|
|
Booming Real Estate Profits From Baby Boomer Investing
In last week's article, called "Irrational Exuberance, Part II?," I discussed some of our concerns about what is happening in the preconstruction investment real estate market. What many people have asked me is "if you're so concerned about the real...
Emotion In Investing
Humans are all emotional being. We do not always make decisions
rationally. Emotion is part of us as investors. Investors might
feel better towards stocks at certain point or they might feel
that owning stocks are risky and avoid it at all...
How To Start Investing For Financial Independence, Part 1
Today, I am going to start a multi-part series about how to go from being a beginning investor to being “financially independent” in a steady and predictable way. At our website, we get tons of e-mails about how do I start, how do I start with...
How To Start Investing For Financial Independence, Part 1.
Today, I am going to start a multi-part series about how to go from being a beginning investor to being “financially independent” in a steady and predictable way. At our website, we get tons of e-mails about how do I start, how do I start with...
Investing in Dividend Paying Stocks
You have permission to this article either electronically or in print as long as the author bylines are included, with a live link and the article is not changed in any way. Please provide a courtesy emailto: charles@thestockopolyplan.com telling...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
An Introduction to Real Estate Investing
There are a great many books and web sites devoted to real estate investing out there, but most of them concentrate on one specific area of investing. It's often hard to find a general description of real estate investing, one that lists the various real estate investing strategies and how to get started. That's what this article will set out to do.
Before beginning, you must understand that real estate investing is not a get rich quick scheme. Real estate investing can, and will, make you wealthy, but it certainly won't happen overnight and it will require work. As you perfect your technique and gain experience, the amount of work needed to gain a lot of money will reduce, but it will take effort and persistance to make it there.
If you're completely new to real estate investing then the only sort of investing strategy you're likely aware of is rental properties. Landlording has been around since there have been houses and people to rent them to, and it will continue to be a wealth builder. In fact, most of the 'no money down' real estate strategies you hear about still include rentals as part of their plan. Still, there are other ways to make money from real estate investing out there.
The next most 'traditional' method is to buy a fixer-upper, fix it up, and then sell it for a profit. This is commonly referred to as 'rehabbing' and is a very good way to make a lot of money in a relatively short period of time. Most rehabbers won't even look at a property unless they can make at least $20,000 of profit, and this is usually within 3-4 months time. Rehabbers tend to be experienced investors with available money, or have partners who help provide any extra cash required.
But if you're just starting out you likely won't have access to large amounts of money. One way to get involved in this area of real estate investing without needing any money at all is to 'flip' houses to these rehabbers. What this entails is you going out and finding these fixer-uppers, noting all the work required to fix the place up. You then place a low offer in to the owner, taking into account the fix up price and some built in profit. Once you have the house under contract you then flip it to a rehabber for a small fee. This can result in several thousand dollars for you, without you having to spend a dime. 'Flipping' properties can be a great way to start your real estate investing career.
Another 'no money down' technique that's popular on the late night infomercials is called 'lease optioning'. This is
basically a rent to own strategy that allows you to control a property without ever taking ownership of it. It's a slightly more complicated strategy that warrents its own article, but it does allow you to make money in several different ways, each without ever having to spend any of your own money. If you're not put off by longer term investments then lease options are definately worth more research.
There are other strategies that involve foreclosures and getting the home owner to sign the deed over to you, but for now I'd suggest learning more about flipping and lease options as entry-level real estate investing strategies.
How do you find properties that would make good real estate investments? Again, an entire article can be devoted to that, but there are basically two ways: you go looking for them, or you get them to come to you. The first way involves reading the newspaper classifieds and scanning the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This is where having a great real estate agent is a must - they can get you more details on homes than you can view on the mls website, and can often let you know of great deals before they even become available to the general public.
Having home owners contact you means setting up an advertising campaign. This can involve placing ads in the newspaper, placing bandit signs at strategic locations around town, starting a direct mail campaign, etc. There are many ways to let people know that there's a new real estate investor in town, and it would be in your best interest to try each of them to see which ones work best for you.
Whether you decide to go looking for deals, have them come to you, or both, they key is to be persistant. Real estate investing is a numbers game - most of the time you won't be able to make the deal work, but every time you do it translates into thousands of dollars for you. The more owners you talk to, the more deals you'll be able to do, the more money you'll make.
I hope this article gives you a bit of an idea of what the world of real estate investing is like. There's a lot to learn out there, and all of it is very interesting. Find the area that interests you the most, then get out there and start talking to home owners. Don't be discouraged if you're getting turned down a lot - just remember that when it does pay off, it will pay off big!
About the Author
Adem Hamidovic is a part time real estate investor and operator of http://www.ProfitPiggy.com, a website devoted to new and experienced real estate investors alike.
|
|
|
|
|
Investing: Stock Quotes, Charts & Market News - MSN Money |
Investing home page features investment tools like stock quotes, charts, a portfolio manager and much more. Plus market news and financial commentary from ... |
moneycentral.msn.com |
  |
Investing : Stock Investing, Investing News |
Our stock investing news is designed to help new and seasoned investors alike. See all of our investing news online at BusinessWeek.com. |
www.businessweek.com |
  |
globeandmail.com : globeinvestor.com |
GlobeInvestorGOLD Canada's most comprehensive investment tool. ... This Globe and Mail report will profile alternative investment products designed to help ... |
www.globeinvestor.com |
  |
Fool.com: Investing, Stock Research, and Personal Finance |
Investing information and an enjoyably useful site. Updated hourly. |
www.fool.com |
  |
Investing, Stock Quotes and Research, Personal Finance and ... |
Free comprehensive guide to investing and personal finance. |
www.investorguide.com |
  |
Open Directory - Business: Investing |
Business: Financial Services (17198); Business: Major Companies: Company Information (28); Recreation: Collecting (5684); Society: Issues: Fraud: Investment ... |
dmoz.org |
  |
Better Investing - We'll show you how! |
The National Association of Investors Corporation (NAIC) teaches individuals how to become successful strategic long-term investors. |
www.betterinvesting.org |
  |
Dow Jones, Nasdaq, S&P 500, stock market data - CNNMoney.com |
... Real Estate Tips Main FSB 100 Small Cap Investing - Top 50 5 Best Bosses Which States Love Small Biz? ... Investing after Pfizer's flop - 3 strategies ... |
money.cnn.com |
  |
Investing News, Personal Finance, Stock Market, Mutual Funds ... |
Reuters.com is your source for investing news, personal finance, stock market, mutual funds and investments. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, ... |
today.reuters.com |
  |
Investment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Investment or investing [1] is a term with several closely-related meanings in ... Types of financial investments include shares or other equity investment, ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
  |
Investing In Bonds |
Information about bond investing from The Bond Market Association. Bond price information, articles, introductory guides, and links to related sites. |
www.investinginbonds.com |
  |
Investing for Kids |
Welcome to Investing For Kids. This Web site is designed by kids for kids. It examines stocks, bonds, ... It teaches the principles of saving and investing. ... |
library.thinkquest.org |
  |
internet.com - the Internet and IT Network from Jupitermedia Corp. |
The definitive internet resource. |
www.internet.com |
  |
InvestorWords.com - Investing Glossary |
The most comprehensive investing glossary on the web, with over 5000 definitions and 15000 links between related terms. |
www.investorwords.com |
  |
Investing - Share prices | FTSE100 | Stock quotes | Stock exchange ... |
Also on Investing:. December Fund of the Month: River and Mercantile UK Smaller Companies · Virtual Trader: play our £100k fantasy sharetrading game ... |
money.uk.msn.com |
  |
JS Online: Business: Investments |
Investing, Personal Finance. More investing stories from the Journal Sentinel ... Readers share investment advice, savings tips COLUMNIST HUMBERTO CRUZ ... |
www.jsonline.com |
  |
Welcome to the Investing Online Resource Center! |
Independent, non-commercial information on online investing. |
www.investingonline.org |
  |
Investing for Your Future |
Online course for beginner investors. Course and program description, registration, resources, feedback and contacts. |
www.investing.rutgers.edu |
  |
investing | baltimoresun.com |
Business, technology, real estate and investing news, primarily from The Baltimore Sun. |
www.baltimoresun.com |
  |
Investing for Beginners |
Investing for beginners gives new investors articles on the stock market,interviews with leading financial experts, discussion boards, a free weekly ... |
beginnersinvest.about.com |
  |
|