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When I asked her the reason for selling her house, she replied that she could no longer tolerate the noise and traffic in her neighborhood.

It appears that her house was located just across the main gate of a well-known private school and every morning there was heavy traffic because of the students coming to classes being brought by private vehicles and public transport.

I have also a friend who recently sold his house located in a subdivision because of thievery and two incidents of hold-ups inside the subdivision, and he was disturbed by the lack of peace and order inside.

That is why as a realtor, I always agree that the three most important words in buying a house are “location, location, and location.”

Location is really a factor to consider when you buy a house, and also in buying, you need to think about selling—that is, if you sell your house in the future, whether or not your investment will pay off.

What makes for the perfect location when you buy your home? It depends on your personal needs, but in general there are six basic factors to consider, as follows:

1.  Your safety. This includes a peaceful neighborhood, no gang activity, break-ins of thieves, with presence of the police force or private security guards. Some upscale subdivisions maintain a 24-hour security, but you must pay a relatively big amount of membership dues to include the salaries of the security force.

2.  Access to school. If you have children or having a family of your own, the quality of the schools is important. Your house should not be neighbor to the school, but must have easy access to it.

3.  Shopping, Malls, Medical Facilities, Market. Your home must have easy walking or driving distance to shopping malls, restaurants, hospitals, and markets so that you can live with ease and comfort.

4. Commute Time. Your home should be in a location where travel time to basic facilities and amenities is shorter. In addition, there should be the availability of public transport in going to work, to do shopping, and to school for your children.

5.  Recreational Facilities. If you like to exercise, go to the gym, walking or jogging, or like to spend time outside for recreation or sports, then choose a location or neighborhood that is near a park, walking spaces, jogging path, and other facilities.

6. Neighbors. Your neighbors must be a factor in choosing a location. Your peace of mind, quiet of abode, and enjoyment of your property depend on the kind of neighbors you have.

In summary, choosing a location that is perfect for your needs when you buy a house is an important factor, just as important when you choose a house to buy that is right for you.

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I meet people who have the same thinking as the reader, and they have almost similar questions.

From a realtor’s point of view, however, I could say that buying a home is really a good investment. Actually, we buy a house because we intend to live in it for a long time or, to some, for a lifetime.

But a house is also a good investment for its own sake. I’ll enumerate here the reasons why, to help you decide for yourself:

1. Your house appreciate its value over time, so it is anti-inflation. Real estate property, like a house and lot, increase in value, for example, every year. That represents savings for you.

2. You can buy your house with little investment using leverage funds, like borrowing money through a mortgage, and it adds up to your assets. Because of your house (actually real estate since you also own the lot where your house stands) appreciates its value, your investment will increase and you earn passive income as a result.

3. Savings. Owning your own home is a way to save money, e.g. compared when you are just renting the property.

4. Peace of Mind And Status. Since you own a house, you will have peace of mind because no matter what happens, no landlord will evict you out. Furthermore, our society as a whole consider owning a home as a status symbol, as differentiated from being a renter. Homeowners see their homes as proof of success and stability, a reward for their hardwork.

There are many other reasons why buying a home is a good investment, but to me the foregoing four are enough to convince me that it is.

The answer is yes. In fact, marketing is the lifeblood of business and investment, including real estate business and investing in real estate.

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Without marketing, especially selling which is a function of marketing, your real estate business will just die.

Therefore, since real estate business is a serious business, you need marketing strategies and plans to make it successful and earn profit.

In designing your marketing plans you must have a budget. Be conscious always of your expenses and cost, e.g. price of real estate which you are buying and your sources of income, e.g. revenue from selling real estate.

It is only through marketing that you can find landowners who are willing to sell their properties and you develop a listing of all the properties for sale and for lease.

At the same time, it is also through marketing that you can promote the properties which you are selling as well as find buyers of the properties under your listing.

Your marketing strategies for real estate investing can earn you more income and profit if you know how to implement it. Remember, the success of your marketing is in the implementation.

These are the two often asked questions about investment in real estate and the real estate business in general.

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The answer is: It depends on the type of personality you have and on the manner of investing that you make.

Thousands of people have turned to the real estate business to make money. And a lot of these people have made themselves into self-made millionaires.

It appears that making money in this industry is more than possible. If you know how to get started, and make the right decisions, you can make tons of money.

Like in any type of business, people enter into it because of their personal goals. So, before you get too involved in the real estate business you need to ask yourself what you want to do. There are many ways to make money with real estate, and you will need to plan your route early on.

As an introduction, real estate investing can be done in two ways.

1. You buy a property, fix it up, and then resell it for a profit. This is what many people are doing and they make money out of it. So, do you know how to manage it?

2. You buy a property and then rent it out. The advantage is that you will have a monthly income coming in from each property that you own.

If you have enough real estate giving you passive income each month, then you will never have to be employed again and be prisoner of a paycheck.

Getting started in real estate business is not that easy, but not difficult, either. In fact, it is challenging. You must have the money or sources of funds to buy the property.

After you have a piece of real estate in your name, then you are already in the real estate business. You will need to get it up to par, and then make a decision on what you want to do with it. Either way, the property will have to be in good enough shape to sell or rent out.

In sum, getting into the real estate business is one of the best ways to make money in today’s market. Many people have turned to this industry as a full-time job. A lot of these people have made millions of money.

You want to be next?

Though his real estate investment did not make him rich overnight, it made life for him and his family comfortable.

Presently, Fred has a four (4) door apartment building and three (3) houses which he rents out to tenants, earning for him a sure monthly income.

In fact, the rental income that he was getting now was more than two times his latest salary when he was still employed as a sales supervisor of a trading company before he was retrenched.

If you want to make money in real estate as a landlord like Fred, here’s how:

1. Find an old house or an old apartment building to buy. Buying old houses or apartment buildings are cheaper than buying new.

2. Buy the old house or apartment building for a little down payment as possible from your own pocket, and borrow as much as possible, by mortgaging the property.

3. Increase the value of the property immediately by renovating and upgrading it.

4. Once done, rent out the property. Since shelter is basic and people always need a place to live, a house or an apartment unit is always in demand.

5. Pay your mortgage, as well as the maintenance of the property, from the rental income. After paying the mortgage and the maintenance expenses, the remaining balance from the rental income will be yours to keep, to invest, or to make a living out of it.

Indeed, real estate is always a good investment, and one of these is by being a landlord.

Why? Because the population is growing and booming, and nobody is making any more land. Since land is in fixed supply, its price always goes higher as a result of increasing demand.

However many people believe that investment in real estate always requires money and lots of it. You must have money to make money, right?

Well, actually, you can buy real estate properties with little money – at least, none of your money down, and then you can be on the road to riches. In “1001 Perfectly Legal Ways To Get Exactly What You Want, When You Want It, Every Time,” the editors of FC & A Publishing share some of the following tips for investment with little money down:

1. Satisfy the seller’s needs. The seller may need to buy some items for his new home or new venture. Offer to purchase these items for him if he will reduce your down payment. You can use credit cards or, better still, store credit to buy the items.

2. Assume the seller’s debts. People often sell property because they want to relieve some of their financial obligations. You could contact the seller’s creditors, tell them you are going to pay the notes off  instead of the seller, and even ask them to extend the due dates of the notes. You then could deduct the amount of the obligations you assumed from the down payment.

3. Offer to pay the down payment in increasing installments. You could pay monthly in six months or on a year’s time. This gives you time to find the rest of the money, or you could fix the property up and put it back on the market for a quick profit.

So, as you can see, sometimes investing in real estate doesn’t cost much. It just takes a little creativity to make money.