Have you ever been tempted by information online, seeing how affordable overseas properties are and feeling the urge to invest? Have you ever tried to save on agency fees by finding your own property, handling documents, and managing transactions on your own? As someone who is budget-conscious, you might indeed save a considerable amount by doing everything yourself. However, time cost is often the major expense that most investors easily overlook.
Warren Buffett once said that he could buy almost anything with money — except time. This shows just how precious time is as an asset.
Imagine this: in order to find a suitable overseas property, you spend hours each day browsing real estate websites, researching local markets, studying regulations, finding the right property, handling accounting and legal documents, coordinating communication — and you might even have to travel back and forth multiple times to complete the transaction. If you convert all that time into money, the cost could easily surpass the fees charged by professional overseas property consultants. More importantly, you’ve overlooked the opportunity to earn a salary or income during this time. The true cost you pay may far exceed the property’s purchase price.
For instance, let’s assume your hourly wage is HK$100. If you spend 2 hours a day researching overseas property investments, over the course of a year (2 hours/day × 300 days/year), you would spend 600 hours. This translates into a time cost of HK$60,000 (600 hours × HK$100/hour). Hiring a professional overseas property consultant might also cost about HK$60,000. Although hiring a consultant requires an upfront payment, if your time is highly valuable and you lack experience in overseas property investment, seeking professional help might actually be more cost-effective.
Of course, some people enjoy the research process and see it as a valuable learning opportunity. They might be willing to spend more time handling it themselves. Others, however, view time as money and prefer to invest their time in more valuable pursuits, such as advancing their careers, working, or spending time with family. No matter which group you belong to, we should all recognize the value of time and include time cost in our investment decisions.
Beyond time costs, we must also consider other intangible costs such as opportunity costs and psychological stress. When you dedicate time to research, you inevitably sacrifice time that could have been spent working, studying, or resting. Moreover, dealing with a large amount of data and information can bring about significant stress and anxiety.
You might want to ask yourself:
- Is this investment really worth my time and energy?
- Is there a more efficient way to complete the investment process?
Written by: Bonnie Wu, Founder of Capstone 72
Edited by: Yip Lai Man
Published: 2024/06/28 10:07
Last Updated: 2024/06/29 15:18
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