This is not the first time we’ve asked this question. We’re always saying that real estate is among the best investments you can make in your lifetime. But how do you get started? If you want to know how to start a real estate business with no previous experience, you’ve come to the right place! Below are 5 tips to help you get started!
Decide what type of real estate you want to invest in
The first tip on how to start a real estate business is to determine the type of your investment. Are you interested in investing in commercial real estate, residential real estate, or both? Commercial real estate describes any non-residential property investment such as malls, office buildings, and stores. Residential real estate on the other hand, considers renting single-family and multi-family homes to residential tenants. The type of real estate investing that you choose will define where you go next.
Related: What Investors Need to Know About the New Commercial Real Estate Loan Standards
To understand how to start a real estate business, you also need to consider whether you want to invest locally or/and on the scale of your town, city, or state. The recommendation is that when you’re starting out, it’s better to begin locally (as long as there is demand for property in your area). Take time to get to know the market, test the waters, meet other people and make connections. Once you’ve advanced in your real estate career, you may also want to invest in out of state options, or even internationally.
Related: Why Is Investing in the US Real Estate Market Better Than in International Real Estate?
Financing your business
When you’re thinking about how to start a real estate business, it’s important to think about finances. A real estate business requires significant amounts of capital. You may use your own savings or/and borrow from a bank. You need to at least be able to cover your startup costs. These include, but not limited to; office space, equipment expenses, insurance, website expenses, etc. Additionally, you need to consider the operating expenses for at least the first few months of starting your business. Your operating costs include rent (if you’re renting office space), marketing expenses, and utility expenses, among others. Be sure to check out Mashvisor’s guide to saving money to buy an investment property for insightful money saving tips starting or expanding your real estate portfolio.
Related: 11 Costs First Time Real Estate Investors Should Consider
Consider partnerships
Real estate is like owning a business and there is lots of work and dedication that goes into making money in the housing market. You will wear many hats, meaning one minute you’re the manager of the business, the next you could be the landlord picking up a late night emergency phone call. Our advice: Don’t try to do everything on your own, especially when you’re starting out in real estate and have little experience. Ask for others to help, and one way you could do this is by taking up a partner/s. Partners can help with the financing of your real estate business, as well as management tasks. It can be rather difficult at first when you know little about the industry and the how-tos of real estate. This is why we suggest you do your homework beforehand while reaching out to make new connections in the industry, and even taking up a new partner.
Marketing your business
We can’t tell you how to start a real estate business without referring to marketing. After all, no business and no product is successful without successful marketing. You have to work on your name, your image, and your offering. Make sure to develop a customer base off of which you can grow. Begin by trying to recruit agents who are quite well known in your area to attract their follower clients. Moreover, make sure to stay up to date when it comes to electronic marketing and social media. Finally, make sure your customers remember you. The most important aspect of marketing is building long lasting relationships with your clients. If you do exactly that, you’ve got a happy client who will speak well of your business and who will deal with you again! Remember, word of mouth goes a long way, make one client happy and you will see more clients at your doorstep. Communication and interpersonal skills are needed to build a successful career in real estate.
Use Mashvisor!
The last answer to how to start a real estate business is to use Mashvisor. Mashvisor is a professional real estate tool built for investors starting out, and ones that are well advanced into their real estate investing careers. Mashvisor helps investors as well as real estate agents make well informed decisions by providing them with information on traditional as well as Airbnb occupancy rates, expected rental income, CoC return, cap rate, cash flow calculation, cost analysis, and much more. You can also use our investment property calculator to gain market and neighborhood analysis, as well as comparisons between different investing options. More specifically, it can help you compare neighborhood areas of your choice, as well as thousands of properties across the States. Don’t forget to check out Mashvisor’s Mashmeter, an optimal strategy to give you an overall evaluation on the property or area of choice using Mashvisor’s database of statistics and science. We’ve got every piece of information an investor may need and at the best technology options. The future is here, and it’s within Mashvisor!
Related: Real Estate Investing 101: How to Start a Real Estate Business
To sum up…
Starting a real estate business can be a very successful investment if you take up the right tools and course of action. All the points mentioned above are our tips on how to how to start a real estate business without having any previous experience. Got any more? Make sure to share them in the comment section down below, we’d love to hear them!