Investor · Thermopolis, WY · Member since 2012 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
12y
I agree. That is not a question I would answer with a specific number. In my case I claim I have not made any money in the last 20 years because I have never taken money out of my real estate. I use it like a retirement plan. Of course if I had done a better job of investing early on I might just be retired now.
Thanks for your responses. I probably should have put this into more context, and understand your reservations about answering. I was really just curious what the average/realistic income potential is in real estate investing (with the understanding there are many variables). When I chose my current FT job, part of my research was going onto websites like salary.com. For REI, I thought it might be more effective to ask the actual investors. I do apologize for invading privacy; is there another less intrusive way I might get this information?
Syndicator and Fund Manager · Victor, NY · Member since 2012 · 760 posts · 345 votes
12y
If money is your desire then you can become wildly successful investing in real estate. You could also lose everything. Make sure you actually enjoy doing something and if you're good at it the money will come.
Everybody on this forum would have a different dollar amount as an answer to this question. Set goals for yourself including the income that you desire and then create a plan to get there.
Real Estate Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2014 · 62 posts · 6 votes
12y
Thanks @Derek Carroll . Your comment brought up an interesting 'related discussion' called "what is your motivating factor to continue in REI?" which I will definitely check out. I also appreciate your advice to focus on MY goals -- good to stay on track!
Flipper/Rehabber · Greeley, CO · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
12y
Like it was already said that is a hard question to answer. There are many ways to make money in real estate as well: selling houses as an agent, long term rentals, fix and flips, wholesaling, property management.
I am pretty transparent with how much I make on my rentals since I give all the numbers on my blog. I have bought 10 in the last 3.5 years and probably spent about $280k to 300k on those rentals, but I refinanced two of them and took out about $55,000 cash. I will conservatively make about $5,000 a month on those rentals after expenses and mortgage payments. It helps that I paid one off this year using the cash flow from the others. I figure that gives me around a 24% return on my money.
For my fix and flips that is a completely different ball game. I try to make at least 25,000 a flip and hope to complete 15 this year. I use a combo of my own money, bank financing and private money so it is hard to figure how much of my own money is involved. I built up a bank roll over the years to help fund those properties. Flipping is more of a job than it is investing.
As an agent it doesn't take much money to get started, but to grow it takes a lot of money especially when you hire help. I wont go into too much details on that side since you asked about investing.
Residential Real Estate Agent · Columbus, OH · Member since 2013 · 281 posts · 110 votes
12y
I'm between 25-35% returns before any tax deductions. I only have 2 properties at the moment though! I'm more of a conservative investor at the moment with goals to have 10 properties paid off by my 45th birthday(15 years left).
People have made lots of money in real estate from the beginning of time...but many people go broke trying to make a quick buck too. Do some research but make sure you get your hands dirty as soon as possible in something you can financially manage.