When it comes to growing your money, investing in real estate is one of the best ways to make long-term money on your investment. When it comes to starting to invest in real estate, residential properties are the way that most people start investing in real estate, in large part because most people are semi-familiar with how to take care of and purchase a residential property.

Make Sure You Have a Down Payment

If you want to invest in some residential property, you need to make sure that you have the money to make a proper down payment. Since you are purchasing the property as an investment, you need to make sure that you are able to put down twenty percent of the cost of the mortgage. With a mortgage for an investment loan, you will not be able to get mortgage insurance, so you need to be able to put down a sizeable down payment.

Don't Purchase a Fixer-Upper

Next, many people who want to get into residential investment properties decide to start out with a fixer-upper. Unless you are already a contractor or have extensive experience with remodeling a home, this is not the best way to start your investment. When you go with a fixer-upper, there is a good chance that you will end up putting too much money into the home and reducing the return you will get on this investment. You should only invest in a fixer-upper if you have construction experience and you know what it will really cost for the renovations.

Purchase a Low-Cost Home

Although you don't want to purchase a fixer-upper, you do want to purchase a low-cost home. A low-cost home is not a run-down home. A low-cost home is a smaller home that costs under about a hundred and fifty thousand. A low-cost home is a great way to start investing in residential property because it generally will cost you less to take care of a low-cost home and will cost you less to maintain a low-cost home. Don't go and purchase a half a million-dollar home that will require a high level of maintenance and care and will take you a long time to pay off.

When it comes to investing in a residential property, you need to make sure you have the money to make a full down payment. Don't purchase a fixer-upper that will drain your cash and purchase a low-cost home that you can afford to quickly pay off and take care of. These steps will start you on the road to becoming a real estate investor.