Investing
9 Key Tactics Successful Real Estate Investors Use
According to the US Census Bureau, individual real estate investors accounted for 74.4% of rental properties in the US.
According to CNBC, real estate is the best investment for anyone seeking to generate an insane amount of profits. Grant Cardone, a sales expert and New York Times best-selling author, says that investing in real estate is a good idea.
These facts point out how lucrative real estate investment can be. However, it’s good to note that success in real estate does not just happen. It takes a combination of goals, strategies, and tactics.
If the goal is to achieve financial freedom, a cohesive investment strategy is required. A real estate investment strategy refers to the plans you wish to employ while tactics are the tools that you will use as an investor.
So, what are the tactics used by successful real estate investors?
1. Know the market
Real estate investment is characterized by cutthroat competition. In this type of market, you need to be one step ahead of other investors. Therefore, you need to develop an extremely thorough understanding of the market.
Top real estate investors understand that good deals don’t just happen. You must be innovative in order to find the right deals. Understanding the market and knowing what drives your target market is essential. You also need to know the risks involved in each potential investment.
Most importantly, you need to acknowledge where the real estate market is headed, both on a short-term and long-term basis.
Additionally, as a top real estate investor, buying and holding property to sell later is not enough. While this may be profitable, you need to learn what you can do to stand out from the rest.
2. Honesty
Top real estate investors are honest and uphold high ethical values. Honesty and transparency are tactics that will advance your real estate business. Believe it or not, this can advance your career as much as, or even more than, your degree.
Not to say that a degree or training in real estate is not essential. You should strive to do well in the coursework, but a high degree of ethics will be extremely useful once you enter the real estate field and begin making investments.
The real estate business involves interacting with a lot of people. Your reputation is, therefore, crucial in determining your success. Sometimes, you may have to choose to be fair instead of working only for your own personal benefit.
3. Stay educated
Successful real estate investors go through training. However, education doesn’t stop when you graduate. To become the best real estate investor, you need to stay updated with the latest regulations, laws, terminologies, and trends.
Constant learning also keeps you up to date with the best software for real estate investors. You also learn about the economic factors that drive the market, and you can begin to predict the market cycles.
4. Accept help
Top real estate investors understand that they do not operate in a vacuum. That is why they attribute their success to other people. These may include lawyers, a mentor, or a friend.
They also understand that it is better to note other people’s expertise and knowledge rather than relying solely on yourself, which can add unnecessary risk to investments.
5. Build a network
Successful real estate investors build a network to operate on a large scale. These may include clients, business partners, mentors, members of non-profit organizations, etc.
In such networks, real estate investors learn a lot. There is a lot of collaborative brainstorming, which leads to the birth of new ideas. Investors also receive valuable support, and they are challenged to become better in what they do.
Since real estate business involves a lot of learning in the field, successful real estate investors know the importance of a working network.
6. Efficiency
The best real estate investors are efficient in what they do. They seek to use the least resources in delivering high-quality work.
Most importantly, successful real estate investors know how to manage their time. If you want to succeed, you need to analyze everything that you do. You also need to decide what adds value and what doesn’t.
It would help if you also got rid of all the distractions so that you can perform optimally. You can then replace the distractions with tasks that add value.
For instance, you can maximize downtime by listening to audiobooks and podcasts during your morning jog.
7. Use the best tools
In the real estate business, two things are essential: the market prices and relationships with clients.
You may not have much control over several aspects, but the latter depends on you. You need to have a method of retaining your clients’ relationships.
Some investors may use hand written notes to remember their clients, while others will rely solely on their memory.
However, to truly scale your network of clients and maintain these valuable relationships, you will need to utilize a real estate investment CRM, a customer relations management system helps you to catalog your customers, prioritize leads and deals, schedule appointments, and store additional details on clients and investments.
8. Leverage
One significant aspect of the real estate business is paying taxes. As a top real estate investor, you need to keep up with the latest tax laws.
Trying to balance the books while looking for new clients might be challenging. This is why successful real estate investors leverage the services of a qualified accountant. An accountant will take care of all tax payments and also balance the books so you can focus on new clients and new deals.
Additionally, in some instances, enticing deals may present themselves when you’re short on cash. In such cases, successful investors learn to leverage other people’s money and reimburse them from the eventual profits.
9. Focus
When done competently and efficiently, the real estate business can be highly rewarding. A fair share of distractions can present themselves and there will be many obstacles on the way. You may get so discouraged at times that quitting will seem like the only logical option.
However, successful real estate investors cannot be distracted or discouraged by obstacles. They must stay focused on the goal, and leverage their knowledge and network, to achieve sustainable success.
Final thoughts
Real estate investment has the potential to make more millionaires than any other business venture. However, success in the business doesn’t just happen. It requires focusing on tangible goals, developing cohesive strategies, and deploying the right tactics.
If you aspire to become a top real estate investor, study other successful investors and mimic their strategies and tactics. Leverage your professional and client relationships, and utilize the right tools and CRM, and one day you achieve financial freedom through real estate investment.