People all want to make that big score doing something easy.
While it may not be the same type of easy that you were thinking about, one of
the easiest ways to make money is one which scores of individuals and families
do; they make money investing in real estate.
Even though the housing “boom” is now nothing more than a whimper and a memory and even though some people say we are still nowhere near where we should be, there is still money being made every day in the housing market. Even if you have had a mortgage modification or otherwise had to fight to stay in your home for some reason, the simple fact is that with mortgages where they are and the prevailing interest rates currently and appearing to remain low now is still a great time to buy.
However if you do have aims to make money in the real estate market, you can’t just flail around willy-nilly. You need a concrete plan and you can’t let your emotion over the potential of one property cause you to stray from this plan of attack.
Where is for Sale?
The first thing you should be familiar with before you jump into the process portion of your real estate adventures is find out what in your area is for sale. Where is it? What are the distressed assets winding up going for? To whom? And what is the current socio economic state of that part of town?
You can’t ignore the obvious stigmas which go along with real estate investing; if you are looking at a whole row of perfectly habitable distressed homes in a not-so-good part of town, there is likely a reason that these homes remain vacant. If you’re unfamiliar with the part of town where you see homes you like then you have to get reacquainted. Knowing where you’re venturing is the only way to do things; you don’t think the first equatorial trek around Cape Horn hadn’t wished they’d had GPS or any of the devices we take for granted today? Get out and get familiar with your neighborhood.
Qualify
Then of course you need to quality for your mortgages. You may have been pre-approved; that’s always a good idea. You don’t have to have your financial house in order if you’re going to make money in real estate but it certainly helps.
Buy-Low/Sell-High
After you’ve found your neighborhood and your mortgages are all lined up then you need to just find a distressed property that’s got the potential you’re hoping for. Maybe it’s a short sale and it’s on the outskirts of a fast booming neighborhood. Maybe you’ve got a tick of the handyman in you and you can see all the potential in just sprucing things up so that this home earns its place among its neighbors. Whatever the situation, if you see a home that you’re ready to move on and you're close-to-sure the price has bottomed out and then buying it and flipping it for profit can be shockingly easy.
Of course buying distressed properties in an all-cash transaction is a lot easier than taking out all manner of mortgages. However, even if you have to take out mortgages on your new homes they still can be potential gold mines for making money which could help you get out of debt.
Remember to be prudent in your decision making, firm in your cut-offs, and generous in your improvements to these homes. You can walk away from a quick sale of a few months with more money than you’d ever made in a whole year working at your job before!