What's new

Success In Real Estate - Fast vs Slow

Moty_Vatyd

New member
I hear and see a lot of advertisements and "courses" on getting rich in real estate via flipping properties. It's portrayed as a quick and easy way to get rich. It's really not. I've been involved in real estate for most of my life and many of the flippers I know make good money in the up market and lose most if not all of it in the down cycle. It's because they treat it like a job and their income is derived from the profit on each property so they try to flip as many as possible which means they are heavily leveraged. They also adjust their personal spending levels to match their income from the flips. Then when the market turns and their stuck holding a number of properties they lose everything including their lifestyle.

If, instead, they would just keep a few properties as long term investments (rentals) then they would have a base of income on which to build over time. It's a slower way of attaining wealth but is far more stable and, I personally believe, more successful in the long run. Any one can do it by saving money, buying a very modest property for their personal home, and then purchasing a small rental property. Then, work from there. Or, buying a multi unit property such as a duplex or 4 unit apartment building and using one of the units as their personal residence. This makes the loans easier to acquire. It's not as glamorous as "flipping" but in the long run works better.
 

Kjohns98

New member
Thank you for the insight! I have actually been inquiring about the real estate market lately. I have a few friends have gone on to get their real estate licenses. Side note, I’ve also heard that the real estate market is going to crash soon. I guess it was too good to be true.
 

btelli

Member
I would love to invest in housing, but I agree that the smart way would be to rent properties out. I’ve had several people tell me I’d never want to be a landlord because of the things they to have to deal with when it comes to bad tenants, but I feel like if the right steps are taken (background checks, deposits, higher rent, etc.) the negative aspects can be avoided.
 

Moty_Vatyd

New member
I use a property manager. Just figure in 8-10% of the gross rent for property management and work from there. It really is worth it if you don't like the stress of dealing with tenants. When you have a good tenant you sometimes wonder why you need a property manager because it seems so easy, but, once you get a bad one then you realize it's well worth it.
 

Top