Keys For Success To Investing in Real Estate

Being a successful real estate investor hinges on finding smart real estate investment deals. It doesn't depend upon being a property management professional, a repair person or a closing professional. successful investors use professionals.


A successful investor must understand leverage. The less money you need to put down on each property means the more properties you can buy. It also increases your return on investment for the property. The smaller your initial investment, the higher the percentage your return on that investment is.

Know The Values:

The first key to success as a buy and hold real estate investor is to know values. By knowing values, I mean that you understand the market rate for rents and properties in the area where you are looking to purchase a rental.

The best way to learn rent values and property values in a specific part of town is by reviewing comparable properties. Early in my investing career, I called every For Rent sign in my target neighborhoods to determine the market rental prices. I did this so I could know for certain what the values were for the houses wanted to purchase.

Find Opportunities:

The second key is to find opportunities. If you know values, it is infinitely easier to determine whether a property is an investment opportunity or not.

It is very easy to decide whether a rental house is a good deal if you know the market rent rate and/or the market price for the property. The trick is that you have to have a way to look at opportunities. In real estate investing we call the way to find deals “sourcing". Knowing values allows the successful investor to quickly decide whether an opportunity is worth pursuing, which means it is important to have as many sources as possible to compare properties.

Make Deal: 

The final key to success as a buy and hold real estate investor is to make deals. Knowing values allows you to locate opportunities. But, you have to make deals in order to take advantage of the opportunities you find.

The best opportunities are only good if you can get the deal closed, which can be easier said than done. Just like learning values and finding opportunities, knowing when to act (and then following through with the action) is a discipline that successful investors develop with practice.