Real estate investing can be great for building your long term wealth, but it is also an excellent way to make some extra income outside of work. It isn't an overnight thing, and it does require you to put some work into it. But if you do it, they can really pay off pretty nicely. Here are 3 ways that you can use real estate in order to make some extra money on the side.



1. Buying Rental Houses or Apartments



If you are beginning real estate investing this is the easiest way to go about it. You simply buy a property and rent it out to someone else. The difference the rent money you collect and your bills is your profit.



And that profit is only going to get bigger as you pay down the property and get it paid off. So, it is kind of a longer term approach to investing and passive income.



2. Buying and Then Flipping Houses



This is a simply strategy. You look for houses that are cheap, buy them, fix them up a little, and then resale them for more. House flipping can be very profitable if it is done right, but also a lot of work.



3. Tax Liens



Buying tax lien Certificates can be a great way to make a safer return that is backed by real estate. They are a little different than other real estate investment options, but they are powerful.



When someone else does not pay their taxes the government still needs that money. So, they auction off those taxes in the forum of tax liens. Investors can then buy those tax liens and when the original tax payer pays off their taxes plus the late penalty you make money plus interest.



If the tax payer doesn't pay their taxes by a certain point in time the IRS will take their property and give it to the investor that did pay the taxes.



What this means is if you do your own research beforehand and work to make sure that the tax lien that you bought is actually backed by a property then you really aren't taking on any risk of not being compensated one way or another.



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For more on ways to invest your money visit this page on different creative Real Estate Investment Strategies