One of the best ways to get a start in real estate investing is to invest in a small two-family or three-family home and occupy one of the units. “I live rent-free,” says one such investor, “and in a few years, I will move into the kind of single-family home I want and rent out [...]
What is the best business structure for a real estate investment company? We’ll be exploring that question in a series of future posts. Today, we’ll investigate one kind of structure . . . a sole proprietorship. Sole proprietorships are the most basic, and least complicated, business structure. When you are a sole proprietor, you are simply doing [...]
How serous a problem is mold? Mold has been tied to asthma, skin problems, and allergic reactions. That’s why mold is something you really don’t want in your buildings – whether you are renting them, renovating them, or living in them. Here are some ways to reduce the chances that a building you are considering [...]
You’ve spent months getting an apartment or house ready to rent. Today you’re showing it to potential tenants. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could start to generate some positive investment income, starting today? It would be nice, of course. Yet accepting security deposits from potential tenants is usually not a good idea. Granted, some [...]
How can you pick the best insurance company to offer coverage for your investment properties? Like all people who are shopping for insurance, you are going to shop around and compare both costs and coverage. But because you’re a real estate investor, you have some special needs to consider. Be sure to take these steps [...]
How a Property Survey Protects Your Real Estate Investments It doesn’t matter whether you are about to invest in a single-family home, a multi-family house, an apartment house, an office building, or a retail complex. When you sit down with a mortgage lender to discuss loan types and costs, you will probably learn that you [...]
When you’re looking at real estate investment properties, be sure to keep a cool head. Even if a property has a lot of great things going for it, you should eliminate it from consideration if you notice any of the following 5 real estate investment deal-breakers: A visible slump or droop in the roof line. [...]
Why You Should Invest in Communities with Great Schools If you’re a parent and you are about to start shopping for a house to live in, one of your first thoughts will be, “I want to buy in a community that has top-notch schools.” As a real estate investor, you should be thinking that way [...]
How to Cut the Cost of Repairs and Renovations on your Real Estate Investment If you have several houses that you need to renovate before you can sell them, the costs can really mount up. That’s why it is critically important to spend as little as you can on repairs and renovations. Here are some [...]
How to Set Up Showings for Rental Properties When showing rental properties, you want to balance two different goals. You want to attract a large volume of possible renters – as many as possible, in fact. Yet you also want to attract qualified, reliable tenants who will pay the rent regularly and remain in your [...]