Real Estate Market

[Martel Metellus]

I am interested in taking real estate as a career but am scared that the market can crash at any time. Are there any ways an investor can keep himself/herself from getting negatively impacted from a market crash? I am very cautious about real estate due to the market having the potential to be very unstable. 

[Bill Gulley]

Martel, you need to learn the basics of real estate to understand property values and your market. You need to be nimble, react quickly to opportunities and you need to understand the basics in order to recognize opportunities. 

Then you'll see that it doesn't matter what the market does, if one area crashes another area compensates, homes always sell, properties still rent, people have to live somewhere regardless of what the Fed does or how many properties are dumped on the market, there is always opportunity. 

Those who lose in the market are not diversified in their knowledge, being stuck in one niche or another can be a short life span in business. High interest rates in the 80's killed off some contractors, it was a great time for landlords. 

While most of the buzz by "investors" here on BP is about buying low, money is made in real estate by adding value, building equity, buying low is not the only answer to a good deal.  I've paid market prices and more than doubled my money in a year and it really didn't matter what the market was doing, it's what you can do with a property that counts. 

Good luck in '16! :)