My advice to you would be to save your hard earned money, most of the advice given only works in ideal situations and a lot of it is pretty darn risky. The real “secret” to success when investing in real estate is quite simply to not lose money. Obvious right?
There are people making big profits investing in real estate but the reality of the situation is they are; in the minority, usually they have a lot of cash on hand, and they are very well connected to people with cash and there local market. These investors pay high taxes because of there short term gains, as well as being vulnerable to shifting market trends, and uncertainty in home values. The biggest factor in my opinion is that these investors are generally so focused on real estate that a lot of important things in life may be missed. If you think about it it’s pretty ludicrous to think that the answer to mass amounts of wealth can be had by purchasing a DVD.
There are a lot more people getting wealthy investing in real estate that buy and hold real estate for long term benefits. The tax advantages from buying and holding real estate are a huge deal. As well as the fact that you can leverage your money and purchase multiple properties that will produce long term cash flow. I like to think of my rental properties as part of my retirement portfolio and not as my get rich quick plan.