The late night infomercials and real estate investing ads would have you believe that it’s an easy thing to get rich quick in real estate. Listening to them, one would think that at least a handful of millionaires are made every few seconds, especially once they’ve seen the wisdom in purchasing whatever high price seminar the “guru” is selling. If only it WERE so easy. One reality in this life is that a sure way to tell if the sales pitch is nothing more than a load of warmed over crap is a promise of amazing, immediate wealth at any point in the spiel.

Sorry, folks, that’s just life. If you’re still falling for a get rich quick mentality, it’s going to be a long, painful life ahead of you. We’ve noticed that the real estate investing industry has a lot in common with the weight loss industry. HOW to accomplish the goal is very simple – nothing secretive about it – but the discipline and patience to accomplish it is a different matter entirely. To lose weight, you know what you need to do (burn more calories than you take in) and the same applies to real estate, only with the latter it’s all about finding the deal that makes financial sense.

The only type of investing that makes sense to us is income property, which is far superior to other forms of investment because it creates cash flow for you immediately. This is something stocks, bonds, and gold sure can’t do. But just like there’s nothing wrong with soliciting the opinion of professionals when you’re trying to lose weight, it makes sense to have input from real estate pros when you’re tracking down appropriate income property investments, especially when it comes to structuring the deal.

We believe that long-term, fixed-rate debt tied to a piece of income property is an unbeatable combination for cash flow, appreciation, and anti-inflationary characteristics. If you don’t have inflation on your list of things to fear in the coming years, better put it there quick. Money-based assets like stocks, CD’s, cash, and savings are going to take a vicious hit. If you never realized it before, when inflation is strong, you are in a better position financially to be the holder of debt, not a holder of money. That’s where income properties come in and get rich quick goes flying out the window. The funny thing is that by following prudent, conservative income property strategies, chances are good you’ll get where you want to go faster than someone who tries and discards get rich quick promises his whole life.

The AIPIS Team

Flickr / Nevada Tumbleweed