My favorite way to invest used to be in the stock market. I loved the idea of buying stock low and selling high and making a bunch of money while sitting at my desk doing nothing but reading a few corporate reports and the Wall Street Journal every day.
Of course, if you’ve watched the stock markets the last 2 1/2 years and not lost your mind than you are to be congratulated! Me, on the other hand… well I haven’t lost my mind but I’m certainly tired of watching the market shoot up and drop down and then climb back up and then drop back down again. It’s enough to give a guy a heart attack! Sure I realize we’re in the midst of a massive recession but still I like my investments to be a little more steady and that’s why I have begun to focus on real estate within the last few years.
When it comes to investing in real estate there are many tips and tricks, and I have discovered three things that I really like to focus on before I make any investment decision and it is those exact three things that I would like to take a few minutes to describe for you today in this article.
The first thing to look at when making any type of real estate investment is the capitalization ratio. Many people don’t know what that is but it’s not that complicated. Basically what it boils down to is net operating income (which is the operating revenue minus the operating expenses), divided by the purchase price. That’s it!
This is a great way to analyze your potential cash return on your specific investment. Of course any tax benefits and also whether or not you get a mortgage for the property don’t come into consideration when thinking about the capitalization ratio but it is nonetheless a very good barometer to give you an idea of the amount of cash that should be generated by the project.
The next thing to look at is the mortgage. A good capitalization ratio should allow you to design the best mortgage schedule to fit your specific needs. The most important thing that you’re going to want to think about when it comes to mortgage is the specific term of the mortgage and also the interest rate that you should be charged.
Finally the last thing to think about when it comes to making a real estate investment is leverage. Leverage is that great thing that makes investing in real estate so attractive to so many different people. It allows you to put up just a little bit of money and borrow the rest and therefore leverage your investment while at the same time transferring most of the risk to the bank.
So there you have three quick and easy as well as simple things to look for before making any sort of investment in real estate. As with any other type of investment, please make sure to do your research thoroughly before investing any of your actual money.
