Real Estate

Here are the top reasons why Real Estate is one investment vehicle that you have to consider in putting up your personal financial portfolio:

• Appreciation

This is one of the basic motives for investing in real estate and what most people are after. Prices of your property tend to increase depending on location and how well the property has been managed for years, even decades. And I mean "depending on" because not all real estate properties go on an uptrend;there will be factors like poor management or economic factors that are way out of your control. With a decent appreciation of your property, you can actually cash out by selling it and moving on to what you plan to do with the cash you earned.

• Cash Flow

Put up an 8-door apartment or purchase 3 condominium units and put a "For Rent" sign on it. Once you have tenants coming in, they pay you for rent and you have for yourself money which you didn't have to work for. Probably the only thing you have sweat for this kind of passive income is how to generate the money to purchase these properties. So long as you can guarantee tenants to rent your property, you can earn enough passive income to pay for your desired lifestyle.

• Leverage

For some investors, paying the price of a property in full may not be a luxury everyone has, especially with little cash on hold. This is where leverage comes in handy. With a set down payment of the price, the investor can own the property while having the balance financed in a bank or other financial institution at interest. Leverage can work well when buying a property to have it for rent as the monthly payment of the tenant can pay off your amortization of the property. In other words, you use what Robert Kiyosaki calls as "Other People's Money", a feature not present in stocks, mutual funds or other savings vehicles. You don't need a whole chunk of cash to buy one. You just need some of it and let others pay for your property. That's leverage!

• Tangible

When I mean tangible, real estate is the investment vehicle which your two eyes can see to believe that it actually exists. Whether it is just a piece of land or a 3-door duplex, you know your investment is there without worrying where it went. Unlike in paper assets and in some businesses, there is this sense of safety and security knowing that you have an investment that is visible and tangible.