Be a Real Estate Investing Expert - In An Instant
Here's a simple method of getting to know your real estate
investing market, which is VITALLY IMPORTANT before you can know
if a property/price is worthy of calling a 'deal' or not... This
'LAZY' method of market research reveals some amazing facts
about the real estate investing market in your area and it works
for any area there is.... Take a local newspaper (you can get
many of them online, for free, nowadays) and simply count the
number of 'For Sale' and 'For Rent' ads, keeping track of them
for later reference. Usually, Sunday and Wednesday papers are
the 'biggest real estate investing days', so, for now, just
watch these. Keep track of the number of ads for a few weeks and
watch what is happening to your market (hold on, now, we're
coming to the part about you turning all this research into a
really great real estate investment). Keeping more detailed
records (what price for a 3/2/2 in the SW part of town is being
offered for sale and rent wise, etc.) will yield tremendous
knowledge, but, for now, just to get started in your real estate
investing, stick with the basic 'total ads' research. After a
few weeks, you'll start to see 'trends' in the real estate
investing potential of your area - maybe the number of For Sale
is going way up and the number of For Rent is going way down...
In such a market, what are you doing looking for 'flips' as real
estate investments anyway? Such a trend clearly shows that there
are fewer people buying and a high demand for rentals (perhaps a
good time for you to pick up some deals for your long-term real
estate investments).
You see, the newspaper (and the active market) has shown you
what you need to be looking for (or not), and this is certainly
a good indication that there are few Buyers (whether for
themselves or as real estate investments).
Maybe it is because of some local condition (like the closing of
a major employer or something), or it could be more national
(like the interest rates rising quickly, etc.) - i.e., it could
be something you can control, but most likely it isn't. However,
it doesn't mean you can't make real estate investing money in
such a market! You can certainly make money in a real estate
investing market where there are few 'For Rent' and lots of 'For
Sale' properties (even if you have poor credit and no money...)
This is a perfect time to be doing Lease Purchase/Options! Yes,
it is a great time to simply make CA$H in your real estate
investing business. And, if (and WHEN) the real estate
investment market changes again, you will already be on top of
it because you'll keep this simple method in mind - just
watching the total number of ads in the paper - something anyone
can do (but so few will...) and you'll know what the next real
estate investing 'trend' will be - maybe back to 'flipping', or
maybe something else... Just one of the major reasons that you
need more than one 'tool' in your real estate investing
toolbox..... Here's to your successful (and LAZY) real estate
investments...