When we talk about real estate education, we don’t necessarily mean the kind of education that you can only obtain in school.
When it comes to real estate education, and while schools might be useful for setting you up for the world of real estate, there are always other sources that anyone can have access to in order to learn more about real estate investing and all the different aspects and areas that affect it. Let’s take a look at the most important ones of them:
Sources of Real Estate Education
Real estate education varies in scope, but so do the sources from which you can acquire it. When it comes to sources of information, in our age of technology, you will find an abundance of them. The best thing about the internet is that it gives you the opportunity to learn about anything you want, in a wide variety of ways, and that holds true for real estate investing.
Related: 8 Important Terms to Help You Learn Real Estate Investing
Some of the best sources of real estate education come in the form of books, blogs, and podcasts. And while Mashvisor covers a wide range of topics related to the real estate market and real estate investing in its blogs, in addition to the tools that it provides such as the Mashvisor rental property calculator and the Mashvisor heatmap, there are a number of other sources that can be as useful when it comes to online content and podcasts:
- Investopedia: A great source and reference when it comes to definitions and raw information about investing in general, with sections dedicated to real estate investment in particular.
- BiggerPockets: Although BiggerPockets has a blogs section that covers all sorts of topics related to real estate investing, one of its most defying features is the podcasts covering topics related to real estate in general and real estate investing in particular.
Areas of Real Estate Education
When we say real estate education, we’re not exclusively talking about education that is directly tied to real estate. Real estate education includes knowledge about all the different aspects and factors that play a role in any or all real estate investments. This includes knowledge of financial, legal, mathematical, marketing, and several other aspects that can be as much a part of your real estate education as knowing what category of real estate properties a 6-story apartment building falls under.
So, in order to get your real estate education straight, these are some of the areas that you will need to learn more about before getting started in real estate investing.
Related: How to Learn Real Estate Investing on Your Own
Real Estate Education: Legal
In the world of real estate investing, one of the most important factors to take into account is the law. Like with any other type of investment, there are numerous laws and regulations that affect the real estate market and dictate all aspects of making investments in it. And in order to avoid falling into any legal pitches, we urge you to learn as much as you can about all the laws and regulations that might affect your real estate investment.
This includes knowledge of international, national, state, city, and local laws and regulations, in addition to keeping yourself up to date on any changes that may occur to these laws and how they may affect your investment.
Real Estate Education: Financial
Money! It’s not a difficult task to explain the importance of money for your investment, whether it is real estate related or not.
When it comes to money, your investment needs money, and you need your investment to make money for you. And in order for you to know how to manage your finances so that you can afford to make an investment and guarantee that the investment will pay off, you will definitely need to get your financial education up to date. This includes reading and learning about all the different sources of financing your investment, how they function in the long run, and what the implications of each one are for your investment.
Related: Financing a Rental Property: What’s the Best Way?
Acquiring enough financial education is key for the success of any real estate investing endeavor as it is the tool that you will use to evaluate your real estate investment and determine the value of your rental property.
These are the some of the key financial real estate terms that you will need to learn more about:
- Cash Flow
- Cap Rate
- Cash on Cash
Real Estate Education: Marketing
If you’re trying to sell ANYTHING, then you will need to learn more about marketing. Real estate isn’t any different; you’re still trying to sell (or rent out) a property, and you still need to target a certain market in order for you to sell. This is why educating yourself about marketing is very important for your investment. How can you sell something without first understanding who would want to buy it?!
There are many great tools that can be used for marketing your property. Some of the most useful websites when it comes to marketing are:
- Zillow
- Craigslist
- Airbnb
Real Estate Education: Experience
No matter how much you read or learn about real estate, the best source of real estate education will always be experience.
Mistakes will happen, and your investment will always face a risk of failure, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that any road to success is bound to have some obstacles, and that these obstacles will define the amount of experience that you will have gained by the time you’ve reached the finish line.
But since we’re talking about real estate education, let’s not jump ahead to the finish line.
Related: 6 Tips for Getting Into Real Estate Investing
The highest value experience that you could have as a real estate investor is your very first investment. This is the investment that gets you started on your venture, and it is the investment that you are most likely to make mistakes at, but most importantly, it is the investment that will help you understand your strengths and weaknesses in the real estate business.
If you fail your first investment, then you should be able to determine the reasons why you failed. Did you fail because of a legal oversight? Or a financial one perhaps? Whatever the reason is, use it to your advantage, and go learn from your mistakes.
Bottom Line
We might think that ♫ we don’t need no education ♫, but if you try to go to the real estate market without proper education, then you’ll realize that Pink Floyd weren’t 100% right in their lyrics.
Whether you’re interested in learning more about the current real estate market, tools that could help you make better investment decisions, or a way to find the best property to invest in, Mashvisor has you covered in those regards and more, so give our platform a look or book a time on our schedule HERE so that we can give you access, a tour, and a tutorial on using our website and the real estate investing tools on it.