What is Real Estate?

Seems like an elementary question doesn’t it. But if you are interested in a career in Real Estate investing, you need to start with the basics. Individuals who excel in this business and are not a “flash in the pan” are committed and they are “in it to win it!”  This begins with education.

Typically, when we start a new journey in hopes of improving our financial lives, we have dollar signs in our eyes. Perhaps we were sold a bill of goods.  A pipe dream.  A get rich quick scheme. We go out and begin to get busy being busy! We set up our office, form our entity, order those business cards etc etc.  All items that are indeed needed, but we are just busy being busy (deceiving ourselves that we are advancing) and the truth is, the most important thing you can do is to sharpen your ax with a solid foundation in your chosen field. Otherwise, when we don’t have the wherewithal to keep on keeping on, we quit! But my friend, knowledge is indeed power and while it is true that there is no end to learning, once we get truly committed, it’s time to buckle up and start to apply ourselves in the area we have committed ourselves to! As we like to say here at Real Estate Help Center, come “Learn while you Earn!”  After all, this is your and your family’s future we are talking about, so let’s get started. Since you found this blog and you are still reading, I believe it is safe to ask you “What is Real Estate”?

While many, if not most of the population would immediately respond “Real Estate is buying and selling properties” Real Estate involves much more than this!

 Real Estate is defined as:

Real estate is the land along with any permanent improvements attached to the land, whether natural or man-made – including water, trees, minerals, buildings, homes, fences, and bridges.  Real estate is a form of real property.  It differs from personal property, which are things NOT permanently attached to the land, such as vehicles, boats, jewelry, furniture, and farm equipment.

So there we have it in a nutshell.  Real Estate is simply “real property.”

However, there are 6 types of real property:

Agricultural – using the land to provide crops, raise animals and plants (trees, orhards, etc.). Investors buy, sell and lease agriculture property. They may also invest in the actual agriculture business itself, for instance, buying a farm or ranch that produces beef cattle, while the farmer or rancher manage the operation.  

Residential – These properties in the residential category, specifically address multifamily housing and single-family housing in urban, suburban and also rural areas. People strive for homeownership.

• Single-family  Homes
• Apartment Building                                                                                     
• Condominium Cooperative  
• Manufactured Housing
• Planned Unit Development (PUD)
• Converted Use Properties

Commercial – Commercial property is another type of real property. Commercial property will include property that contains business activity, e.g. office spaces, shopping centers, malls, stores, and entertainment facilities. Also, hotels, motels, and even parking facilities are other types of commercial property.

• Office space
• Shopping Centers
• Stores
• Entertainment
• Hotels
• Parking Facilities

Industrial – Industrial is another type of real property that obtains buildings such as warehouses, power plants, and factories. For many investors, the industrial sector is the least talked about.  However, for the investor, industrial real estate should not be overlooked.

• Warehouse
• Factories
• Power Plants

Mixed-Use – Mixed-use property is a type of real property that has multiple uses for that property. That is, for instance, commercial and residential within the same property.  Typically a business on the lower floor(s) with residential on the upper floors.

Special Use – Special purpose property is a type of real property that are usually publicly held property, e.g. places of religion, schools, libraries, government buildings, cemeteries, and parks.

This is the very basics.  It is time to change our filters.  Real Estate Investing is not just about a flipper flipping a house, or an agent selling a house.  Real Estate is much broader than most of us realize or if we do realize it, we are so stuck in what is most familiar, that we lose out on other opportunities in our same field!  This my friend is why education is so very important.  Get a good grasp on what this short article talks about and broaden your horizons and increase your earnings!