Real Estate is the Best Investment

Let’s face it: you have a lot of options when it comes to investing your hard-earned money. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, gold…the list goes on and on. Real estate is another of those options, and we would argue, the BEST option – especially when it’s a rental property. Here’s why:

Diversity

You know the saying about putting all your eggs in one basket, right? Well, real estate investment offers you another basket, or even baskets if you invest in multiple properties. Combined with other types of investment, real estate gives you the diversity you need to spread your money around and get the biggest returns. However, even if you decide to target real estate for all your investments, the simple act of having multiple properties achieves the same outcome.

History of Success

Real estate has a proven track record of delivering exactly what investors want – great returns on their investments. Obviously, the dark days following the burst of the housing bubble are not a prime example of this, but if you look at the big picture, you’ll find that, overall, real estate offers a successful avenue of investment. Property will always have some value. Yes, it will fluctuate over time depending on market conditions, but chances are, you’ll never be left with zero.

Better Control

Having a tangible asset also gives investors more control. Think about the stock market, and how investors have LITERALLY NO CONTROL WHATSOEVER over what happens to their money. Scary, huh? This is not how it works with real estate, where YOU get to decide what happens and when with your investment. You can choose to make changes to increase the value, you get all the say in who comes and goes at your property, and you are in complete control (more or less). Feels good not to be at the mercy of others, doesn’t it?

Long Term Cash Flow

If your real estate investment is in the form of a rental property, you’ll also experience the wonder that is long term cash flow. If you made a wise choice with your property and your vacancy rate is pretty low, you’ll get to enjoy cash flowing in each and every month for as long as you own the property. This is money you can use to pay off the mortgage, sock away into an emergency fund, or put into another investment.

Tax Advantages

Rental property ownership also entitles you to some unique tax benefits that you won’t find with other forms of investment. For example, you can depreciate your rental property and deduct the value from your taxes, saving you a boatload of cash that would otherwise go to the IRS. Some purchases for the property can also be deducted. If you decide to sell the property, you have a couple of options to explore that allow you to pay reduced or even no taxes on the profit you make from the sale.

Leverage

A lot of investors choose to finance their real estate investments through a bank-owned mortgage or by other types of borrowing. This gives them all the benefits that come with owning property, and the best part is they get to use someone else’s money to do it! It’s called leveraging, and it’s awesome. Think about it like this: you put down 20% for the property (which is a standard down payment), but you own 100% of the house. Even though you’re paying interest on the mortgage, you’re not out the significant amount of cash it would have taken to purchase the home outright – and you still get to enjoy ownership benefits, like appreciation of the property.

These are just a few of the reasons why we like real estate so much, and so do thousands of other investors. There are a number of unique advantages with this type of investment, and honestly, it’s just plain old fun. Give it a try and see for yourself!