Property investing can be a very lucrative investment for the investor, providing they obtain the correct information from the beginning.
Those "in the know" as we say obviously can obtain a greater return on the initial outlay by buying from a person who is desperate to sell or "distress sales" so to speak. My work involves buying property for my company as investment and not to sell staright away for a quick mark up. Because of this and because this is my work, I come into regular contact with properties which fall into this category. So for me, I suppose you could say it is lucky that this is my job.
However, alot of people and quite rightly so, invest in property as a pension and hope that by renting out they can cover costs and so effectively have no outlay to pay each month. If you want to be a serious investor in any country in the world, please be prepared to pay for the property each month. Here is an example:
Pensions: In order for you to hopefully obtain a nice pension at a reasonable retirement age, you would have to at the moment invest lets say £200-£300 per month into a pension plan. This would not give you any return guarantees but would hopefully provide you with a nice nest egg when you retire. How does the company you use to give your pension money to make the capital grow? They invest in property!! They then charge you admin fees and such and so your return is "ok" but by no means fantastic.
So, option 2: Let us say you purchase a property wherever in the world and without any income from rentals your outlay is say £400 per month on mortgage. This is like putting into your pension pot for when the value (which it always will over time) increases and you sell, thus making a handsome return. If you look at it that every booking you achieve throughout the year helps you reduce your imput into your pension plan(ie, you reduce the payments as you are receiving income) then this is an added bonus. If you are lucky to achieve a 40% booking of your rental at say £200 per week, then you are(excluding running costs) effectively reducing your pension imput by approximately 85% per annum!!! Now that is some investment for your future. I can elaborate on this subject if people are interested but I do not want to confuse te issue.
I hope this is understandable for everyone interested in this subject. It is obviously more complicated and detailed but this method above should form the basis of how you want to invest. I myself have been to so many shows and listened to so many idiots who know nothing but "how much commission" they get, that I am seriously thinking of expanding into sales myself!!!
Finally Peter is absolutely correct, if you purchase and sit back then you will get nothing but abit of effort can obtain amazing results. My motto is simple.... "Lazy People Lose". Nobody steal that from me will you!!!!
