The business part of real estate is definitely time-consuming if you are doing a lot of other things. It involves finding good deals, managing a rental property, doing minor or major repairs, handling electric or plumbing issues, screening tenants, and more…
It can also take a lot time to market your property to renters or to find potential buyers in case of fix and flip.
However, all of this can be made easier with the right strategy, and a little bit of help.
How To Invest In Real Estate When You Do Have Time
For investors with free time, or the motivation to work extremely diligently for a number of years, there are some great traditional property investment opportunities.
Traditional Property Investment: Fix and Flip
One popular approach is the fix and flip. You might have even seen it on TV. The TV shows make it seem like you can find a great fixer-upper in a couple of visits, work one or two weekends, and then sell it for a quick and easy profit.
Not so fast!
The reality is that the properties you’re most likely to find need massive renovations or careful budgeting for loans, repairs and upgrades if you’re going to sell it for a profit. This is also the riskiest real estate investing approach.
To learn more, read our guide to getting started as a property investor.
Traditional Property Investment: Fix and Rent
Another popular approach is fix and rent. You buy a property. You make the needed repairs or modest upgrades. Then you find a tenant and rent the property out. This approach has less risk than fix and flip. You’re typically holding the property for years, reducing capital gains if you sell.
You’ll also see the payout when the property sells for a profit because of the upgrades! And, the tenant generates monthly income for you to use on other investments.
Plus, if you sell the rental property with the paying tenant to another investor, you’ll receive more for the home than if you simply fixed and flipped.
Yet there are other strategies for real estate investors, including those who don’t have the time to either of these approaches. Let’s look at some of the best options for those who say that they don’t have time for conventional real estate investment.
Want to learn Donald Trump’s real estate investment strategies?
How To Invest In Real Estate When You Have No Time
If you want to invest in real estate but don’t have time for it, don’t worry. There are still a lot of options available in the real estate industry which can protect your future and diversify your income!
So, let’s learn how to invest in real estate when you are too busy with almost no time to follow the traditional routes.
1. Buy a Leased Property from Another Investor (A Turnkey Property)
Real estate is far more stable than the stock market, as the novel coronavirus and other “black swan” events demonstrate.
There are many benefits to real estate investing. Properties:
- generate monthly cash flow
- produce significant capital gains, whether you’re adding updates or not
- have a number of tax advantages over other investment strategies
We mentioned previously that a property investor could buy a home, fix it up, rent it out and eventually sell it to another investor. This is a good option for real estate investors who want to start generating cash flow immediately.
BUT, if you don’t have the time, you don’t have to spend time fixing up a property. You don’t have to go hunting for investment properties.
You only have to buy a property that is already rented from another investor and step directly into the role of a landlord. This kind of home is known as a turnkey property, because all you need to do is come and turn the key to get started.
Not only will this save you time, but it will also minimize your risk. You don’t have to seek hard money loans and try to finish home renovations on time to earn a profit.
On the flipside, it is difficult to find properties like this unless you’re in an investor group. After all, the average realtor can only tell you what homes are for sale. You are also taking the risk they sell the property to you for more than it is worth, because you don’t know how to take the value of the existing tenancy into account.
2. Buy a Fully Managed Rental Property
If you want to invest in real estate when you have no time at all, buying fully managed rental properties is another great choice.
For those people who have lots of cash but do not know how to invest in real estate, it’s an extremely lucrative and low-risk way to build serious wealth.
When you invest in real estate this way, you’re buying a home or multi-family property that not only has tenants, but a property manager in place. This eliminates all the hassle on your part. You only need to pay cash or get a mortgage to invest in real estate this way.
The property manager screens tenants, handles repair calls and maintains the property. They take anywhere from 8 to 15 percent of the rental income for doing this work. The more properties you have, the lower the percentage they take.
Seems almost too good to be true, right?
Of course, there are drawbacks to this approach. For one, you are getting a smaller profit than you would if you were managing the property yourself. And, if you don’t carefully vet our property management firm, you might be overpaying for a bad service.
Related post: Dos and Don’ts for Buying Real Estate Investment Properties.
3. Investing in Real Estate Indirectly
If you want to invest in real estate buy you have no time, try investing indirectly buy buying shares in a real estate investment trust (REIT).
REITs may be bought and sold like stocks, or they may be closed shares that can only be sold to other investors.
They have a number of advantages.WIth REITs, you can:
- own a share of properties, but you don’t have to manage them
- diversify easily by investing in multiple companies.
- get a monthly or quarterly income
Not only will you get these benefits, but you’ll get some peace of mind knowing you’re working with someone really experienced.
There are a few downsides to this approach, however.
- You’re outsourcing property management to people selected by a corporate board.
- You have almost no control over how they manage properties or how they choose to expand.
- If the leadership of the REIT makes bad decisions, you can lose money on your investment.
4. Work with a Platform That Makes Investing Easy
If you still want to try your hand at buying a fix and flip, or a fix and rent property, then finding the right real estate platform can be your key to succeeding – even if you have very little time.
AQRE Home makes real estate investing simple, with:
- an intuitive property search
- support from experts
- easy offers with the click of a button
- free property management tools that makes being a landlord easy
- zero listing fees!
So, what’s holding you back from investing in real estate?
Start looking for that perfect property today, on AQRE Home.
