How to Finance Investment Property

When toying with the idea of a property investment opportunity, you have to make sure you do all your homework right out of the gate. Hands up all those who just jumped straight in and lost cash because they "thought" they knew what they was doing and didn't listen to a professional? Ok, I see a few hands, well, more than a few.

One of the biggest mistakes people make, is in the thinking that if they buy a "lemon", that they can make "lemonade" for pennies in renovations. Think again! Real estate investment has to be structured just like any business. You have to keep track of your bills, in-comings and outgoings and you had better have the right tools in place before you start otherwise you'll be back in the same boat as others in losing money, could be worse, you might end up being captain of the boat if you are not careful!

Be prepared. Yes I know, an old scout cliché BUT being prepared will seriously cut your time and energy losses basically down to zero.

Do you have your plans laid out? Are you looking for a beachfront property investment or a condo property investment? Are you looking to renovate a "fixer-upper" or do you want something ready to go right out of the box. What is your budget? What contractors have you lined up for your projects that need some repair? Have you spoken to a tax investment property specialist? Have you thought on how to finance investment property? Do you know the fees for buying and selling a property within your local area? Is your investment going to finance commercial properties? If you can't answer yes to a lot of these questions, then you are not ready for the property investment opportunity market. If your answer answer is "No BUT I want to know how", then maybe, just maybe you are smart enough to realize that you can capture what you are missing financially by doing things smarter.

One thing people don't do, which drives me crazy, is tell their friends that they are in the foreclosure property investment business. Why hide what you do from your friends when they can actually be networking for you? It's insane to hide anything about your business from anyone. Be proud of the business you are in, or are going to get into. Just because someone else's financial burden was too much, as in a property foreclosure, doesn't make you the bad guy/gal. You never called their lien/note now did you? So stop acting like you are hiding national secrets and blurt it out from the highest tower," I'm in business and it feels great".

Whenever you look at a property, make sure you have a plan for it before signing any papers. If the property you are looking at doesn't fall anywhere in any category you had in mind, you might want to do the following: Find someone else to which that property WILL fall into their category and ask for a possible finder's fee. Who says you can't make money at just doing that? Not me!

Lets cover one topic very quickly "How to finance investment property". There are many MANY ways to go about this. One of these many ways is "seller financing." What the heck does that mean? In a nutshell, the seller allows you, the borrower, to use a portion of the home equity to finance the purchase. That's just one definition, another one would be: "An agreement in which the property seller also acts as the lender."

There are oodles of ways to finance a property purchase and I just gave 2 definitions. You can also use Wikipedia to search for such terms such as "seller financing", "creative-financing", "real estate terms" to find the right terminology that's easily understood by you, so....

I am not a professional within this business by any means but let me tell you one thing. Having all the right information is worth more gold than Solomon has! Dig that information up, its right in front of you. No you won't find it on any porn pages, that'll get you nowhere, part from blind! I would hate to think where I would be if I had just gone on a whim with my business and not listened and researched the information I wanted. Probably Captain of the aforementioned boat with an upgrade to Admiral looming large!

on that note, I won't ramble anymore but what you have just read is my own opinion and experiences within the property investment opportunity business. I have defined a set of rules to which I abide by in this industry and it just plain works. Don't try to overthink the whole process, because it is just that, a process of learning. Be a sponge on information that moves you ahead. Don't stick your head in the sand if you get stuck. Find the right materials, study the materials, inhale them in fact. The more you know, the more you know, the more you know! As a heads up, the materials I use are from Charissa Cawley, which, in my honest opinion are second to none. Again, that's my opinion and the materials I use, along with search engines of course. Happy house hunting and always remember, the key is YOU and how much time and effort you are willing to put into yourself!