Real estate, like this investment opportunity HERE, is an investment opportunity that enables One to work Only ONCE and continue ENJOYING the financial rewards FOREVER without tying Oneself to a regular everyday JOB every time. Talk about Wealth and Time Freedom indeed at the same time!
And when I talk about real estate investing, I mean 'Income Generating Real Property' as opposed to just building or rather investing in your own home where you intend to live or are currently living in. WHY? Because like Robert Kiyosaki, author of the most popular and influencial personal finance book of all times entitled "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" says and I quote him below:
"Your own house that you've built and/or bought and are currently living in happens NOT to be an Asset no matter what your Banker tells You!"
And I quite agree with him 100%!
BUT WHY YOU MIGHT ASK?
BUT HOW? YOU MIGHT ASK AGAIN!
However, I must hasten to state here that though in Economic terms, your own house that you currently live in, saves you quite some money in terms of opportunity costs if you happened to be renting as opposed to living in it when it comes to rental fees, it still remains a liability according to Robert Kiyosaki's definition.
But, according to the concept of 'Opportunity Cost' found in the subject of Economics, your own house you currently live in, saves you money in the sense that the money you were supposed to be paying in terms of house rental fees, you're now able and free to spend it on other things or rather simply save it. Thus the concept of opportunity cost states in economics!
But strictly and technically speaking, your own house that you currently live in is NOT really an asset.
And this now brings me to the question of how does my own house that I currently live in NOT qualify as an asset?
You see, dear prospective real estate investor, your own house you live in entails you paying monthly commitments or expenses such as electricity bills, water bills, cabbage collection bills, including various other taxes related to property such as property taxes. These by themselves do not make your own house as an asset in terms of Robert Kiyosaki's definition. They take money out of your pocket even though you may be saving in terms of opportunity costs as we've heard in one of the previous paragraphs above. That is why a person who has retired and happens to have no other regular source of income ends up finding himself or herself in financial problems because they eventually reach a point where they can no longer afford to pay for such vital monthly services due to the fact that they have no regular source of income to continue paying for such services.
And this is the very reason why Robert Kiyosaki says your own house you live in is NOT really an asset. It is a terrible liability unless you happen to have other sources of incomes from somewhere like this one HERE for instance to help you continue paying for such monthly commitments. And I agree with him totally.
And moreover, this is another reason why some home owners have ended up loosing their own properties to Uncle Sam, that is to say - The Local Authority or Government - due to accumulated property taxes such as land rates! The end result is that the government takes over their properties due to accumulated unpaid land rates and ends up selling their houses or real properties to other savvy real estate investors who understand the secrets behind real estate investment and indeed any other kind of investment portfolio.
THEREFORE, WHAT THEN ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?
BUT HOW AND WHY?
1. STABLE, CONTROLLABLE AND PREDICTABLE INCOME POTENTIAL
But by contrast, when you happen to have a solid piece of income generating real property in place, and of course with the application of proper management controls in place, that income stream like our very own Zambezi River, just keeps on flowing in, in a predictable and controllable manner. Yes, some certain other investment opportunities have performed well and may even continue to do so. But in the order of NEEDS, housing is BASIC! Everyone needs a place to live in. You either sleep under a roof or simply under a tree!. And the fact is, No One ever wants to spend a night or day outside.
2. TAX BENEFITS
3. CAPITAL BUILD UP
4. APPRECIATION
And yet to be fair, there are times when land/real property depreciates in value. But such are rare times indeed because even though land depreciates, it ALWAYS appreciates in value in the long run as long as one has that staying power! Moreover, housing happens to be a very necessary and inevitable NEED which in the long term will result in most income generating real property to increase in value after such market downfalls.
If you live in the Republic of Zambia, there are certain regions of the country where the value of real estate seems to be always appreciating at a good rate as opposed to depreciating. For instance, places like Lusaka Province, Eastern Province particularly Chipata District, and most recently the Copperbelt Province where we've witnessed a serious increase in mining investments or activities including the North-Western Province, Solwe District in particular where we've also seen and witnessed a high level of mining activities as well thus making this particular region attractive to shrewd real estate investors!
Therefore,the secret to success when applying this very factor of profitability of appreciation in your real estate investment portfolio, is to employ combinations of creative acquisition techniques that make it wise for you to invest in certain regions of the country inspite of a lack of appreciation. The key is to balance your real estate investment portfolio so that even if one region was experiencing fluctuations, you would still be indemnified in another region of the country where there is an unprecedented property appreciation.
5. LEVERAGE
Therefore, as you have seen and read above, real estate still remains one of the best investment alternatives available to the ordinary individual or investor. WHY? Because with real estate, an ordinary everyday person can sit on the throne of profit without having royal blood flowing through his body! In fact, real estate still remains the poor fellow's ONLY opportunity to make it big in life without having too much money in his pulse or wallet!
And yet to be fair, real estate also has it's own minuses just like every other investment opportunity. But these minuses cannot be compared to the many pluses that go in tanderm with real estate investing. They are far too many to make one NOT to WANT to Invest in it.
In conclusion, these Five (5) Factors of Profitability, that is to say, Stable Income Generation Potential, Tax Benefits, Capital Build-Up, Appreciation, and Leverage, still make real estate investing as one of the greatest and attractive investment opportunities available to the general masses, provided that these people have the necessary skill set and follow with extreme care an Action Plan for success in real estate investing.
However, I do not have the space here in this very blog post to discuss in greater detail what this Action Plan is and how one may apply it to work profitably for himself or herself. Space does not allow me here. This is probably a topic of discussion for another time in the near future. For now, I end here!
P.S : Looking for a House to Buy, House to Sell, Plot to Buy, or simply a Piece of Rental Property? Then click on the highlighted words right in this very short paragraph.
I love to hear your comments. Both positive and negative ones are all welcome. So, go right ahead and drop a comment below.
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