The one and only question that is guaranteed to be on the mind of any potential or existent real estate investor at any point in time is how to make money with real estate. After all, the strong potential of real estate investments to make money is what drives us all into entering this business. However, not many are ready to just leave their 9-to-5 job and jump into the real estate investing business. And that’s exactly one of the beauties of real estate investments: you can still make money with them while retaining your full-time job. “How do you do that?”, you ask. You wonder how to make money with real estate while working your 9-to-5 job? Read here for the best real estate investing strategies for working people.
Related: How to Become a Real Estate Investor: Going From Part-Time to Full-Time
How to make money with real estate while keeping your full-time job: Rent out your vacation home
An important lesson in real estate investing is that any home owner is already a real estate investor. You don’t have to buy an investment property explicitly in order to say that you invest in real estate. The moment you buy a home, you become a real estate investor. The same holds true not only for your primary home but also for your vacation home. It is generally a great idea to buy a vacation home to have a guaranteed place to spend your vacations in your favorite location in the comfort of your own home. Another great advantage of a vacation home is that you can easily rent it out for most of the year when you are not having your vacation. In this way, your vacation home will allow you to make money during most of the year, while working your 9-to-5 job and living in your primary home. The rental income you make from your vacation home used as a rental property will help you pay off your mortgage in no time.
Related: Why It Totally Makes Sense to Rent Out Your Vacation Homes
How to make money with real estate while keeping your full-time job: Rent out a part of your primary home
Another option to become a real estate investor without leaving your 9-to-5 job and without having to buy an investment property is to rent out a room or two in your primary home. This real estate investment strategy is especially appropriate for single people, young couples, and retirees who don’t have children to take care of and thus don’t need much space. This is possibly the most economical way to become a real estate investor as you don’t have to buy an investment property and you don’t have to worry about the maintenance of your rental property. Your rental property is your primary home, so you are there and taking care of it anyway. You will not have your tenants call you at 2 in the morning because a pipe has burst. You are there all the time to keep an eye on your rental property, i.e., your primary home, so you can avoid most major repairs due to negligence or damage from tenants. Once again, the rental income from renting out a part of your home will help you with the mortgage payments and possibly leave some positive cash flow for savings.
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How to make money with real estate while keeping your full-time job: Try out Airbnb rentals
Compatible with both real estate investment strategies above and with buying an investment property too, you can try out Airbnb rentals if you are looking for options to become a real estate investor only part time. Airbnb rentals have turned into a key answer to the question of how to make money with real estate due to the growing popularity of this short-term rental platform and the relatively high daily rent. A great thing for any part-time real estate investor is that there are opportunities to have your investment property be fully managed by third-party professional property management services specifically devoted to Airbnb rentals. This will allow you to make money from your rental property while also working your 9-to-5 job.
How to make money with real estate while keeping your full-time job: Hire professional property management services
Even if you decide to buy an investment property to go for the traditional rental strategy, you can still hire professional property management services as a part-time real estate investor. Whereas you will have to pay a fee for them, professional property management services will save you a lot of time which you can devote to your 9-to-5 job. If you plan your real estate investments smartly, the rental income will suffice to cover the mortgage payments to the bank, pay for professional property management fees, and have some left as positive cash flow for you to actually make money from your real estate investing business.
Related: Real Estate Investing 101: Rental Property Management
How to make money with real estate while keeping your full-time job: Invest in REITs
Some people were born to be landlords and to deal with investment properties and tenants; others were not. Either way, you can easily become a real estate investor. Even if you don’t enjoy the idea of buying, owning, and managing an investment property and renting it out to tenants, you can still become a real estate investor by investing your money in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). REITs can be a great answer to the question how to make money with real estate if you work a 9-to-5 job. The great advantage is that you don’t have to do nearly anything once you’ve chosen which REIT to invest in. The major downside though is that this is a very passive form of real estate investment, where you cannot do anything to control how much money you make from your investment. Indeed, investing in REITs is very much like investing in stocks.
The question “How to make money with real estate while keeping your full-time job?” does not have just one possible and right answer. And that’s the beauty of real estate investing – it is so diverse that it offers something for anyone, including part-time real estate investors, whether in favor of more active real estate investments or of passive income. If you think that buying an investment property is the right choice for your, then head out to Mashvisor to make use of our property search engine and investment property calculator which will make you the best real estate investor in town.