How to Avoid These Top 8 Investment Pitfalls

We have gathered our top 8 articles for you to give you a head start when you tackle your next investment property. Make sure to avoid these pitfalls:

1. Not Choosing a Safe Rent to Mortgage Ratio – When you purchase a real estate investment there are many decisions that you will need to make, but making sure that you have a solid rent to mortgage ratio is imperative to turning a profit.
2. Not Understanding Your Investment – As with any investment, there’s a certain amount of research that you’ll need to do before jumping in. If you don’t understand your investment inside and out, how do you expect to make top dollar?
3. Not Weighing Your Financing Options – There are pros and cons to choosing to buy a property outright with cash as well as choosing to take a loan out to purchase the property. You will want to find what works best for you and your business, but weigh your options carefully.
4. Not Knowing What Questions to Ask – They say no question is a stupid question, but if you’re new to investing you may not know what questions that you should ask your lender. We’ve gathered the top five questions that you should always ask to make sure that you have the information that you need before applying for a mortgage for your investment.
5. Not Anticipating What Could Cost You Money – It’s impossible to prepare for everything, but you can protect yourself and your investment against quite a bit. Learning from other’s mistakes and being able to pinpoint the things that may cost you money in your investment is a good place to start.
6. Not Looking Ahead – As you compare mortgages you will want to keep an eye on interest rates to make sure that you understand what the market is doing and, in the end, make the best investment choices that you can for your business.
7. Not Using Every Advantage at Your Disposal – You may think that your best option is to cut out the middle-man and go straight to speak to lenders directly when applying for a loan, but there will be times when using a mortgage broker will help you save time and may give you access to options you wouldn’t have had otherwise.
8. Not Having Everything Put Together –  When you go to apply for a loan you should have all your paperwork already put together. If you don’t, you could be scrambling last second. Check out this article to see what you should have ready before you apply.