From Buyincomeproperties.com

Income Property Financing
Why Understanding Property Investment Finance is Important
By BuyIncomeProperties.com
Jul 2, 2006, 14:34


Your success in real estate industry very much depends upon how much is your knowledge regarding the property investment finance. Do you understand when and if you should raise cash to assist your property investment finance, or you should go for investment property loans. In order to make sure that your deal is going to be successful, and it will build significant profit for you, you must understand the concept of real estate investment financing. Even you feel you know all the ins and outs of property investment finance, I will recommend you to go through the following information in order to make sure if you are following the right track. 

Understand Leverage

Leverage is one of the most important terms in real estate investment financing. Leverage is nothing but use of credit or borrowed funds so that you can improve your speculative capacity as well as increase the rate of return from an investment property. If you want to understand the concept of leverage, you must have a clear understanding of whether you should use cash as property investment finance, or you should use credit as real estate investment loan. Both the options have their pros and cons, and depending upon the circumstances, each of them has their advantages as well. For example, in a real estate market where the value of the property constantly increases, if you opt for a purchase and decide to make the full payment in cash, it may not be a good way to make your property investment finance. That way, eventually you will have to suffer losses. Moreover, if the repairs or the vacancies (no tenant) in your property have the potential risk of negative cash flow. Again, even if you have a positive cash flow, remember that it is a taxable income. However, if you do not want to pay tax until you sell the property, make your efforts to build an increase in equity. Overall, you should keep in mind that your main motive must be to utilize the borrowed money completely in a way that can help you make a return on your investment. After all, this is what the concept of leverage is all about. 

The Size of Down Payment

The size of your down payment plays a very important role in determining your investment property loan. Moreover, it determines the cash flow on your rental properties. You must keep in mind the following points while you are deciding about the size of your down payment. 

  • A fixed-rate investment property loan is not always a good idea. You need to be very careful while opting for the same. Your decision should depend upon what are your requirements and what is your ultimate goal. Be very careful while choosing the right type of investment property loans. 
  • While determining their goal, most investors tend to acquire a positive cash flow only. However, it is not always prudent to seek only a positive cash flow as the final goal. In no way does it mean that if the property has a positive cash flow, the property will be more profitable. On the other hand, this is not the case with equity. If you have more equity, it will certainly increase your monthly cash flow. But again, when it comes to real estate investment financing, it can be treated as the best use of your hard-earned money. 
  • Last, but not the least, there are certain things, which you should NOT DO. For example, you should not buy a property with no down payment, as it is not good for the health of your Property investment finance. Again, buying a property with negative cash flow should obviously be a definite no-no because there is no remedy to turn such a negative cash flow into positive at a later stage. Moreover, do not make this misconception that your only source of profit is the short-term market appreciation. 

Hence, if you have the clear understanding of all the ins and outs of real estate investment financing, you certainly maximize your chances of success in the real estate industry.




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