One asset class that has always baffled me is Real Estate.
It is the first investment most of us make. Sometimes, to get a roof on the head and sometimes because “you can never lose money with real estate“.
Like all good myths, there are these stories of how ‘someone’ has made it big time in property investments.
You and I too get carried away and start to dream big. The shopping spree starts – buy a couple of apartments, commercial shops and offices and even land tracts.
We hope to have the inspiration of the genius work for us too.
Apparently, this real estate investor has been able to traverse through various real estate cycles and made money, big time.
I too want to believe that the genius does exist somewhere.
Honestly, I don’t know anyone like that. My bad! May be I haven’t tried yet.
I have continued to believe that this investor (and a successful one) does not really exist. But I want to prove myself wrong.
So today, I ask you for help.
Can you please get me to meet this Real Estate King? I am giving a brief description to help you understand my expectations.
Who is this investor – the Real Estate King?
The real estate king has made money only doing one thing – real estate. It may have been sheer chance that he got into it but now he is nothing less than an expert in this area.
If you talk to him, you can feel the love for ‘property‘. He can literally smell money in a potential deal and within 10 seconds can tell, if the deal is worth it or not.
He has a thorough understanding of risk, returns expectations, choice of asset class, financing methods, holding time frames, etc.
The size does not deter him. He uses various financing options for these investments. He continues to sit on a good inventory (as also the money) waiting for the right deal.
He has used unique methods to exploit various opportunities that came his way.
He has managed to even create a passive and regular income using his real estate investments.
He is an active participant with a network which keeps tipping him about potential offers.
In total, he has built his wealth and compounded it over time with real estate investments only.
He proves that “you can never lose money in property”. In fact, he believes only real estate has the power and potential to make you rich.
Know someone like that? I urge you to introduce this person to me.
I want to meet him to understand how they work, think, as also share their experiences and approach with all of us.
Help me. My eyes are glued to my inbox waiting for your email.
Don’t know anyone like that? Okay. We will keep looking. Meanwhile, do share your own experiences with real estate investments in the comments section.
Vipin,
I am so tired of this argument that investment in real estate does not appreciate much and no one really earned much out of it. Let me tell you there are so many people in this country who earn a fortune out of real estate. I will tell you how..
In India, outside of big cities, land guidance values are only about 15-25% of actual value. So when you buy and sell land, you do it at guidance value on record but the transaction is done at market value in which you easily earn minimum 25% profit in 6-12 months. Added bonus is that these transactions never reach taxmen so no taxes.
There are so many who does it as a matter of business and become rich without the govt ever knowing such people exist. The key here is they don’t hold land for more than 6 months or a year. And only if you are scared of taxmen, would you be worried about investing in real estate.
Mumbai or Bangalore may not be good for real estate investment, but there are so many urban hotspots in the country which are suitable for real estate investments.
I am sure these options exist and lot of people have made money.
However, I am looking for a more formal way of making money with real estate. If you know someone, including yourself, who has the experience and would be willing to share some insights, that would be awesome.
Thanks so much for the comment.
nice way (as always) to put across the “irony” here. you are right – such a person never exists.
btw – i have a real life example who made it big (its relative, pretty big by what he was and where he is now) in real estate.
He was very poor when young, through sheer hard-work – made something of his life in business. He invested some savings to buy his ‘own’ house in 1994.. took bigger risk and bought another bigger, better house in 2001…now in 2017, first house is valued over 20-times (23years) while second is around 12-times (16years).
But yes, everything he bought after these have appreciated very little OR have been sold off at marginal gains.
Key#1: he always focussed on his business (the real reason for his cashflow to buy houses). Key#2: he bought both houses out of “need” for a house more than “investment” in a real-estate.
The person is my father.
My overall learning from his financial-growth story is that real-estate growth was a matter of luck in his case. He always focussed more on his cash-flow.
So glad to know about your father Mohit. And the point about cash flow is dot on. Cheers!