There’s been recent increased interest in investors who want to start a real estate investing business, and it makes sense. During times of so much economic uncertainty, one investment sector has continued to perform well: real estate.
While typical stocks came crashing down, real estate investments stayed solid. It makes sense that new investors are looking to get involved and launch their own real estate investing business. But where do you start?
It can be overwhelming to figure out exactly what steps to take, and that’s why we wanted to bring in an expert to break it all down. Michael Andrew Lauchlan is a real estate investing expert and has an impressive history in real estate investing in Las Vegas, as well as other sectors such as crowdfunding.
Michael Andrew Lauchlan is sharing some of his insider tips, and three steps to starting a wildly successful real estate investing business.
Michael, how did you get involved in real estate?
I’m an entrepreneur and self-starter at heart. I worked in a lot of industries which are adjacent to real estate, before I switched to real estate investing. I guess you could say I got my start back in college.
I successfully raised $25,000 for my first project when I was still in college, and that opened up a whole new world for me. After I learned about the benefits of crowdfunding firsthand, I started to share those skills with others. Then I made the switch to real estate investing, primarily in Las Vegas.
Why do you credit crowdfunding with your start?
It’s an excellent way to fund projects, plain and simple. It helps you figure out a lot of skills on the fly, such as marketing, investing, and networking. All of these skills were necessary to successfully fund my projects, and these skills have also been huge in real estate investing.
Great segue – so, tell us about the state of the real estate investing industry.
It’s highly competitive, because it’s doing so well right now. But I don’t want that to discourage new investors from wanting to get involved and get a piece of the action. All that means is that you need to learn a few things, before you jump in with both feet.
Having a mentor to guide you is huge and can really make a difference. If you’re not using a mentor, you’re definitely missing out. I’ve found mentorship to be one of the biggest factors of my success.
Give us your secrets- three steps to starting a wildly successful real estate investing business?
Well if I had to boil it down to three steps, I would say the first step to start with is by doing extensive market research on the area you want to operate in. It’s great to pick one area to start, and home in on the specific traits and trends of that location.
It can be a neighborhood, a city, or maybe even a wide swatch of a state, depending on where you live. Just know it’s ideal to be able to access those locations easily, at least at first. Next, you want to focus on your funding. How are you going to pay for your investments? You can turn to typical financing routes, but there are also plenty of alternative solutions, such as crowdfunding and hard money loans.
Thirdly, when you get going, you want to build a strong online brand. This is crucial for networking in this digital era, and when you build up your network, you’ll find potential partners, new investments, and reap plenty of other benefits.
Why do you focus on real estate investing?
Two words: passive income. I speak a lot about passive income, because it’s really a dream come true. Passive income can give you the financial freedom you dream about, and it’s possible to get there.
When you start operating with the goal of passive income in mind, you start looking at things differently, for the long term. Real estate investments can generate passive income for years and years, and really set you up for life.