A real estate investor might want income that comes from a home, or a few residential investment properties. If this is the scenario, he will obtain the houses, rent them out, and collect the rents for income purposes. Hopefully, if prepared effectively it will pay for the investment principal payment, taxes, insurance, some utilities, and repairs if and when required, and some cash from the rents paid may be put aside for another property in the future, or just saved for other purposes.

A duplex, triplex, four-plex or apartment property, would generate income in identical way. If an investor is lucky enough to have the ability to pay for the investment property outright, the revenue that come in will be mostly income, minus the various expenses for upkeep of the property in question. In some cases investors live in one of the units and virtually 'rent free'

Some expenses that may be incurred from rental home income are utilities, property taxes, and maintenance fees. Maintenance fees may include general upkeep, painting, mowing the grass, snow plowing or landscaping or other maintenance of the investment.

When an investor acquires commercial properties, they work in a similar fashion way. The tenants, storeowners and business owners, will pay for their part of taxes, utilities and maintenance fees for the maintenance of the investment. They also have their own insurances to keep up to protect their businesses and personal property.

There are a number of types of commercial properties for investment and to produce earnings. Theses types of investments are for the more skilled real estate investor. These include gas stations and convenience stores, retail storefronts with condominiums above them, free standing restaurants, shopping centers and malls, to name a few. And an investor may wish to obtain property to hold onto for the future, like raw land, in hopes that it is going to increase in value over the years. However, the property almost has to be purchased for cash, in addition, there still are taxes and no return.

Although the risks will exist, no matter how much due diligence is completed by the investor, the more investigation that is done on the possible income property, the better. And it is always a good idea to consult an attorney, a real estate agent, and an accountant to find out what the risks for any investment will be. Nobody needs to throw his or her money away. And real estate investors purchase properties with the goal of that asset growing in value down the road.

So this should give you an idea of what real estate investors look for initially when searching for investment properties.