What You Need to Know About

Getting Started Real Estate Investing

by Dennis J Henson

Everything you need to know about getting started real estate investing.

Getting started real estate investing can be rewarding once you develop an over-all plan. When investing in stocks, bonds or bank certificates you place your money in the hands of another and hope they make good choices. While a bit more complicated, real estate investing offers the ability for you to build wealth through your own knowledge and efforts, often with a substantially higher return.

There are many types of real estate to invest in.

Determine which type of real estate will be best for you before investing in real estate.

Single-family homes are a good place for beginning real estate investors to start. The availability of these properties is high, turnover can be fast and many times these homes can be purchased with little or no money down.

Getting started real estate investing will require tools to ensure smooth transactions. The primary tools of real estate investing include:

Real estate investors that have a group of support people are successful. Team members should include:

Getting started real estate investing is like other projects. There are steps that will need to be taken in order to ensure success.

1. Choose a location where you would like to invest. Determine the area and mark it on a map. Learn the zip codes for the area. Conduct research on the area chosen.
   
2. Determine the scope of your investment. Define the type of properties you want to invest in. Choose what size, how many bedrooms, amenities such as pools, decks or spas, price and age range and what extra’s if any you want the property to include.
   
3. Locate one or two viable properties. One method is to look for empty houses, newspaper advertisements, homes in foreclosure, or homes listed as for sale by owner. Contact a bank to view homes that they own. Speak to the Veteran’s Administration or the Housing and Urban Development for properties that they have available. You can also attend commercial or public auctions to find a property.
   
4. Real estate investing strategies require daily contact with other realtors, bankers, auctioneers, property wholesalers and private owners. Contact potential sellers daily. Choose a specific number of sellers to contact daily by email, phone call or personal visit. Using this simple step will make getting started real estate easy.
   
5. Successful investors ask questions. Through this process motivated sellers are identified. Investors who wish to purchase one home a month view approximately fifteen properties a week. The successful investor understands the importance of exposure.
   
   
6. Research a property prior to viewing. While viewing the property make notes regarding repairs and or improvements. This will allow you to compare the properties current value to the value after improvements or repairs.
   
7. Making an offer that is fair will require facts. Tax values, comparison property values, and terms should be included. Using software like TurboBidder2 can assist in developing an offer. It is important to consider profit margins when making an offer. Offers to individual homeowners should include three bids, all cash, all terms and a mix of cash and terms.
   
8. Present bids to sellers and negotiate to achieve the best terms possible. Place bids for auctioned properties that are reasonable. Once the terms of an offer are accepted get a signed contract. Doing so will ensure that the transaction is complete.
   
9. Closing a real estate transaction after a contract is signed will require that you have the finances and money needed, and that all the required documents are ready for signatures. Read all of these documents before the day of closing and make any necessary changes before the day of closing.
   
10. Finalizing the purchase of a property is easy. Read all closing documents again to ensure that they are correct. Once the documents have been signed the properties address can be given to your contractor, landscaper or designer for an upgrade.

Once a program for marketing has been decided,getting started real estate investing is profitable and rewarding.

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