Chapter 11. Investing in Real Estate

In This Chapter

  • Looking at the attractions and drawbacks of real estate investing

  • Understanding what it takes to become a successful property investor

  • Discovering simple and profitable ways to invest in real estate

  • Exploring some hands-on real estate investments

  • Avoiding bad real estate investments

If you've already bought your own home (and even if you haven't), using real estate as an investment may interest you. Over the decades and generations, real estate investing, like the stock market and small-business investments, has generated tremendous wealth for participants. (Please see Chapter 2 for more on the rate of return from good real estate investments.)

Note

Real estate is like other types of ownership investments, such as stocks, where you have an ownership stake in an asset. Although you have the potential for significant profits, don't forget that you also accept greater risk. Real estate isn't a gravy train or a simple way to get wealthy. Like stocks, real estate goes through good and bad performance periods. Most people who make money investing in real estate do so because they invest and hold property over many years. The vast majority of people who don't make money in real estate don't because they make easily avoidable mistakes. In this chapter, I discuss how to make the best real estate investments and avoid the rest.

Outlining Real Estate Investment Attractions

As I discuss in Chapter 1, many types of people build their wealth by investing ...

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