Investing in real estate is a big decision. It requires a lot of time and money, especially at the beginning, but it can lead to large returns. Getting started in real estate investment can be a bit daunting, but over time you will learn the tricks of the trade. There are several different ways that you can invest in real estate, and each has its pros and cons.

Dennis Jarvis

Residential Real Estate Investment

The first type of real estate investment is residential real estate. With this type of investment you own a residential house, apartment or other dwelling and tenants pay you rent to live there. This is the type of real estate investment you might be most familiar with, especially if have rented a house at some point in your life. The tenants sign a lease agreement or rental agreement to agree the conditions of their stay.

Commercial Real Estate Investment

Commercial real estate investment mainly involves office buildings. But it could also be other buildings your rent to businesses. Much like a residential property, you lease the building, or individual offices to companies and small businesses. However, the nature of leasing offices will be different to renting out homes.

Industrial Real Estate Investment

Industrial real estate is specialist properties with short-term customers. Included in these are storage facilities and car washes. Revenue from these properties is often fee and service based. Industrial properties could also be garages, warehouses or workshops for several different industries. Industrial properties can be lower maintenance than commercial properties. It’s less important that the interior is visually appealing. You could rent space to a mechanic in New York, and it wouldn’t matter if the interior of the building wasn’t anything special to look at.

Retail Real Estate Investment

The first type of real estate investment is residential real estate. With this type of investment you own a residential house, apartment or other dwelling and tenants pay you rent to live there. This is the type of real estate investment you might be most familiar with, especially if you have rented a house at some point in your life. The tenants sign a lease agreement or rental agreement to agree the conditions of their stay.

Mixed-use Real Estate Investment

Any property that houses people or businesses with  several different purposes is a mixed-use property. For example, you might rent part of the building to a family and another part to a company to use as their offices. It doesn’t have to be a large property to rent it out for several different purposes, although it does help. Often real estate investors combine shops on the lower level of a property with homes above. Or homes could be on the first floor, with offices on the upper floors. With a particularly large property, businesses may even wish to rent out entire floors. So you can easily have the ground floor as retail space and the next two floors occupied by a marketing company. Then you could rent the next two floors to an IT company.

Categories: Real Estate