Successful real estate investors are not not born with an innate disposition for real estate investing; and as absurd as that sounds, some people think luck plays a role, but in reality, it is about how hard you work and the hours dedicated to learning, failing, re-learning, and growing as a real estate investor. For beginner investors, starting out in real estate is probably the hardest step, and it will take lots of patience and perseverance to overcome the hurdles in the beginning.
There are many key qualities successful real estate investors possess to make it big in this business. Some of the best real estate investing tips include but are not limited to:
- Obtaining real estate education
- Acquiring the right real estate knowledge
- Seeking advice from real estate experts
- Building your real estate investment network
- Having real estate partnerships to diversify your investment portfolio
The list is endless. In this blog post, we hone down on the the top 9 skills every beginner investor must acquire and work on to succeed in real estate investing and build wealth.
Related: The Best Tips in Town for Making Money with Real Estate
Top 9 Traits of Successful Real Estate Investors
1. Make a Business Plan
Tip #1: Treat real estate as a business in order to achieve short- and long-term objectives.
Having a clear goal is crucial for every beginner investor. Without having a specific direction and goal in mind, you will be running directionless and achieve negligible results in the long term. Successful real estate investors know exactly what they want, how much money they want to make, the best real estate markets for investing, the best time to invest, and the right price to buy at. To succeed in real estate investing, you must have the passion for this, first and foremost. Without passion, you will not make it past the beginning. With passion, you will have the drive to power through the tough times in this cut throat business.
2. Understand and Adapt Your Real Estate Strategy to the Market
Tip #2: Choose a real estate investment strategy aligned with your business goals and the housing market conditions.
Successful real estate investors keep up with the ever changing market conditions to forecast upcoming trends and the potential effect they will have on their real estate investment strategy and real estate investing business. One of the best tips we can give you is to always stay up to date with the current housing market and economic trends, including the effects of consumer behavior on the market, spending tendencies, mortgage rates, employment rates, etc. The advantage of continuous changes in the housing market is the window of potential opportunity they create for real estate investors. Successful real estate investors have the right forethought to anticipate and tap into potential opportunities before everyone else. This becomes their competitive advantage.
3. Location, Location, Location
Tip #3: Successful real estate investors capitalize on the right location for maximizing their returns and diversifying their real estate investment portfolio.
Honing down on the right location to invest in real estate is a big challenge; to a great extent, location determines the profitability of your real estate investment in the long term. One of the best tips we can give you is to be diligent and proactive in conducting the right real estate market analysis and assessment to find the right location for your rental property.
One of the ways to find the best location for real estate investing is via the price to rent ratio metric. The price to rent ratio helps investors decide whether or not a city is better suited for buying real estate or for renting. The price to rent ratio, or the P/R ratio, is inversely proportionate to rent; the higher the ratio or the price of the home, the lower the income or the accumulated earnings of the rental property.
Price to Rent Ratio (P/R) = Average List Price/(Average Rent * 12)
*Average list price and average rental income can be found on Mashvisor.com
Price to Rent Ratio Benchmark:
- Ratio in the range 1-15 means it is better to buy.
- Ratio in the range 16-20 means it is better to rent.
- Ratio of 21 or more means it is better to rent.
In 2017, Seattle and Los Angeles scored a price to rent ratio of 35.1 and 38.0, respectively. This puts both cities at a high P/R ratio, which means homes are too expensive to buy and show low ROI on rental property income.
Related: What Should You Look at in an Investment Property for Sale?
4. Develop Good People Skills
Tip #4: Develop your communication style for best results.
Succeeding in real estate investing depends on how well you can make convincing arguments and fine tune your communication and negotiation style to buy and sell at the right price for a profit.
5. Stay on a Steep Learning Curve in Real Estate Investing
Tip #5: Do not discount the importance of real estate education and acquire as much real estate knowledge as humanly possible.
Successful real estate investors never stop learning; they remain on a steep learning curve to adapt their real estate investment strategy to the ever changing market and economic conditions. The more you know, the more equipped you are at making better and smarter investment decisions reaping good returns in the long term. Long story short, keep up with the economic and housing markets, understand how the economy can affect the housing market, know the difference between a seller’s market and a buyer’s market, and learn the real estate principles and concepts necessary for growing your business.
6. Treat Every Stakeholder as a Business Partner
Tip #6: Real estate investing is a business and as a result, its success depends on the people running it.
To give you a good example, as a landlord, your tenants become your stakeholders. Choosing the right tenants for your rental property will grow your real estate investment business and mitigate your expenses in the long run. But choosing the wrong tenants will only grow your expenses and cause potential damage to the condition of the investment property sooner than you may think.
7. Mitigate the Risk to Maximize Returns
Tip #7: Understand the risks.
Successful real estate investors understand the risks in any real estate transaction and real estate partnership as well as the legal implications involved. To be a savvy investor, you must study your risks and find the best real estate investment strategy to mitigate them to reap high ROI.
8.Build a Real Estate Investment Network
Tip #8: A real estate investment network provides support and creates opportunities for beginner investors as well as experienced real estate investors.
Much of real estate investing is positively correlated with experience based learning, hence why successful real estate investors understand the importance of building a real estate investment network.
9. Seek Advice From a Real Estate Expert or a Real Estate Mentor
Tip #9: Never be discouraged to ask for help.
There is nothing wrong with seeking advice from a mentor or a real estate professional to speed your learning and help you make smarter investment decisions in order to grow your real estate investment business.
Related: Here Is Everything You Need to Know About Real Estate Property Market Analysis
Conclusion
To succeed in real estate investing, you must have passion, drive, and constant persistence to make it big in this business and compete with the big dogs.
If you enjoyed this post, visit Mashvisor blog for more real estate insight!