Real Estate Investing 101
Real estate today is a very huge industry in terms of market and value. It may also be defined as the buying, leasing, selling of a definite piece of real estate, whether it may be land building, apartment or whatever. It basically covers real property including the structures on it, and its accompanying natural resources like water, minerals or crops; immovable property of that sort; a lien vested upon the said property, buildings or houses in general. Now, when you are looking to invest in real estate, it is best to do some research first and know what you are getting yourself into.
There are many different types of real estate in the world today, as you can see through the media. Real estate investments include: land, building, single-family residences, apartment complexes, condominiums, townhouses, mobile homes, manufactured homes, farmland, hotels, shopping centers and the likes. Typically, real estate investment is done by acquiring and leasing buildings, or sometimes the use of it for a certain purpose. For instance, some people would lease their plots of land to other investors for them to build a house on and then lease the house when the project is completed. Others would buy buildings outright in order to rent them out to tenants.
Now, the subject of real estate deals is vast, and it is only because of these wide-ranging types that we are able to discuss them in this article. We will briefly discuss three main types of real estate, based on their economic characteristics. The first type is an owner-user, also known as land-based property. This is usually the most popular type of real estate and is done mostly through residential properties. A typical owner-user deal would have a small plot of land with a house built on it.
The second type is manufactured land. Here, the main difference between a manufactured land deal and a normal owner-user situation is that the latter’s property has been tailor-made to its specifications by a real estate developer who is usually an expert on how to best utilize the land. The basic concept of manufactured land is that a person who wants to develop a piece of land can go ahead and hire a professional to build his desired property. After that, the developer will go about adding all the components that would make up the property. Some examples of components that are most commonly seen in manufactured land deals are schools, roads, community buildings, apartment complexes, commercial or office buildings, and even parking garages.
The third type is called an asset-based real estate investment. This type is based on the idea that a person can purchase assets that are productive in nature (like buildings) and then lease them to others so that they can earn income from them. In return, the owner of the asset will share in the profits generated by the rental property. Examples of these types of real estate investments include properties that earn rent and those that generate revenues from rentals.
All of these real estate investment scenarios are possible depending on a person’s strategy and his goals as an individual investor. Some of the examples include the purchase of a piece of vacant land, the construction of a residential or office building, or even the development of rental property. Some investors go about their business by purchasing smaller pieces of real estate and selling them to individuals at a profit. In other words, it is possible to find a business opportunity in real property whatever your goals and objectives are as an investor.