Why Invest in Real Estate?
You've thought about real estate investing - go on, admit it. Even if it was a wistful
little passing fantasy about buying that little rundown house you saw - because all it
really needs is a coat of paint - and selling it for a big profit. Or maybe you've considered
purchasing rental property 'so that the rents will cover the mortgage'. Why invest in
real estate? You've already thought about part of the answer - there's excellent potential
for profit in real estate investment.
Real estate investment is a proven method of making money and increasing your net
worth - with a few caveats. Your profit will depend on your knowledge, your hard
work and your ability to plan. Real estate investment isn't a magic formula. No
matter how easy the late-night millionaire's club makes it look, it's not a get-rich
quick scheme. It could take months before you buy your first property, a year before
you sell one, and longer before you're realizing a consistent, comfortable income. To
quote one major real-estate investment mogul, an overnight sensation in the real
estate market is one that takes five years.
So why invest in real estate? Simply put, it IS a career choice with potential
profit whose only real limits are those you impose on yourself - and that's how
you have to treat it. That means that it's up to YOU how much you make. You control
your profits by learning all you can about investing and real estate, studying
loan structures and foreclosure laws, understanding the psychology of buying and
selling, knowing the rules and responsibilities of holding tenant property.
If you know what you're doing, you are nearly guaranteed to make money. Unlike
many other investments, you can count on one thing with real estate. You CAN eventually
turn a profit on almost any property you own - as long as you paid a reasonable amount
for it in the first place. Real estate values rise and fall with the economy. If real
estate prices drop, you can count on the fact that they WILL rise again.
If you've invested in rental properties, you can count on a steady income from them - as
long as they are well-maintained. It's another truth of real estate - people will always
need housing. There is always a demand for what you're selling. And even in the toughest
markets, rental prices seldom drop more than a few percent. As long as you can keep your
rental units full with paying tenants, you can count on the income from those units to
cover mortgage and upkeep costs and make a profit.
The bottom line is the bottom line. Real estate is one investment that has centuries of
proof of its profitability. If you strip away all the get rich quick promises and hype,
you'll find a core of truth: people make money buying and selling real estate. And that,
after all, is the best reason to invest in anything, isn't it?
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