So you’re a buy and hold investor. You’re not looking for a complicated flipping disaster, and you certainly don’t want to spend a fortune getting it right before you can start making money on the property. There are plenty of outside factors that can help you know that a property is going to be good—you can look to:

• The neighborhood
• The local economy
• The competition
• The demographics
• The amenity proximity

Obviously, if a community and a city is doing well economically, it’s growing and thriving and seeing a rise in population, it’s likely you’re going to do well, too.

Those are the markets you’re going to want to be in. That’s the broad sense. But when you narrow it down and start looking at properties individually, what really makes that specific property good and another property not good for real estate investment?

What should you be looking for?

Turnkey real estate investment is one of those things that a lot of people want to get into but a lot of people don’t really understand.  

This is one of the most important articles you will read if you want to passively invest in real estate...Period!

How do it work? What’s the process? Where do I start? Is it really passive? Can I trust someone else to handle my investments?

There’s a lot of soul-searching to do when deciding whether or not you want to turn to turnkey real estate investment, but even more important than the questions you ask yourself are the questions you ask your potential turnkey investment partner.

The company that you choose to work with is paramount to your success in turnkey investing! Their success, their reputation, their experience, their expertise—it all matters!

Want to learn all about turnkey real estate investment? Read our white paper.

No one gives new real estate investors enough credit.

It’s a tough gig. There’s so much to do, so much to learn, and there’s so much information to digest that it’s really no small wonder that anyone sticks with this crazy business. Well, okay. It’s super worth it and super rewarding, so that’s probably why people keep doing it.

But that sure doesn’t make starting any easier! There are a thousand sources, guides and gurus trying to teach you about the hundreds of different ways to invest in real estate and it’s honestly overwhelming. It’s intimidating. It downright makes your head hurt.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a flipper, a turnkey real estate investor, a wholesaler, crowdfunder, if you’re into land or commercial real estate, or if you just really dig REITs. This is the best advice we can give to anyone who wants to invest in real estate. Period.

That’s why here, we’ve compiled five simple, universal pieces of advice for new real estate investors.

For those involved in real estate in any form or fashion, we’ve all noticed how home prices have shifted over the past few years. During the recession, home prices were at an all-time low. Real estate investors jumped on the opportunity to grab at cheap properties and make big profits.

It was honestly easy to invest and succeed.

But now, in markets across the country, prices have heated back up. The inventory of homes in foreclosure have decreased.

It’s not so easy to find those deals and make easy money.

New York, New York. San Francisco, California. Los Angeles, California. Miami, Florida.  

As real estate investors, we hear the names of these cities and get stars in our eyes. It's hard not to drool over such glamorous markets from time to time. After all, they've got it all: prestige, incredible properties, legendary profits ... what's not to love?

A lot of things, as it turns out. For one, competition in these sought-after markets is incredibly steep. International real estate investors want their slice of the pie when it comes to these markets, so you’re not just competing with domestic competitors. On top of that, the barrier to entry is lofty. It’s hard to crack into one of these markets. Most investors spend years clawing their way up to that point if they didn’t already have the capital to do so readily available.

In real estate investment, there are endless ways to run your business. Because yes, it’s a business. Ultimately, deciding how you want to run it is down to what you prefer and what you enjoy. One of the most important elements is how you handle rent money. If you’re landlording, you deal with this directly—if you have a property manager, they handle it, but you should still be in the know about the process.

After all, certain ways of taking and processing your rent payment may be more efficient and can even increase the chance of your tenants paying on time. They may also have negative effects you may not have considered…

Sometimes, real estate investors neglect to put the right pizzazz in their investment properties. We think to ourselves, well: they’re just renting. They don’t care as much. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. We’re telling you: it matters. The rental market is growing and in demand, and there is plenty of competition, even in secondary and tertiary markets.

Renters aren’t going to settle anymore. In order to really compete, it’s important to keep up with some interior design and home showing trends, especially when you start considering renovations.

These are simple changes that will make you property timeless and appealing to a wide pool of renters. Remember: presentation matters, whether you’re showing to buyers or prospective tenants.

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Saturday October 8th 12:30PM to 2:30 PM ~ Lunch at Memphis Invest offices, Grapevine, TX.

We love great tenants. Who doesn’t? They pay on time, they don’t cause trouble, and sometimes, they leave the our investment properties in better shape than when they found them. A good tenant is good reason to celebrate.

But really, what are the qualities that make up that ideal tenant? Sure, a nice, friendly disposition is great, and you can connect with someone on a personal level. But we all have friends that we like as people that we wouldn’t necessarily want to work with professionally.

What makes a good tenant good? What should you property manager be looking for—beyond the background checks and usual vetting—when deciding if a tenant is worth trying to retain or sign on in the first place?

This is an article that we originally published on BiggerPockets.com and have revised and updated here for our readers.  It is such an important topic for real estate investors and we realize that many of our readers are also active real estate investors and landlords.

Rental fraud is real and is something that we all have to be aware of and prepared to deal with.  It comes in many forms and really requires us to be diligent not only as landlords, but even as property management companies.

Rental fraud. It’s not fun, and reports of it happening have seemed like they’ve been going up all across the country. What’s an owner to do? How do you protect your property against such tactics?

For those of you blessedly unfamiliar with rental fraud, it’s what happens when someone who isn’t you or your manager claims to own your property and then proceeds to rent it out and earn rental income on unknowing tenants.

When they’re inevitably found out, the unfortunate (but still illegal) tenants must be removed and you’re left to with the mess of proving in court that you’re the one that owns the property, on top of other fun complications.

Wouldn’t it be better to avoid the chance of rental fraud in the first place?

Well, we’ve got good news: there are strategies you can employ to greatly reduce your chances to falling victim to such a scam.