Why I Invest in Real Estate

What sparked my interest in purchasing a home was falling into the same daily cycle that I’d seen my parents following for my entire life.  I awoke at 5 AM to make it to work by 6 AM then came home at 3 PM to sleep until 9 PM.  I felt like I was selling my youth, and if the cycle continued, my life.  My father made it clear that he did not want this life for me and asked me to find another way.  Did I really want to spend the rest of my life working for a boss, making millions for a company while getting paid pennies myself?  There had to be another way.

For some reason I see real estate as a safe investment.  After the crash of 2008 and seeing my family lose all of their stock investments I didn’t believe stocks were for me.  I feel that those who become successful in stock investments need to truly understand what they are doing, and do it themselves.  I don’t wish to give my capital to a stock broker who loses nothing if I lose and takes a cut of the pot if I win.  I also don’t like that I am not in control of my investment.

Real Estate is, pardon the pun, real.  When in tough times I can sell of my properties or possibly even live in them.  I can purchase an object worth over 100,000 USD with only 3.5% down payment.  That is what is called leverage.  But I’ll speak more about that later.  Even in an economic crash the property will retain some sort of value.  In my opinion the return on investment is also higher than possibly any other investment or business.  And that is the final reason why I invest in real estate.  It is because I can treat the property as a business and get all of the benefits and breaks that businesses receive.  As a side note this business also has very few employees.

Learning how to run a business is simple as long as you ask the right questions.  Of all businesses, I believe land-lording (renting units) is the most easily understood.