Real Estate Investing Strategies and the Economic Cycle

The Economic cycle plays an important role in real estate investing. The idea of an Economic cycle is simple. It states that what goes up must also come down. Although housing prices and real estate in general have had an overall increase in value for a great many years and there is confidence that the market will never crash completely. This has led many investors to consider real estate investment a secure thing, and their strategy is usually based on the long term potential of the investment. In other words, buy property and hold on to it until the profit you seek can be realized.

Although this strategy is not really bad for the long term investor, it will not enable him to realize the type of return that is possible when investing in certain profit rich areas such as Utah real estate. The cyclic nature of the Economic Cycle presents a danger that the market will be on a downswing when you are looking to unload your investment and the years taken to reach your goal might tie up your investment capital so that other opportunities are missed.

In an area such as Provo real estate, where profit potential is so great because of the attractiveness of the area for investing in properties that can be converted to rental units, the hold on to it strategy is a poor choice for the investor who wishes to make a solid return. There are other strategies that make much more sense. Even the Bargain Purchase strategy is better. In this concept, only properties that can be purchased at below 20% their true value are considered. The 20% figure allows the property to be returned to the market at once at its full value.

Another strategy that is related is the Increased Value strategy. This is going to be more likely in an area such as Provo real estate. It involves purchasing at the actual true value and making improvements within the first six months that increase the value by 20%, and then returning the property to the market at the increased value figure.

When rental property is the thrust of your real estate strategy, the Double Digit Cap Rate plan is a good investment choice. It limits your property purchases to those that can produce a capitalization rate of at least 10%. The capitalization rate is the net operating income of the property. The percentage figures in these strategies are guidelines for making the investment practical. If these minimum figures are not met, the investment capital should be invested in other low return investments and the real estate market avoided unless the hold on until it goes up strategy is used.

About the Author

Natalie Aranda is a freelance writer.

Real Estate Investing - Not A Solo Sport

Real Estate Investing is not a solo sport, but a team effort. It is so important to select your teammates well and constantly evaluate each player’s performance against the overall goal you are working toward.

The scout is the person who helps you locate the deal. This person knows what you are looking for and brings you the deals for evaluation. A scout can be a real estate agent, another investor, a reputable wholesaler or even consistent advertising medium. You should be prepared to compensate your scout and provide incentives to bring you great deals. If they aren’t giving them to you, they are giving them to someone who will compensate them accordingly. Be generous so that you will always be top of mind.

The next team member is an accountant. Your accountant should be someone who specializes in real estate practices. Ideally, they should own real estate themselves. This person helps you take advantage of the tax savings that comes along with buying real estate. We suggest that you interview several. A good accountant will save you much more than their hourly rate, so don’t be intimidated by high fees. They are well worth it if they can do the job properly.

You will need a good real estate attorney. Most people have a closing attorney. Remember that the closing attorney in a transaction works for the mortgage company - not you. You will want an attorney you can depend on to represent your interests. They should be able to advise you with any title issues, assist you with land trust formation, help you with entity selection and provide general council for real estate transactions.

Home inspectors are worth their weight in gold. A good home inspector can help prevent you from purchasing a poor investment, give you a realistic picture of the repairs and give you a general picture of the costs required, as well as alert you to safety concerns. Our home inspector has saved us thousands of dollars by helping us chose not to invest in properties that required more renovation than we had estimated in the deal.

Once you have found a property, financing your real estate investment is the key to a successful real estate career. Helping you determine the best way to finance an investment based on your overall strategy is very important. The majority of the benefit of real estate comes from using leverage. With all the various types of loans available now, you will want a mortgage partner who understands investing, can help you determine which loans are best for a particular piece of property and provides long term strategies that will enhance your credit standing - not hurt it.

As with any team, it takes a while to work together to make sure that you have all the right players. At times, you will find that players need to be traded and sometimes it is good to have alternates.

I encourage all of my investors to interview their teammates in advance. Have a series of questions prepared in advance and determine who you feel most comfortable with. We have found that it takes a couple of plays sometimes before they really understand you and your goals, so be patient. If however, you don’t feel confident with their ability - trade them. This is your future - not theirs.

About the Author

Anne Lackey is a real estate investor in Atlanta and works with The REI Team at Solid Source Realty, Inc. http://www.theREIteam.com. She frequently helps other investors in their pursuit of financial freedom. She is the President of Solid Source Property Management, Inc. http://www.solidsourcepm.com

How to Make Money in Real Estate Investing

Raja” Ahluwalia

Lower Your Taxes
Tax incentives for real estate investors can often make the difference in your tax rates. Deductions for rental property can often be used to offset wage income. Tax breaks can often enable investors to turn a loss into a profit.

Lower Your Taxes
Tax incentives for real estate investors can often make the difference in your tax rates. Deductions for rental property can often be used to offset wage income. Tax breaks can often enable investors to turn a loss into a profit.

For which items can investors get tax breaks? You could claim deductions for actual costs you incur for financing, managing and operating the rental property. This includes mortgage interest payments, real estate taxes, insurance, maintenance, repairs, property management fees, travel, advertising, and utilities (assuming the tenant doesn”t pay them). These expenses can be subtracted from your adjusted gross income when determining your personal income taxes. Of course, these deductions cannot exceed the amount of real estate income you receive. In addition to deductions for operating costs, you can also receive breaks for depreciation. Buildings naturally deteriorate over time, and these “losses” can be deducted regardless of the actual market value of the property. Because depreciation is a non-cash expense — you are not actually spending any money — the tax code can get a bit tricky. For more information about depreciation and various tax alternatives, ask your tax advisor about Section 1031 of the U.S. Tax Code.

Have a Positive Cash Flow

There are two kinds of positive cash flows: pre-tax and after-tax. A pre-tax positive cash flow occurs when income received is greater than expenses incurred. This sort of situation is difficult to find, but they are usually a strong and safe investment. An after-tax positive cash flow may have expenses that outweigh collected income, but various tax breaks allow for a positive cash flow. This is more common, but it is generally not as strong or safe as a pre-tax positive cash flow.

Regardless of what kind of real estate you choose to invest in, timely collections from your tenants is absolutely necessary. A positive cash flow — whether it is pre-tax or after-tax — requires rental income. Be sure to find quality tenants; a thorough credit and employment check is probably a good idea.

Use Leverage

One of the most important factors in determining a solid investment is the amount of equity you are purchasing. Equity is the difference between the actual worth of the property and the balanced owed on the mortgage.

Benefit from Growing Equity

While investing in real estate is relatively complex, it is often worth the extra work. When compared to other financial investments, like bonds or CD’s, the return on investment for real estate purchases can often be greater.

The key to real estate investing is equity. Determine an amount of equity that you want to achieve. When you reach your goal, it’s time to sell or refinance. Determining the proper amount of equity may require the assistance of a real estate professional.

(c) Copyright 2005 Madan Ahluwalia. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Real Estate Investing: They Have to Know You to Trust You

They say that if you want to market yourself properly, you need to be in the consumer’s face ALL THE TIME. For people to choose you and your product, they need to know that you are a legitimate presence, and not a fly by night scheme. If they see your or something that reminds them of you all the time, you will be the natural choice to turn to when they need what you are selling. This applies to all aspects of business and it is the same applies for homes. When you want to be known, make sure your are known.

Put your face or your business name on every conceivable surface that your potential customer will see. In real estate investing that may be the local store, the advertisements at the high school football game, or local radio station ads they can listen to as they commute. And do not just get caught up in the standard ad campaigns like TV or radio, use your imagination and try different things all the time. Hand out pens, memo pads, refrigerator magnets. The idea is that whenever they go to use something that they use every day, they will see you or your name.

In the field of real estate investing, image is important. No one want to entrust their precious home to someone they do not know and feel they cannot trust. Once they see a person’s picture and name in the community that they live in, a trust is built and they will feel confident in doing business with you. They will not expect bounced checks or bad credit from someone who is so prominent in the community, and they feel that you are the kind of businessperson who will always do the right thing. This is achieved by getting your name and face out there in front of the consumer as much as you can.

Whatever it takes: magnets, logos on pens, papers and shopping bags, wear your name and logo on your shirt, let everyone know who you are. In this highly competitive field of real estate investing, getting your name out there is one of the most important steps you can take. Once you get this “good” notoriety, you will be surprised at how much money you can make.

Chicago Real Estate Investing

Donald Trump and countless other moguls built their empires on real estate, and, lately, a lot of people have realized the wisdom behind real estate investments. Chicago real estate investing is a formidable, yet very feasible, business. Chicago is a booming city that is economically sound with prime real estate everywhere. Owning a piece of land at the right location is like owning a gold mine: In just a few years, its value may jump to double the amount you started with in the first place.

But as with any business venture, jumping on the real estate investing bandwagon should be more than just a split-second decision. You must be well prepared before you commit to this daunting task.

First, you have to study Chicago real estate investing. Ask significant questions:

Where is the ideal location?

How is the market doing?

How much start-up capital should I have?

What are the different aspects of real estate investing should I be familiar with?

What type of property do I want to deal in?

When you have the answers to all these questions, then you can start thinking of Chicago real estate investment as a possibility.

When you start your business make sure you cover the important facets of promoting your Chicago real estate investment. Know the importance of advertising and how beneficial it can be for your business. You need to constantly let people know what is out there by advertising your property. There’s no such thing as too much advertising-it’s the lack of it that can hurt you.

You must also have reliable real estate agents handling your Chicago real estate investing business. If you surround yourself with hardworking and smart people, chances are you’ll be in it for the long haul.

Sitting at the negotiation table can be intimidating, but you must realize that you’re in this to win. Start your bargains at the lowest possible price: not too low, as this could be insulting for the seller, but low enough so that you’ll have a lot of room for haggling.

Be pro-active. Be on the watch for the smallest movements in the market and make sure you are ready to pounce when prime real estate is suddenly brought to the market.

Chicago real estate investing can be a lot of hard work but it can also be very rewarding in the end.

Opening A Dollar Store - Rewards of Business Ownership

There are many potential rewards associated with opening a dollar store. However, with those rewards come many risks as well. It is important that the entrepreneur who is opening a dollar store carefully determine what those rewards are in their case and then compare the rewards to the many risks that will also be faced.

So what are some of the rewards associated with opening a dollar store? The rewards can include the potential for monetary profits. There is also the freedom associated with working for yourself, and the pride associated with owning your own business. Among the biggest rewards for many is getting rid of the 9-to-5 J-O-B and the boss that comes with that J-O-B.

All of these rewards and more are attainable if you are opening a dollar store. Well run dollar stores can be profitable. Owning and operating your own business does offer a degree of independence. You can definitely determine what you do and when you will do it. (However, never lose sight of the fact that mistakes can affect business performance.) There is nothing to compare to the pride as you stand in your finished and ready to open for the first time store. Say goodbye to your boss; you are now your own boss.

All of these rewards are well worth seeking. They are all very achievable when opening a dollar store. However never allow those rewards to blind you to the risks associated with business ownership. Recognize the rewards. Recognize the risks. Together they define your potential business success. It is absolutely no fun to see a business fail because the risks existed, yet they were not recognized or properly addressed because of the potential rewards.

To Your Dollar Store Success!

California Real Estate Investing ? How To Make Money

California is no doubt the Golden State of the United States. The state?s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is the largest in the country, and it?s only behind seven countries? in the world. Now, doesn?t that speak volumes for the money making potential this state possesses? This is why California attracts thousands in search for a better living. And therefore, California real estate investing can be regarded as an all profit, no loss proposition.

Real estate investing is a major decision that requires judicious planning. Specifically, you must know when to buy or sell. This can be ascertained by analyzing the trends in the real estate market that, fortunately, are rather predictable relative to the volatile stock market. Following are a few tips and key indicators that will help you make profit through California real estate investing.

? Mortgage rates govern the degree of involvement of buyers in the real estate market. Buyers tend to hold back when mortgage rates increase. For instance, a slight increase in mortgage interest rates from year 2005 to 2006 might have put off a few buyers from making any deals.

? The number of home sales accomplished is another figure to watch out for ? the higher the better. A decrease in the number of buyers is a telltale sign of an imminent slump in the market.

? Another factor that you would want to consider during California real estate investing is the number of building permits issued. Here again, the higher the issued building permits, the higher the demand for houses. And hence, the higher your chances of making money.

? Location is a paramount factor in the real estate business. As far as California is concerned, the closer it is to the beach, the more expensive the property will be. But on the brighter side, the greater appreciation it will experience in due course. For instance, a single-family home in central San Francisco would cost around $1,300,000. So, if you have that kind of money there is nothing like California real estate investing.

? California has in store a lot for the small investor as well. Investors, for whom a beachfront property seems too farfetched, may look to invest in real estate in Los Angeles and San Diego. Single-family homes in these cities have relatively lower rates of around $750,000.

All in all, California real estate investing is an ideal choice for real estate investors ? be they small or big, novice or veteran.

Copyright ? 2007 Joel Teo. All rights reserved. (You may publish this article in its entirety with the following author’s information with live links only.)

About the Author:

Joel Teo writes on various financial topics including Investment Properties in Las Vegas. Learn more about Investment Properties in Las Vegas

Real Estate Investing’s Inner Game

Every once in a while I get an internal reminder that I am a work in progress. In this instance it was not one of those ?hit you over the head with an 8 pound sledge hammer? reminders that you get when you have been particularly blind to your own faults. It was more of a little ?A Ha!? that had larger implications if uncorrected. And by being aware of this quiet reminder, I hope to avoid the previously referenced sledge hammer in the near future!

The subject of my internal wake up call was driving a beautiful new black Mercedes 550S Class sedan and was waiting to make a left hand turn across my lane. The driver was female, looked like she had just gotten back from the salon, and was politely waiting for me to pass. She did nothing wrong, sat there calmly waiting for me to drive by, with her flasher on. As I drove by I thought to myself something like: ?Oh boy, there goes another rich twit in her paid for ??

Whammo.

The guardian of my mind popped into my head waving his mechanical arms like the Robot in an episode of that 1960?s television series ?Lost in Space.?

?Warning!? ?Warning!? ?Danger, Craig Higdon!!!?

For those of you too young to know the reference, I?m sure that you can find an old episode somewhere on cable TV. You won?t have to wait too long before ol? Mr. Robot shows up to give you a demonstration.

Anyway, do you realize what my ?guardian? did for me? He trounced all over a ?limiting belief? and gave me a chance to correct it.

Choosing Our Beliefs

For those of you not familiar with the term ?limiting belief,? I first came across it while investigating Neurolinguistic Programming, or ?NLP? some years back. NLP is a study of internal and external communication processes and its effect on human behavior.

One of the things that you learn in the course of studying NLP is that in large part our behavior is governed by our beliefs ? and that our beliefs are what we make them! Think about that for a moment ? we chose all of our beliefs! Everything that you believe about everything was a choice that you made. You will have to take my word for it for the moment because I could fill volumes on just this aspect of NLP.

Just for fun, you might want to examine a belief or two that you have. Start with something simple like: ?I believe that peanut butter is good for me.? Now ask yourself a few questions:

When did I start to believe that? What evidence do I have that makes that true? What evidence do I have that makes that not true? What do I get out of believing that? What would happen if I did not believe that?

There are more questions to ask that would help you to change a belief, but hopefully in the course of asking yourself the questions above you came to the realization that you decided to adopt that belief at sometime in the past based upon some rules, some evidence, or an experience that you had. This has some interesting implications, doesn?t it?

And what does this have to do with commercial real estate investing, commercial loans, and construction projects? Quite a bit, actually.

One of the questions that I get frequently is: ?How do I get started or go to the next level in commercial real estate?? The overly simple answer to that is: ?Well, first you have to believe that you can!?

Limit Those Limiting Beliefs

Let me illustrate this. I have had people who owned multiple 1 to 4 unit properties, maybe 20 to 30 units in all, ask me how to buy their first apartment building or other piece of commercial real estate. When I get that question I have to chuckle ? because they already have an apartment building! It is simply broken up into smaller chunks. Granted, the mechanics of multifamily real estate are slightly different than for multiunit residential, but in this case the questioner is already a commercial real estate or ?income producing real estate? investor. He just hasn?t realized it.

He doesn?t ?believe? that he?s is a commercial real estate investor and has thus artificially ?limited? his options for investing. He does not yet ?believe? that he can invest in other types of real estate. So let me get back to my story and my little mental guardian. I passed the nice lady in the Mercedes, saw her make her turn in the rearview mirror, and we both went our merry ways. As I drove away, I changed my thoughts about her to: ?She has done well and I wish her to continue to do well.?

Because I have had a little training in NLP I was able to catch myself looping into an old belief about wealth and wealthy people and make the ?change? at the time in my thinking. The experience did serve to remind me that I need to be vigilant in my ?belief monitoring? and that I might want to make a personal inventory of my beliefs concerning wealth in the near future.

And if you don?t think that you have some buried beliefs about wealth and being wealthy that are working against you in your real estate investments, my friend, you are simply kidding yourself. They are all there in the daily newspapers, T.V. shows, magazines, etc. You probably can?t go 10 minutes without hearing or seeing something ?bad? about making money or being ?rich.? Have you ever heard the phrase ?filthy rich?? Uh huh. And I?ll bet that you know a bunch of others, too.

So you need to place a guardian in your mind to sift out those limiting beliefs. This will help you with any self-sabotage you may have encountered in your life. It is not easy without the right tricks, but it is very rewarding. So as you develop your commercial real estate investment techniques, remember to focus on your inner game to manifest your outer goals.

Note: NLP is slowly being supplanted by a more powerful ?technology? called Hemispherical Integration. You can find out more about it at the web site NLPLA.com.

7 Steps To Make Money In Real Estate Investing

7 Steps To Make Money In Real Estate Investing Submitted By: Larry Haines

#1 Know that you can do it too! Have you ever stopped to think about who owns all the downtown buildings? Or how about all those apartment complexes you see everywhere? When you see a “For Rent” Sign on a house do you wonder how many more rental houses that guy owns. Well, the point to these questions is to say that you can be one of the millions of people that own rental real estate too? That actually comes as a surprise to some people and that is why the title above says KNOW that you can do it too! You can and you should. Let me repeat that. You can and you should. There are plenty of excuses people use to say; “well, I can’t do that” and as the saying goes - “You either can or you can’t, either way you are right!” Here’s what I want you to do. Just below write out the first few “I can’t” reasons. I’ll even get you started… What if you could turn it around so there were no excuses, no more “I can’t”? Wouldn’t that allow you to achieve your goal of financial freedom? Wouldn’t that allow you to create the result of buying properties below market value so you could make money time after time? What we intend to do is what we will ultimately get. The more clear the intention, the better chance we will do the things necessary to get it. For instance, if you say; “I want to invest in real estate”, that intention is very vague and not easily acted upon. However if you can describe what kind of real estate you want it becomes much clearer and much more likely to happen. As an example, if you say; “I want to own a rental duplex in the hospital district with each side being 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and it needs to cash flow at least $150 per side and I don’t want to pay more than $10,000 down and would love owner financing”, you are much more likely to find what you are looking for. Is it easier to believe that you can own a duplex in the hospital district or that someday you want to be rich? Your mind will help you be successful if you truly believe and articulate what you want in detail. #2 Begin with the end in mind In Stephen Covey’s book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, habit number one is “Be Proactive”. You’re being proactive just by reading this article. You’re taking action. Habit number 2 is “Begin with the end in mind”. Set a goal. Know what you want and plan how to get there. So many would be investors don’t have a road map to where they want to end up so they don’t end up anywhere. THIS IS A CRITICAL STEP!! There is a major difference between investing in real estate and being a real estate investor. By inheriting a property or buying a house that pays you $2 per month, you are an owner of an investment property. (Many people actually loose money each month because they didn’t buy right but that is another story). Technically, they are invested in real estate. But they are not real estate investors. They don’t have a plan of accumulating wealth with strategies and tactics that get them there over time. (Sorry, this is not a get rich quick opportunity…lottery tickets sold elsewhere). A plan should have realistic goals. For instance, if your desire is to retire wealthy, what do you mean by “retire wealthy”. Be very specific. I have one client that defines it as “I want my wife to be able to stay home and I don’t want to have to work. I need about $6,000 to pay my bills and I want to be able to do some traveling so I want $10,000 per month” You should have a long term goal of 10 - 15 years or more; medium term goals in the 5 - 10 year time horizon and shorter term goals in the 2 - 5 year range and immediate goals that define what you are going to do this year. Let’s take a look at a sample of this… A 52 yr. old working male with a wife that works as a teacher might start with basic goals as follows: 10 year goal retire at 62 with no reduction in lifestyle [so they need to replace $82,000/year income ($6,834 per month) which might take 10-12 free and clear houses generating cash flow in the $500 - $600/month range] 5 year goalOwn 15 housing units (could be apartment or duplex generating at least $150/unit in free cash flow ($2,250) to retire my wife to be looking for real estate full time). Own Real Estate in my self Directed IRA - grows tax deferred or even tax free if using a ROTH 2 year goalBe buying 3-4 housing units/year (one per quarter? in appreciating areas). ImmediateGet in depth education from local investors doing deals in my area. Join the local REIA - Real Estate Investors Association. Understand my financial situation - set a household budget, savings & Investment plan, income statement and balance sheet (which you will need for loans anyway). Develop a buying criteria - (what do you want to buy, where, how much, what condition, how big, etc). Find an investor friendly real estate agent (to help me find property that fits my criteria). NOTE: this is just a summary of goals while a real plan is more in depth & detailed. #3 Model success - Another way to say this is “don’t recreate the wheel”. If 8,000,000 people have already done something and hundreds of thousands are currently doing it too, DON’T TRY TO MAKE IT UP AS YOU GO! There are many real estate investors that are happy to share their experience over a cup of coffee or lunch (you buy of course). The investors I have been privileged to know are a caring, sharing group of people that want to give back and help people. That’s how I got interested. Now let’s talk specifics. If you were going to go into the hamburger business would your chance of success be better if you were starting your own burger place or buying into a big name franchise? Assuming all things were equal, you wouldn’t have to develop all the systems and training for your own business if you went the franchise way. You would have the expertise of people that have been there and made mistakes and refined their systems and processes to improve the business. You would have the help of other franchise owners in your area to let help you get started and to talk with about local business trends and situations and on and on…. The point of this is to find out what other successful people are doing and model them. Don’t recreate the wheel. If your advertising isn’t working to generate leads, find someone that has a “lead generation machine” and copy what they are doing. (Please don’t infringe on copyrights, etc). But if they have a web page driving lead traffic, you should consider it. If they are putting signs out, you should consider it. If they are doing direct mail, you might give it a try. I think you get the point. Look at every process as you find, fund, fix and flip real estate and break down the components to business processes and then put a system around the process to help you make it more efficient and more manageable. #4 Focus, Focus, Focus Lack of focus is probably the single biggest cause of new investor failure that I have seen. Every month people are buying new books and tapes from the circuit guru that flies into town for the REIA meeting or some big name putting on their own event. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t expose yourself to different techniques to buying and/or selling property but most people have a “flavor of the month” investing technique that they get excited about and don’t ever focus creating a business (being a real estate investor). Look at your resources, network of people and resources, time you have and level of difficulty and commitment to do a specific type of transaction. You should pick one that considers your time and resources and then get really good at it. #5 Take action You don’t have to be good to begin, but you have to begin to be good. This is the shortest section here. TAKE ACTION! Do something. One of my bible study teachers used to say to me after I asked so many questions was; “Larry, Just get a mitt and get into the game!” Translation for real estate investors….”Just get out there and make offers”. You can’t make money until you get a contract that is signed by the seller, right? #6 Build a team of experts You’ll want to have a team of experts on your site and should have a title attorney, CPA, property manager, appraiser, and contractor all in place. #7 Make offers! You can learn a lot and not make money. You can plan a lot and not make money. You can network with hundreds of people and not make money. You can attend meeting after meeting and conference call after conference call and not make money. Start making offers and start making some money. How many? How about 1 a day to start and then get up to 50-100 per month? Believe it or not, at some point someone will accept one of your offers and you’ll be “off to the races”. Article Tags: make, people, real Tags: Apartment Complexes, Baths, Bedrooms, Better Chance, Duplex, Financial Freedom, Intention, Invest, Investing Money, Larry Haines, Money Investing, Money Time, Nbsp, One Of The Millions, Owner Financing, People, Rental Houses, Rental Real Estate, Surprise, Time After Time The First Steps In Real Estate Investing March 27, 2010 by Kenny Santos   Filed under Real Estate Investing Leave a Comment With all the stories of people making tremendous amounts of money in real estate it’s no wonder why so many are looking at real estate as an investment vehicle. It offers more security than the stock market, provides great potential returns, offers tax benefits and let’s not forget; it sounds cool to be ‘in real estate’. Everybody can buy and sell stocks from their phone or computer these days. But real estate, now that’s something else. One of the challenges that many are faced with is putting up the money to acquire a piece of property. Although in reality this is usually not the biggest obstacle. You might say “Hey, what do you mean, not an obstacle. I would love to invest in real estate, but I just can’t afford to!” The point is that hardly anyone who buys a piece of real estate has enough money in their account to pay for it. That’s where your banker comes in. Let’s face it. Do you know anyone that owns their own home? I mean truly own it? Probably not. Sure, you know a lot of people that have a house to their name, but wait until they get behind on their monthly mortgage payments and you will soon find out who really owns their house. That’s right, the bank. So if these people can use the bank’s money to buy a house, why can’t you? Now ‘owning’ your own home may sound like a somewhat obvious way to get started in real estate, but it is also a very good way to do so. You might say “Duh…” But apparently this little step is overlooked by a lot of people. Just take a look at how many people are still renting a property instead of buying one. Now of course the relation between rent and housing prices varies from country to country and even from area to area. But wherever you go you will still find people renting, because in their mind “they don’t have enough money to buy a house.” In reality it would be much cheaper for them to buy! When you rent, you are pretty much flushing your money down the toilet. Of course you are getting the pleasure of living, but the point is you’re not building anything long term. Every dollar you spend on rent is a dollar you will never see again. Whereas if you own your own home, instead of paying rent you would be paying for your mortgage. Even though there is a lot of variety in mortgages these days, the basics of practically all mortgages are more or less the same. Every month you make a payment which consists of two parts: interest and principle. The interest part can be compared to rent. Those dollars are gone with the wind and you will never hear from them again. However, the part of the payment that goes to the principle is money you keep. Every dollar that is used to pay off the principal is a dollar you put in your own pocket. So if you’re thinking about getting started in real estate and you don’t ‘own’ your own house yet… Change it, and get some experience. It’s a great first step towards building your capital and in many cases, it just makes more sense financially. It can also supply a range of opportunities for accelerating the process of building your net worth. When real estate prices go up, so does the value of your property. Whereas the money you owe the bank, your mortgage, remains the same. In other words this helps you build your net worth. Compare this to people that are paying rent… Their net worth does nothing. However their landlord’s net worth is doing very nicely in this scenario and he or she will probably love you for it. So if you get a warm fuzzy feeling about making somebody else rich at your own expense… Keep renting. If you would rather build your own capital instead… Buy your own house! Many home owners have accumulated more money through appreciation of their property than by working a full time job for many years. Now before you go out and buy the first property you lay eyes on, don’t forget that some security measures are in order here. As you may or may not know, real estate prices do not always go up, and certainly not in a straight line. Yep, this can be shocker to some people, as well as an ugly reminder for those who overlooked this minor detail in the past. If for some reason you would have to sell your home in a down market, it can be a costly adventure. You wouldn’t be the first to end up with a house worth considerably less than the mortgage resting on it. So make sure to keep some slack. In the long run real estate prices have always been on the rise, but in any cycle there are down periods. By keeping some slack and being patient you will be able to sit through these times and profit from the long term up-trend. About the Author Jim Mack is an expert on business, health and well being. He regularly contributes articles on these subjects. 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