7 REAL ESTATE INVESTING STRATEGIES YOU MUST KNOW
1. Wholesaling Houses – a must for any real estate investor’s arsenal. Find deals and assign them to rehabbers for quick cash. No credit, money, or risk required.
2. Lease Options – now is a great time to buy houses at rock bottom prices and lease option them to buyers who can’t qualify for a loan just yet. This is a much smarter method given our tough market. As the market improves in years to come, these houses could be retailed at a great profit or sold to the lease option tenant in place.
3. Subject to’s – a very strategic way to buy property without the need to get a loan. Put the property deed in your land trust or LCC and keep the seller’s loan in place. Just make sure you make your payment each month. Although this technique takes convincing the seller, you will find many sellers just want to be done and are willing to sell their property subject to. Real Estate investing often requires obtaining creative financing, specifically in this lending environment. Smart real estate investors don’t pass on these opportunities or at least wholesale them to make some quick cash.
4. Rehabbing Houses for Retail – The most popular real estate investigating strategy that has the most liability and not always the most profit. Consider wholesaling the great deals you find and you might make even more money and have much less risk and heartache. Everyone wants to rehab houses – let them do the hard work!
5. Apartment Building Investing – There is no doubt that to create long term wealth, one should own real estate long term. Apartment buildings are a great way to do this, assuming you follow the following rules: Never do the management yourself. You will become over consumed with stupid day to day issues that will be a waste of time and stop all forward progress of your real estate investing career. Only buy apartment buildings in nice neighborhoods. Buying buildings in rough neighborhoods because they’re cheap will expose you to unnecessary liability and make your life a living nightmare! If you’re looking to profit from apartment buildings without the hassle of management I pay 8% interest to investors that help fund our acquisitions. We only buy a handful of buildings a year and investments range from $50k – $200k.
6. Short Sales – There is no better time than now to get lenders to accept less of an amount than what’s owned to them on a property. Although short sales take a tremendous amount of work and skill don’t pass up on this great opportunity. You can wholesale your short sale deals (through a land trust), or buy them to rent out or re-sell depending on your exit strategy. Make sure to pay someone else do to all the negotiating as this will drive you crazy and you won’t be able to stay focused on the big picture. (Pay your negotiator 25% of profits from deals closed).
7. Land Contracts – Another source of owner financing sellers offering to sell on land contract often have deals that aren’t worth it. When looking to structure your deal so the seller holds the financing put yourself on deed (low LCC) and have them hold the mortgage instead. This will give you the upper hand above and beyond a land contract.
Stephan is a freelance writer, who often writes about wholesale homes .