On-line Quarterly Newsletter                                                      

You Need to Have Goals for Successful Investing in Real Estate

"The Senate favors making permanent the national credit standard that makes it easier for borrowers to obtain mortgages, loans, and credit cards."

"... experts are urging consumers to make sure their homeowners' insurance coverage is sufficient."

"Real estate has been one of the primary sources for investors to place their money for the last thousand years."

"About 21 million U.S. homes are invaded by mice each year."

You Need to Have Goals for Successful Investing in Real Estate

Free Credit Reports Likely Under Next Version of Law

Tips for Homeowners Insurance Coverage

Getting the Mouse Out of the House

Real estate has been one of the primary sources for investors to place their money for the last thousand years. There have always been investment opportunities for money lenders (a.k.a. banks) of all kinds, but real estate has been one of those investments which includes your home, and this is where the story starts.

Most real estate investors own their own home, and may have either purchased or inherited a rental home or small complex, apartment community, or building that houses their business.

But is operating rental properties profitable?

Statistics provided by the bureau of census for multi-family properties in a report authored by Howard Savage using 1995 information deduced the following:

"Overall, 58 percent of multi-family properties made a profit or broke even. About 27 percent had a loss and 16 percent of the owners did not know whether they made or lost money. About 58 percent of the small- and medium-size properties made a profit or

broke even, compared to 51 percent of larger properties."

This should encourage you to reflect again on your investments. I am guessing that those who did not know if their investments made or lost money ran their investments through their home checkbook, and did not separate their investments from their business or personal finances (not a strategy I recommend).

So how does this tie in to setting goals? Goal-setting means setting measurable goals. If you can't measure your progress, what good is setting goals? In other words, you need monthly and annual financial statements on your property to establish if you are making the right decisions.

~SOURCE: REALTY TIMES