Real Estate is one of the most secure investments that you can make. As long as there are humans on earth, they will need somewhere to live and places to conduct business. Real Estate is considerably more stable than other investment options; but it’s also incredibly daunting. There are a lot of facts and figures that have to be taken into account to the point where it can be intimidating to even get started. Here’s some tips to get yourself pointed in the right direction.
Lawyer Up
There are a multitude of websites that can answer some basic real estate law questions, but it’s still important to create a contact with a local lawyer who specializes in real estate law. Every state has different laws concerning every aspect of real estate. You don’t want to advance to far down the road of a property acquisition only to find out there is an issue with the title or that someone else has a lien on your property!
Failure to Plan is Planning to Fail
There are a multitude of options when buying real estate. You can buy income streams (residential or commercial), speculate on appreciation, improve (value add) a property for resale, entitle land or even develop a property from scratch (ground up). Before you even decide on an investment property, you need to have identified what your end goal is. Make a plan and be prepared to stick to it.
Know the Market
Nothing is worse than buying an expensive house in a slow market, sinking money into it then not being able to sell it. Real estate is cyclical; there are times where the market favors buyers (meaning there’s more inventory than demand) and times where it favors the sellers (fewer homes on the market with more people looking for property). You need to know what sort of market you’re investing in. If the market is slow, you will need to plan on being able to carry the property (not being able to sell your property quickly) for an extended period.
There’s certainly much more that goes into getting started in real estate investing, but these are some planning tips to at least get you pointed in the right direction. Happy house hunting!