Plenty of factors figure into the state of the U.S. economy. When the economy crashed a few years ago, the housing market was largely blamed. Very slowly, we’ve been climbing out of this economic hole. The general public opinion of the recovering economy, however, is still mixed and hasn’t changed much from 2009. In a study by the Pew Research Center in February of this year, a reported 61% of Americans were hearing a mixture of good and bad news surrounding the U.S. economy and its recovery, 33% heard mostly bad news, and only 5% heard mostly good news.

While rent rates continue their slow climb, surprisingly, the vacancies in apartments are on the downswing. Reis reported a 3.2% rent increase in 2013, compared to the vacancy decline of 4.1%. That trend doesn’t seem to be changing, as it's similar to the statistics of 2012. More and more people are turning to renting despite rising costs. One would think that wouldn’t be the case, but it’s good news for real estate investors.

Rent may be a necessary evil for tenants, but for real estate investing, it's simply necessary. Rent is your positive cash flow, after all. Those savings are integral to having peace of mind in our uncertain and ever-changing economy.

We all want a good deal, particularly when it comes to our real estate investments and how we define that good deal is very important.  We all want less risk and most of us define good deals by how much money and how much risk they take.  

After all, there’s more risk involved in spending more money, right? While that may or may not be true, to a large degree, those in real estate investment must be wary of dirt-cheap deals on properties. It's tempting to jump on discounts with the assumption that if something is on sale, then it’s a good deal.  Just because you are buying something lower than the advertised price, does not mean it is a good deal.

Navigating the world of real estate investments can be a arduous task, to say the least. While it’s said to be one of the best sources of passive income (and it is!), that doesn’t mean that investing in real estate is always easy. Honestly, being a real estate investor can have difficult moments. You’ll have ups and downs and face daunting challenges. While some of the pitfalls of investing in real estate are impossible to avoid, there are some that you can.

As a real estate investor, one of the most challenging aspects of investing has to do with other people. Specifically, with tenants. Search the Web and you’re bound to find thousands upon thousands of hits regarding bad tenants. Some stories are so horrible that the only thing you can do is laugh — maybe because you can’t believe it yourself unless it happens to you.

Whether you are managing your own properties or you’re outsourcing to a property manager, there are ways to ensure that your tenants have a great customer service experience.