Real estate investing is one of the recognised paths to becoming wealthy.There are
a number of different strategies that you can use to set yourself up financially for the rest of your life.
As with any form of investing,there will be different opinions on what are the best methods to use and the different risks involved.You need to investigate the risks and sort out which strategy suits you best. As with any endeavour that you undertake,knowledge is power,so it is best to read books and research the markets that you are going to invest in.
There are many books written on real estate investing and all of the different investing strategies are well covered.A simple strategy that can pay off is to purchase a property to rent out.Over time as the rent and value increases then you can look at purchasing another property.By following this simple plan then you can accumulate a number of properties to fund your lifestyle or retirement.
Once your cashflow is positive and you have built up enough equity from the first property then this is the time to look at another property. You will generally find that with two properties the rent and equity will build up quicker than one property and let you purchase the third property a bit quicker than it took to get the second property.
You can repeat this process for a while and then sell off one or two properties to reduce the debt and then live off the rent.It is very important with any form of investing to not over commit yourself financially so that you are not forced to sell due to unforeseen circumstances.
You must also allow for things such as vacancies, additional property costs or periods of unemployment.It would also be wise to not have all of the properties in one location as a local downturn may affect your investment plan.
Getting started is sometimes the hardest part which is why most people never attain the financial freedom that they want so why not start right now. The books on investing written by Robert Kiyosaki are a good place to start your education and are available online.