5 Ways Real Estate is Your Smartest Investment

More and more people are choosing to invest their money in real estate, and doing so is shaping up to be an extremely smart choice. The housing market has recovered drastically from its burst bubble in the 2008 recession and real estate investment is yet again "in." Below are five solid ways real estate is your smartest investment.

1. It's Solid Passive Income

While you are still responsible for maintaining the property, addressing tenant issues and providing proper home insurance coverage, real estate investment offers some pretty solid passive income. This income will especially be of value when you near retirement, as if you continue to own the property you can collect your normal income on it. Having that solid passive income constantly coming in is also a great way to train yourself to save for retirement - just be sure to automatically take some of that money and put it aside every month. Especially if you vet tenants properly and get some really good ones, you can have dedicated renters for years on end.

2. The Market Is Very Good Right Now

The housing market is genuinely in a good state right now, not another bubble, like what happened prior to 2008. More people are living within their means and not buying houses they can't afford, home prices are going up, foreclosure levels are way down and many of the practices that led to the recession are now regulated. Luxury homes continue to perhaps be the most profitable type of real estate to invest in, though values are up across the board.

3. There Are Multiple Ways To Capitalize On The Investment

You can rent out a property. You can flip it. You can buy a property for cheap and then sell it for a higher price to the right buyer. You could even buy up properties in a neighborhood, fix them up and make the area a more desirable place to live. By doing that, of course, you can charge more for rent as well as improve people's lives. The great thing about real estate investment is that there are multiple, multiple ways you can capitalize on it. Simply by doing market research, buying and selling properties carefully and making strategic repairs and improvements, the value of your investment goes up.

4. You Have A Lot Of Leverage

There are a lot of things you have direct control over that can be used to increase the value of your property and your investment. For example, you can fix a roof and up the selling price or rent. You can renovate the interior and up the selling price or rent. You can simply buy and sell property at the right time for the right price and see a net gain. That means you have much more direct control over the value of your investment than other types of investments, so you're not completely at the mercy of fate.

5. Real Estate Investment Carries Less Risk

While real estate investment always carries some risk and there are a lot of potential pitfalls where you can lose big, on the whole, real estate is less of a risky investment than other types, such as stocks. Stocks are quite volatile and when they dip and grow so does your investment, immediately. Real estate ups and downs happen a lot slower than that and don't always affect your bottom line, especially if you have a renter and they continue to pay. Loans from banks or other sources, even online ones, like CashNetUSA, are relatively easy to get, although many lenders have implemented stricter standards post-recession. In a CashNetUSA review, many customers have had good experiences with taking out loans from them.

Real estate is and will continue to be a smart investment, especially when many people, businesses and lenders have learned their lessons in the aftermath of the 2008 recession. You have a lot of flexibility on how to improve a property's value, there are a number of ways to make income off it and it carries less risk than other forms of investment. It's easy to see why real estate investing has become an extremely smart investment yet again.