Investment Opportunities in Real Estate

By Steve Gillman - 2005

There have always been more investment opportunities in real estate than most people realize. There are ways to make money with farm land, homes, waterfront properties, commercial real estate and more. There are different ways to buy and sell as well. Here are three examples of investment opportunities that you may not have thought of.

1. Use Your Home

If you have considered moving, you might have hesitated because you don’t want to sell your house at in the current soft market. So don’t. Buy a new home - which you can get much cheaper now - and rent out your existing home until prices go up in the future. Rents have remained stable in most areas while real estate prices have dropped, so this make perfect sense. Get cash flow from your house until you can sell it for a gain.

2. Buy and Sell Lots

The way to make money with small lots is to buy them cheap and sell them for more than the usual market price. Buying cheap is easier now, with prices in general down substantially in most areas. Make a few low offers until one is accepted. To sell high, you can offer easy financing. By offering a low down payment and easy monthly payments, I have sold a lot for 30% more than I paid - and just two weeks after I bought it. I also collected 11% interest for years.

3. Change Uses

A hotel that is selling cheap because there are already too many rooms in town, can be converted into a profitable apartment building. A home that the bank is dumping cheap can be converted into a duplex to create great cash flow. A downtown building can be divided into many small office spaces in order to generate more rent and protect you from vacancies (one tenant means you lose all income during vacancies, while losing one out of ten for a few months is not so bad). Changing the existing use of a property may be one of the more creative and profitable investment opportunities in real estate.

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