Should I Invest in Real Estate While Running an Internet Business?

 Copyright 2005 Peter Dobler

Of course you should. I practice this for quite a while and I never looked back. I think this is the perfect combination. You get the best of both worlds. Did you know that 90% of all millionaires made their fortune with real estate and 10% with the internet or the stock market? Well, this doesn't leave any room for the paycheck workers, doesn't it?

I once read a small phrase that totally changed my life "Trading hours for money doesn't bring you any wealth". This powerful phrase stuck with me ever since. Take a moment and think about this. We all do it by being employed by an employer we trade hours for money. How many hours per week can you trade without completely giving up your life? 60, 70 hours max. This doesn't leave much room for a family life or having some fun, doesn't it?

Well, enough of this depressing stuff. Let's talk about something fun. Did you know you can actually make money while you're sleeping? It is called residual income.

With your internet business you want to achieve residual income through selling membership subscriptions to any form of service that charges monthly dues. Typically you will receive your share of this as monthly installments. You do the work once and you get paid over and over again.

With real estate you achieve the same effect with rental properties. Although your involvement in the process is a little bit bigger, but it is still manageable. You have to collect the rent and making sure it is paid on time. On the other hand you have to pay all the bills like mortgage payments, insurance, taxes and sometimes utility bills. Depending on the type of lease agreement you have with the tenants.

This takes care of the residual income part. As a rule of thumb if your residual income covers your living expenses you're on your way to be successful. Now you can start doing the fun part with real estate. Not that there's anything wrong with being a landlord. I personally don't like this part of investing in real estate.

The fun part for me is to work deals with real estate. It could be buying an old property way below market, fix it up and sell it with a profit. Another method in dealing with real estate is called flipping. In this case I simply control the property through a contract and then assign the contract to another buyer. Of course I will collect a fee for my services. I prefer the second method because the least amount of money and work is involved. Fixing up properties can turn into a time and money consuming project.

The point I want to make is that you need to establish some sort of residual income to cover your basic living expenses in order to expand your business.

Of course you can do all of the things mentioned and still working full time. That's what most people are doing. However you have to decide if the extra income is worth the effort. You will need a lot of time to do both investing in real estate and running an internet business.

Visit my home business website and my real estate website to learn about effective systems to leverage both business models without completely giving up your life.

About the author:

Peter Dobler is a 20+ year veteran in the IT business. He is an active Real Estate Investor and a successful Internet business owner. Learn more about real estate investments at http://www.doblerproperties.com or send a blank email to mailto:suncoastrenttoown@getresponse.com to receive our newsletter.

 Peter Dobler

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