Owning land and buildings is the foundation of capitalism. Reviews of the portfolios of wealthy individuals and institutions reveal that real estate is a major source of their secured wealth. Encouraging the beginning investor to learn how to tap into their fundamental personal strengths as a means of insuring financial success is the purpose of this article.
Real estate is always a golden opportunity. Real estate ownership has several layers of benefits that add up to unmatchable wealth building potential. These opportunities include buying into an ongoing income stream that once in place, requires minimum effort to sustain. There are also significant tax benefits that vary from place to place but generally include a direct deduction from your reportable income for the expenses of maintaining ownership. Essentially, the government pays you to own the property. You are allowed to deduct the interest you pay on mortgages, taxes and insurance plus you can deduct the cost of repairs to keep the property in good working order. The government even allows you to deduct from your income an amount for depreciation on the property that you own.
Another layer of benefit in real estate is the equity that builds each time you make a principal payment. The faster you pay your principal, the faster you build your equity or, wealth in the property. A sister companion to equity growth is the appreciation of the value of the property. This occurs over time as the value of the land and buildings increases. The rate of appreciation varies over time and location, but historically, it builds. These two layers, equity growth and appreciation are why real estate is the most sound long term investment for insuring wealth.
When you put all of these layers together; income potential, tax benefits, growth in equity and appreciated value you have the strongest and oldest means of making you and your family financially secure. But, there is one more layer of benefit in real estate that makes it a powerful investment tool. This is leverage. This is the power to control a piece of property and reap all its benefits without having paid for it in full. Using other people’s money or, using no money at all you can own land and buildings and get full use of all the layered benefits.
So, what does it take to be a successful real estate investor? In fundamental ways those who succeed in real estate follow a similar template to those that succeed in any business or, in life in general. You must first have a mission and a vision that are backed up by goals As in any situation, these need to be specific and tangible. If there is not a specific shape to your mission and vision then you are left fumbling and stumbling. Specific goals with specific time lines are like having a lamp post shining in a fog. They give you the direction you should travel and an estimate on when you will arrive.
But, missions, visions and goals are not enough. There needs to be a plan of action. Action plans lead you into a set of behaviors that are necessary to accomplish your goals. Without a plan of action and the behaviors to carry them out, goals are never reached. If the lamp post is the goal then the action plan is putting one foot in front of the other in a straight line toward the post. As one moves forward, the plan might change. You might have to step over a puddle or walk around someone else. The plan gets you moving and keeps you moving toward your goals.
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