Making Money In Real Estate

Making Money On These Major Types of Properties

There are many different property types that you can use to make money in real estate with. The secret is finding one that you love and can throw your heart and soul into.

1.) Raw Land – This is as “raw” as it gets (see what I just did there!). Purchasing land usually does not produce cashflow, but can be improved to add value. Land can also be subdivided and sold as well for profit.

2.) Farm Investing – In addition to the land itself, the products that are made on the land can be used to make a profit.

3.) Water/Mineral/Oil/Gas Rights – The cousin of investing in raw land, this is the process of buying and selling a person’s (or company’s) right to use the minerals (or water, oil, gas, etc) on a property.

4.) Single-Family Homes – This is the most common investment for most first time investors. Single-family homes are easy to rent, easy to sell, and easy to finance. Single-family homes may be more difficult to cashflow, and can take a significant amount of time and effort to purchase just one unit.

5.) Duplex/Triplex/Quads – Small multifamily properties (2-4 units) such as these are one of my favorite investment routes. These property types combine the financing and easy purchasing benefits of a single-family home with the cashflow benefits and less competition found in larger investments. Best of all, these properties can serve as both a solid investment as well as a personal residence for the smart investor.

6.) Small Apartments – Another favorite of mine, small apartment buildings are made up of between 5-50 units. These properties can be more difficult to finance, as they rely on commercial lending standards instead of residential lending standards. However, these properties are excellent in terms of cashflow. They are too small for large, professional REIT’s to invest in (see below) but too large for most novice real estate investors. Additionally, the value of these properties are based on the income they bring in. This creates a huge opportunity for adding value by increasing rent, decreasing expenses, and managing effectively. These properties are a great place to utilize on-sight managers who manage and perform maintenance in exchange for free or decreased rent. At this level, real estate can truly become 90% passive.

7.) Large Apartments – These buildings are the larger, nicer complexes you see all around the country, often times in upper-middle class neighborhoods in the suburbs. They often include pools, work-out rooms, full time staff, and high advertising budgets. These properties cost tens of millions of dollars to buy but can produce solid returns with minimal hassle.

8.) Large Commercial Office Space – Buying large commercial buildings and renting out office space to business professionals. Usually professionally managed by large property managers.

9.) Small Commercial Office Space – Buying small commercial buildings and renting out office space to business professionals. Often much more hands on.

10.) Industrial Properties- Manufacturing, warehouses, distribution centers, etc.

11.) Mobile Homes – Generally found in parks but also on private land, mobile homes are found all over the country and can be an inexpensive way to enter the world of real estate investing and can also experience significant cashflow.

12.) Mobile Home Parks – The entire park in which mobile homes are situated on can also be bought and sold. Often times the individual lots are rented out to mobile home owners, and other times the homes themselves are corporately owned and leased to individuals.

13.) R.V. Parks – An RV park owner simply rents the space temporarily to individuals with motor homes or campers.

14.) Motels/Hotels – Especially profitable in tourist friendly areas, renting out rooms in a motel or hotel can provide significant income.

15.) Notes – Investing in “notes” involves the buying and selling of paper mortgages. While not necessarily a “property type,” notes can be bought, sold, mortgaged, and traded just like the properties they represent.  Often times an owner of a property may choose to offer financing and “carry the mortgage”. In this case, a “note” would be created which spells out the terms of the contract. For example, an apartment owner decides to sell his property for one million dollars. He offers to carry the full note and the new buyer will make payments of 8% per year for thirty years, until the full one-million dollars is paid off. If that owner suddenly needed to get the full balance of the loan, he might choose to sell that mortgage to a “note buyer” for a discount. That note buyer will then begin collecting the monthly payments and decide if they will keep the note or try to sell it for profit.

Making Money Using These Popular Investing Methods

Just as there are many property types, there are also many ways you can make money with those properties. Every deal is different and may require a different strategy, so it is best to get acquainted with as many of these methods as possible.

16.) Fix and Flip Single Family Homes– We’ll start with the obvious and most popular one. Buy a cheap home, fix it up, re-sell it.

17.) Buy-N-Hold Single Family Homes – Another favorite. Buy a home, hold it for a significant length of time (20+ years), pay the mortgage down, and live off the cashflow in retirement.

18.) Wholesale Single Family Homes- A popular choice for beginners, wholesaling involves scouting your local area, finding great deals, putting those deals under contract to buy, and then “assigning”(selling) those deals to an investor for a fee.

19.) Hybrid Fix-N-Hold for Single Family Homes – One of my personal favorites, this incorporates finding the good deal and remodeling the home from the fix-and-flip but the long term benefits of the buy-n-hold. Simply, a single family home is purchased for a low price during a low market, remodeled to force appreciation, and held until the market improves and sold. This method seeks to maximize the ROI while limiting the risk.

20.) Wholesaling Apartment Buildings – Some investors make their entire living off wholesaling just one or two large apartment buildings per year. With the larger price comes less deals but much higher finder’s fees.

21.) Fix-and-Flip Large Apartment Buildings – From duplexes all the way to large complexes, there are many apartment buildings in need of a complete overhaul. The benefit of flipping apartments over single family homes is the ability to collect rent while the property is being marketed for resale.

22.) Buy-N-Hold Large Apartments – Similar to the long term approach to single family homes, but on a much larger scale.

23.) Hybrid Fix-and-Hold for Apartments- Find a low-cost apartment building needing help, fix it, then rent it until it is most advantageous to sell.

24.) Turn-Key-Investing – This type of investor is similar to a fix-and-flipper, but seeks primarily to sell the remodeled properties to out-of-town individuals seeking a good place to keep their money moving. Often times Turn-Key companies also can handle the management and all other issues, making the investment truly passive for the purchasing investor.

25.) NNN Lease – Often times big businesses do not want to own the building they use (for tax purposes), but instead rent the building and pay all costs associated with the building such as maintenance, taxes, insurance, and more. You, as an investor, can own these buildings for highly-passive income.

26.) Vacation Rentals – Buying a property in a vacation area and renting it out when you are not staying there is not only a great way to pay for your vacation home but also build equity in a location where prices go up (and down) with more extreme force.

27.) New Construction, Residential – Just like it sounds. The process of building a home with the intent of reselling it.

28.) New Construction, Commercial – Like residential, but involving commercial places.

29.) “New Every Two” Primary Residence Flip – Many investors simply invest only in their own home, adding value and reselling every two years. The reason behind this is that in the US, the IRS allows a tax-free sale of a primary residence every two years. If you don’t mind moving often, this might be a great option for you.

30.) Cash Purchase, Sell on Contract –  If you have the cash, you can buy properties and then immediately re-sell them to buyers who may not be able to conventionally qualify for a mortgage. You can carry the mortgage for as long as you’d like, or sell the note for cash in the future.  Make sure to collect a large down payment when using this method.

31.) International Real Estate Investing – You don’t need to live where you invest (but it often does help a lot). Many investors choose to live wherever they like but invest where it makes the most sense – often overseas. While there are many challenges to this type of investing, there are also huge rewards  to those who can effectively navigate the international waters.

32.) Lease-Option Sandwich – Without actually owning the property, lease-options allow a person to gain control of a property by leasing it with a legal “option” to purchase the property at a specified price within a specified time period. Often times these properties can be re-“sold” using another lease option and the investor simply makes money being the “middle man.”

Make Money When Buying Investments

It’s often said “You make your money when you buy.” There are many different strategies you can use to ensure profitability when you buy, starting with finding the best deals. The following is a list of many of the top places to find good deals and make money when you buy.

33.) Subject-To – Purchasing a home with the existing financing in place. This method, while not illegal, can trigger the “due on sale” clause and cause the bank to start foreclosure on the property. Use with care.

34.) Lease Option – As mentioned earlier, a lease-option (lease purchase) is a method used to control real estate without taking title. It is simply “renting” the property with the legal right to buy it later. This can be a good way to buy a property if your intent is to quickly sell it again later.

35.) For Sale By Owners (FSBO) – Often times, sellers will decide to save the costs of hiring a real estate agent to sell their home and sell it themselves with a sign or newspaper advertisement. These sellers can often times be excellent sources of finding good deals or seller-financed deals.

36.) Buying REO’s – REO’s are bank-owned properties that were taken back in foreclosure. Often times these properties can be picked up for significant discount, as a bank is often very willing to get the loan off their books. Additionally, there is no emotional attachment on the part of the bank.

37.) Auction at the Courthouse Steps – During the process of foreclosure, a home is generally brought to the courthouse steps to be sold to the highest bidder. If no one bids, the home goes back to the bank. Often times, homes can be purchased for steep discounts using this method.

38.) Buying in Pre-foreclosure – Sellers on the brink of losing their home can be very motivated to sell their home and save their credit. Many times, more is owed on the house than the house is worth. However, sometimes great deals can be found by weeding out a lot of bad deals.

39.) Short Sales – A bank will often take less than the loan amount on a property to save the hassle and costs of foreclosing. This means you can often get a great deal if you can wade through the red tape and long wait-times that short sales involve.

40.) Tax Liens – When homeowner’s refuse to pay their taxes, the government can foreclose and resell the property. You’ve probably seen the “Pennies on the dollar” infomercials on late night television, but this method can be trickier than the gurus portray on TV.

41.) HUD Foreclosures – When a US government ensured loan is foreclosed on, it often becomes the property of the department of Housing and Urban Development. It is their job to sell the home and often will offer steep discounts in order to move the product.

42.) VA Foreclosures – Similar to the HUD foreclosures, the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs sells their homes as well after foreclosing on one of their insured properties – and no, you don’t need to be a veteran to buy one.

43.) USDA Rural Development Loans – If you live in a rural area, the US Department of Agriculture actually offers a loan program for primary residence homes that require as little as 0% down.

44.) VA Loans – If you are a veteran of the United States, the government offers 0% down loans on primary residences.

45.) Bulk REO’s – Often times, banks will group together large packages of REOs and sell them in a package to large investment firms or wealthy investors.