Everton Park When buying an investment property one of the key questions you need to ask yourself is – are you in it for the long haul?
Unless it’s a booming property market, it’s unlikely that you will be able make huge profits in real estate in only a short period of time.
Most investment properties should be looked at as a long-term investment. Real estate always moves around in cycles and there will always be peaks and troughs. But if you look at the bigger picture, real estate still tends to move in an upwards direction over time and past data shows that house prices double on average about every 10 years.
When you consider other investments, like super and shares, most people get into these with the mindset that they will make a profit in the long-term, except the advantage with investing in real estate is that it can also offer you a home and a lifestyle while you’re waiting for your investment to grow.
Sure, money can and has been made through short-term property investments, but this requires good research, good timing and a bit of good luck too.
Of course you should still do your research when investing for the long term too, but when you do buy a property, don’t think that you will be able to flip it for a profit in a day.
A property will likely take 5 or 10 years before good returns can be made, so it is better to approach property investment with a long-term view.
If you keep your property for long enough any peaks or troughs will smooth out and no matter what point in the market you buy or sell you home, it will eventually end up being worth a lot more than it was the day you bought it.