Amelia and Grace, who started WIIRE (Women Invest In Real Estate), know how important it is for women who want to invest in real estate or are already doing so to have a supportive community. Since they were both full-time real estate investors, they wanted to create a place where women could meet, learn, grow, and help each other along their way in the real estate business. They have put together a 10 step guide to help you figure out how to invest in real estate. Their guide is meant to give an easy-to-understand picture of the most important things to think about and do if you want to be successful as a female real estate investor.
Step 1: Understanding your "Why"
Understanding clearly why you want to invest in real estate is crucial because it will inform your choices and keep you committed to your objectives. Additionally, it will assist you in identifying the kinds of investments and business plans that are consistent with your moral principles and financial goals. Without a clear understanding of your motivation, it might be easy to veer off course or make choices that don't support your overall objectives. Additionally, having strong motivation can help you stay inspired despite the difficulties that real estate investing inevitably brings.
Your "why" may be to achieve time and location freedom, replace your full-time income, be your own boss, or something entirely else. For Grace and Amelia, they wanted the ability to focus on what brought joy to their lives full-time rather than trading time for money at a job in order to enjoy the little bit of extra time left over.
Step 2: What’s your financial situation?
Make sure you are knowledgeable about your own income, debts, loan eligibility, and all other aspects of your personal finances. This is crucial because, for instance, if you spend $50,000 rehabbing a property you just bought, you need to know where every penny is going and where adjustments can be made.
Detailing your own finances will help you be better prepared to look at properties and decide if they fit with not only your budget, but also your investment plan and how much risk you're willing to take.
Step 3: Choosing the Right Market
To give yourself the best chance for success, it's important to recognize and take advantage of the distinct strengths and resources you have at your disposal. This is known as "going with your competitive advantage." For instance, if you are able to invest locally, you may have an advantage over investors from other cities because you are more familiar with the circumstances and trends of the local market. This may give you a competitive advantage when looking for potential investment opportunities and negotiating contracts.
If you're unable to invest locally, ask around among family and friends. Having a relative who is a contractor and can give you a good price on work or someone who is very knowledgeable about the market could be examples of this. Ultimately, these connections will increase your profits from a property. Similar to this, if you have a friend or relative who is knowledgeable about the neighborhood real estate market, they might be able to offer insightful opinions and advice that will enable you to make better investment choices. If you don't have a competitive advantage, research online for real estate markets that are hot right now.
Step 4: Choose a Real Estate Investment Strategy
When deciding on a real estate investment strategy, keep your financial goals and risk tolerance in mind. Short-term strategies like flipping and wholesaling can generate quick profits, but they require a large amount of capital and are a bit more risky. Long-term rentals are a more passive investment strategy that can provide a consistent stream of income over time but at a lower rate of return. Mid-term rentals can provide a good mix of short-term and long-term strategies.
Step 5: Establish Crystal-Clear Deal Criteria
By determining EXACTLY what you're looking for, you create a situation in which you know you've found a "must-buy" property if most or all of your criteria are met, such as location, price, investing strategy, whether it needs rehab or not, what a cash-on-cash return would look like, and so on. Present your criteria to realtors, wholesalers, and local investment groups so that they can find exactly what you're looking for. After that, if a wholesaler or realtor approaches you with a potential property that you don't like but aren't sure why, it means your deal criteria aren't crystal clear and you need to go into more detail with them, and yourself, about exactly what you're looking for. As a result, if a property checks all of your boxes, you'll be forced to purchase it.
Step 6: Local vs. Out-of-State Investing
Don't waste time searching both locally and out of state. As mentioned in Step 3, your competitive advantage should be the market in which you invest, so determine where that advantage is. Some advantages and disadvantages of investing locally: your business will be easier to start, but you will be at the center of it, doing the majority of the work. Scaling will be more difficult because, once again, you are doing the work. Investing out-of-state, on the other hand, may be more difficult to acquire your first property, but it will require you to put systems and people in place to take care of the property and tenants for you and will be easier to scale.
Step 7: Do It Yourself or Hire Out The Work?
Assuming your investment property needs a facelift, when it comes to remodeling, whether you do it yourself (DIY) or hire someone to do it for you depends on the amount of time and money you have available. If you have a lot of spare time but not a lot of money, DIY may be the best option for you. This allows you to save money on labor while also learning new abilities. However, bear in mind that renovating a home takes a significant amount of time, effort, and knowledge, and it's critical to understand the scope of work and the resources you'll need before beginning the project.
On the other hand, if you're short on time but have the money, hiring the work may be the best option. This allows you to concentrate on other elements of your business while the renovation is being completed, and it also assures that the work is completed by experts, which can raise the value of your property. Before making a choice, weigh the merits and downsides of both solutions against your available time and money. You can also take a hybrid approach, in which you perform some activities yourself while hiring specialists to handle more difficult tasks, such as electrical and plumbing work. In any case, it's important to have a plan and a budget in place before you start remodeling. It's also important to be prepared for any unexpected costs that may come up during the process.
Steps 8 and 9: Resource Recommendations
Learn enough to be dangerous (willing to take action), but not so much that you get analysis paralysis and never make actual progress. Amelia recommends two books to consider, the same two she really appreciated: and by BiggerPockets. She also loves the BiggerPockets podcasts and channel, as they both have a huge amount of resources and information available.
Grace highly recommends by Vicky Robin. It will help you understand your investment strategy better by getting crystal-clear on what you want out of life and understanding that your time equals money.
Step 10: Join the WIIRE Community
Join the .The women at the recent WIIRE retreat gave helpful feedback to the community members who were there. In particular, the women said that they don't have a group of women back home with whom they can talk about real estate, money, and goals all the time. So, they like the community they've found because it's full of people who like the same things they do. They also said that the fact that the group is made up of only women makes it different and fun, with each member having a different level of silliness and openness. The group will soon announce their next retreat, which will be in 2023. If you want to know more, check out their Instagram account.
How Furnished Finder Plays a Role
Both Amelia and Grace agreed that Furnished Finder has the best resources for mid-term rentals. They're amazed that people still ask where they're listing their rentals because they assume everyone knows about Furnished Finder. It is the greatest platform to find travel nurses as tenants. One of their first properties listed on Furnished Finder was booked in under a week.
There are so many helpful resources on Furnished Finder for both landlords and tenants. Free tenant screenings (opens in new tab), customizable state-specific leases (opens in new tab), a Landlord Tips E-Book (opens in new tab), a free report on travel nurse demand in your area (opens in new tab), and more are available to landlords. Tenants can submit housing requests (opens in new tab)get tips on how to avoid scams (opens in new tab); and access a Travel Nurse Essential E-Book (opens in new tab).
In conclusion, Amelia and Grace's 10 step guide to jump starting your next real estate investment is a valuable resource for women who want to invest in real estate or are already doing so. The guide covers important topics such as understanding your motivation for investing, assessing your financial situation, choosing the right market, and selecting a real estate investment strategy. By following these steps, you can increase your chances of success and achieve your financial goals as a female real estate investor. Additionally, WIIRE provides a supportive community for women to meet, learn, grow, and help each other along their way in the real estate business.