Real estate has been a cornerstone of wealth for centuries. Not only do many investors choose real estate as the main investment vehicle to become millionaires, but they also retain real estate holdings to preserve their wealth once they become millionaires. Between the passive income potential, long-term appreciation, and tax benefits, real estate continues to be the investment of choice for the wealthy.
At Gatsby Investment, we want to show you how to become a millionaire through real estate investing. You might be surprised at how simple it is.
Becoming a Millionaire Through Real Estate Investing
Investing in real estate is highly lucrative because it offers four different ways to make money.
1. Appreciation
Appreciation is the value growth of real estate. Market appreciation is the organic increase in value over time. Real estate can experience recessions, in which values temporarily dip, but they always come back up because people always need a place to live, and land is a limited resource. Forced appreciation is the effect of adding value to real estate. This can be achieved by developing vacant land or simply renovating an existing structure.
2. Tax Benefits
As a property owner, you’ll enjoy several tax benefits of investing in real estate, including deductions for depreciation, capital improvements, and mortgage interest expense. Being able to deduct these standard expenses from your taxable income can save you thousands of dollars on your taxes every year. The more real estate you own, the greater your tax savings.
3. Debt Leverage
By taking out a loan, you can finance an investment that you might not be able to pay for upfront. This allows you to leverage debt to increase the value of your investment capital. Plus, during periods of inflation, your debt is devalued as the dollar amount of the balance becomes less burdensome as inflation causes wages and returns to increase. And, in the case of a rental property, you benefit from having your renters pay off the debt for you.
4. Cash Flow
Long-term holdings benefit from recurring cash flow in the form of rental income. Much of the rental income will be used to pay property expenses like the mortgage, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs. But, assuming you chose your investment property wisely, you’ll have a fair bit of profit left over after paying those expenses.
This creates passive income from real estate, which you can use for living expenses, or you can put your earnings to work by using them to fund additional investments.
With this combination of appreciation, tax breaks, debt leverage, and cash flow, you’re well on your way to becoming a millionaire in real estate.
Investing Considerations
Before you dive into real estate investing, there are a few things to consider. After all, there are several mistakes to avoid when investing in real estate, and without proper planning, you’re more susceptible to those mistakes.
So here are some investing considerations to make before you start investing in real estate.
How Much to Invest
Real estate was generally considered to be an illiquid investment, meaning it’s difficult to get your cash out of the investment once you invest. While innovative investment models have created more liquid real estate investment types, becoming a millionaire through real estate investing typically means tying up some of your capital for a bit.
How Long to Hold Investments
Real estate is traditionally a long game. Sure, we’ve seen market booms recently that have made millionaires of real estate investors practically overnight. But that is not typical. Typical growth is slower and steadier.
If you’re looking to make some quick money, renovating a single-family home can take less than a year. Unfortunately, this can be riskier than other investment strategies, particularly if you’re in a slower phase of the real estate cycle. Plus, you’ll miss out on the cash flow, long-term tax breaks, and market appreciation of other investment models. So you might prefer to hold an investment for longer to optimize return potential.
Which Types of Real Estate to Invest In
- Single-family homes,
- Multi-family properties,
- Real estate development,
- Commercial real estate,
- Securities (like REITs, mutual funds, and ETFs), and
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Real estate syndication (where you pool your capital with other investors to buy an ownership stake in a higher-value property than you could afford alone).
You don’t need to choose just one investment type. In fact, when you know how to build a real estate portfolio, you can assemble a diverse group of investments to minimize your risk and maximize your returns. But you need to consider your options and decide where to start.
How to Become a Millionaire Through Real Estate Investing, Step-by-Step
Here’s a simple, three-step plan to help you earn your first million in real estate.
Step 1. Do Your Research and Create Your Investing Strategy
Before making any investments, it’s important to do some due diligence. You need to understand your investment options and create a flexible investing strategy. If you’re going to buy a property, you need to understand the local real estate market and thoroughly inspect any property you’re considering before buying. And if you’re going to invest in securities like REITs, you’ll want to review the prospectus, which outlines the details of the fund.
Your real estate investing strategy can be a loose plan of which investment types you want to acquire to reach your ultimate goal. Maybe you want to own a million dollars worth of assets. Or maybe you want your assets to generate a million dollars in income. How do you plan to get there from where you are now?
Our Education Center is full of useful articles, written by industry experts, to help you grow your knowledge of real estate investing and develop your investing strategy.
Step 2. Make Your First Investment
Your first investment asset is typically the most difficult to acquire. But, once you’re on the property ladder, subsequent investments will be easier.
Every investor is different. Some choose to start small with inexpensive, liquid real estate securities. Others dive in, purchasing a property to fix and flip or rent out over the long term. The important thing is to get started. Even with all your research, you will still be experimenting in your early stages as an investor. Investing is a learn-as-you-go venture. So don’t wait until you feel like you know everything. Get started in whatever capacity you can as soon as possible.
Step 3. Reinvest Your Profits
Rather than spending any investment profits, reinvest them to grow your real estate portfolio faster. This is the secret to becoming a millionaire through real estate investing. It’s not enough to have one asset. You need to leverage that asset into more assets that can generate more profits to be reinvested into more assets. This is called compounding, and it’s a virtuous cycle that will set you up for generational wealth!
How Gatsby Investment Can Help
Gatsby Investment offers a modern twist on traditional real estate investing models. As a real estate syndicate, Gatsby brings together accredited investors from all over the world to buy into high-value deals in the desirable Los Angeles real estate market. By pooling your funds with funding from other investors, you can access deals that might otherwise be out of reach if you were investing alone. With as little as $25,000, you can purchase a share in one of our most popular investment types:
- House flips
- Single-family rentals
- Multi-family renovations
- Multi-family developments
- Multi-family rentals
Our experienced team of real estate experts scouts properties, negotiates purchases, and creates the ownership LLC, with all investors listed as members of the LLC. Our team then handles all renovation work, new construction, or ongoing property management, as appropriate for each unique investment. We do the work, and you share in the results!
If you’re an accredited investor, looking to become a millionaire through real estate, choose from our available real estate investment opportunities today!
If you’re not a qualified accredited investor yet, don’t be discouraged. Start building your real estate investment portfolio now, and as you acquire more assets and grow your net worth, you’ll get closer and closer to accredited status. We’ll be here with unique investment opportunities for you when you're ready!