Over the past few years, there has been an explosion of new real estate investing strategies that claim to help you make money quickly. These are sometimes referred to as “get rich quick” schemes because they seem to promise large returns without requiring too much effort or time.
Mostly, these strategies involve buying a house either completely from cash or with very little down. Then, they find investors for the rest of the loan (the second mortgage) and make a profit off of the increased value due to the home being mortgaged.
This is not a bad concept if you can get people to invest in your house and pay a high enough monthly payment so that it benefits them financially. But what happens when the market turns?
Well, this can be tricky if you are looking to reap big rewards by increasing the price of the house, but also want to avoid losing huge amounts of money. A lot of savvy real estate investors learn how to do both!
There are many different types of houses that can be converted into investment properties, such as condos or duplexes. There are even some things like manufactured homes that can be flipped and resold as-is.
Reasons why R/O properties are a great investment
The reasons to invest in an RO property versus buying a house directly has nothing to do with it being a good or bad area, nor is it due to if there are lot’s of restaurants nearby. It comes down to how much you want to spend money on your budget.
The reason REOs exist is because investors can make more money selling them as a turn-key business than buying a similar level property within their budget. This way they save cost by not having to pay for renovations and putting in systems to run it!
There are many other reasons why investing in an RO property is a better idea than buying a normal home directly. But these ones mentioned here should be enough to convince you that it is worth looking into.
Do I need a real estate license to buy an R/O property?
Even though most people consider owning a house or apartment to be a major investment, there is another type of investing that can easily slip through investors’ cracks. This is referred to as REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) investing.
A Real Estate Investing (REI) company essentially rents out a piece of real estate (a condo building, for example), and therefore you as the investor do not own this property, but are instead invested in the company that does.
This way you get the benefits of having a rental property without actually buying one!
By adding these investments into your portfolio, it helps balance out risk. Risk being if the tenant doesn’t pay their rent or something happens to the property beyond repair.
There are many different types of real estate investing companies. Some invest in individual homes, others large tracts of land, and some even specialize in commercial properties like office buildings and shopping malls.
The key thing to remember about REAL ESTATE INVESTING IS THAT YOU NEED TO BE IN GOOD SHAPE FINANCIALLY BEFORE BEGINNING!
You will probably have to put down a small amount of money to start with, maybe only $1,000-2,000, but this is still important to note.
Contractors that work with R/O properties
As we mentioned earlier, real estate agents typically represent both buyers and sellers. But what happens when they are not able to do so due to personal reasons? This is where contractor representatives come into play!
Contractor representatives are professional brokers who can act as an agent of either party for a limited time. They will show you or sell your property while you wait – the seller’s agent works solely for you, representing only your best interests. The same goes for the buyer; their agent represents ONLY THE OTHER PARTY, NOT YOU!
This way you have someone else overseeing the process on YOUR behalf, keeping you updated and informed. It also helps promote trust, as the other party has full confidence in the representative’s actions.
The representation contract is usually one year long, at which point the broker must be renewed by both parties or terminated. This gives each party enough time to find their own agent after relocating or changing jobs.
A lot of people know about contractors, but few understand what it means to work with them. Here are some things you should know about working with an R/O agent.
Lessons learned
Being an agent is a lot of things to a lot of people, but one thing it never ends up being is simple. It can be quite difficult at times trying to figure out what does not work for someone and why they have given up.
When you are investing your money in something, you want to make sure that it works! You do not ever want to spend money on fees or materials if the product does not work.
The same goes for real estate agents. If you are having trouble achieving your goal, ask yourself whether this person has run into issues with this system and how they resolved them.
There may be some reasons as to why their system did not work for you, so look into those reasons before deciding if this person is worth staying with or looking elsewhere.
It is also important to remember that relationships are a constant work in progress, just like any other area of life. No matter how hard you try, there will always be days where things get tough, even more than others.
Hopefully however, these challenges help you build stronger bonds with the individuals around you and push you towards making changes to improve the relationship.
