According to some research, 63% of people in America invest in real estate. If you’re thinking about investing in the real estate market, you might be wondering where to get started.

Investing in real estate can bring you a great cash flow, and it’s also a good source of passive income.

Keep reading to learn about real estate investing for beginners!

Own Rental Properties

The traditional method of how to invest in real estate is by owning rental properties. You’ll buy a home or building of units and rent them out to tenants. 

If you want more hands-on experience, you could even become a landlord. If you want to generate passive income, you might want to hire a firm that can manage your property for you and take care of all the logistics. 

This will help you enhance your profits for little to no work. Some people will even buy a house and rent out several rooms in the house. 

If you’re going to live there and rent out rooms, this could help you cover expenses or even pay your mortgage off. At that point, you could be living in the home for free.

You’ll be able to make money when you charge your tenants more in rent than you have to pay in expenses. You’ll also want to make sure that your asset appreciates so that when you decide to sell it, you make even more money. 

When you own a rental property, you’re building equity in an asset that will help you gain value over time. It’s also a reliable cash flow because you know that your tenants will pay you each month. 

You also have the flexibility of selling the property eventually or using it for something else. However, keep in mind that renting does come with its own risks.

You’ll have to handle the logistics of renting out to tenants, and if anything breaks in the house, you’re the one responsible who has to fix it. 

Value Appreciation

You can also earn money by having your property appreciate in value over time. You can do this while living in the house and making updates to the home. 

Any real estate investor would agree that this is one of the best ways to make money, but make sure that you choose a good location. The value will go up depending on how desirable the neighborhood is to live in. 

You should find the cheapest house in a nice neighborhood and fix it up. It’s better to buy a house that you can fix up rather than buying an okay home in a bad neighborhood. 

Do research before choosing a great neighborhood or city, like URB Chicago.

Real Estate Income

You can also generate income by being a specialist in the industry. You could become a broker. 

These real estate brokers make a commission on the property that they buy or sell to a client. 

You could even start your own real estate management company if you know about it. This way, you’ll help people rent out their properties and take care of all the little things so they don’t have to worry about it. 

REITs

REITs are one of the easiest ways to invest in real estate marketing, so if you’re a true beginner, you may want to consider this. 

A real estate investment trust (REIT) are companies that will own and operate several properties. These properties might be something like a warehouse, shopping center, residential building, or hospital. 

Many of these are publicly traded on a stock exchange, and you can choose what investments you would like to buy. Normally, these shares aren’t too expensive, making them great for beginner investors.

To make money, you’ll earn paid dividends on whatever shares you own. Usually, these shares are paid each quarter, and they’re based on the income that the REIT holdings generated.

You can also make money off of REITs by selling your shares for a price that’s higher than what you paid for. 

Ancillary Investment Income

You can also make ancillary investment income by installing laundry machines, vending machines, or something else that needs money to operate. 

This will add some smaller cash flow into a bigger real estate investment. However, even though these machines may only take a few quarters at a time, you can end up making a lot of money over time.

Syndication

Real estate syndication is when you partner with real estate investors to identify and buy certain properties. Normally, the profit or responsibility will be split between the investors and the sponsors.

The sponsor is in charge of searching for the investments and making sure they get the contract. They may even have to manage the property.

Normally, sponsors don’t contribute any capital, but they’ll use their skills and time to add value to the transaction.

The investors will be in charge of funding the acquisition, and they’ll also cover the costs to repair or renovate the property. They have more of a passive role, and they receive payments over time as the house appreciates. 

This deal will only run for a limited time between the investor and sponsor. When it’s done, the property will be sold, and the transaction will be complete. 

Learn More About Real Estate Investing for Beginners

These are only a few things to know about real estate investing for beginners, but you should do more research before you decide to buy a home. 

We know that real estate can be a tricky industry to understand, which is why we’re here to help.

If you’re looking for more real estate content, explore our website!