Possibly the best (and possibly the only) truism Donald Trump ever said was: “Don’t wait to buy property. Buy a property and wait.” And that’s certainly borne out in the stats. Since the 2008 financial crash, and through the austerity years, the property still managed to rise 63% over that time. Coming back to Donald’s quote, it appears to me that when it comes to property, just ‘waiting’ is an integral part of it….whether you’re in it, out of it, trying to get in it, or trying to get out of it. There’s always waiting involved….Everything in property takes time. I subscribe to magazines, listen to a podcast, attend network meetings, and go to conferences, so I know there are superstars out there who create 100 rooms of SA in a year, turn £250k profits, and build portfolios the size of a small third world country… but for us mere mortals who don’t have Thor the Solicitor, Iron Man the planner, Hulk, the structural engineer, or Captain America the Estate agent… rather plain old working professionals, the property takes time. I looked back at the timeline of our latest project, the conversion of an ex-nightclub into 7 flats… and it’s incredible just how long it takes. The nightclub conversion is about as straightforward a project as you can find (if there is such a thing). The building has been stripped back to brick, and it’s ready to go. But when I look back at our timeline, it’s been 7 long months, and we’re still waiting to get in there. While there’s no doubt that every training provider and successful property investor will tell you, the key to growth is to “Take Action”, which is true. But taking action (i.e. finding and offers on sites) is just the tip of the iceberg. The true action of building a portfolio consists of lots of little actions over a very long period. The flowing timeline details our latest project. This is just for the pre-purchase and doesn’t even get to the build. Mid-July 2020 – Conditional offer proposed (subject to structural report) Late July Offer accepted Aug – Structural report commissioned Sept – No sign of the report Early Oct – Report arrives, states that plan of adding a second story not feasible. Mid Oct Bring in own structural company & architects for redesign Late Oct – Meet with vendor and renegotiate the deal Agree with Heads of Terms and appoint solicitors Early Nov – Meet with lenders and valuer Mid Nov – Submit amended plans to planning Late Nov – Planning ask to resubmit in a different form. Early Dec – Valuers report comes through and is positive Mid Dec – Meet lenders QS Early Jan Solicitor receives contract from the vendor and has some queries Mid Jan – QS‘s report comes through Late Jan – solicitor sends over queries Early Feb – Lender agrees on the formal offer Late Feb – still waiting on planning to sign off on an amendment to designs. As I write, we’re still waiting on planning to sign off on the amendments. We should hear by early March… hopefully, when that arrives, the waiting’s over, and the building begins. That will be a good day.     Photo by Dominika Gregušová from Pexels