While some people prefer to be going to the office or be constantly on the move, others prefer to make money from home. There are many jobs and businesses which give you this opportunity, and surprisingly or not, real estate investing is one of them. Probably when you hear about investing in real estate, the first thing you imagine is someone going from one property to another, visiting the bank on weekly basis, shopping from the home appliances store, running after tenants to collect his/her rental income, etc. Well, this could be the case with real estate investors, but there are also plenty of ways to make money from home in real estate investing. Want to hear about the best ones of them?
1. Investing in REITs
If you are in the real estate business, you must have heard about Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). A REIT is a company which finances, owns, and manages income-producing real estate and trades on exchanges like a stock. Investing in REITs is very much like trading with stocks, which means that it lacks the excitement of buying, managing, renting out, and selling income properties, which is one of the things real estate investors go after (in addition to money, of course). At the same time, REITs offer you the wonderful chance to conveniently make money from home through real estate investing. All you have to do is follow developments in the real estate market – usually on your computer – in order to buy or sell shares in REITs. That’s an excellent option to make money from home for those with background in both real estate and investing in stocks who do not like to deal with actual rental properties.
Related: What is a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)?
2. Real estate partnerships
If you are one of those real estate investors who enjoy the process of dealing with rental properties but still would like to make money from home, you should consider real estate partnerships. One of the great advantages of partnering with other real estate investors is that you can divide the workload in any way that suits the expertise, experience, and preferences of everyone. This means that real estate partnerships could potentially offer you the possibility of doing the tasks associated with having and managing an investment property which could be done from home: doing research, performing real estate market analysis, conducting investment property analysis (don’t forget to use Mashvisor’s rental property calculator for the last two), looking for and calling handymen, etc. So, if you would like to be engaged in these activities to make money from home in real estate investing, start gaining the necessary skills now.
3. Professional property management
Maybe you don’t like to work with other real estate investors and prefer to go about your income properties on your own. Once you’ve succeeded in buying a few income properties, you could make money from home by hiring a professional property management company. If you already have the properties, the most work would be to find tenants, retain them, deal with their complaints, collect the monthly rent (i.e., rental income), and do the maintenance jobs. All these could be done by you as a real estate investor and a landlord, or by a professional property manager. Naturally, the latter would charge a certain amount of money (usually a monthly fee) which will add up to your costs, but he/she will provide you with the comfort to make money from home in real estate investing. The free time in return could be used to figure out how to improve other aspects of your real estate business in order to make it even more profitable.
Related: Professional Property Management: When Is It Worth the Money?
4. Airbnb rental property
Are you one of those real estate investors with really strong preferences over a traditional or an Airbnb investment property? Well, keep in mind that renting out Airbnb can be a great way to make money from home through real estate. Once you’ve bought an appropriate income property, all you have to do is post it on Airbnb – or a similar short-term rental platform – and start making money from the guests. Worried about the maintenance? Actually there are special property management companies which provide services specifically designed for and designated to Airbnb properties, and they can do all the work for you. So, even if you prefer traditional renting, don’t rule out the option of Airbnb as it could be your ticket to make money from home in real estate investing.
5. Doing a lot of research
If you don’t mind getting some work done outside the comfort of your home in order to make profits in real estate investing by buying and managing a rental property, you could still make even more money from your home. Whenever you have spare time, devote it to doing research from various real estate resources to further enhance your real estate knowledge of the basic concepts and principles in real estate investing as well as the most recent trends in the business. No matter for how many years you’ve been investing in real estate, there is always more that you can learn. And each minute of learning will pay off by allowing you to be a better investor in your endeavors. So, that’s one more way to make money from home in real estate.
6. Real estate appreciation
Last but not least, regardless of how big your monthly cash flow and rental income are, real estate appreciation remains another way of generating profits through investment properties. Actually, appreciation will allow you to make money from home as an owner of real estate properties. Once you’ve bough your property, there isn’t much you could do to raise its long-term value other than, of course, maintain it in a reasonable shape. But you have to do your homework very well when choosing the location of your rental property and the property itself to select a place that is likely to undergo major appreciation in the future. After you have done that, appreciation will just let you make money from home.
Related: 6 Things to Know About Real Estate Appreciation
One of the great things about investing in real estate is that it gives you so many options and opportunities. Contrary to popular opinion, there are even ways to make money from home through real estate investment. If that’s something that you like, then just follow the methods proposed above.