WHY WOULD I INVEST IN REAL ESTATE?

“Ask most people on their retirement what their greatest asset is, and the vast majority will answer that it is their home…

In nearly all cases it is their home, and you will hear the lament of many retirees who reflect and say: ‘If only we had bought two properties when we bought this one!”

PROF. DOLF DE ROOS,

Author of Real Estate Riches

An investment in land or building is one of the time tested ways to real financial freedom. Your current job or business does not assure you of such freedom, not matter how well paying such job or business is, except the income earned is deployed into sensible investments. Incidentally, land and buildings are the REAL investments. A landlord I know prefers, consistently, to call his house a REAL property
You don’t have to leave your job or primary line of business in order to venture into real estate! This is perhaps why real estate is better described , not as a business, even though it makes business sense, but as an investment. You keep your choice job or business, as you invest in real estate progressively.
You can start from where you are, by investing initially in low cost locations or properties.
You do not need all the millions in order to start. You can start from the lower thresholds, in well-considered emerging locations
Houses are acceptable collaterals for loan, if the need arises. If you own a house (especially house with registered title), you can take a loan from the bank (using the house as collateral), still live in it or put tenants in it and then earn the rent, even as you remain the owner of that same house. This is what it means to eat your cake and have it
Real estate has inherent value, apart from the investment value. It is not a mere paper. You can live in it or put tenants in it. It is an investment you can put to use, as you enjoy the saved or appreciating value
Money invested in real estate is capital preserved. It is a time tested form of savings.
There is joy in ownership. You may understand this well when you ask house owners about their feelings of fulfillment in relation to their home ownership.
Prices of land and buildings are more likely to appreciate as they have always done. When you ask your parents about this, I am sure they will confirm this view, even if with rare exceptions
The investor has some control over his real estate. If your investment is in a house, you can improve the value. When you re-paint, clean up, renovate or renovate the house, you thereby enhance it.

IN CONCLUSION, I like the way Diane Kennedy summed up her views on the subject. Diane is the author of the book, REAL ESTATE LOOPHOLES. First, she remarked, “Whenever the opportunity presented itself, I have bought real estate. Like my family before me, I used my first home as a stepping stone to buy bigger and more valuable pieces of property”. She then summed up: “Start investing in real estate as early as possible. It is the best pension plan ever devised”.

About when to buy, my friend Robert Allen ( author of Creating Wealth and Nothing down for the 90’s) counsels all of us, in his words; “If you are still hoping prices will come down before you buy, you have a long wait”