Top Strategies for Investing in Real Estate

Investing in real estate is one of the safest and most expensive investments you’re likely to make in your lifetime. Even if you have an extensive real estate portfolio, it’s foolish to take real estate investment lightly. Doing so can spell out financial disaster. Overpaying, missed flaws, and acts of god can all risk your investments. 

Photo of a key in a home's front door
Photo by PhotoMIX Company

Many of these things can’t be controlled fully by the owner, these risks can only be mitigated. However, it’s always your choice as to whether you invest or not. The price you decide to pay is fully under your control. 

If you get a cheaper purchase price, minor setbacks won’t risk your financial portfolio. Not to mention, profits will be much higher regardless of what you decide to do with the property later on. Better prices also equal more investment capital on hand and allow you to seize more opportunities than if you overpaid. 

Go To Auctions

One great and already well-known way to get some of the best real estate deals is to buy at an auction. Real estate auctions occur for many reasons. In recent years, these auctions happen when a bank seizes property and needs to sell it to liquidate its assets and get a return on the unpaid loan taken by the previous owner. There are situations other than foreclosure that mandate a property auction such as the death of the owner and the subsequent estate sale, or when the government seizes a property due to crime or unpaid property taxes. 

Whatever the cause, property sold at auction can go for insanely low prices. The problem with this option is having available capital on hand. Auctions will require you to pay cash for land or property. Or, have a line of credit somewhere that you can take advantage of. 

If you work with a real estate investment firm, they can help expedite and simplify the process. You can check out these services at Bellwether AM maybe. Investment groups like this can invest on your behalf and make purchases that would otherwise be untenable to you. 

Auctions are one of the best ways to find a cheap property with a good chance of being ready to flip or lease with as little effort as possible compared to other options. 

Get A Fixer Upper

One of the best ways of investing in real estate is to buy a fixer-upper. Even a little bit of property damage can drastically reduce the purchase price of the property in question. Sometimes a house can be deceptively cheap to repair to obtain its full value. This happens when a particular aspect of the house is very unsightly but the actual cost to replace the feature is quite low. 

With a little bit of knowledge about houses and home repair, you can start to make really wise and clever decisions by analyzing the estimated cost of repairs on a home and adding it to the purchase price. If you estimate correctly and the total cost to prepare the home is still considerably lower than the perfect condition price of the home, then it’s time to buy. 

To do this correctly, you need to have a good idea of the repair options available and the labor costs to get that work done. It also helps to about local building codes. Having a keen eye for aesthetics will also allow you to maximize the value of your home and the efficiency of your repair budget. 

Photo of a home with a SOLD sign in front

Make Lots Of Offers

You can’t win if you don’t play. That’s what they say about the lottery but it’s true about so many things in life. When there is wiggle room in the purchase price, it’s time to haggle. And haggling means trying to get the best deal. 

What most people don’t realize about investing In real estate is that each seller is dealing with a different set of circumstances. Sometimes the seller may price the house high in an attempt to get the best price even though they are prepared to settle for something much much lower. There are many reasons for this. Maybe the property has bad memories attached to it. Or perhaps it’s an inherited property and the family members live far away and don’t have the availability to deal with a drawn-out sale. Or they might just need the money fast. 

However, none of that is your concern. The fact remains that the true price of a home is based on what the seller will accept. The way to approach this reality is by making offers. Lots of them.

Making a low-ball offer is likely to fail. However, making 20 or 30 of them will yield at least one magnificent deal that you won’t be able to pass up. 

Think Smart, Invest Smart

Whatever you end up doing, be careful that you aren’t throwing around your hard-earned money. To be successful when investing in real estate, use these techniques. This will help ensure that you get a great deal that will go down in the history books. 

Tre Pryor, Realtor

Tre Pryor is the leading real estate expert in the city of Louisville. He is a multi-million dollar producer and consistently ranks in the top 1% of Louisville Realtors for homes sold. Tre Pryor has the highest possible rating—5.0 stars on Google—by his clients and is routinely interviewed by the local NBC news. Tre Pryor is a member of the RE/MAX Hall of Fame.