Buying Investment Property Tips – Don’t Lose Your Shirt

Whether you are an experienced investor or a novice, your motivation for buying investment property is the same. You want to increase your net worth and make some money from rental income.

If you are an experienced investor you probably already know what you need to know to invest wisely. As a novice investor, you should make sure to do your due diligence and learn everything you need to know before trying to buy investment property so your deal goes off without a hitch.

The best piece of advice you can get is to start small. Do not go for that multiple unit apartment building right out of the gate because not only will you be biting off more than you can chew but the experienced seller will see that you do not know what you are doing and take advantage of you unless you are working with an experienced commercial real estate broker. Working with a broker is your best bet because the broker can guide you throughout the transaction process and look out for your best interest. The best part is you will have representation at no cost because the broker’s commission is paid by the seller.

Start small and learn all the tricks of the trade so you will lessen your risk of being taken advantage of by some unsavory characters of the investment business. There are several different types of property to invest in and for the novice investor the choice should be a single family home to fix up and rent out or maybe buy a duplex where you only have two tenants to deal with. Handling your first few investment properties well and getting good deals will give you the confidence to eventually go after the bigger fish down the road.

Before entering into any kind of a contract you should research each property and get each one inspected for unseen factors that may affect your pocketbook. You will have to do some freshening up of each property you invest in, but the problems for your pocketbook will come if you start sprucing things up and then find that you need to replace the entire kitchen floor because of dry rot or there is a termite infestation in the house. An inspection of the property before you buy it will determine what those unseen problems are.

You should make up a budget for the work that needs to be done on the inside of the property after you buy it. You want to spend the smallest amount of money you need to to make the property appealing to prospective tenants and you need to get the work done in a timely manner to get a tenant into the property as quickly as possible. If the property sits vacant it will only cost you money instead of making you money and that just defeats the purpose of investing. A commercial broker can help you find a qualifies tenant.

Once you master a smaller unit or two you can consider moving up to an intermediate type of property and maybe invest in and rent out commercial property of some type. Before buying any commercial property, research the area and make sure the location is sound. Is there a lot of vehicle traffic going by everyday or maybe a lot of foot traffic. You need to make sure that the commercial building you want to buy will get the customers needed to ensure your bottom line. That bottom line is continued monthly rental income from buying investment property.

The best advice is to work with a professional and experienced commercial real estate broker to help you find the right property or the right buyer and facilitate the purchase  and sale process. They can help you dot your i’s and cross your t’s so that you don’t lose money or leave any at the closing table.

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