5 Essential Features That Make Real Estate Investing Profitable

Every now and then persons trying to make up their minds where to put their money ask me if real estate ventures are more or less profitable, compared to other businesses opportunities around.

My response is always that apart from its potential for yielding significant profits, investing in real estate often confers long terms benefits.

I discuss five such advantages below:

1. You Can Refurbish (to Enhance the Value of) Real Estate
After you buy a stock, you hold it for a period of time and hopefully sell it for a profit. The success of the stock depends on company management and their corporate success, which is out of your control.

Unlike other conventional investment instruments, like stocks, for instance, whose rate of returns, depend on third parties (e.g. company management), real estate investments are directly under your control.

Even though you will not be able to control changes that may occur in demographic and economic aspects, or impact of nature induced changes, there are many other aspects that you can control, to boost the returns on your investment in it.

Examples include aspects relating to adding repairs, or improvements/enhancements to the physical property and tenants you allow to live in it.

If you do it right, the value of your investment will grow, resulting in increased wealth for you.

2. Real Estate Investing, When Done Right, is Proven to be Profitable Even During a Recession (like the one we’re in right now)
It has on several occasions, been used to effect a bail out, from financial setbacks, such as those that many have experienced during the economic downturn happening in Nigeria today.

A considerable number of clients have confided in me that due to the present economic situation, they are not sure of profitable channels to invest their money. Some of them are done with bonds and treasury bills, but are in dire need of a new investment.

We had extensive discussions, and based on my expertise as a real estate consultant, I recommended landed property investment, as the most suitable and secure alternative channel of investment.

This is because, even if all businesses crumble, land will always appreciate greatly. Then to drive my point home, I ended by sharing the following apt quote, by a former American president:

“Real estate can’t be lost, nor carried away, managed with reasonable care, it’s about the safest investment in the world” – Franklin Roosevelt.
Not surprisingly, the client chose to take my advice – and signed up: it was the obvious, common sense thing to do!

3. Real Estate Investments Are Immune to Inflation
In other words, investing your money in ownership of viable real estate can protect you from the harsh effects that inflation usually has on other conventional investments.

This is because the value of real estate generally tends to rise in positive correlation with inflationary pressures. This is why property values and rental rates go up with rising inflation.

The nature of real estate, therefore affords owners the unique advantage of being able to adjust the rates they offer, to match inflation.

Monthly rents for example can be raised to compensate for inflation – thus providing a cushion effect against inflation induced losses that other monetary investments suffer.

4. Real Estate is Uniquely for Being Universally Acceptable as Collateral, Towards Securing Funding from Banks
Today, real estate in form of either building or lands, with proper titles (i.e. Certificate of Occupancy – aka “C of O”) is the most recognized and accepted form of collateral in Nigeria – and some other parts of the world.

It has the unique feature of being able to protect the interests of both the borrower and the bank (that’s doing the lending), so that funds can be released i.e. after due verification, and terms and conditions are agreed.

This is one of the key advantages a private C of O has over the global C of O, because the former (i.e. private C of O) is what will be needed by the intending borrower, in the event of any future financial dealings with bank in Nigeria.

5. Real Estate Investing Allows Use of Other People’s Money
In other words, you can do it even if you do not have enough money. You just need to know how.

This is possible because real estate is physical property or what is called a hard asset. That is an attribute that makes it attractive to financiers i.e. people with money to invest.

This is why many times real estate products are bought with debt – unlike conventional investment products like stocks which are NOT tangible, and therefore perceived as being more risky to invest in.

So real estate investment can be done using cash or mortgage financing. In the latter case, payments can be so arranged to allow payment of low initial sums, provided by you or a willing third party.

Those payments will be happening on landed property which will continue increasing in value throughout the duration of such payments – and indeed beyond. That further inspires confidence in the minds of those financing the acquisition, that their investment is safe.

Little wonder that real estate investing has continued to prosper for so long!

[A WORD OF CAUTION] The listed benefits notwithstanding, I still tell prospective investors that due diligence is a crucial requirement for succeeding.

Whether you do everything yourself or use industry professionals like me, it is imperative that you exercise caution and arm yourself with relevant information and education.

This is something I advice my clients to do all the time, so they can make good decisions in investing.

The importance of the above cannot be overstated, especially in Lagos where quite a number of individuals, have had their fingers badly burnt, because they failed to take the needed precautions.

My purpose is to help clients avoid having such horrible experiences, by bringing my years of experience in this field to bear in serving them.

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The Myth of Real Estate Investing and 7 Ways to Make the Most Money From Your Property Investment

Investing in Real Estate has become urban legend the myths abound about how much you can increase your wealth by investing in real estate and in particular residential real estate, so much so that the average Joe believes that making money and creating wealth when it comes to real estate is a given and in alienable right so to speak.

Average mums and dads are jumping onto the real estate bandwagon with no knowledge or training in the fundamentals of investing. These folks are fed the myth that using their equity from their family home will miraculously make them into real estate tycoons, all to often these poor misguided souls end up losing the home and everything else in their pursuit of real estate’s Eldorado.

To perpetuate the myth these naive investors are advised to hold on to their real estate investments for ten years or longer, this is great in theory if you are in your twenties and do not need the profits in the immediate sh rt term to help fund a decent retirement, unfortunately when you look at the demographics of these investors they are in their fifties with plenty of equity in their family homes most usually own their family home and have neglected doing any thing for their retirement till now and in horror discover that they will not be able to have their current lifestyle on the pension.

Little wonder real estate investment seminars are packed with these late bloomers all hoping to make a fortune by investing in residential real estate, the seminar presenters ensure that is all these folks here, after all this is a valuable gravy train.

Try this little trick next time a telemarketer calls and asks you to attend a real estate investment seminar, and the telemarketer asks you if you own your own home and how much equity you have in it, reply by saying that you have none, I will guarantee that before the word none leaves your mouth they have hung up on you, interesting isn’t it?

Tragically no one is told when a real estate investment has gone bad or failed to perform as happens on a daily basis with the stock market, why is this so? One of the major reasons are the volumes of money that Governments, Banks and marketers make from selling the residential investment myth, that is also the reason why Governments have been loathe to legislate that investors under go an investment training program before they can invest, as once the myth is busted the gravy train will not be as plentiful and the flow on effect into allied industries would be catastrophic.

This myth is well and truly busted as you can loose everything from a failed real estate investment and there are no such things as guaranteed growth with out doing some work for it.

Here are 7 simple ways to maximize your money from real estate investment

1. Know your profit before you buy

Do your due diligence and find out if the price you are paying is below market value, a simple rule is can you resell this property today for a profit and if so how much.

2. Type of Neighborhood?

The community surrounding the property can change in a variety of ways that can adversely affect your real estate income property. Increasing vacancy, for instance, can lead to reduced rents, which in turn means reduced maintenance causing building deterioration, This can cause a roll on effect if more properties start to decline in the whole neighborhood,compounding the problem.

The nearby construction of facilities such as prisons, sewer treatment plants, and airports will also likely have an adverse effect on the area. Also, perhaps more subtle and slower in coming, is a decline due to increased crime, perhaps resulting from an adjoining neighborhood spill over. If you still want to invest here find out what it is that makes it special that everyone else has over seen, often gems are discovered with a little digging,

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