Become a landlord
Being a landlord gives you both a reasonably good cash flow and a strong investment asset. It also provides the ability to build a legacy portfolio of properties that can be passed down to your heirs with minimal tax liability.
Interestingly, landlording to profit from real estate has been around since medieval times, when actual lords owned land and collected payments from those who worked on it. In more modern times, real estate has created millionaires and billionaires throughout the world. America’s first multimillionaire, John Jacob Astor, bought gigantic pieces of land in and around New York City in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Astor would then lease the land to developers, who would build on it. At the time of his death, he was the richest man in America, thanks to real estate investments.
Flip property
One of the most high-profile real estate business ideas, property flipping has been popularized by addictive TV programs over the last several years. Property flipping involves buying a distressed home, repairing and modernizing it and then selling it for a profit, usually to a retail buyer.
While flipping a house doesn’t offer the continuing cash flow of rental income, it can create large, one-time profits on individual properties.
Manage property
Expect to work close to full time if you start a property management company.
Though you could run your property management business from home, it will be easier to have a dedicated business location, as you’ll need storage for paint, drywall, cleaning supplies and other common maintenance materials for the properties you manage.
Additional costs might include assistants or subcontractors for lawn maintenance and landscaping, plumbing, electrical work and painting.
Bird-dogging
The reality of bird-dogging is that it is nowhere near as easy as some people make it out to be, as investors won’t pay for information about properties that are already listed.
If you can identify sellers before a property is listed, however, you can make some real money as a bird dog. Bird-dogging can be done part time or full time. Most real estate bird dogs work from home.
Real estate photography
Not all real estate business ideas have to do directly with the properties themselves. Some, such as being a real estate photographer, involve marketing the property.
Real estate photographers take photos of homes for sellers or landlords that are then posted online as part of a marketing campaign.
As a real estate photographer, your hours are largely determined by the number and size of the houses you have to shoot in a given day. Larger houses require more photos and therefore more time.
Many real estate photographers choose to base their businesses in their homes, though most of the actual work will be done on location at the properties being photographed.
Become a real estate agent
While some business models like bird-dogging and flipping are more novel, being an agent has been a common way to participate in the real estate industry for as long as the modern property market has existed. Becoming a real estate agent is more difficult than breaking into some other parts of this industry, as it requires formal education and, typically, state certification.
Combine real estate business ideas
For example, a property management company that offers photography services can save owners time and effort. A real estate agent who is also able to produce high-quality photography for his or her listings will both save money on marketing and offer a value-added service. Many real estate agents also serve as property managers. With their network of contacts, it’s easy to list rental properties and find new tenants on an ongoing basis.
