Real Estate Investment Basics

Real estate investments are defined by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics as real estate owned by a corporation or partnership. Real estate investment basically involves the acquisition, ownership, control, disposition, rental and improvement of real estate properties for private profit. Improvement of real estate as a part of an overall real estate investment plan is generally viewed as a sub-specialty of real estate investment known as real estate development. It can also be further sub-classified into real estate investment property and real estate investment real estate.

In order to make real estate investments, an investor normally needs to have a certain amount of capital. Real estate investors generally seek to acquire and/or develop residential real estate properties in order to create an immovable asset. Immovable assets are those assets that can be held by a person without having to move from one place to another i.e. the house can be mortgaged for the value of the house and the physical asset can be held by the person who owns it; whereas an intangible asset like money is not necessarily tangible but can be re-sold or traded.

Investment programs in real estate can include residential properties, commercial properties, vacant land, vacant real estate land and other non-asset types. There are many different types of real estate investment programs. Some of the most common include: lease and rent back, buy to let, income based lease option, exchange value warranties, lease options, tax equity and land trust. Most investors focus on investing in low risk investments, which make real estate investments recession proof.