So you want to buy an investment property? This is always a huge step the first time. I am by no means an expert and I am just going to give advice based on what I did. If you have any other tips or good links, send me an email and I'll add it to the page.

One way to lessen the learning curve is to look at your first home as an investment property. This is what I did. My wife and I were unsure of how long we would be staying in a particular city and did not want to get caught trying to sell a house in a down market. Our rule was that the property had to have at least a basement suite. This would give us some rental income, a few tax writeoffs, and if we had to move, we could keep it for awhile as a rental. Also living in the upstairs let us keep a close eye on our tenants and we could quickly respond as landlords to any needs they had until we got the hang of it.

Choosing an Investment Property

Educate yourself, look at houses, talk to people (anyone), and find a way to compare for yourself. If you look at one place and ask "How do I know if it is a good investment?", I can answer that for you, you have no clue if it is. Doing the real estate game involves a mind-set and understanding of what is important.

Educating yourself can be done a variety of ways. Pick up some books at the library and there are lots of audio books available that explain the basics of owning a house. Talk to people you know. If you know anyone who has been a landlord before or was a tenant, they will have advice and tips on what might work and what will not. There are web sites galore on this subject matter and lot of them will be annoying and more of an advertisement for some product they are selling, but there are good ones out there.

Look at properties. Lots of them. I went to a seminar once and the goal was to look at 100 properties in a month. This does not mean physically going to each one, but it does mean looking at one and analyzing it.

Analyze properties as frequently as possible. This is what gives you the first clue as to how the market works. You will begin to understand "value". Second, it gives you a way to compare. By establishing a set of criteria, 80 of those 100 houses you look at will be discarded without even walking out the front door of your house.

Read my more detailed article on How to Analyze an Investment Property.

Recommended Information:

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad series are quite good. The Real Estate Riches one gives you lots of advice and is available in audio format. Be careful though, this guy trys to pan himself off as an expert, but has never proved that he has did anything other than tell other people what to do. YOu can read more about his detractors here.
• MLS is the Canadian real estate listings. Just go on and start looking.
• Pay attention to the paper and go to free seminars. 20/20 Properties is one and so is Fast Track to Cash Flow. Whether you think they are full of B.S. or not, you will still learn something from them.
• Any book from the library on being a landlord or buying property.

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Category: Investing

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