Real Estate Investing Is Not Easy, But It’s Worth It
By JD Esajian on January 22, 2016
We’ve all heard the pitches and promises. Real estate gurus, infomercials, and Facebook ads all often promote investing in property as the quick and easy way to make a fortune, even if you don’t have good credit, cash, or a college degree. Many get in and find that the rewards of real estate investing are far greater than they imagined, and come faster and easier than expected. Other start exploring this income and wealth building vehicle and find it is tremendously more difficult than they imagined it could be. So just how easy is it? Why the disparity? How can it be made easier?
The Perception of Easy
Just as with many other things in life; how easy real estate investing is, is all about individual perception.
What’s ‘easy’ for one person may be very challenging for the next. And vice versa. This partly has to do with skills, talents, and what people enjoy. It also has to do with where you are coming from, and what value you place on the rewards.
Running a 5k race might seem like a breeze for a marathon runner. On the other hand a 5k might seem like an impossible goal for someone who hasn’t walked further than into the garage in 10 years. If you’ve never worked a day in your life, and your parents never made you do any chores, you might find real estate in any capacity a real struggle. In contrast; if you’ve put in 10 hour shifts on your feet in a restaurant or as a commissioned sales assistant in the mall, or have been a stock broker or surgeon, real estate could well seem unbelievably easy.
Some individuals will find their natural talents and honed skills easily transfer over to real estate investing. Others might have some learning and practicing to do. Many won’t mind that. It certainly beats going back to school for seven years to earn a mediocre paycheck as an attorney or doctor. Others just want an investment they can make with a click of a button on their iPhones. That’s an option that we’ll cover in a moment.
How much value you put on the rewards of real estate investment will make a big difference in how easy you feel it is. If you are working 90 hours a week in a minimum wage job, only to take home less than $700 a week, and that never covers your bills; it’s probably going to feel like hard work. Moving into real estate investing, and putting in 4 days a week, with the comfort of driving or working on your laptop from your sofa, and pulling in more in a month than you used to in a year is going to feel much easier.
So in contrast to most professions including being a CEO of a big company, doctors, or attorneys; real estate investing can seem very easy.
Get Ready for Real Work
Still, to say real estate investing is ‘easy’ might be simplifying it a little too much. That’s especially true for those that want to turn a sizable and positive profit. There is real work involved. It doesn’t necessarily have to be you doing it, but there are things to be done.
Depending on how you decide to invest, and what level you’ll be involved this may include:
- Making and taking phone calls
- Drafting and responding to emails
- Researching real estate on the web
- Learning more about real estate
- Filling out real estate contracts
- Submitting documents to mortgage lenders for financing
- Marketing for deals and/ or buyers and tenants
- Property maintenance
Note that some of this can be significantly more challenging than it sounds. It can take actual effort and some time, speaking to people don’t really want to, the frustrations of satisfying mortgage underwriters, and bizarre requests from tenants, even when they aren’t paying you on time.
How to make it Easier
In spite of the above warning of the real work that can be involved in this field, there are ways to make it easier, and to eliminate the work element.
If you don’t want to be hands on yourself, but have goals of building a sizable empire there is the option of starting or buying a real estate business. Be the owner and let others do the real work. Some forms of real estate investing are easier than others too. Wholesaling or assigning contracts may be far less intensive than being a DIY landlord. Then there is turnkey real estate investing which allows investors to completely passively invest in property and reap the rewards while they keep pursuing existing careers, hobbies, or travel.