No one likes to feel cramped in their home, and the same is true of tenants when it comes to their rentals. As an owner and investor, one of the best things you can do for your rental properties is to get into the mind of the tenant—see what they value, learn what they love, and tailor your properties after their needs.

We often talk about maximizing your income potential in an investment property. But what does that really look like? Is it all making expensive renovations and upgrades?  Is it the opposite and spending as little as possible (as some landlords will tell you...I know, I agree that is crazy!!!)?

Spending time and effort on the right renovations is certainly part of the equation, and they can certainly level your properties up to a higher price point.  However, part of increasing your income is reducing your costs—and this can have a huge impact on your profit!  Why? Because unlike spending moneys on renovations, which are a lot like "investing" in the property itself and making it more desirable to residents, reducing your costs and finding hidden savings puts dollars directly onto your bottom line!

The last thing anyone wants to do as a real estate investor is to get over their head in debt in the name of earning passive income. It’s pretty counter-intuitive, isn’t it? In fact, if you have to take on an enormous amount of debt to invest, you’re either picking the wrong properties or you seriously need to re-examine your investment strategy.

While you don’t need to be rich to invest in real estate, we all need to mindful of our capital...

Investing in real estate can be a highly competitive business. Granted, how competitive depends on a two primary factors: your market and your strategy. Real estate investors dealing with a typical buy-and-hold strategy have to elbow through two common obstacles.

These are the market prices and other investors and buyers.

Naturally, markets experience different seasons and fluctuations. For example, after the recession circa 2009, investing in real estate was relatively easy. A lot of people chose to start investing because prices were so dramatically low and foreclosures were plentiful.

At the same time, there was a lot of competition because of the sheer number of investors. Eventually, as prices began to rise and recover

What do you picture when you think of a great real estate investing market?

Depending on who is reading this article, some go to a top-tier market: something like New York City or San Francisco. Despite the fact that these markets are impenetrable for your average real estate investor, they’re the markets that we’re easily dazzled by. And who can blame us? We like glamour. We like pizzaz.

Still others go to smaller markets and the buzz of "middle-america" markets where properties are cheap and plentiful!  

But ultimately, what makes a great long-term real estate investing market, what brings success to real estate investors—the kind of success that allows someone to invest in a glamorous market like NYC—is reliability.

Success isn’t something that comes to us overnight. It takes hard work, dedication, and, no matter how passive our income is: commitment. As real estate investors, we have to invest not just our money into this thing, but our time, attention, and willpower. If you want to succeed in real estate investment, it starts with a solid foundation and by forming good habits.

If you have that base level of knowledge and you develop the follow through with what you know? It’s hard to go wrong.

So, in the interest of success, we’re bringing you seven habits that are essential for staying at the top of your game in real estate investment.

We live in a technological world—it’s evident all around us! Whether we notice it or not, we are constantly connected to smartphones and televisions, working on tablets and laptops, and we can be instantly connected to people thousands of miles away and even on the other side of the world.

Houston real estate has been on somewhat of a roller coaster over the past several years.

If you’ve been following their saga at all, you know that Houston was one of the cities largely spared in the wake of the largest recession in recent history (circa ‘07-09).

Their real estate market never inflated in the same way that many around the country did, so when the market crash occurred, they didn’t have nearly as far to fall.

Because of this, Houston and other Texas real estate markets...

Property hunting is the endless rabbit hole that real estate investors are perpetually thrust into. We’re always on the lookout for the best deals, the perfect properties, and the key features that will ultimately calculate into that sweet investment property for our portfolio.

Even though it’s necessary, looking for properties comes with a lot of frustrations. It’s exhausting to be faced with an endless sea of options, most of which aren’t the right fit.

When you find one that actually works out, having to go through a long process of negotiating and acquisition before you can actually get on the path to making money on the property is another headache, too!

Investing in real estate can be a fast-paced, heart-pounding experience, even for passive real estate investors. Depending on where you invest, certain real estate markets can get heated and competitive. You might find yourself up against a bustling market of homebuyers, a cutthroat group of international investors, or even just tight inventory.