General

How To Make Money In Real Estate

The real estate industry creates more millionaires by far than any other industry. Hands down, real estate is one of the best ways you can make money. Period. There’s just no competition. There’s simply so much money to go around, and with property prices so high, it’s easy to see why real estate is a big draw for people from all walks of life.

If you’re considering entering the real estate industry because you have wild visions of making millions of dollars, please listen up. Can you make money in real estate? Yes. You can. Will it be easy? No. It will not be. But there is a simple path forward. And you can increase your chances for success by ensuring you stick to it no matter what.

You see, here’s the thing. Most people bounce from industry to industry, from one opportunity to the next, in hopes of making money. But they tend to quit too soon when they hit a wall. That leads to frustration and setbacks. It’s obvious to see why. When you’re struggling to make money and put everything on the line, fear sets in. After all, you need to make money, right?

Some stick it out in real estate. And they end up making the lion’s share of money. To the victors go the spoils, right? There’s certainly no industry where that’s more true than in real estate. And you can see why when 90% of all millionaires worldwide come from the real estate industry. That’s a staggering statistic.

How to Make Money in Real Estate

Since so many millionaires are born through real estate, it’s no wonder why people desire to make money in the industry. There’s a lot of money to go around. But some are stuck and stifled when it comes to the real estate industry. They’re held back by beliefs that limit their behavior. Some think you need a lot of capital to make money in real estate, others think you need great credit, and so on.

However, the most creative people understand how to make a lot of money in real estate and how to do it fast. Without using their money, credit or traditional means. Plus, there are many ways that you can approach this. You don’t actually have to flip a property or invest in real estate if you don’t want to. You can also provide services within the real estate industry. There are so many services you can provide that it simply boils down to picking the one you’re most interested in.

True wealth in real estate is created by buying and holding long-term rentals. There are many tax advantages to doing this in the United States that it makes real estate an obvious choice for many entrepreneurs looking to make a lot of money. It doesn’t take money to make money in real estate. But it does take consistent action to see success.

1. Become a Real Estate Agent

The most obvious way to make money in real estate is to become a real estate agent. A real estate agent assists the buyer or seller (and sometimes both) with the real estate transaction. They are trained and licensed professionals. That means it will take you some time to actually start making money as an agent. Even after you get your license, most agents struggle to get their first deals.

In the United States, real estate agents can make roughly 3% of the transaction fee. Some of that amount is shared with their brokerage. However, if you’re doing multi-million dollar deals, and you’re doing them often, you can make a lot of money as an agent. This really requires you to work your network of contacts.

2. Create an Online Course

Another way to make money in real estate is to create an online course teaching people how to solve one problem in real estate. That could be teaching them how to find hard money lenders, distressed sellers, owners looking to sell their homes (for agents), how to find vacation homes to manage, and so on. The online course guides the students and teaches them how to do that thing.

You can build an online course with ClickFunnels. It gives you all the tools you need to build out the course, the landing page, host the videos, and build the membership section with premade templates and a drag-and-drop editor. Courses take some time to build but once they’re up and running they can generate passive income for years to come.

3. Fix & Flip Properties

Another traditional approach to real estate is to fix and flip properties. This is where you go out and acquire properties to fix them up and sell them for a profit. Fix and flip works great when you can acquire properties at a fraction of retail value. However, it also heavily relies on a seller’s market to ensure you can sell the property fast enough to not incur too many carrying costs.

Carrying costs are your monthly costs to hold the property. These could be a bank loan, a hard money loan, credit card interest rates, home equity lines of credit, and so on. If you can acquire the property in an all-cash deal it will give you more breathing room. Either way, there is massive upside potential here but you must learn the ropes.

4. Generate Leads for Agents

Another way you can make money is to generate leads for agents by building lead generation funnels. Lead generation funnels allow agents to get listings under contract and find buyers for existing homes already on the market. To do this all you need to do is set up a sales funnel designed to generate leads using a lead magnet. The lead magnet must appeal to your ideal prospect enough for them to enter their contact details.

Contact real estate agents and let them know you can generate leads for them. Then, decide on a price you’ll charge per lead. You can also build out the lead generation funnel and start generating leads in one area, then start selling those leads as you bring them in. Generating leads is not cheap unless you build a killer lead magnet that directly appeals to the individual you’re targeting. Read this book to learn more about how to do this.

5. Wholesale Real Estate

One of the most popular ways to make money in real estate is to wholesale properties. Wholesaling real estate means that you don’t need to use your money or credit. Wholesaling allows you to make a lot of money in real estate without spending a lot of time fixing properties. You can think about wholesaling like flipping. Except you’re not flipping the real estate. You’re flipping the paper.

This is known as arbitrage. You lock up a contract for one price and sell it at a higher price. This means you need to contact distressed owners. Distressed owners are having a tough time financially. You can determine this by sourcing water shut-off lists, electric shut-off lists, tax liens, pre-foreclosures, and external signs of distress such as overgrown grass, unkept homes, and so on.

6. Become a Property Inspector

Another method you can use for earning an income in real estate is to become a property inspector. Property inspectors get paid to inspect properties before the close of the sale. They do this for a couple of reasons. The first reason is to determine whether anything is wrong with the house.

When you’re buying a home you don’t want to walk into a situation where there are major issues that will be costly to repair. Buyers rely on the inspection report to ensure that they’re not walking into a big headache. And the inspection report can help them know that they’re paying fair market value for the property.

7. Do Vacation Rental Management

Vacation rentals are a big business. Depending on where you live, you can rent out a room or your entire home as a vacation rental on sites like Airbnb and VRBO, amongst others. If you have a home or apartment to rent out and you live in a vacation destination or a busy metropolis, consider renting it out to make some money.

You can also do vacation rental management by contacting your neighbors or people you know with property in your area and offering to manage their rentals. Short term vacation rentals typically get roughly five times the return than long-term rentals. There is more upkeep and headache but depending on the property, it could be well worth it.

8. Become a Property Appraiser

You can also make money as a property appraiser. Property appraisers help determine fair market value for the house. They use recently sold comparison listings to determine the right price for a home. Plus, mortgage companies rely on a property appraisal to approve certain home loans.

Property appraisals are needed in every type of market. It could be a buyer’s market or a seller’s market, you still need appraisals. That makes appraisers future-proof. You won’t need to worry about property appraisers being obsolete because they will always be needed.

9. Do Real Estate Photography

Today, people do judge a book by its cover. Especially in real estate. That’s why the best real estate agents invest in great real estate photography. They’re not shy to spend money to ensure that the photos look perfect. Plus, there’s more than just photos you can do. You can provide video tours, 3D tours using Matterport or other 3D systems, drone videos, and more.

You can find real estate photography clients by building a simple lead generation funnel or sales funnel with a lead magnet. Then, simply promote your lead magnet on your social media profiles and posts. You can also directly contact agents and offer your services to them. And you can run paid ads or find local real estate photography gigs on Upwork, Freelancer and other sites.

10. Become a Home Stager

Home staging is a big business. That’s because most properties don’t show well when they’re empty. People can’t imagine what it looks like without furniture. That’s where home staging comes into play. Becoming a home stager requires creativity. You’ll need some sense of design and be able to source quality furniture to make a home look lived in.

Typical staging can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 and up per month to stage a home. Depending on how nice the furniture is and where you live, the price can vary. But this is a great way to make money in real estate because it’s a service that many agents and owners need when the home is unfurnished.

11. Become a Mortgage Broker

Mortgage brokers make a commission on each mortgage that they secure. There’s a percentage that includes various fees on originating the loan for a home purchase. This means that mortgage brokers can make a lot of money. But this is a competitive field that’s easy to break into but hard to succeed in. Successful mortgage brokers understand the intricacies of online marketing.

To succeed as a mortgage broker, build a lead generation funnel with a good lead magnet targeting borrowers. Read this guide on how to create a great lead magnet to understand what it is. You can build the entire lead generation funnel directly inside of our sales funnel software with premade templates and a drag-and-drop editor.

12. Purchase a “Boring” Storage Business

A storage business is considered a boring business because there’s not much to owning one. However, some of the highest-grossing businesses are considered boring businesses. A storage business will require some capital to purchase. But these businesses also have very high recurring revenue. Customers keep paying month after month to keep their belongings stored at the storage business.

You can buy a storage business with seller financing or possibly secure a subject-to loan. That just means you’re taking over the existing mortgage on the property. That’s not possible in every situation but it is something you can negotiate. You can also purchase vacant land and build a storage business, but it will take considerably longer.

13. Rent Out Your Parking Spot

If you have a parking spot you can rent it out and make money. Several apps allow you to rent your spot to make a bit of cash. For example, you could use an app called JustPark or Spacer to rent your spot. It could be as simple as renting out your driveway at your home. When you live in a busy area, people are willing to pay for a spot.

These apps can help you rent out your spot through short-term rentals or extended month-long rentals. It really all depends. You won’t make a killing doing this, but this is a service you can provide when you have space to offer in a garage or at your home.

14. Purchase Long-Term Rentals

You can purchase long-term rentals as a source of income in real estate. Even if you don’t have money or credit you can use seller financing, the subject-to financing method and other strategies to purchase long-term rentals. You can even use DSCR loans in some areas, which are Debt Service Coverage Ratio loans that you can qualify for based on the average annual rent of the property. This usually applies to multifamily apartments.

Many people start out by purchasing a multifamily home that is to 2 to 4 units. They live in one and rent out the others, which often covers the debt servicing on the property. While this is not financial advice and you should always talk to your lawyer and accountant first, long-term rentals are a strategic move for making money in real estate.

15. Start a Cleaning Service

A cleaning service is a very low-risk service to provide to homeowners. This doesn’t just apply to owners who are selling their homes. You can provide real estate services to existing homes, commercial buildings, and vacation rentals. Vacation rentals are booming and require constant cleaning and turnovers, allowing you to find consistent work.

Depending on the area you live in, there could be a high demand for cleaning services. You can also contact real estate agents and offer your cleaning services. They’re often in touch with owners and vacation rental managers who could use your services.

16. Become a Mobile Notary

A notary is an officially licensed individual who verifies a person’s identity, witnesses a signature and records it. A notary’s job is to help eliminate fraudulent transactions. And depending on the state that you’re in, notaries are needed for many signature types. For example, notaries are needed for wills, court documents, trusts, and so on.

You can become a mobile notary and travel around verifying identities and witnessing signatures. A mobile notary travels to the person and charges an extra fee to do so. Some online notaries can even verify your identity and witness your signature through video. To learn more about becoming a mobile notary read this.

17. Do Social Media Marketing for Agents

Another way to earn is to do social media marketing for real estate agents. Most agents are too busy to run or manage their social media accounts. That’s where you come in. You can offer social media marketing by reaching out to agents through direct messaging on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and others.

Before you do that, make sure that you have a professional photo and posts. You should also create a hero funnel (aka link in bio funnel). This hero funnel will be the website link inside of all your social media profiles and should go to your hero funnel. A hero funnel is just a sales funnel about you that’s designed to capture the contact details of people interested in your services.

18. Create a Subscription Service for Agents

Another way to make money in real estate is to create a subscription service for agents. You can create postcard designs, write letters, create email sequences, build landing pages, and create other material that you can offer every month to agents. This is a great way to generate recurring revenue from agents who will continue to pay month after month for a valuable service.

You can build an entire subscription service and membership area with this software here. You can even customize the look and feel with a drag-and-drop editor without any tech skills at all. This means that you can build an entire membership site without hiring an expensive coder. Just imagine the things you can do and the amount of money you can make without needing anyone else’s help.

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Emily N

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