Whether it is a single-family home or an entire apartment building, investing in real estate is a profitable business. How to buy properties, deal with tenants and work with leases and/or evictions takes a lot of education and even more common sense.

Consider the location of the home and the condition it’s in. Make sure it is convenient for you to get to in case you have to show it, fix it, paint it, change the locks - or all of the above. Make sure you are well aware of the potential defects before you buy and how much the fixes will cost. This is the number one problem in owning real estate for investments – not realizing the expense of upkeep and repairs.

Dream about upgrading. When it comes time to sell the investment, you don’t want to have a home that the renters lived in for years and did nothing to improve the value. Not that the renters have to do the work – however that isn’t a bad idea, some renters would enjoy being able to cut their rent a bit by providing a little sweat equity – but consider small improvements each year. Upgrading the home a bit over time is a good way to keep the home at its best and commanding a good rental income too.

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