If you are considering getting into real estate investment, one of the most important things you can do is to learn what exactly makes a good real estate investment return. Your return is actually what money you will make on the investment or your profit. In order to maximize your real estate investment return, there are several things you should do.

One of the first things you will need to do is learn how to figure out whether the property will give you a good real estate investment return. If you are looking at rental property to invest in, you will want to make certain the property will give you a positive cash flow. The cash flow is the amount of money left over after you have paid the expenses on the property. Expenses will include taxes, operating costs, and maintenance costs.

For example, if you have the opportunity to purchase a three-unit rental for $150,000, the rents are $750 a month; you will have $2,250 coming in. However, after you deduct the taxes, operating costs, and maintenance fees on the property, assuming those amounts add up to $500 a month, you are left with a positive cash flow of $1,750 a month or $21,000 per year. This would give you a good real estate investment return.

If you, however, can purchase the three-unit rental for $150,000 and it needs repairs, such as a new septic disposal system, a new heating system, and a new roof, you may find the property will not give a good return on the money you've invested. It is simple a matter of factoring in every detail possible that will have an effect on the money you will receive for the property rentals.

If you are looking to get a good real estate investment return on a property by flipping it, meaning you buy, fix, and sell quickly, you will want to verify several things before committing yourself to such an endeavor. The first thing you'll want to do is consider the price of the property and what it could be sold for after it was fixed-up properly. You'll do this by researching properties that have been sold over the past year. You'll want to look into things such as the price it was listed for, the price it sold for, how long the property was on the market before it sold, and analyze the information received. If you find the property to be priced below the fair market value, the property does not need much work to make it saleable, and the properties are selling well in that particular location, you may be able to get a good real estate investment return on this property. In order to get the best and most up-to-date information in a certain area, you may want to work with a real estate agent in the area.

If you are hoping to maximize your real estate investment return, the fact is you have to do your research thoroughly and effectively. Depending upon whether the property is for you to rent out or to sell after being fixed-up, you'll want to make certain the figures you get are accurate. Without accurate figures, such as a cash flow statement from the current owner of a rental you are interested in, you have no way of knowing exactly what your return will be.