Sound Real Estate Investment Is All About The Numbers
Jul 16th, 2007 by Smart House Buyer
If you do the calculations and the numbers look good and you’ve considered all the influencing factors, then there is no reason that you shouldn’t invest in the property even if you have not actually viewed it yourself. Make sure that you get all the building and pest inspections completed before making the final decision, as even if you have all the numbers, you do not know if there is anything hidden in the property that may impact the property’s value and future required expenses.
Here is the reason why I also believe that it can be detrimental to personally view a real estate that you are purchasing as an investment. It is too easy to allow emotions to get in the way of your decision making when viewing a property. You may absolutely fall in love with the property because it suits the kind of property you like to live in, or it looks great or any other reason. This sort of emotion quickly clouds your decision making process and can cause you to make concessions about numbers where you previously wouldn’t have, thus leading you to make a bad purchase decision. Or the contrary might happen, you may completely dislike the property because its just not the place you’d like to live in, and even if all the numbers are shouting out that its a great investment, you choose not to purchase it because you just don’t like it. You have to remember here that you are not going to be the person living in it. Its an investment and if you’ve researched the area for vacancy rates, then other people will probably want to live there & you will get the rent you are looking for.
Thus at the end of the day, sound real estate investment decisions are based entirely on numbers. Do the math, if it adds up, buy it, if not, walk away.

Hi, Great post. Donald Trump used to say, if you don’t know a deal down to the paper clips, then you are in store for some unfortuante surprises. I completely agree that you should do all of your due dilligence in making sure that the numbers make sense, and you should hire reputable professionals to do the inspection. However, I would still do a final walk through of the property to set my mind at ease before going to the closing.
-4MySales