true competition. When you evaluate other real estate agents, you can look at their websites and look at their service and compare to your own…but when it comes down to it, the decision to succeed or fail rests on your shoulders. As a swimmer, I may have been swimming against other people. However, I was really swimming against a clock. I was swimming against myself and I was determined to swim faster and better than I had previously.

This means, in effect, that mortgage products are not acceptable for Muslims. In Muslim countries, Islamic banks and religious scholars has thought of a number of ways by which to offer finance and banking which can be permitted by Islamic law. Ijara and Murabha are considered by religious scholars and Islamic banks to be the most suitable methods of finance for the purchase of property in the United Kingdom.

Ijara – In the Ijara method of finance, the financier purchases the property and sells it to the customer for the same amount of money, with the payment spread over a period of time agreed between them. The customer also has to pay rent to the financier over the repayment term. The installment of the purchase is somewhat like the capital payments under a conventional loan, while the interest in the conventional loan is like the rent in the Ijara. more…

3 – Seed your mind with short-term and long-term goals. Athletes always start out wanting to “go for the gold,” but even they have to start somewhere in the sport. You can’t decide to join the Strong Man competition and then the next day drag a bus down the street. You need to prepare your mind for the road ahead and set short-term goals that will help put you on the path toward those longer-term goals.

4 – Don’t go overboard and over-train. Even athletes need a break, both mentally and physically. The body and brain can only take so much abuse. You need to have an outlet, a healthy way to blow off steam. Make sure you have time for yourself and your family, completely away from the business.

5 – Be consistent with your training. This means that you should work your business in a consistent manner. If you have set processes in place for handling prospects and taking listings appointments, things will go more smoothly, but you will also get into a groove that will make your business easier to handle as you grow.

The most counter-intuitive part of buying in a buyer’s market is to create a sense of urgency with the seller. Ordinarily sellers, or more accurately the seller’s realtor, try to create a sense of urgency to buy the house. They want the buyer to think other people are looking, there is going to be a bidding war, and the buyer needs to get an offer in today. Realtors thrive by creating fear in buyers. They will use lines like: more…

6 – Work hard but also work smart. The effort you put into your real estate business will be in direct proportion to what you get out of it. It doesn’t matter whether the real estate market is in an up or down cycle. There are buyers and sellers out there. There are transactions that need a real estate agent involved. If you give 100% of your focus to building your business, then you will reap that in future rewards. If you lose focus and only give 50-60% of your efforts to your real estate business, then you will find it takes much longer to achieve goals and reach success.

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