How did you find the home you’re currently living in?
I’m guessing you didn’t just close your eyes and blindly point to a spot on the map. You probably had a specific area in mind, probably something fairly close to school or work, near some shopping or amenities you like, and with a specific number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and price range in mind.
Let’s say you were looking for a three-bedroom home in the middle of the city, near public transit. Knowing your criteria, you likely would have turned down a one-bedroom condo in the suburbs, even if it had a beautiful view and a rooftop patio. You could picture beautiful summer evenings on that rooftop patio, but you could also picture your kids crammed into that one bedroom with you, so no. Cross that one off the list.
The same thing goes for becoming a real estate investor. Before you jump into the real estate business, you have to know what you’re looking for so that you’re anchored by the must-haves and not distracted by the nice-to-haves.
Without clear investment goals, you’re more likely to get swayed by any ol’ investment opportunity that comes along because, hey, the numbers seem like they work, and the property photos look nice. Or, on the flip side, you might be paralyzed with fear because you’re not sure which opportunity is best for you since they all look decent.
Real Estate Investment Goal Examples for Your Real Estate Investing Journey
Once you have your real estate investing goals in mind, you’ll have a clear idea of what you’re looking for from an investment, so when that next opportunity comes along, you can easily determine whether it’s a good fit for you.
Let’s take a closer look at a few real estate goal examples, so you can try them on for size and see if any of these investing goals resonate with you and your life.
Investing Goal Example #1: Investing for Cash Flow from Commercial Real Estate
Meet Emily. She’s a working mom who’s been in the corporate world longer than she cares to admit. Her job pays well, but she doesn’t love it, especially because it comes with long hours and lots of meetings. Oh, the meetings.
Emily’s investing goal is to generate income streams from commercial real estate that will cover her family’s living expenses, so she can eventually quit her job.
In other words, Emily is investing for cash flow. She’s interested in investments that will provide a steady and ongoing return for her family now rather than years in the future. She’s looking for an investment whose returns will help offset her income so she can eventually quit her job.
Emily’s goal is to generate $2,000 per month in cash flow distributions. If she can do that through passive income, she’ll switch from a full-time to a part-time role, giving her more time to spend with her family.
When reviewing passive investing opportunities, she sees that she can make about eight to ten percent in cash flow per year from many of the multifamily real estate syndications she’s looking at.
As such, to get $2,000 per month, or $24,000 per year, in cash flow, Emily would need to invest roughly $300,000.
$300,000 x 8% = $24,000
With that benchmark in mind, Emily can easily turn down any investment opportunities with projected cash flow returns lower than eight percent. If she sees any opportunities with cash flow higher than ten percent, she knows she would be highly interested.
Investing Goal Example #2: Investing for Appreciation in the Real Estate Market
Meet Ricardo. Unlike Emily, Ricardo isn’t interested in cash flow. He has plenty of good, steady income every month, both from active and passive sources.
Ricardo doesn’t mind some cash flow, but that’s not why he’s investing. Ricardo’s investment goals revolve around real estate market appreciation. He’s seen how coastal cities like New York and San Francisco have had huge upswings in real estate values, and he wants a piece of that. He knows that these kinds of investments come with higher risk, but he’s okay with that.
Ricardo is also okay with waiting a bit longer for a potentially bigger payout rather than getting returns immediately. Because he has multiple streams of passive income and a fair amount of assets, he’s okay with taking a bit more risk. If the appreciation doesn’t play out as predicted, and he doesn’t get as high a return as expected, he’s fine with that. He just wants to invest for the chance of appreciation.
Many investors will tell you that it’s way riskier to invest for appreciation and that you should always invest for cash flow first and foremost. While this is true for many real estate investors, there are some investors with a higher risk tolerance who want to gamble on that appreciation for the possibility of a higher payout. There are definitely people who have made some great money through appreciation, but many have lost money investing for appreciation.
Ricardo knows his risks, though. So he looks for commercial real estate investments in appreciating markets, as well as value-add deals, so that he can maximize his chances for appreciation.
Check Out Our Open Investments
Want to invest alongside us? Take a look at some of our current and upcoming offerings.
see open dealsThe Hybrid: Real Estate Investing
for Cash Flow AND Appreciation
Most real estate investors don’t have strict investment goals like Emily or Ricardo. Rather, most investors would prefer a real estate portfolio including properties that produce a combination of cash flow and appreciation.
You get some cash flow throughout the project’s lifecycle, but you also add value and invest in an appreciating market to maximize the potential for appreciation.
Hybrid investments like this give you the best of both worlds. Hybrid investments are our sweet spot, mainly because it’s what we like to invest in ourselves. We set smart real estate goals that include ongoing cash flow to help with our current living expenses, as well as the potential for appreciation later on in the project.
Know Your Goals
With clear financial goals, you’re more likely to make particular investment choices that support and align with your overall investment portfolio strategy and retirement planning picture.
I’ve been in the field of graphic design for several years now, and I’ll tell you, when you see one of the investment summaries for a commercial real estate syndication investment opportunity, you’re going to get distracted by the pretty colors and beautiful photos. I certainly did.
That’s why it’s so important to know what you’re investing for, so you can set the photos aside, scrutinize the core of the investment opportunity, and determine whether it fits with your investment goals.
Take some time right now and sketch out your own investment goal-setting exercise, similar to how Emily did. How much monthly real estate income would change your current situation? Perhaps you have specific family vacation, net worth, or retirement age goals?
Take some time to dream and identify what it is you really want. Then, work backward to figure out how much you need to invest at regular intervals to achieve your own definition of investing success in a reasonable time horizon. Finally, find someone already on the path who you trust to provide you with sound advice.
That way, when a deal comes along that fits your criteria, you can pounce on it with full confidence that it’s the right thing to do for you and your family.
