Tips for Investing in Residential Real Estate

When investing in residential real estate, there is a multitude of factors to take into consideration. Instead of being overwhelmed, focus on three top factors, and your residential real estate investment will be off to the right start! Avvo.com defines the types of residential real estate as condominiums (privately owned units within larger buildings), townhomes (usually larger than condos but still share walls with one or two other buildings), cooperatives (units within one building where everyone living in the building owns the building together) and single-family houses (usually built on a single lot without having to share space with other dwellings.)

Location Matters — The Huffington Post suggests that when investing in residential real estate, you look for the worst house on the best street. That’s a principle you’ll come across quite a bit as you research residential real estate. “Look for proximity to major roads, public transportation, and most importantly, schools,” says Abhi Golhar, host of Real Estate Deal Talk in Atlanta.

Follow the 1% rule — The 1% rule means looking for a return greater than 1 percent per month of the sales price. An old maxim of real estate says that a rental property yielding 1 percent of the sales price per month is a good deal. In other words, if the home costs $100,000, you should get $1,000 per month in rent, or about a 12 percent annual yield.

Choose tenants wisely — Being a landlord is stressful. Landlordology.com urges that a landlord’s number one priority is to make rent the priority. This is your source of revenue. The site also suggests collecting your rent online or through a mobile source. “There is no reason for you to be collecting rent by a check in the mail. Not only is it time-consuming to go to your or mailbox, keep up with all the checks, and then deposit the checks, but it’s riskier. The check can bounce, and then you’ll need to pay a non-sufficient funds fee and then contact your tenant for the rent and the NSF fee. When you collect rent online, this whole process is negated, and the process is dead simple.” When choosing a tenant, choose wisely by checking their credit score, rental history, and references. Although time-consuming, it will be well worth it.

Choosing to invest in residential real estate is no small decision. However, if you follow the above tips, you will set yourself up for success and before you know it, your rental properties will become passive income.

Originally published at https://wdarrowfiedler.net on March 16, 2022.