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How To Write A Real Estate Business Plan

real estate investor business plan

What is a real estate business plan?

8 must-haves in a business plan

How to write a business plan

Real estate business plan tips

Success in the real estate investing industry won’t happen overnight, and it definitely won’t happen without proper planning or implementation. For entrepreneurs, a  real estate development business plan can serve as a road map to all of your business operations. Simply put, a real estate business plan will serve an essential role in forming your investing career.

Investors will need to strategize several key elements to create a successful business plan. These include future goals, company values, financing strategies, and more. Once complete, a business plan can create the foundation for smooth operations and outline a future with unlimited potential for your investing career. Keep reading to learn how to create a real estate investment business plan today.

What Is A Real Estate Investing Business Plan?

A real estate business plan is a living document that provides the framework for business operations and goals. A business plan will include future goals for the company and organized steps to get there. While business plans can vary from investor to investor, they will typically include planning for one to five years at a time.

Drafting a business plan for real estate investing purposes is, without a doubt, one of the single most important steps a new investor can take. An REI business plan will help you avoid potential obstacles while simultaneously placing you in a position to succeed. It is a blueprint to follow when things are going according to plan and even when they veer off course. If for nothing else, a real estate company’s business plan will ensure that investors know which steps to follow to achieve their goals. In many ways, nothing is more valuable to today’s investors. It is the plan, after all, to follow the most direct path to success.

real estate investing business plan

8 Must-Haves In A Real Estate Business Plan

As a whole, a real estate business plan should address a company’s short and long-term goals. To accurately portray a company’s vision, the right business plan will require more information than a future vision. A strong real estate investing business plan will provide a detailed look at its ins and outs. This can include the organizational structure, financial information, marketing outline, and more.  When done right, it will serve as a comprehensive overview for anyone who interacts with your business, whether internally or externally.

That said, creating an REI business plan will require a persistent attention to detail. For new investors drafting a real estate company business plan may seem like a daunting task, and quite honestly it is. The secret is knowing which ingredients must be added (and when). Below are seven must-haves for a well executed business plan:

Outline the company values and mission statement.

Break down future goals into short and long term.

Strategize the strengths and weaknesses of the company.

Formulate the best investment strategy for each property and your respective goals.

Include potential marketing and branding efforts.

State how the company will be financed (and by whom).

Explain who is working for the business.

Answer any “what ifs” with backup plans and exit strategies.

These components matter the most, and a quality real estate business plan will delve into each category to ensure maximum optimization.

A company vision statement is essentially your mission statement and values. While these may not be the first step in planning your company, a vision will be crucial to the success of your business. Company values will guide you through investment decisions and inspire others to work with your business time and time again. They should align potential employees, lenders, and possible tenants with the motivations behind your company.

Before writing your company vision, think through examples you like both in and out of the real estate industry. Is there a company whose values you identify with? Or, are there mission statements you dislike? Use other companies as a starting point when creating your own set of values. Feel free to reach out to your mentor or other network connections for feedback as you plan. Most importantly, think about the qualities you value and how they can fit into your business plan.

Goals are one of the most important elements in a successful business plan. This is because not only do goals provide an end goal for your company, but they also outline the steps required to get there. It can be helpful to think about goals in two categories: short-term and long-term. Long-term goals will typically outline your plans for the company. These can include ideal investment types, profit numbers, and company size. Short-term goals are the smaller, actionable steps required to get there.

For example, one long-term business goal could be to land four wholesale deals by the end of the year. Short-term goals will make this more achievable by breaking it into smaller steps. A few short-term goals that might help you land those four wholesale deals could be to create a direct mail campaign for your market area, establish a buyers list with 50 contacts, and secure your first property under contract. Breaking down long-term goals is a great way to hold yourself accountable, create deadlines and accomplish what you set out to.

3. SWOT Analysis

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis involves thinking through each of these areas as you evaluate your company and potential competitors. This framework allows business owners to better understand what is working for the company and identify potential areas for improvement. SWOT analyses are used across industries as a way to create more actionable solutions to potential issues.

To think through a SWOT analysis for your real estate business plan, first, identify your company’s potential strengths and weaknesses. Do you have high-quality tenants? Are you struggling to raise capital? Be honest with yourself as you write out each category. Then, take a step back and look at your market area and competitors to identify threats and opportunities. A potential threat could be whether or not your rental prices are in line with comparable properties. On the other hand, a potential opportunity could boost your property’s amenities to be more competitive in the area.

4. Investment Strategy

Any good real estate investment business plan requires the ability to implement a sound investment strategy. If for nothing else, there are several exit strategies a business may execute to secure profits: rehabbing, wholesaling, and renting — to name a few. Investors will want to analyze their market and determine which strategy will best suit their goals. Those with long-term retirement goals may want to consider leaning heavily into rental properties. However, those without the funds to build a rental portfolio may want to consider getting started by wholesaling. Whatever the case may be, now is the time to figure out what you want to do with each property you come across. It is important to note, however, that this strategy will change from property to property. Therefore, investors need to determine their exit strategy based on the asset and their current goals. This section needs to be added to a real estate investment business plan because it will come in handy once a prospective deal is found.

5. Marketing Plan

While marketing may seem like the cherry on top of a sound business plan, marketing efforts will actually play an integral role in your business’s foundation. A marketing plan should include your business logo, website, social media outlets, and advertising efforts. Together these elements can build a solid brand for your business, which will help you build a strong business reputation and ultimately build trust with investors, clients, and more.

First, to plan your marketing, think about how your brand can illustrate the company values and mission statement you have created. Consider the ways you can incorporate your vision into your logo or website. Remember, in addition to attracting new clients, marketing efforts can also help maintain relationships with existing connections. For a step by step guide to drafting a real estate marketing plan , be sure to read this guide.

6. Financing Plan

Writing the financial portion of a business plan can be tricky, especially if you are starting your business. As a general rule, a financial plan will include the income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet for a business. A financial plan should also include short and long-term goals regarding the profits and losses of a company. Together, this information will help make business decisions, raise capital, and report on business performance.

Perhaps the most important factor when creating a financial plan is accuracy. While many investors want to report on high profits or low losses, manipulating data will not boost your business performance in any way. Come up with a system of organization that works for you and always ensure your financial statements are authentic. As a whole, a financial plan should help you identify what is and isn’t working for your business.

7. Teams & Small Business Systems

No successful business plan is complete without an outline of the operations and management. Think: how your business is being run and by whom. This information will include the organizational structure, office management (if any), and an outline of any ongoing projects or properties. Investors can even include future goals for team growth and operational changes when planning this information.

Even if you are just starting or have yet to launch your business, it is still necessary to plan your business structure. Start by planning what tasks you will be responsible for, and look for areas you will need help with. If you have a business partner, think through your strengths and weaknesses and look for areas you can best complement each other. For additional guidance, set up a meeting with your real estate mentor. They can provide valuable insights into their own business structure, which can serve as a jumping-off point for your planning.

8. Exit Strategies & Back Up Plans

Believe it or not, every successful company out there has a backup plan. Businesses fail every day, but investors can position themselves to survive even the worst-case scenario by creating a backup plan. That’s why it’s crucial to strategize alternative exit strategies and backup plans for your investment business. These will help you create a plan of action if something goes wrong and help you address any potential problems before they happen.

This section of a business plan should answer all of the “what if” questions a potential lender, employee, or client might have. What if a property remains on the market for longer than expected? What if a seller backs out before closing? What if a property has a higher than average vacancy rate? These questions (and many more) are worth thinking through as you create your business plan.

How To Write A Real Estate Investment Business Plan: Template

The impact of a truly great real estate investment business plan can last for the duration of your entire career, whereas a poor plan can get in the way of your future goals. The truth is: a real estate business plan is of the utmost importance, and as a new investor it deserves your undivided attention. Again, writing a business plan for real estate investing is no simple task, but it can be done correctly. Follow our real estate investment business plan template to ensure you get it right the first time around:

Write an executive summary that provides a birds eye view of the company.

Include a description of company goals and how you plan to achieve them.

Demonstrate your expertise with a thorough market analysis.

Specify who is working at your company and their qualifications.

Summarize what products and services your business has to offer.

Outline the intended marketing strategy for each aspect of your business.

1. Executive Summary

The first step is to define your mission and vision. In a nutshell, your executive summary is a snapshot of your business as a whole, and it will generally include a mission statement, company description, growth data, products and services, financial strategy, and future aspirations. This is the “why” of your business plan, and it should be clearly defined.

2. Company Description

The next step is to examine your business and provide a high-level review of the various elements, including goals and how you intend to achieve them. Investors should describe the nature of their business, as well as their targeted marketplace. Explain how services or products will meet said needs, address specific customers, organizations, or businesses the company will serve, and explain the competitive advantage the business offers.

3. Market Analysis

This section will identify and illustrate your knowledge of the industry. It will generally consist of information about your target market, including distinguishing characteristics, size, market shares, and pricing and gross margin targets. A thorough market outline will also include your SWOT analysis.

4. Organization & Management

This is where you explain who does what in your business. This section should include your company’s organizational structure, details of the ownership, profiles on the management team, and qualifications. While this may seem unnecessary as a real estate investor, the people reading your business plan may want to know who’s in charge. Make sure you leave no stone unturned.

5. Services Or Products

What are you selling? How will it benefit your customers? This is the part of your real estate business plan where you provide information on your product or service, including its benefits over competitors. In essence, it will offer a description of your product/service, details on its life cycle, information on intellectual property, as well as research and development activities, which could include future R&D activities and efforts. Since real estate investment is more of a service, beginner investors must identify why their service is better than others in the industry. It could include experience.

6. Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy will generally encompass how a business owner intends to market or sell their product and service. This includes a market penetration strategy, a plan for future growth, distribution channels, and a comprehensive communication strategy. When creating a marketing strategy for a real estate business plan, investors should think about how they plan to identify and contact new leads. They should then think about the various communication options: social media, direct mail, a company website, etc. Your business plan’s marketing portion should essentially cover the practical steps of operating and growing your business.

real estate investor business plan

Additional Real Estate Business Plan Tips

A successful business plan is no impossible to create; however, it will take time to get it right. Here are a few extra tips to keep in mind as you develop a plan for your real estate investing business:

Tailor Your Executive Summary To Different Audiences: An executive summary will open your business plan and introduce the company. Though the bulk of your business plan will remain consistent, the executive summary should be tailored to the specific audience at hand. A business plan is not only for you but potential investors, lenders, and clients. Keep your intended audience in mind when drafting the executive summary and answer any potential questions they may have.

Articulate What You Want: Too often, investors working on their business plan will hide what they are looking for, whether it be funding or a joint venture. Do not bury the lede when trying to get your point across. Be clear about your goals up front in a business plan, and get your point across early.

Prove You Know The Market: When you write the company description, it is crucial to include information about your market area. This could include average sale prices, median income, vacancy rates, and more. If you intend to acquire rental properties, you may even want to go a step further and answer questions about new developments and housing trends. Show that you have your finger on the pulse of a market, and your business plan will be much more compelling for those who read it.

Do Homework On The Competition: Many real estate business plans fail to fully analyze the competition. This may be partly because it can be difficult to see what your competitors are doing, unlike a business with tangible products. While you won’t get a tour of a competitor’s company, you can play prospect and see what they offer. Subscribe to their newsletter, check out their website, or visit their open house. Getting a first-hand look at what others are doing in your market can greatly help create a business plan.

Be Realistic With Your Operations & Management: It can be easy to overestimate your projections when creating a business plan, specifically when it comes to the organization and management section. Some investors will claim they do everything themselves, while others predict hiring a much larger team than they do. It is important to really think through how your business will operate regularly. When writing your business plan, be realistic about what needs to be done and who will be doing it.

Create Example Deals: At this point, investors will want to find a way to illustrate their plans moving forward. Literally or figuratively, illustrate the steps involved in future deals: purchases, cash flow, appreciation, sales, trades, 1031 exchanges, cash-on-cash return, and more. Doing so should give investors a good idea of what their deals will look like in the future. While it’s not guaranteed to happen, envisioning things has a way of making them easier in the future.

Schedule Business Update Sessions: Your real estate business plan is not an ironclad document that you complete and then never look at again. It’s an evolving outline that should continually be reviewed and tweaked. One good technique is to schedule regular review sessions to go over your business plan. Look for ways to improve and streamline your business plan so it’s as clear and persuasive as you want it to be.

Reevauating Your Real Estate Business Plan

A business plan will serve as a guide for every decision you make in your company, which is exactly why it should be reevaluated regularly. It is recommended to reassess your business plan each year to account for growth and changes. This will allow you to update your business goals, accounting books, and organizational structures. While you want to avoid changing things like your logo or branding too frequently, it can be helpful to update department budgets or business procedures each year.

The size of your business is crucial to keep in mind as you reevaluate annually. Not only in terms of employees and management structures but also in terms of marketing plans and business activities. Always incorporate new expenses and income into your business plan to help ensure you make the most of your resources. This will help your business stay on an upward trajectory over time and allow you to stay focused on your end goals.

Above all else, a  real estate development business plan will be inspiring and informative. It should reveal why your business is more than just a dream and include actionable steps to make your vision a reality. No matter where you are with your investing career, a detailed business plan can guide your future in more ways than one. After all, a thorough plan will anticipate the best path to success. Follow the template above as you plan your real estate business, and make sure it’s a good one.

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How to Write a Real Estate Investment Business Plan: Complete Guide

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Mike Blankenship

Last updated on December 19, 2023

real estate investor business plan

Building an investing business without a real estate investment business plan is sort of like riding a bike without handlebars. 

You might be able to do it… but why would you? 

It’s far easier and more practical to set out on your venture with a business plan that outlines things like your lead-flow, where you’ll find funding, and which market(s) you’ll operate. 

Plus, according to Entrepreneur, having a business plan increases your chances of growth by 30%. 

Download Now: Free marketing plan video and a downloadable guide

So don’t skip this critical first step. 

Here’s how to do it. 

Real Estate Investment Business Plan Guide

In this article we’re going to discuss:

  • What is a real estate investment business plan?
  • Create your mission and vision
  • Run market analysis
  • Choose your business model(s)
  • Determine your business goals
  • Find funding / Cash buyers
  • Identify lead-flow source
  • Gather property analysis information
  • Create your brand
  • Set growth milestones
  • Plan to Delegate

What is a Real Estate Investment Business Plan and Why Does it Matter?

A real estate investment business plan is a document that outlines your goals, your vision, and your plan for growing the business . 

It should detail the real estate business model you’re going to pursue, your chosen method for lead-gen, how you’ll find funding, and how you plan to close deals. 

The kit and caboodle. 

It shouldn’t be overly complicated. 

Whether this real estate investment business plan is only for your personal use or to present to someone else, simplicity is best. Be thorough, be clear, but don’t over-explain what you’re going to do. 

As far as why you should have a business plan, consider that it gives you a 30% better chance of growing your business. 

Also, consider that setting out  without  a plan would be like — full of unexpected twists and turns — is that something you want to do? 

Probably not. 

It’s worth taking a few days or weeks to put together a business plan, even if it’s just for your own sake. By the time you’re complete, you’ll have greater confidence in the business you’re setting out to build. 

And an entrepreneur’s confidence is everything. 

How to Create Your Real Estate Investment Business Plan

Now we get into the nitty-gritty. 

How do you create your real estate investment business plan? Here are the 10 steps!

1. Create Your Mission & Vision

This can be considered your “summary” section. You might not think that you need a mission statement or vision for your real estate business. 

And you don’t. 

We know a lot of real estate investors (many of our members, in fact) don’t have a clear mission or vision that they’ve outlined — and they’re successful regardless. 

But if you’re just getting started…

Then we think it’s a worthwhile use of your time. 

Because if you don’t know why you’re going to build your real estate investing business, if you don’t see what purpose it serves on a personal and professional level, then it’s not going to be very exciting to you. 

You can either use this time to create a mission for your business… or a mission statement for you as it relates to growing your business (depending on your goals).

For instance…

  • Our mission is to create affordable house opportunities in the Roseburg, Oregon community. 
  • Our mission is to provide homeowners with an exceptional experience when selling their properties for cash. 

Or you could go a more personal route…

  • My mission is to create a business that supports my family. 
  • My mission is to build a company that gives me more time for what matters most to me.

Or you could do both…

  • My mission is to create a business that supports my family, and my business’ mission is to provide homeowners with an exceptional experience when selling their properties for cash. 

Either way, it’s good to think about this before getting started. 

Because if you know why you’re going to build your business — and if, ideally, that reason resonates with you — then you’ll be more excited and determined to work hard toward your goals. 

It is also an excellent opportunity to outline the core values you’ll adhere to within your business as Brian Rockwell does on his website …

add core value to your real estate website

With this information in hand, you’re ready to move on to the next step. 

2. Run Competitive Market Analysis

Which market are you going to operate in? 

That might be an easy question to answer — if you’re just going to operate in the town where you live, fair enough. 

But it’s worth keeping in mind that today’s technology has made it possible to become a real estate investor in any market from pretty much any location (remotely). 

So if the market you’re in is lacking in opportunity, then you might consider investing elsewhere. 

How do you know which market to choose? 

Here are the 10 top real estate markets for investors, according to our own Carrot member data of over 7000 accounts, based on lead volume…

  • Atlanta, GA
  • Houston, TX
  • Chicago, IL
  • Charlotte, NC
  • New York, NY
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Orlando, FL
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Phoenix, AZ

And here are the top 20 states…

  • North Carolina
  • Pennsylvania
  • Oregon 

That’ll give you some ideas. 

But what makes a market good or bad for real estate investors? Here are some metrics to pay attention to when you’re doing your research. 

  • Median Home Value — This will tell you how much the average home sells for in the market, which will impact whether you’ll be willing to operate there. Because obviously, you want to play with numbers that feel reasonable to you. 
  • Median Home Value Increase Year Over Year — Ideally, you want to invest in a market where homes are appreciating every year. And a positive increase in this metric is a good sign that the properties you invest in will continue to increase in value. 
  • Occupied Housing Rate — A high housing occupancy rate means it’s easy to find tenants, and there’s a healthy demand for housing. That’s a good sign. 
  • Median Rent — This is the average cost of rent in the market and will give you a good idea of how much you’ll be able to charge on any rentals you own. 
  • Median Rent Increase Year Over Year — If you’re going to buy rentals, it’s a good sign if rental costs increase every year.
  • Population Growth — When the population grows, it creates demand for housing, both rentals and on the MLS. That’s a good sign for a real estate investor. 
  • Job Growth — Job growth is a sign of a healthy economy and indicates that you’ll have an easier time capitalizing on your real estate investments. 

Fortunately, all of this research is super easy to do on Google. 

You can just type in the market and the metric in Google and you’ll get meaningful results. 

Thank god for technology. 

Want more freedom & impact?

From Mindset to Marketing, join our CEO as he unlocks the best stories, tactics, and strategies from America’s top investors and agents on the CarrotCast . If you want to grow your business, you need to check it out!

3. Choose Your Business Model(s)

There’s not just one real estate business model . 

There are many. 

And the market you’re in — as well as your business goals — will determine which business model you choose. 

Here’s a brief overview of each…

  • Wholesaling — Is a prevalent business model in the real estate world. Wholesalers find deals and flip them to other cash buyers for an assignment fee, typically somewhere between $5,000 to $10,000. It’s low risk and requires little capital upfront (you can get started with as little as $2,000). 
  • Wholetailing — Wholetailing is a mix between wholesaling and house flipping. A wholetailer will find a deal, do some very minor repairs (if any), and sell the house on the MLS themselves. It results in large profits with far less work. But wholetail deals are hard to come by. 
  • BRRRR — This stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. It’s a long-term process for buying and holding rental properties. It’s a great way to build net worth and create generational wealth. 
  • Flipping — House flipping is the most popularized real estate investing method. It consists of purchasing distressed properties, fixing them up, and selling them at a good profit on the MLS, often making upwards of $100,000 per deal. However, this method involves much more risk than the other methods and each deal takes a lot longer to complete. 

If you’re just getting started, then we recommend choosing just one business model and doing that until you’ve mastered it. 

Down the road, you will likely want to use multiple business models. 

We know the most successful real estate investors are wholesalers, wholesalers, flippers,  and  they own some rental properties. 

That allows them to make the most of every opportunity that comes their way. 

But again… to start, just choose one. 

4. Determine Your Business Goals

At this point, you should have a pretty clear idea of why you’re going to build your real estate investing business. 

Are you going to build it because you want to make an impact in your community? Because you want more financial freedom? Because you want more time freedom? 

All of the above? 

Whatever the case, now it’s time to set some goals related to your mission for the business. 

Remember the SMART acronym for goal setting…

Start by thinking about how much money you’d like to make per month — this should be the first income threshold that you’re excited to hit.

Let’s pretend you said $10,000 per month. 

Okay, now take a look at your business model. How many properties do you need to have cash-flowing to hit that number? How many deals do you have to do per month? How many flips? 

Try to be as realistic with your numbers as possible. 

Here are some baselines to consider for the different business models at the $10k/month threshold…

  • Wholesaling – 2-3 Deals Per Month
  • Wholetailing – 2-3 Deals Per Month
  • BRRRR – $1 Million in Assets
  • Flipping – 1-2 Flips Per Year

Now you have a general idea of the results you’ll need to hit your first income threshold. 

But we haven’t talked about overhead costs. 

How much will you need to spend to get those results? 

Your answer to that question will be influenced by the market analysis you already did. But it’s pretty standard for the price of finding a deal to hover around $2,000 for a real estate investor (if you’re doing your own advertising). 

So now you’re spending $2,000 per deal, or whatever your specific number is. That’s going to have an impact on how much money you’re making. So now we can adjust your goals to be more realistic for hitting that $10k per month marker…

  • Wholesaling – 4-5 Deals Per Month
  • Wholetailing – 4-5 Deals Per Month
  • BRRRR – $1.5 Million in Assets
  • Flipping – 2-3 Flips Per Year

The idea here is to figure out how many deals you’ll have to do per month to hit your income goals. 

Then work that back into figuring out how much you’ll need to spend every month to realistically and predictably hit your goals. 

At $2k per deal and intending to hit $10k/month, here’s what your deal-finding costs might look like…

  • Wholesaling – 4-5 Deals Per Month – $8k-$10k/month
  • Wholetailing – 4-5 Deals Per Month – $8k-$10k/month
  • BRRRR – $1.5 Million in Assets – $6k-$8k/month
  • Flipping – 2-3 Flips Per Year – $4k-$6k/month

That should give you a baseline. 

How do those numbers look? 

If they feel too high for you right now, lower your initial goal — you want to make your first goal something that you know you can accomplish. 

Then, as you gain experience, you can increase your goals and make more money down the road. 

Free Real Estate Marketing Plan Template

Take our short survey to find out where you struggle most with your online marketing strategy. Generate your free marketing plan video and downloadable guide to increase lead generation and conversion, gain momentum, and stand out in your market:

real estate marketing plan generator

Download your marketing plan template here.

5. Find Funding / Cash Buyers

Are you going to fund your own deals or find private investors ? Or maybe you’re going to get a business loan from a bank? 

If you’re just starting as a wholesaler or wholetailer, then it’s recommended funding your own first few deals — that should only cost $2,000 to $5,000… and why overcomplicate things in the beginning when you’re still trying to learn the ropes? 

However, as a wholesaler or wholetailer, you’ll still need to find some cash buyers. 

Here’s a great video that’ll teach you how to do that…

How To Find A Cash Buyer For Your Wholesale Deal

To consistently grow your cash buyer list (which is an important part of the wholesaling and wholestailing business model), we also recommend creating a buyer website like this…

Cash Buyer - Investment Property Website

Learn more about creating your cash buyer website with Carrot over here . 

To scale, you might seek out other sources of funding. 

Here are some options…

  • Bank Loan — Getting a loan from a bank might be the most straightforward strategy if you’re just getting started. But keep in mind that the requirements for a loan on an investment property will be more stringent than the requirements were for your primary residence mortgage. And the interest rate will likely be higher as well. For that reason, you might seek out some of the other options. 
  • Hard Money — Hard money loans come from companies that specifically serve real estate investors. They are easier and faster to secure than a bank loan and hard money lenders typically base their approval of the loan on the quality of the investment property rather than the investor’s financial standing. 
  • Private Money — Whereas a hard money loan comes from a company; a private money loan comes from an individual with a good chunk of capital they’re looking to invest. That could be a friend, family member, coworker, and acquaintance. Interest rates and terms on these loans are typically very flexible and the interest rate is usually quite good. Private money is an excellent option for real estate investors looking to scale their business. 

But before you seek out funding from those sources, get clear on what exactly you’re going to use those funds for. 

Finding funding is even more critical. In fact — if you’re flipping properties or using the BRRRR method. 

(It’s a key part of the BRRRR method)

You’ll likely want to use hard money or private money to fund your deals as you grow your business.

But how do you find and secure those loans? 

Hard money lenders are easy to find — just Google for hard money lenders in your area and call the companies that pop up to get more details. 

Private money (which usually has more favorable terms than hard money) is a bit trickier to find but not at all impossible. 

To find private money lenders, you can…

  • Tell Friends & Family — This should be the first thing you do. Tell everyone you can about the business you’re building and the returns you can offer investors. Then ask them if they know anyone who might be interested in investing. 
  • Network — After you’ve exhausted all your friends and family, make a point of getting to know people everywhere you go. The easiest way to do this is to wear branded clothing so people ask about what you do. Talk to people at coffee shops, grocery stores, movie theaters, and anywhere else that you frequent. You never know who you might meet. 
  • Attend Foreclosure Auctions — Foreclosure auctions are jam-packed with people who have cash-on-hand to buy properties. These people might also be interested in investing in your real estate endeavors. Or they might know where to find private money. Either way, it’s in your interest to build relationships with these people. Attend foreclosure auctions and bring some business cards. 

Here are some tips on finding private money lenders…

How to Find Private Money Lenders for Real Estate Investing

6. Identify Lead-Flow Source

Now let’s talk about how you will generate a consistent flow of motivated leads for your business. 

Because no matter which of the business models you’ve chosen… you’re going to need to find motivated sellers.

And you’re going to need to find those people every single month. 

There are essentially two parts to a successful lead generation strategy for real estate investing business. 

Both pieces are critical… 

  • The Short Term — We call this “hamster-wheel marketing” because it requires you to  keep working  and  spending money  to generate leads. Examples include Facebook ads, direct mail, bandit signs, cold calling, driving for dollars, and other tit-for-tat strategies that will burn you out if you’re not careful.
  • The Long Term — We call this “evergreen marketing” because it requires an upfront investment… but that investment pays off for years and years to come. Examples include increasing brand awareness for your business in your target market(s) and improving your website’s SEO , so that motivated sellers find you . 

Short-term tactics are critical when you’re first starting — in fact, they are likely going to be your only source of leads for at least the first few months. 

Here are some more details on the most popular and effective methods… 

  • Tax default mailing lists
  • Vacant house lists
  • Expired listing lists
  • Pre-foreclosure lists
  • Out-of-state landlord lists
  • Cold Calling — This might be more uncomfortable than stubbing your toe on a piece of furniture, but it can still be effective for finding motivated sellers. We have an article all about colding calling — it even has scripts for you to use. 
  • Facebook Ads — Facebook ads is another excellent method for generating leads so long as you have a high-converting website to send them to . If you don’t, get yourself a Carrot website . Each Carrot site is built to convert. Here are some more details about running successful ads on Facebook for your real estate investing business.
  • Google Ads — Google Ads is one of the most popular platforms for real estate professionals needing to provide quick results with a minimal to high investment depending on markets.

But over time, the goal is to invest in more long-term evergreen marketing tactics so that you can get off the hamster wheel and build a more sustainable business. 

Check out the video below to learn more about the critical distinction between short-term and long-term marketing. 

At Carrot, we’ve created an online marketing system that makes generating leads super easy and simple for real estate investors. 

And it’s 100% evergreen. 

Here’s an example of one of our members’ websites that converts like crazy…

real estate investor business plan

Try our free Marketing Plan Generator here.

7. Gather Property Analysis Information

We just talked about how you can generate leads.

But once someone calls you, once you’re checking out a property… How will you  know  if the property is a good fit for your chosen business model? 

After all, not every property will be a fit. 

First, ask the following questions when the seller calls…

  • What is the address of the house you want to sell?
  • How many bedrooms, bathrooms does it have?
  • Does it have a garage, basement, or pool?
  • If you were going to list it with a Realtor, what repairs and/or updating would you say would be needed?
  • How much is owed on the house?
  • Do you have an asking price in mind?
  • Is the house behind on payments?
  • If I come out and look at the property and make you a cash offer to buy it ‘As-Is’ and close as soon as you want, what would be the least you would be willing to take?

That will provide you with a lot of critical information about what you’re dealing with. 

Next, once you’re off the phone, do a bit of due diligence and look at what nearby properties of similar size have sold for in the last 90 days or so — that should give you a ballpark idea for the after-repair value of the property. 

If you decide that the property sounds promising, you’ll want to walk through it and take pictures of anything and everything that’ll need to be repaired. 

Back at the office, estimate the cost of those repairs — here’s a great resource from REISift that’ll help you estimate rehab costs . 

You’ll need to go through this entire process regardless of your business model so that you understand your max offer on the property. 

So how do you calculate your max offer? 

Use the 75% rule — check out this video from Ryan Dossey…

What Is The 75 Percent Rule In Wholesaling And Flipping Houses?

With that, you’ll know how much to pay for the property, how much to spend on repairs, and how much it’ll sell for. 

The more you streamline this part of the process, the better. 

8. Create Your Brand

Building a company is one thing. 

Building an easily recognizable brand and known to be reputable in your marketplace is quite another.

But that’s an integral part of the process. Consider some of these statistics…

  • Using a signature color can increase brand recognition by 80 percent.
  • It takes about 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) for people to form an opinion about your website.
  • Consistent presentation of a brand has seen to increase revenue by 33 percent.
  • 66 percent of consumers think transparency is one of the most attractive qualities in a brand.

When it comes to building a real estate investing brand, your goals are to…

  • Establish Rapport 
  • Create Easy Recognizability
  • Dominate The Conversation

The first step in this process is building an online presence – that means creating a high-converting website (i.e., one that systematically turns visitors into leads by capturing their contact information), running advertisements, and ranking in Google for important keywords. 

That’s what we can help you with at Carrot . 

Out of the box, our website templates are built to convert visitors into leads – and you can customize them however you want with your branding materials…

real estate investment business plan - branding

You’ll even receive immediate text notifications when someone signs up to be a lead so that you can contact them right away (speed is the name of the game!). 

Having a high-converting website is ground zero for brand-building success. If you don’t have a website that systematically converts visitors into leads, then every dollar you spend on advertising is going to be wasted. 

So that’s where we start. 

Once you’ve got your website up and running, then – if you’re on our Content Pro or Advanced Marketer plan – we’ll provide you with blog posts every single month that are written to rank in Google for high-value keywords relevant to your specific market …

real estate investor blog posts

You just upload, make some minor tweaks, and publish – and the more you publish, the more traffic you’ll drive. 

To help you become a true authority in your market, we also have the following tools…

  • Keyword Ranking Tracker
  • SEO Tool For Optimizing All Pages
  • Text Notifications For Leads
  • World-Class Support
  • Campaign Tracking Links
  • Coaching Calls

We want to make generating leads as easy as possible for you… so you can focus on closing deals and growing your business. 

You can try us here risk-free for 30 days. 

If you get yourself a Carrot website, that’ll take care of the “Dominate The Conversation” part of the branding process.

But what about these parts? 

Super easy. 

Establishing rapport is simply a matter of putting testimonials and case studies on your website. The more of these you have, the more people will trust your brand when they arrive on your website for the first time. 

real estate investor testimonials

As for creating an easily recognizable brand, create a simple branding package…

  • Brand Colors

And then be consistent across all platforms. Use the same colors, font, logo, and brand name on everything – online and offline. 

That’ll make it feel like you’re everywhere – which is what you want. 

So there you go. 

That’s how you create a brand identity as a real estate investor. You’ll know you’ve done it right if people are coming to you out of nowhere – because a friend of a friend told them about you. 

And if you want a brand that dominates your market without all of the footwork, we’ve got just the thing – it’s called the Authority Leader Plan … and we’ll do everything for you. 

9. Set Growth Milestones

Okay – let’s pretend that you’ve taken all of the steps above. 

You’ve got yourself a functioning business and brand with funding, you’ve got consistent lead-flow, and you’re even closing some deals. 

Now what? 

Well… you want to grow, of course!

You don’t just want to do one deal per month… you want to do three, five, or even ten deals per month.

You want to make more money, increase your net worth, grow your business, and have a significant impact. 

How do you do that? 

First, you set new goals and milestones for your business’ growth – how many deals do you want to be doing per month in 6 months? In a year? 

Then break those goals down by quarter – and turn them into actionable to-dos. 

For example, if you’re currently doing one deal per month and you want to be doing five deals per month by the end of Q2, here’s what your goals might look like…

  • Send 10,000 Mailers Per Month
  • Spend $5,000 on Facebook Ads Per Month
  • Hire Salesperson To Answer Phone
  • Hire Acquisition Manager
  • Create Workflow Process

Or maybe it’ll look a bit different. Make your to-dos as realistic as possible so that if you do those things … you’re virtually guaranteed to hit your goals. 

After all, what’s the point of having goals if you’re not going to hit them? 

All in all…

Set milestone goals to grow your business, turn those into to-dos and break them down by quarter. The next and final step of your real estate investment business plan might be even more important… 

10. Plan To Delegate

At some point, every real estate investor has to come to terms with a straightforward fact…

You can’t build the business of your dreams on your own . You need to delegate .

You’ve got to partner with other people, build critical relationships, hire people, manage people, create systems and processes to streamline your team’s workflow, and lots more. 

One of the most important areas that deserve a highlight is your client communications and satisfaction. Consider setting up a robust cloud contact center software to manage all the communications that will lead to long-term partnerships.

Building a business isn’t so much about hustling and bustling as it is about putting the right pieces in the right place. 

How do you scale your business? 

The answer is quite simple: you do the same things you’re doing now… but at scale – that means hiring people, training people, and creating clean-cut systems. 

That’s how you grow your business. 

Automate, delegate, and step outside of your business as much as possible to build a real estate investment company that serves you rather than enslaves you. 

Final Thoughts on Real Estate Investment Business Plan

What more is there? 

You know how to create a mission and vision statement, run market analysis, choose an REI business model, set goals, find funding, generate leads, analyze properties, create a brand, set long-term growth milestones, and delegate. 

All that’s left is action. 

And reach out anytime with questions – we’re always here to help!

real estate investor business plan

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real estate investor business plan

Your 10 Step Guide to Building a Real Estate Investing Business Plan

Real estate empires grow from a blueprint, not last-minute hunches. This guide outlines how to create a real estate investing business plan to help you navigate market dynamics, seek funding, and add to your team so that you can successfully grow your business.

real estate investor business plan

Let’s be honest, the idea of drafting a formal real estate investing business plan probably doesn’t excite you. After all, you got into real estate investing to scout deals and transform properties, not write novels full of financial projections.

But experienced investors know a solid plan spells the difference between profitability and major headaches. It forces clarity on direction and feasibility before you sink hundreds of thousands into property purchases and rehabs.

Think of your business plan as a blueprint for success tailored to your unique investment goals and market conditions. Whether you currently own a few rentals or are launching a full-fledged development firm, a plan guides decisions, aligns partners, and demonstrates viability to secure financing.

So how do you build one effectively without needless complexity? What key strategy areas require your focus? Let’s explore components that set you up for growth while avoiding common first-timer pitfalls. With realistic planning as your foundation, your investing journey can start smooth and stay the course.

What is a real estate investing business plan?

At its core, a real estate investment business plan is simply a strategic guide outlining your intended real estate approach. It defines target markets, preferred project types based on expertise, capital sources, growth strategy, key operational procedures, and other investment specifics tailored to your situation.

View your plan as an evolving document rather than a rigid static rulebook collecting dust. It should provide goalposts and guardrails as markets shift over time and new opportunities appear. You'll be able to refer back to the plan to confirm that these new opportunities align with proven tactics that yield predictable returns.

Detailed upfront planning provides a sound foundation for confident direction. It protects stakeholders by identifying potential pitfalls and mitigation strategies before costly surprises trip up the stability of your real estate business.

So, it's worth it to take the time and develop a customized plan aligned to your niche, resources, and risk tolerance. While initially tedious, the practice of putting together your strategic real estate business plan ultimately provides clarity and confidence moving forward.

Importance of having a business plan

Now that we’ve defined what a business plan is, let’s explore why having one matters — especially if you want to grow a successful real estate investment company.

Have you considered what originally attracted you to investing in properties? Whether it was rehabbing flips, acquiring rentals, or simply a lucrative hobby, your motivations and ideal path can get lost in the daily distractions of life. That’s where an intentional business plan provides clarity and conviction moving forward.

Reasons every real estate investor should prioritize planning are:

  • Goals and vision : You might be wanting to quit your day job and focus on real estate full time, or you might simply want to generate some extra income on the side. Either way, a business plan forces you to define what success looks like for you.
  • Due diligence : Creating a plan forces you to research the real estate markets you want to invest in — analyzing sales, rents, permits, zoning, demographics, and growth projections. This helps you objectively identify high-potential neighborhoods and properties rather than relying on hearsay or intuition.
  • Funding and financing : Lenders and potential investors will want to review your business plan to evaluate the viability and profitability of your real estate investment business before offering any financing . A complete plan builds credibility and confidence with stakeholders.
  • Guide decision-making : It's easy to get distracted by the latest real estate seminar or shiny new construction techniques. But sticking to the parameters and strategies laid out in your plan prevents you from making hasty changes or going down rabbit holes.
  • Identify potential risks : There are always things that can unexpectedly go wrong: what if interest rates spike and make your loans unaffordable, or your best tenants move out and unreliable folks move in? Brainstorming these scenarios in advance allows you to minimize risks and have contingency plans.
  • Systemize operations : As you grow, how will you scale operations? A business plan helps you identify areas that will require attention as your business evolves, like creating maintenance checklists for rentals, standardizing lease agreements , or automating accounting procedures.
  • Build the right team : Your business plan provides guidance on the team you'll need for your business. Know if you require a real estate agent to help you find deals or a property manager to handle tenant complaints at 2 AM.
  • Track progress : Your plan helps you compare things like actual rehab costs, rental occupancy rates, cash flow, etc. to your initial projections and determine whether you're on track.  You can then make adjustments as needed.
  • Maintain strategy : As you scale your operations with new hires or partnerships, you'll want to maintain direction in alignment with your original business plan. For example, if you are considering new verticals like commercial real estate, does evaluation criteria match your proven risk metrics and return hurdles? A real estate business plan keeps everyone focused on the same goals as your business grows.

What to include in a real estate investment business plan

A good real estate investing business plan covers everything from business goals to financing strategy. Here are the ten key elements you should include:

1. Executive summary

The executive summary provides a high-level overview of your real estate investment business plan. It briefly describes your company mission, objectives, competitive advantages, growth strategies, team strengths, and financial outlook.

Think of it as the elevator pitch for your business plan, and write it last after you have completed the full plan. Limit it to 1-2 pages at most.

Make your executive summary compelling and motivate investors or lenders to learn more. Be sure to also summarize your past successes and experiences to build credibility.

2. Company description

The company description section provides background details on your real estate investment company. Keep this section brief, but use it to legitimize your business and team.

  • Business model : Explain your core business model and investment strategies. Will you primarily flip properties, buy and hold rentals, conduct wholesale deals, or use another approach?
  • Company history and achievements : Provide a brief timeline of your company's history, including its formation, past projects, key milestones, and achievements.
  • Legal business structure : Identify your corporate structure, such as LLC , S-Corp , C-Corp, or sole proprietorship.
  • Office location : Provide your company's office address, which lends you credibility. If you are initially working from home, consider establishing a local PO Box or virtual address.
  • Founders and key team members : Introduce your founders and key team members. Highlight relevant real estate, finance, management expertise, and credentials.
  • Past projects : Provide an overview of any successful prior real estate projects your company or founders have executed.
  • Competitive advantages : Explain unique resources, systems, or other strengths that give your company an edge over competitors. These could be proprietary analytic models, contractor relationships, deal access, or specialized expertise.
  • Technologies and tools : Discuss technologies, software programs, or tools your company uses to streamline processes and optimize operations.

3. Market analysis

The market analysis section validates whether your real estate investment strategy makes sense in a given area.

Conduct detailed research from multiple sources to create realistic real estate investment market projections and identify potentially profitable opportunities.

Outline why certain neighborhoods, property types, or price points pique your interest more than others.

Your market analysis should dig deep into factors like:

  • Local sales and rental price trends : Analyze pricing history and current trends for both sales and rents. Look at different property types, sizes, and neighborhoods.
  • Housing inventory and demand analysis : Research the balance of supply and demand and how that impacts prices. Is the market undersupplied or oversupplied?
  • Market growth projections : Review forecasts from real estate analysts on expected market growth or decline in coming years. Incorporate these projections into your analysis.
  • Competitor analysis : Identify other real estate investors actively acquiring or managing properties in your target areas. Look at their business models and strategies.
  • Target neighborhood and property analysis : Provide an in-depth analysis of your chosen neighborhoods and target property types. Outline positive attributes, risks, and opportunities.
  • Demographic analysis : Analyze the demographics of potential tenants or homebuyers for your target properties. Factors like income, age, and family size impact demand.
  • Local construction and renovation costs : Research materials and labor costs for accurate budgets and understand the permitting process and timelines.
  • Regional economic outlook : Factor in projections for job growth, new employers, infrastructure projects, and how they may impact the real estate market.

4. SWOT analysis

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Conducting a SWOT analysis means stepping back from day-to-day business to assess your broader position and path from a strategic lens.

Internal strengths for your real estate investment business may include an experienced team skilled in major rehab projects, strong contractor relationships, or access to private lending capital. Weaknesses might be limited staff for handling tenant maintenance issues across a growing rental portfolio or only having a small number of referral partners for deal flow.

External opportunities can come from accelerating population growth and development in your target market, new zoning favorable to multifamily housing, or record-low mortgage interest rates. Threats could be rising material prices that hurt your flip margins, laws imposing restrictions on non-primary residence owners, or an oversupply of new luxury rentals, allowing tenants to be choosy.

The SWOT analysis highlights strengths to double down on and risks to mitigate in the real estate market.

5. Financial projections

The financial plan helps for both internal preparation and attracting investors. For real estate companies, the financial plan section should cover:

  • Startup costs : Include the expected startup costs involved to start your investment project, such as getting licenses and permits or paying for legal fees.
  • Profit and loss forecasts : Create projected profit and loss statements that outline what you think your revenues and expenses will be over the next 3-5 years.
  • Cash flow projections : Put together projected cash flow statements that show expected cash flow for each month.
  • Return on investment projections : Project your company's expected ROI over time under the different investment scenarios.
  • Funding requirements : Based on your forecasts, detail exactly how much capital you will need to start and operate your business until it is profitable. Specify whether you plan to use debt or equity financing.

6. Investment strategy

The investment strategy outlines your niche — will you focus on flipping, buying rentals, commercial properties, or a blend? Define any geographic targets like certain cities or zip codes backed by your research on growth potential.

Specify your criteria for ideal investment properties based on your goals. Decide which factors — age, size, layout, condition, or price point — matter most to you.

You can also use this section to explain how you plan to find deals, whether that's by scouting listed properties, attending foreclosure auctions, or networking to create off-market opportunities.

Clearly conveying your approach allows lenders and potential private investors to grasp your niche, planned pursuits, and process for finding deals. Having a strong strategy that summarizes how you locate, evaluate and capture deals matching your investing thesis can increase lender and private investor confidence in your ability to execute.

7. Marketing plan

Real estate marketing can’t just be an afterthought; it helps attract profitable deals, financing, and tenants to your business, making it a necessary component of your business plan to prioritize.

Components of your marketing plan can include:

  • Networking: Actively networking at local real estate meetups puts you directly in front of promising off-market opportunities and partnerships with motivated sellers, lenders and contractors in your community.
  • Social media: Consistently nurturing your social media presence can also pay off to help you find opportunities or potential investors.
  • Direct marketing: Never underestimate old school direct marketing — sending postcards to addresses with outdated “We Buy Houses” signs or calling the For Sale by Owners numbers from public listings can help you reach motivated sellers.
  • Listings management: Note that marketing does not end once you own property. To keep rental vacancies filled, leverage listing sites that can publish your units to a wide audience of prospective tenants.

8. Operations plan

Without systems, real estate investors struggle through renovations plagued by cost overruns, shoddy contractors who never call back, and frustrating tenants who always pay late . The operations component of your plan should consider aspects like:

  • Renovations: Ever lined up a contractor who juggles too many clients and leaves your projects languishing? Create standardized processes for accurate scoping, vetting subs, enforcing deadlines contractually, and maintaining contingency funds.
  • Business technologies: As your portfolio grows, tasks like tracking income, expenses , assets, and communicating with tenants can quickly overwhelm. Identify technologies early on that help centralize details to avoid getting swamped. Look into property management platforms that automate listings, tenant screening , digitized lease agreements, maintenance work order flows, and communications.
  • Insurance: Tenants or contractors can sometimes damage assets. Discuss landlord insurance policies to protect you against lawsuits, natural disasters, and major property repairs as you scale up.

9. Team structure

If you plan to grow your team beyond just yourself or a few partners, your business plan should outline your organization's key roles and responsibilities. This helps you consider what positions you may need to fill as your company scales.

  • Partners or co-founders: These are the main decision-makers and equity holders. Outline their background, skills, and the value they bring.
  • Property manager: This person handles day-to-day management of properties, tenants and maintenance issues.
  • Bookkeeper: You may need daily help managing bank accounts, invoices, taxes, and financial reporting.
  • Contractors and project managers : You'll need trusted renovations, repairs, and landscaping contractors. Dedicated project managers help oversee large jobs.
  • Leasing agents : As you grow and add more properties, leasing agents handle showings, applications, and signing new tenants.
  • Real estate attorneys : Real estate investing requires proper legal filings and compliance. Attorneys can help you manage this risk.

10. Exit strategies

Every wise investor plans their exit strategy upfront before acquiring a property. Will you aim to flip the asset quickly or retain it as a rental long-term? What factors determine ideal timing and the right profit margin for you to walk away?

Build flexibility into your strategy, as markets move in unpredictable ways. Especially with flips, have contingency plans if your listing gets lowballs or no offers. Be willing to rent short-term, refinance and hold if possible, convert to condos, or just patiently wait until the market changes. Having reserves and backup options allows you to avoid a distress sale.

Also include plans for strategies after a property sale, like a 1031 exchange to defer capital gains taxes and reinvest in another property. You may want to use sale proceeds to reduce or clear outstanding debts, enhancing cash flow and financial standing.

Tips for your real estate business plan 

Now that you know what to include, consider the following four tips to help your real estate investment business plan stand out.

1. Be detailed and specific

Resist the urge to gloss over details as you put together your plan. Drill down on the specifics for parameters like:

  • Target purchase and rehab costs.
  • Timelines for completing projects.
  • Minimum profit margins.
  • Maximum allowable vacancy rates .
  • Minimum cash reserves.

2. Refine and update regularly

Markets change, so don't create your business plan and file it away. Review your plan regularly to see how market conditions and your actual results compare to projections.

Make adjustments as needed. Tweak your approach if your rehabs are going over budget or your properties aren't selling as quickly as expected.

Aim to update your full plan annually at a minimum. Even if your overall strategy remains consistent, refresh the details around market factors, financials, tactics, risks, and projections.

3. Seek expert feedback

Before implementing your new real estate investment business plan, seek feedback from advisors who can identify potential issues or weaknesses.

Ask experienced real estate investors in your area to review your plan and provide constructive input. It's also a good idea to share your plan and numbers with your CPA and legal counsel as well.

4. Keep it simple

While specificity is good, don't over complicate your business plan to the point where it becomes difficult to follow. You want to inform readers without confusing them.

The goal is for stakeholders, such as co-investors, lenders, and partners, to easily digest your plan and understand it after a quick skim. Make it easy for readers to grasp your reasons behind focusing on a given area or project type based on market conditions and opportunity.

A property investment business plan fit to your goals

After finally finishing your business plan, you’re probably eager to dive into tangible investments rather than tweaking spreadsheets. But in the real estate industry, even experienced investors periodically step back and update strategies.

Approach your business plan as a living document that evolves as the market shifts, as you create new partnerships, or when you need to make changes in strategy. Set reminders to revisit quarterly and confirm your activities of today still align with the vision from day one.

Solid planning is proven to improve outcomes in dynamic industries like real estate investing. Though preparation isn’t glamorous, it pays dividends. Thoughtfully constructing your playbook puts the odds of executing successfully in your favor.

With a solid blueprint backed by your research, you’re now ready to capture the best real estate investment opportunities.

Business plan real estate investor FAQs

How do i stay flexible and adapt my business plan to changes in the market.

To stay flexible, review your real estate investing business plan regularly and update it based on changes in market conditions, trends, and opportunities. If things change in the market, find ways to adapt your strategy. This can include your goals, target market, financing, and even your exit plans.

How do I know if my real estate investing business plan is effective?

You'll know your business plan is effective if you're meeting the key objectives and metrics you outlined. Let's say your plan called for you to purchase a certain number of properties and achieve a specific cash flow or rate of return. If you're falling short, you can use the plan to course-correct.

Are there any specific software or tools for creating a real estate investing business plan?

Azibo is a helpful software tool for creating real estate investing business plans. This comprehensive platform has templates and tools to build out key sections of your plan. Its robust accounting and financial capabilities help construct accurate statements and projections.

Incorporating Azibo's online rent collection allows you to model cash flows. By centralizing lease documents , accounting, and portfolio management, Azibo streamlines the process of putting together a strategically sound real estate business plan.

Author Photo

Nichole co-founded Gateway Private Equity Group, with a history of investments in single-family and multi-family properties, and now a specialization in hotel real estate investments. She is also the creator of NicsGuide.com, a blog dedicated to real estate investing.

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Real Estate Investment Business Plan

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Real estate has been one of the fastest-growing industries in recent times. So, if considering starting a real estate investment business—this is the right time.

Whether you’re a seasoned investor to get into real estate or a rookie aiming to set your foot in this rapidly growing market, you need a solid business plan to make your real estate investing business a runaway success.

Need assistance writing your business plan? Worry not.

We have prepared a real estate investment business plan template to help you get started.

Let’s cut to the chase: download this template, follow step-by-step instructions, and finish the first draft of your plan.

recognize opportunities and deal with challenges in an effective way. It’ll also help you devise an investment strategy that brings you maximum returns.

Real Estate Industry Overview 2023

Here is an overview of the current state of the real estate industry in 2023:

Market size and growth potential:

Employment scenario:, key players:.

Say goodbye to boring templates

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real estate investor business plan

Things to Consider Before Writing a Real Estate Investment Business Plan

Select the right property location.

Selecting the right location to invest in is one of the primary requirements for a real estate business’s success. You should select the location based on what is the potential of infrastructural development in the area. Is it a preferable location for commercialization and urbanization or not? You should always keep these things in mind to ensure the maximum possible returns on your investment.

Know the purpose of your investment

Do your research, know all of your options, how can a real estate investment business plan help you.

You may want to start investing as soon as possible, after all, investments take time to grow, right? But just like a stitch in time saves nine, a real estate investment business plan can help your investment business prosper in the future even if it seems time-consuming at the moment.

It can help you design a proper business model and formulate a great business growth strategy. Moreover, it can also help you track your progress along the way.

All in all, it can make your investments way smoother than going about without a business plan.

Chalking out Your Business Plan

The real estate sector is one of the most profitable sectors to invest in. Many investors swear by it as a bankable source of secondary income.

Not just that, the real estate investment market increased from 9.6 trillion dollars in 2019 to 10.5 trillion dollars in 2020. Although it may take time, investment in the housing market can help your money grow.

And though the above information invests in the real estate sector as a rosy prospect, it can go horribly wrong without a proper business plan and investment strategy.

Read on to find out what a business plan can do for your investment business.

Real estate investment business plan outline

This is the standard real estate investment business plan outline which will cover all important sections that you should include in your business plan.

  • Purpose of the Plan
  • Introduction
  • The Problem
  • The Solution
  • A fundamental change in the US housing market
  • All three legs of the apartment investment stool are in place
  • Weak Housing Market
  • Competitive Advantage
  • Business Model
  • Growth Opportunity
  • Corporate Structure Overview
  • Source and Use of Funds
  • Return on Investment
  • Mission Statement
  • Business Objectives
  • Legal Structure
  • Company Ownership
  • Location and Premises
  • Intellectual Property
  • CREI Business Model
  • Revenue Projections
  • The Amount of Investment Funds Requested
  • Business Benefits
  • Investment Repayments
  • Good Investment Trends in Apartment Rentals
  • Rent Spikes Coming For a Good Investment in Apartment Buildings
  • Apartments Continue as Good Investment Through 2012 and Beyond
  • Apartment Buildings Going From Good Investment to Great
  • Filling Basic Needs Makes for a Good Investment
  • More Americans renting by choice
  • The Apartment Building Investment Triple Opportunity Is Right Now
  • Internet Growth Allows Renters to Locate Good Apartments
  • Industry Participants
  • Competitive Advantages
  • Strategic Initiatives?
  • Brand Strategy
  • Provide Individuals, Families, and Businesses with Quality Rental Properties at an Affordable Price.
  • Positioning Statement
  • Pricing Strategy
  • Sales Strategy
  • Sales Forecast
  • Sales Programs
  • Strategic Alliances
  • Social networking websites
  • Email campaigns
  • SEO (Search Engine Optimization) PPC
  • Banner advertisements
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Organizational Structure
  • SWOT Analysis
  • Key Assumptions
  • Key Financial Indicators
  • Explanation of Break-even Analysis
  • Business Ratios
  • Long-term Plan and Financial Highlights
  • Projected Income Statement
  • Projected Cash Flow
  • Projected Balance Sheet

How to Write a Real Estate Investment Business Plan?

A real estate investment business plan consists of several key areas that must be included in it and add things that would be unique to you and your business.

Also, there are several ways in which you can write a business plan including online business plan software and pre-designed templates. You can choose the method that works best for your individual needs.

What to Include in a Real Estate Investment Business Plan?

Although a business plan should be customized as per the needs of an individual and market situation, there are certain areas that every real estate investment business plan must include. They are as follows:

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary section is the first and foremost section of your business plan. It consists of what your entire business stands for. It focuses on everything ranging from opportunities and threats, competitive advantages your business has, the structure of the current market as well as the financial needs of the business.

Most importantly for a real estate investment business plan, it would also consist of the prospective return of investment one can expect from the business as well as the expected duration of time for that growth to happen.

2. Business Concept and Revenue Model

This section would include the type of investment concept and revenue model you plan on following with your business. So, before writing this section it is a good practice to analyze the current trends in the market as well as your own finances, to find the concept that fits the best for you in the current market situation.

In this section, you can also include methods of tracking the progress of your investments.

3. Market Analysis

Whenever one starts a new business it is mandatory to carry out market analysis to flourish in it. It not only helps you in understanding the market, but it also helps you in choosing the right strategy for your own business.

For example, in the US rent spikes and increasing demand for rental accommodations make the rent department an extremely profitable segment in the real estate market. A thorough analysis of the market can thus help you choose the most favorable market segment as well as the best locality to invest in.

4. Growth Strategy

In this section, you should include the milestones you plan on having for your investment business. It helps you set well-defined tasks to achieve those milestones and keeps you motivated while doing the same. Also, with the help of milestones, you can always pinpoint when and where you are going wrong and need a shift in direction.

5. Web Plan

Having a web presence can be immensely helpful in building your network and reaching out to potential partners and organizations that can help you grow.

For building an online presence you can use various tools like social media, email marketing, optimized web pages, etc.

6. Management Summary

This segment includes information regarding the roles and responsibilities of the people in your business. The people in your business are a major aspect that decides its success or downfall, therefore a thorough detail of their work and progress is an essential part of your business plan.

7. SWOT Analysis

Carrying out a SWOT analysis before writing your business plan can make the process faster, easier, and way more well-defined. Hence, including it in your business plan is always a good idea.

8. Financial analysis

Even though financial analysis is crucial for any business, it is especially important for investment businesses. In this section, you can include the time required to reach the break-even point, the projected growth of your business, long-term finances as well and strategies to deal with potential changes in the market.

Download a sample real estate investment business plan

Need help writing your business plan from scratch? Here you go; download our free real estate investment business plan pdf to start.

It’s a modern business plan template specifically designed for your real estate investment. Use the example business plan as a guide for writing your own.

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

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Frequently asked questions, do you need a business plan for real estate investing.

Indeed. Whether you plan to start a real estate investing, development, or mortgage broker business—you need a solid business plan to make your real estate business a runaway success. You can use Upmetrics’ real estate & rental business plan templates to get started writing your plan.

What's the importance of a marketing strategy in a real estate investment business plan?

Marketing strategy is a key component of your real estate investment business plan. Whether it is about achieving certain business goals or helping your investors understand your plan to maximize their return on investment—an impactful marketing strategy is the way to do it!

Here are a few pointers to help you understand the importance of having an impactful marketing strategy:

  • It provides your business an edge over your competitors.
  • It helps investors better understand your business and growth potential.
  • It helps you develop products with the best profit potential.
  • It helps you set accurate pricing for your products or services.

What is the easiest way to write your real estate investment business plan?

A lot of research is necessary for writing a business plan, but you can write your plan most efficiently with the help of any real estate investment business plan example and edit it as per your need. You can also quickly finish your plan in just a few hours or less with the help of our business planning tool .

How do I write a good market analysis in a real estate investment business plan?

Market analysis is one of the key components of your business plan that requires deep research and a thorough understanding of your industry.

We can categorize the process of writing a good market analysis section into the following steps:

  • Stating the objective of your market analysis—e.g., investor funding.
  • Industry study—market size, growth potential, market trends, etc.
  • Identifying target market—based on user behavior and demographics.
  • Analyzing direct and indirect competitors.
  • Calculating market share—understanding TAM, SAM, and SOM.
  • Knowing regulations and restrictions
  • Organizing data and writing the first draft.

Writing a marketing analysis section can be overwhelming, but using ChatGPT for market research can make things easier.

About the Author

real estate investor business plan

Vinay Kevadiya

Vinay Kevadiya is the founder and CEO of Upmetrics, the #1 business planning software. His ultimate goal with Upmetrics is to revolutionize how entrepreneurs create, manage, and execute their business plans. He enjoys sharing his insights on business planning and other relevant topics through his articles and blog posts. Read more

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Real Estate Investment Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Growthink.com real estate investment business plan template

Real Estate Investment Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 5,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their real estate investment businesses. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a real estate investing business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Real Estate Investment Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your real estate investing business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan

residential-home

Source of Funding for Real Estate Investment Companies

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a real estate investment business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable. But they will want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

The second most common form of funding for a real estate investment business is angel investors. Angel investors are wealthy individuals who will write you a check. They will either take equity in return for their funding, or, like a bank, they will give you a loan.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a real estate investment company.

Your business plan should include 10 sections as follows:

Executive Summary

real estate plan deal

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of real estate investing business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of real estate investment companies.

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the real estate investment industry. Discuss the type of real estate investment business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of real estate investment business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types: Real estate investment companies do two basic things: invest in real estate and trade in real estate.

  • Real estate investment is a long-term investment wherein you purchase real estate with the intent of keeping properties to rent out.
  • Real estate trading is a short-term investment, wherein you buy a property that needs fixing up and flip it for a higher price soon after.

In addition to explaining the type of real estate investment company you operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

  • When and why did you start the business?
  • What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include sales goals you’ve reached, new store openings, etc.
  • Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

investing in real estate

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the real estate investment industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating. 

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy particularly if your research identifies market trends. For example, if there was a trend towards increasing foreclosures in a particular city, it would be helpful to ensure your plan calls for an increased focus in this market.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your real estate investing business plan:

  • How big is the real estate investment industry (in dollars)?
  • Is the market declining or increasing?
  • Who are the key competitors in the market?
  • Who are the key suppliers in the market?
  • What trends are affecting the industry?
  • What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
  • What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your real estate investment business. You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your real estate investing business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: mortgage holders, home buyers, renters, etc.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of real estate investment business you operate. Clearly first-time home buyers would want different pricing and product options, and would respond to different marketing promotions than banks.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most real estate investment businesses primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

making decisions

Direct competitors are other real estate investment businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes property management companies, realtors, and DIY home fixer-uppers. You need to mention such competition to show you understand that not everyone who purchases or leases real estate uses a real estate investment business to do so.

With regards to direct competition, you want to detail the other real estate investment businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be real estate investment businesses located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

  • What types of customers do they serve?
  • What products do they offer?
  • What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
  • What are they good at?
  • What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

  • Will you specialize in a particular real estate type or market?
  • Will you provide services that your competitors don’t offer?
  • Will you make it easier or faster for customers to acquire your real estate?
  • Will you provide better customer service?
  • Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a real estate investment business plan, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : in the product section you should reiterate the type of real estate investment company that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, will you offer residential properties, or commercial properties?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the types of real estate you offer and the current price ranges.

Place : Place refers to the location of your business. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your real estate investment business located in a market with a high foreclosure rate, or with a low inventory of office space. Discuss how your location might provide a steady stream of customers. 

Promotions : the final part of your real estate investing marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

  • Advertising in local papers and magazines
  • Reaching out to local bloggers and websites 
  • Social media advertising
  • Local radio advertising
  • Banner ads at local venues

Operations Plan

commercial construction

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your real estate investment business such as finding properties to acquire, marketing completed properties, overseeing renovations, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to flip your 25th house, or when you hope to reach $X in sales. It could also be when you expect to hire your Xth employee or launch in a new market.

Management Team

To demonstrate your real estate investment business’s ability to succeed as a business, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company. 

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in real estate. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in real estate investment businesses and/or successfully running small businesses.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

While balance sheets include much information, to simplify them to the key items you need to know about, balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. For instance, if you spend $100,000 on building out your real estate investment business, that will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $100.000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt. For example, let’s say you signed a commercial tenant that needs an extensive build out, that would cost you $50,000 to complete. Well, in most cases, you would have to pay that $50,000 now for materials, equipment rentals, employee salaries, etc. But rent will not cover build-out costs for 180 days. During that 180 day period, you could run out of money.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a real estate investment business:

  • Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
  • Cost of developing or refurbishing real estate assets
  • Cost of depreciation
  • Payroll or salaries paid to staff
  • Business insurance
  • Taxes and permits
  • Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your store design blueprint or location lease.

Real Estate Investment Business Plan Summary

Putting together a business plan for your real estate investment company is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the real estate investment market, your competition and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful real estate investment business.

Real Estate Investment FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my real estate investment business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Real Estate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete a business plan for your real estate investing business.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of real estate investment business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a real estate investment business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of real estate investment businesses.

Where Can I Download a Real Estate Investment Business Plan PDF?

You can download our  real estate investment business plan PDF  template here. This is a business plan template you can use in PDF format.

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Real Estate | How To

How to Write a Real Estate Business Plan (+ Free Template)

Published June 30, 2023

Published Jun 30, 2023

Gina Baker

REVIEWED BY: Gina Baker

Jealie Dacanay

WRITTEN BY: Jealie Dacanay

This article is part of a larger series on How to Become a Real Estate Agent .

  • 1 Write Your Mission Statement
  • 2 Conduct a SWOT Analysis
  • 3 Set Specific & Measurable Goals
  • 4 Plan Your Marketing Strategies & Tactics
  • 5 Create a Lead Generation & Nurturing Strategy
  • 6 Calculate Your Income Goal
  • 7 Set Times to Revisit Your Business Plan
  • 8 Why Agents Need a Real Estate Business Plan
  • 9 Real Estate Business Plan Examples & Templates
  • 10 Bottom Line
  • 11 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A real estate business plan lays the groundwork and provides direction on income targets, marketing tactics, goal setting, lead generation, and an overview of your industry’s competition. It describes your company’s mission statement in detail and assesses your SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) as an organization. Business plans should include measurable goals and financial projections that you can review periodically throughout the year to ensure you meet your goals.

Continue reading to see real estate business plan examples and discover how to write a real estate business plan. Start by making your own by downloading and using the free real estate business plan template we’ve provided below.

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Real Estate Business Plan Template

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Market Leader provides a comprehensive paid inbound lead, automated marketing, and CRM solution to help agents acquire, engage, and nurture real estate leads.

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1. Write Your Mission Statement

Every real estate agent’s business plan should begin with a mission statement, identifying your values and why your business exists. Your mission statement serves as the guide to achieving your ultimate business objective. When you create a solid clear mission statement, all other items identified in your realtor business plan should be aimed at fulfilling this statement.

A screenshot of Compass' website.

Compass’ mission statement: “Our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world.” (Source: Compass )

Your mission statement should identify your target audience, what product or service you provide, and what makes your business distinct. As seen in the example above, a powerful mission statement should be short and concise but sums up a business objective.

Let’s take Compass’ mission statement above as an example: “Our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world.” The statement identifies what the company offers, for what reasons, and who it benefits.

2. Conduct a SWOT Analysis

SWOT is an acronym that stands for a business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The primary objective of these four elements is to assess a business by evaluating internal and external factors that can drive decision-making and help you make more money . Conducting a SWOT analysis as you develop your business plan for real estate uncovers opportunities to differentiate yourself from the massive competition currently on the market.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths and weaknesses are internal parts of your organization. Strengths identify what product or services you provide better than others, your access to resources, and items that benefit your customers. Weaknesses are items that need improvement, lack of resources, or what your competition does better. These are items within your control to change because you can convert a weakness into a strength.

See the example below if “Agent X” was doing their SWOT analysis:

Opportunities & Threats

External factors drive opportunities and threats and are areas you can take advantage of to benefit your business. Examples of opportunities can be shifts in the current marketplace, emerging trends you can capitalize on, features that competitors lack, or even changes with your competitors. Threats, on the other hand, are anything that can negatively impact your business. You don’t have control over changing the opportunities or threats, but you can develop a practice to anticipate and protect your business against the threats.

The opportunities and threats for “Agent X” would be:

When you complete your SWOT analysis, use it as a guide when creating strategies to meet your business objectives. To gain the most benefit from creating a SWOT analysis, make sure you are being realistic about your business and evaluating it in its present state. You don’t want to be unrealistic by listing strengths or opportunities that don’t exist yet, and you want to allocate time and money to the most impactful solution to your business issues.

If “Agent X” completed the above SWOT analysis, a few strategies they could derive would be:

  • Incentivize agents to keep them at the brokerage for longer
  • Implement a technology-based key machine to reduce lost keys and keep the team accountable
  • Find a competitive advantage against competing brokerages and use that in marketing messages

Example of Zillow Premier Agent Agent Finder advertising for three featured agents.

Zillow agent finder (Source: Zillow )

To help agents locate other brokerages operating in your preferred market, agents can use Zillow’s agent finder page as a research tool to see which agents or brokerages are operating in a specific area. You can find an agent by location, name, specialty, and language. Once you click on a Zillow profile , you can read their reviews, see their team members, contact and website information, and property listings. Take a deep dive into your competitor profiles and can use the information to implement strategies within your own business.

Visit Zillow

Read how our experts feel about this real estate lead generation company in our Zillow Premier Agent review .

3. Set Specific & Measurable Goals

You’re ready to set some business goals after clearly defining your mission statement and SWOT analysis. Goals can help set the tone to increase your performance and drive your business in the right direction. Your goals should have a definitive way to show progress, which can be a prime motivator to keep you on track to achieving them.

Each goal should follow a pattern to identify set criteria. This will ensure that your daily efforts are performed to meet business objectives within a set period. A way to do this is by using SMART goals:

Examples of SMART goals for agents or brokerages:

  • Increase closed transactions by 20% to a total of 150 deals within the next year
  • I will ask all closed clients for a referral and review within 30 days of closing the deal

Goals can be split into short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goal lengths vary between days and weeks but do not exceed six months. Short-term goals can also be worked on simultaneously with long-term goals. Long-term goals can take up to six months or more to complete and require careful planning and perseverance. A mix of short-term and long-term goals will help you maintain motivation.

All goals are equally important; however, success will stem from how you prioritize each one. Slowly add on additional goals as you have the capacity and feel comfortable with the current progress of your current set of goals. Without identifying your business goals, you’ll leave your results up to luck to attain your business objectives.

4. Plan Your Marketing Strategies & Tactics

Developing marketing strategies and tactics and implementing them help you identify and locate your current value proposition in the real estate industry, along with specific timelines for execution. In addition to determining your overall business objectives and goals, your marketing strategy and plan should include the following:

  • Pinpoint general marketing goals
  • Estimate projected marketing budget
  • Know your geographic farm area data and identify your target niche audience
  • Analyze market competition
  • Identify your unique selling proposition
  • Establish a timeline and set your plan in motion
  • Track your progress and readjust as needed

While a marketing strategy identifies the overall marketing goals of your business, developing marketing tactics will help you achieve those individual goals. They can include referral business tactics, retention efforts, and ways to acquire new customers. For example, you can offer incentives to anyone who refers your business, or you can implement new email drip campaigns to help increase lead conversion rates.

These tactics should have set key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you evaluate your performance. For instance, a KPI you can set for your business could be that referral business should exceed 20% of your lead generation sources.

If you’re unsure how to put together your marketing plan, check out our article Real Estate Marketing Plan Template & Strategy Guide and download the free template to get started.

Postcard campaign examples from ProspectsPLUS!.

Postcard campaign example (Source: ProspectsPLUS! )

If direct mail is part of your promotion strategy, services like ProspectsPLUS! can help easily create and distribute mailers to a targeted area. It also has options for postcards , brochures, newsletters , flyers, and folders. You can also send mailers to prospective clients by geographic or demographic farm areas through its campaigns. Check out its templates and mailing options today.

Visit ProspectsPLUS!

Read how our experts feel about this real estate direct mail service in our ProspectsPLUS! review .

5. Create a Lead Generation & Nurturing Strategy

Having a successful lead generation strategy will help you maintain business growth. Lead generation can be performed organically and through paid advertisements to attract and convert prospective clients. In addition to generating leads, agents should have systems to manage, nurture, and re-engage with contacts to maximize opportunities.

Generating leads through a multipronged approach is the best way to maintain lead flow. Use organic strategies like hosting an open house, reaching out to your sphere of influence, and attending networking events. Employ paid generation strategies, such as purchasing leads from a lead generation company or setting up a website to funnel potential clients. Your marketing strategies will directly correlate with your lead generation strategies.

Every lead is an opportunity, even if they don’t immediately convert into a deal. Effectively nurturing leads can make sure no opportunity falls through the cracks. Agents can nurture leads by continuously engaging and developing relationships with prospective leads . It’s important to provide prospective clients with a constant flow of essential and relevant information, depending on where they are in the real estate buying or selling process.

Here are the top lead generation companies for real estate agents and brokers:

Engage more efficiently with buyer and seller leads using Market Leader’s new feature Network Boost. Network Boost has shown a 40% increase in agents successfully connecting with leads. Market Leader social media experts design highly targeted and optimized ads for your Instagram and Facebook. As visitors engage with your ads, they will be prompted to complete a form and funnel directly into your Market Leader client relationship manager (CRM). This will also trigger an automatic marketing campaign that nurtures your clients and lets you know they are ready to engage with you personally. Try Market Leader’s Network Boost today.

6. Calculate Your Income Goal

Your income goal is one of the most critical items to be included in your business plan. While this may be more difficult for new agents who are still learning the business, it’s still necessary to estimate the amount of money you will earn for the year. Work with an experienced agent or mentor to help you estimate your monetary goals. For professional agents, review your previous years to judge your income goals for the upcoming year.

To calculate your income goal and the amount of work you’ll need to complete to get to that goal, you’ll need to have some basic number estimates:

  • Net income: The amount of money you will put in your pocket after commission splits with your real estate brokerage.
  • Fee split with brokerage: This is the agreed-upon commission split you have with your brokerage for each completed transaction. For example, if you have a 70/30 split with your brokerage, you will collect 70% of the commission, and your brokerage will receive a 30% commission for each deal.
  • Estimate of completed deals per year: You also want to estimate the number of deals you intend to complete yearly. Remember that some months will be busier than others, so make sure to account for holidays, weather, and your schedule.

Real Estate Yearly Goal Calculator

By figuring out these numbers, you can give yourself a realistic number for your income goal. Compute the gross income commission (GCI) or amount of money you must make before the commission splits and the average profit per deal and month you’ll need to reach your goal.

For a more detailed breakdown of your yearly goal, download and use our yearly goal calculator. Input your information into the highlighted yellow boxes, and the spreadsheet will automatically calculate the GCI, total deal count, and gross income you’ll have to earn each month to reach your goal. Adjust the average gross commission per deal and brokerage split as necessary.

FitSmallBusiness Year Goal Calculator

FitSmallBusiness Year Goal Calculato template.

For additional information on real estate agent salaries, review our article Real Estate Agent Salary: How Much Do Real Estate Agents Make?

7. Set Times to Revisit Your Business Plan

Business plans are only effective if you use them. A business plan is a roadmap for your business, and you’ll need to revisit it often to ensure you’re staying on track. It should be a constant resource to guide you through meeting your goals and business objectives, but it’s not necessarily set in stone if you need to make any changes.

Agents should revisit their business plans monthly to measure progress and make any changes to stay the course. If you find that you’re missing the times set for your goals, then you should continue to revisit your business plan regularly. Changing the business plan itself should occur annually once you can have a complete picture of your yearly performance. Evaluating the business plan can help you discover new strategies and ensure you have the appropriate resources for the upcoming year.

Pipedrive user dashboard

Overall status of sales activities in the dashboard (Source: Pipedrive )

Sales software like Pipedrive can help you track your overall business performance when revisiting your business plan. It presents company sales data in easy-to-visualize dashboards that track your business performance and contains forecasting tools to project future revenue. It can maintain company and team goals with progress tracking to keep goals top of mind.

Visit Pipedrive

Read how our experts feel about this real estate customer relationship manager (CRM) system in our Pipedrive review .

Why Agents Need a Real Estate Business Plan

A real estate business plan keeps you up to date on market developments and one step ahead of your competitors. It also enables you to test lead-generating tactics and create new marketing campaigns while keeping track of results over time. A solid business plan for a real estate agent presents the following:

  • Where you are at the moment
  • Where you would like to be
  • How you’re going to get there
  • How to evaluate and measure your performance
  • When and when to correct the course

Real Estate Business Plan Examples & Templates

Real estate agents and brokerages don’t have to build their business plans from scratch, as many resources provide different examples. Business plan templates can also have different objectives. Some are used to secure financing or help you focus on lead generation, while others are single-page plans meant to get you started.

Here are five real estate business plan examples you can use to create yours:

Lead Generation & Income Plan

Screenshot of Market Leader real estate business plan.

Market Leader business plan example (Source: Market Leader )

This business plan is from Market Leader, a third-party lead generation platform. It specializes in lead generation, marketing, and converting leads into customers with an attractive IDX (Internet Data Exchange) website and robust automation tools. Agents can also participate in purchasing leads through their lead products to receive a guaranteed number of leads per month.

A Single-page Business Plan

Single Page Business Plan example from pngfind.

Business plan for real estate (Source: PngFind )

Agents who are new to writing a business plan can start small. Business plans do not have to be multipage to be effective. This single-page business plan helps identify a single goal followed by three areas to focus on and five objectives for each focus area. As real estate agents begin to feel comfortable with goal setting and completion, they can continue to add to this single-page business plan with duplicate pages, identifying additional goals.

Business Plan for Real Estate Brokers

Screenshot of Real estate broker business plan example from AgentEDU.

Real estate broker business plan (Source: AgentEDU )

This robust real estate broker business plan is designed to address organization and management goals. It contains pages identifying personnel information like title, job description, and salary. The business plan also encourages the broker to identify operational goals for future personnel changes. It’s best suited for a broker with a larger team to help drive operational change.

Business Plan With Detailed Financials

Business plan with detailed company financial information.

Example of real estate agent business plan template (Source: FinModelsLab )

This multipage business plan contains eye-catching graphics and detailed company financial information for real estate agents and brokers seeking funding from outside investors. One of the last sections of the business plan is a financial planning section geared toward showing how viable your business is through your provided income statements, cash flow, and balance sheet reports.

Real Estate Developers’ Business Plan

Easy to edit real estate business plan template from Upmetrics.

Realtor business plan template sample (Source: Upmetrics )

Upmetrics’ real estate business plan templates are easy to edit and share and contain professional cover pages to help agents convert their business ideas into actionable goals. The business plans from Upmetrics are geared toward agents looking to transition into real estate development. This plan includes vital sections important for a developer to analyze, such as building location, demand for housing, and pricing.

Market Leader's CRM dashboard as viewed on tablet and phone devices.

Real estate CRM (Source: Market Leader )

Market Leader’s business plan is centered around driving more business through lead generation. It helps agents understand their lead sources, average sales price, and how much commission was earned in a given year. It also allows agents to set income and transactional goals for the following year.

Visit Market Leader

Bottom Line

Whether you are a new real estate agent or looking to grow your brokerage, writing a real estate business plan template will help you define the steps needed to build a successful business . It serves as a guided roadmap to help you achieve your business goals, identify areas of improvement, and provide guidance in all aspects of your business, from marketing, operations, and finance to your products and services. Business plans can help determine if your business is viable and worth the financial investment.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a real estate business plan.

A real estate business plan is a document that presents an outline of your organizational goals. A business plan lays out future company goals and structured procedures to achieve them. Business plans commonly contain plans for one to five years at a time, though they can differ from investor to investor.

A real estate business plan will put you in a position to succeed while also assisting you in avoiding potential pitfalls. It serves as a guide to follow when things go as expected and when they diverge from the initial plan of action. Also, a real estate business plan will ensure that investors know the steps they need to take to succeed.

How do I jump-start my real estate business?

It is important to note that starting a real estate business is not a simple task. Before launching a firm in any field, entrepreneurs should spend numerous hours researching and developing a solid business plan. As you start your real estate business, use the following tips as guidance:

  • Think about your professional goals
  • Conduct extensive research
  • Organize your finances
  • Create a business plan
  • Establish an LLC
  • Make a marketing plan
  • Create a website
  • Start campaigns
  • Keep track of leads
  • Develop a network of connections

How can I grow my real estate business?

You can use multiple strategies and ways to grow your real estate business. They include:

  • Assess your current situation
  • Invest in your professional growth
  • Establish strategic alliances
  • Take advantage of omnichannel marketing
  • Start blogging
  • Create consistent social media profiles and campaigns
  • Improve your website
  • Consider working with a marketing company
  • Optimize your signs and direct mail

About the Author

Jealie Dacanay

Find Jealie On LinkedIn

Jealie Dacanay

Jealie is a staff writer expert focusing on real estate education, lead generation, marketing, and investing. She has always seen writing as an opportunity to apply her knowledge and express her ideas. Over the years and through her internship at a real estate developer in the Philippines, Camella, she developed and discovered essential skills for producing high-quality online content.

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Justin Dossey

Justin Dossey

How to write your real estate investing business plan: the ultimate guide.

  • February 8, 2023
  • , Business Advice , How to , Real Estate Investing Tips

Want to create a real estate investing business plan?

Well, you could just launch your business.

You could go door-knocking for the next week, maybe even find a property to buy, buy it, and then try to flip it or rent it out. Then you could do that over and over again.

Heck — maybe you’d even build a healthy business out of it.

Buuuuut, maybe not.

If you’re anything like me, then you favor planning over mindless execution (sorry Gary Vee). You don’t want to just launch a business that may or may not succeed, you want a real estate investing business plan . You want to give your business the best possible chance of success.

For that, you need to spend a little time thinking about the details of how your business will function.

Let me prove it to you…

Why do you need a real estate investing business plan?

I could talk your ear off about why people who make a plan for their real estate investing business will succeed. Or I could tell you about the people I’ve personally  seen set out without a plan and fail. Or I could tell you a story about one person who had the best of intentions for his new real estate investing business, but lost money his first month because he didn’t have a clearly defined budget.

But I won’t…

I’ll  show you.

Research from 2,877 business owners revealed that people with a plan are more likely to grow their business, secure investment capital, and/or secure a loan.

those with a REI business plan succeed

( Image Source )

Here’s how the authors of the study put it:

“Except in a small number of cases, business planning appeared to be positively correlated with business success as measured by our variables. While our analysis cannot say that completing a business plan will lead to success, it does indicate that the type of entrepreneur who completes a business plan is also more likely to run a successful business.”

So whether you want to give your business a better chance at succeeding down the road, or simply  become the kind of person who will likely grow a successful business, drafting a plan is in your best interest.

And it doesn’t have to be remarkably complicated.

12 Steps To Create Your Real Estate Investing Business Plan

Here are 12 steps to get you moving.

Step 1. Create your vision and mission

It might seem like a silly first step to creating your real estate investing business plan.

Because let’s be honest: you’re setting out to make money, achieve financial freedom, and live on your own terms. You’re not setting out to save the world from some big injustice (probably — props if you  are ) or change other people’s lives for the better.

You want to build a business that will benefit  you .

Still, a mission and vision statement can help define  how you’re going to build that business, why you’re building it, and who your business is going to serve. Because even though you’re building a business to benefit you in the end, the only way to build a successful business is by helping  others .

As Bob Burg wrote, “Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.”

Here’s an example of a mission and vision statement.

real estate investing mission and vision statement

Just like you personally have a “why?” to your existence, your business needs a “why?” to its existence. Your mission and vision statement will help you determine what that “why?” is and how your business is going to make you money by helping others.

Step 2. Determine your end goal

You also must connect your own personal goals to the goals of your business — you’re the one who’ll be building it, after all. Your business will live or die based on your own daily motivation, ambition, and energy levels.

For that reason, you should ask yourself this dead-simple question: “Why am I building this business? What is my end goal?”

Do you want to be a millionaire? Do you want to live on the beach in Tahiti and sip gin for the rest of your life while this business makes you money on autopilot? Do you want to be the CEO of a large corporation? Do you want to make $200k per year and work 10 hours per week?

What you want out of your business will determine the kind of business you build. And the more attractive your end goal is, the more determined you will be to keep going when things get tough. I love the way that Tim Ferriss puts it: “The question you should be asking yourself isn’t, ‘What do I want?’ or ‘What are my goals?’ but ‘What would excite me?'” Because the more excited you are, the more determined you’ll be.

Step 3. Do market research using a SWOT analysis

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunity, and Threats.

And determining those four things for your own business  before you launch is vital. Ask yourself…

  • Strengths: What are competitors already doing well in my market that I likely won’t be able to compete with?
  • Weaknesses: What are competitors in my market  not doing well?
  • Opportunity: What opportunity in my market are most competitors not leveraging and might I be able to exploit that?
  • Threats: What will be the big threats to my business and how can I prepare for these?

Here’s a more thorough graphical breakdown of SWOT to help you perform your market analysis.

SWOT analysis

Step 4. Choose a real estate investing business model

After you’ve performed your SWOT analysis, you should be ready to determine the  type  of real estate investing that will be most lucrative for your market. Try not to let funding make the decision for you (i.e. I don’t have much capital, so I guess I’m going to wholesale), because the reality is that there’s  always a way to get money to build your business — the important thing is that you’ve chosen a type of real estate investing which is likely to succeed given current market conditions.

Here are the most common real estate investing business models:

  • Wholesaling   — This is when you find good deals and flip those deals to cash buyers for an assignment fee. You can usually make $5,000 to $25,000 per deal and it doesn’t require any money down.
  • Wholetailing   — Wholetailing is similar to wholesaling except that you purchase a home for a good deal, do very little work to it, and then sell it on the MLS. This can be a very profitable business model, but it’ll require access to more funds than wholesaling .
  • Flipping  — House flipping is when you purchase a distressed home, fix it up, and sell for a profit on the MLS. This is a high-risk, high-return strategy.
  • Buy-and-hold  — Buy-and-hold investing is when you purchase properties and rent them out to create passive income. The goal is usually to do this with a lot of properties to increase net worth and build long-term wealth.

Step 5. Determine where funding will come from

If you’ve determined that the most profitable type of real estate investing for your market will take some serious capital, don’t worry: there are  tons of different ways to find money for building your business. Lots of people with big money just want their money to work for them and provide a healthy ROI.

Ryan Dossey (my brother) has this great video about raising private money for your business and how he raised his first $100k.

Step 6. Choose your marketing strategies

In many ways, this is where the rubber hits the road for your business: how will you find deals in your market? How will you find motivated sellers ? How will you convince those sellers to work with you? How will you find buyers to purchase those properties or tenants to live in them? How will you fix up properties if you’re planning to fix and flip ?

These are all questions you need to answer on your real estate investing business plan.

And if you’re at a loss for answering them, sitting down with another real estate investor in your market and asking them questions can go a long way.

However you do it, write down your marketing plan of attack — how you plan to find and close deals — what you’ll need to make per deal to remain profitable, and how much you should expect each deal will cost you.

Here are a few common marketing strategies that you might consider.

  • Direct mail (check out Ballpoint Marketing if you want to send hand-written mailers en masse).
  • Bandit signs
  • Door knocking
  • Facebook ads
  • Search engine optimization
  • Cold calling

Here are some more specific suggestions to consider…

1. Send personalized mailers every single week

There is a rhythm to the flow of potential deals in any market.

A market might have a lot of deals during a particular season, and fewer deals just a couple of months down the road. These fluctuations are normal. And where there’s inconsistency in the market, the investor must remain steadfast.

This is as true in the stock market as it is in the real estate market.

Don’t gamble all of your marketing budgets on a single season. Instead, get in the habit of sending the same amount of mailers every single week — whatever is a reasonable number for your business. Send those mailers to different lists and recycle lists every few months or so.

To get the best performance possible, we recommend using mailers from our sister company,  Ballpoint Marketing , where you can get hand-written letters at an affordable cost.

2. Run effective Facebook Ads & do some SEO

Facebook ads and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are two of the best ways to market your real estate investing business.

The first can provide you with leads quickly and the second can create longevity for your business.

To create effective Facebook ads, just go look at what your top competitors are doing. Go to their Facebook Page, click on “Page Transparency”, and you can see all of the ads that they’re running.

real estate investor business plan

Examine a few of your competitor’s ads and take notes on what their sales copy and images are like. Then contemplate how you might try to do something similar.

Don’t copy them verbatim, of course, but why not try something similar to what they’re doing?

If it’s working for them, it’ll probably work for you as well!

As for SEO, get in the habit of publishing blog posts on your website that target specific keyword phrases. You can use  Ubersuggest  to find high-value keyword phrases. And here’s a  helpful article  that shows you how to optimize your pages to rank in Google.

3. Hire someone to answer the phone for you

If you follow our previous advice of sending personalized mailers every week, running effective Facebook ads, and spending a little time on SEO , the good news is that you’re going to start generating quite a few leads…  predictably .

The bad news is that your phone is going to start ringing like crazy.

The more mailers you send and Facebook ads you run, the more the phone is going to ring.

And while all of those leads are exciting, they can quickly distract you from working on important business-growth tasks like polishing processes, creating systems, and hiring employees.

That’s why more than 100 U.S. investors use our expert-trained reps to answer the phone for them. We answer the phone  when it rings , we know how to talk to motivated sellers , we’ll ask the right questions, and we’ll even schedule a follow-up appointment with you or your Acquisitions Manager.

Sound cool?

Then get a free, no-obligation demo by clicking here!

Step 7. Create a plan for consistently networking with other professionals

When you’re just starting out, no business-building strategy is quite as effective as networking with other real estate professionals within your market. There’s something about those face-to-face connections which can benefit your business for a lifetime.

You might learn a thing or two from other friendly professionals in your market. Or maybe you’ll end up partnering up with them. Or maybe you’ll learn how better to  compete with them.

Whatever the case, networking can help build your business. And you should map out a game plan for consistently networking with other professionals — even if it’s something as simple as going to a monthly meetup or working from different coffee shops every day.

Step 8. Create a plan for delegating down the road

quote about delegating

You’re building a business,  not a prison cell. This means that you’ll need to make a plan for delegating tasks to other people down the road.

In the beginning, you’ll likely be the horse, driver,  and carriage — that is, you’ll be doing pretty much everything.

But don’t make that time-intensive phase of business last longer than it needs to. You’ll be surprised at how much faster your business will grow (with less work) when you hire A-players, treat them well, and trust them to do their job.

You won’t have to work as many hours, your business will grow more quickly, and you’ll make more money. So make a plan for which tasks you’d like to delegate when the time comes and which ones you’d like to keep (the ones that you enjoy the most, ideally).

And if you imagine that answering the phone every time it rings is a task you’ll want to delegate, Call Porter can help. We’ve built the only call center designed for real estate investors. Our reps are trained specifically to talk with motivated sellers, convert them, and then schedule a follow-up call with you or your acquisitions manager. You can try us out for yourself over here . 🙂

Step 9. Find your exit strategy

Every good real estate investing business plan includes a thorough plan of attack…  and an exit strategy if things go terribly wrong.

Since you have a business plan, your chances of things going horribly wrong decrease quite significantly. Still, it’s good to have a plan B or a way out if things go sideways. Maybe wait to quit your day job, for instance, until your business starts providing for itself. Choose your investors and/or tenants carefully. And consider including a clause in your contracts that gives you a way out (at least in the beginning).

Step 10. Create your growth plan

Have you ever heard the 80/20 rule?

It’s my fav 🙂

Essentially, it states that 20% of the work produces 80% of the results (and vice versa).

While it’s easy to feel that you must do everything right as an entrepreneur in order to succeed… that’s simply not true. You only have to do some key things right .

In terms of real estate investing, you have to acquire properties, you have to make profitable decisions with those properties, and you have to do that consistently.

That’s it — that’s the formula.

In terms of actual to-dos, here are three things that — if you do them consistently — will virtually guarantee that your business keeps growing.

1. Send mail & run paid ads

real estate investor business plan

To generate leads and close deals, you have to market your business.

That means sending mail and running paid ads  every single month .

Keep in mind: all marketing strategies (especially direct mail ) experience a sort of lag-time. You might send 500 mailers this month and not get very many phone calls, assuming that your mailers were ineffective.

Then you stop and try something else.

Suddenly, you start getting phone calls because of those mailers that you sent a month ago.

This lag-time isn’t bad… but you need to  expect it and  prepare for it … which basically means marketing your business consistently, even when your efforts seem to be less effective than usual.

Pro-Tip:  Want to stand out with your direct mailers? Check out our sister company, Ballpoint Marketing , which produces hand-written mailers (with real ink ) that add a personal touch your competitors won’t be able to match!

2. Answer the phone & follow-up

Speed to Lead Statistics - 19 Surprising Facts About Lead Response Times - Chili Piper

Yes, Call Porter is an answering service built specifically for real estate investors.

Yes, there’s going to be a pitch at the end of this section.

And yet, it’s still difficult to overstate the importance of answering the phone  when it rings .

Research shows that your chance of having a meaningful conversation with a prospect decreases with every passing moment after a phone call goes unanswered.

Problem is, if your business is thriving and you do manage to answer the phone every time it rings… then you’re probably limiting your business’ full potential (because you’re not spending that time on mission-critical, “quadrant 2” activities).

You want the phone to ring off the hook… but you don’t want to be the one responsible for answering it. 

The solution?

(Pitch incoming)

At Call Porter, we’ve trained all of our U.S.-based reps to speak with motivated sellers. They know what questions to ask, how to stay level-headed, and they’ll schedule a follow-up call with you or your acquisitions manager.

Check out the call below to see for yourself (this lead resulted in a $36,000 profit for the investor!).

The phone needs to get answered… but certainly not by the founder of your business (YOU) 😉

Oh — and don’t forget to follow up! 90% of deals happen during a rigorous follow-up regimen, not during the initial call .

(We recommend following up  at least 15 times).

Get a FREE Call Porter Demo Today!!

3. build processes & reinvest into your business.

If you do the first two things, you’re going to generate leads and get the phone ringing like crazy.

You’re also going to start closing quite a few deals.

But there’s still one problem left to solve:  you will quickly become a bottleneck.

Having Call Porter answer the phone is certainly a step in the right direction… but the more you want to grow, the more you’ll have to delegate and automate the daily operations of your business.

This means hiring someone to answer emails, create marketing campaigns, speak with sellers, collect buyer information, and even acquire profitable properties.

Step 11. Create a memorable brand

Good business is built on trust.

Without the trust of your prospects and your clients, positive word-of-mouth won’t spread and people will hesitate to work with you.

But in the same way that that hesitation creates an obstacle for your business, building knee-jerk trust in your market creates a doorway.

The question is… how do you build a memorable reputation in your market so that past clients know you’re the real deal, prospects trust you to treat them right, and people who’ve never worked with you respect your business?

Well, the primary answer is consistency — day-in and day-out, treating your customers right, sharing case studies, engaging in charity, and whatever else will enhance your brand image.

In fact, here are three things to consider doing more consistently in order to build memorable trust in your market.

1. Choose a charity

Small Businesses Giving Back Makes a Big Impact on Local Communities | SCORE

Donating to charity doesn’t just help you forge a more meaningful mission for your business, it can  also help you market your business.

For example, you can celebrate your donations publicly and host events to raise money for local charities. These efforts build brand awareness  and trust at the same time.

There’s just something about a highly philanthropic business that feels trustworthy.

(That’s probably why customers are 85% more likely to buy products from a company that is associate with a charity).

Choose a charity that’s in line with your business’s mission, and then get in the habit of donating. Over time, you’ll build trust with people in your market and prove that you care about more than just making money.

2. Care about your clients

70+ Inspirating Marketing Quotes | SurveySparrow

This might seem like an obvious piece of advice, but I know how hard it can be to authentically care for your clients when you’re  doing the same thing every day .

It’s easy to become callused.

Still, showing your prospects (even the tire-kickers) and your clients (even the ones who don’t accept your offer) that you genuinely care about them is one of the best ways to increase how many referrals you get and how much word-of-mouth you generate.

This is a simple trick, but perhaps the most difficult.

Be kind to everyone. Care about the people you work with. And be generous in how you serve others.

Do that for long enough and people won’t be able to ignore your business’ impact on the community.

Just think of the businesses that you most admire… how do they treat people? What are their values? And how can your business emulate their attitude toward leads, prospects, and clients?

3. Collect case studies

real estate investor business plan

People might love you and respect you, but how do they know that your business   works ? That is, how do they know it can actually benefit them?

To some degree, trusting you is different than believing in the helpfulness or effectiveness of your service.

The best way to prove to your community that your business is the “real deal” — that what you’re doing can actually help people who are trying to sell their home — is by sharing testimonials and case studies from past clients.

This includes publishing case study content on your website, sharing reviews on your social media profiles, and telling stories of people who you’ve helped in the past.

Don’t undervalue the impact of telling stories to build your business’ reputation.

It’s  extremely powerful .

Step 12. Build your timeline

The final step is to determine when you want everything to happen. When do you want/expect to hit your real estate goals ? When do you expect to start hiring people? When do you expect your business will be able to fully support you and your family?

These timelines need not be written in stone, though — no one can accurately predict how long it’ll take you to build a successful business (the most important thing is consistent progress ). But having a timeline that you can reference and which keeps you heading in the right direction is wildly valuable, especially if you post it on your wall, where you can see it every day.

Final Thoughts

So you know you need a real estate investing business plan. You know that having a plan will give your business a better chance of success and turn you into the kind of forward-thinking entrepreneur that succeeds.

But you don’t only know that you need it, you also now know how to create it.

With the above 12 steps, you can draft a real estate investing business plan which increases your statistical chance of success.

And while you  could just launch your business without a plan, why would you? It’s a far better idea to spend some time thinking about the details of how your business will succeed  in order to succeed than it is to launch quickly and fail quicker.

So get to it — and don’t press the big red button until you’ve drafted a business plan which you’re confident will succeed.

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Real Estate Investing Business Plan

Ready to dive into the world of real estate investing? Embarking on this journey can be exciting and profitable, but it’s essential to be well-prepared and have a solid business plan in place. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the crucial steps of crafting your real estate investing business plan, from defining your investment goals to assembling a skilled team. Set yourself up for success and turn your real estate dreams into reality.

real estate business plan

Key Takeaways

  • Real estate investing requires a comprehensive business plan to optimize decision-making and utilize resources.
  • SMART goals, market research, financial planning & projections are essential for successful real estate investments.
  • Building a team of professionals and implementing efficient systems can help investors prepare for potential risks & challenges.

The Importance of a Real Estate Investing Business Plan

A well-crafted real estate investing business plan includes the following elements:

  • Mission and vision statement
  • SWOT analysis
  • Clearly defined short-term and long-term goals
  • Tailored investment strategy
  • Comprehensive market research
  • Robust marketing plan
  • Detailed financial plan
  • Experienced real estate team

This estate investment business plan, complete with an executive summary, serves as a roadmap to guide decision-making, track progress, and attract potential investors in the real estate market.

A business plan greatly enhances your chances of success in real estate investing, setting you apart as a proactive entrepreneur within the realm of property investment. A well-prepared plan allows you to anticipate potential opportunities and threats and make informed decisions, which is crucial in the ever-changing real estate investment market. In this context, having multiple business plans can be beneficial for diversifying your investment portfolio.

Essentially, a robust real estate investing business plan offers a strategic blueprint for maneuvering through the property market. It ensures:

  • The efficient use of resources
  • Optimal decision-making
  • The ability to adapt to market trends
  • Ultimately leading to a thriving real estate investment business.

Defining Your Real Estate Investment Goals

Establishing clear, measurable, and achievable goals in your real estate investing business plan offers direction and sets you on the path to attaining those goals in the real estate investment market. Utilizing the SMART acronym—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound—ensures that your goals provide clear guidance and are attainable within a reasonable timeframe.

Examples of short-term and long-term goals for a real estate investment business could include having a predetermined number of properties in your portfolio or setting a desired return on investment (ROI) to be achieved on an annual basis. Aligning your personal objectives with your business objectives is vital, as the success of your real estate investment business relies on your dedication, enthusiasm, and drive, as well as your ability to adapt to market trends in the real estate industry.

Establishing your investment goals lays the groundwork for a prosperous real estate venture. This clarity helps you stay focused and motivated, ensuring that you consistently make strategic and informed decisions that drive your business forward.

Selecting Your Real Estate Investment Niche

The fundamental principle of real estate investing is to acquire and dispose of properties for financial gain in the real estate industry. Selecting a specific real estate investment niche, such as residential, commercial, or industrial properties, is crucial for maximizing profits. The location of your real estate business plays a significant role in guaranteeing the highest possible returns on investment. Real estate investment businesses should carefully consider these factors to ensure success.

Long-term real estate investments can also consider options such as real estate investment trust, real estate investment company stocks, and other alternatives. Potential issues, like a lack of low-income housing, inefficient management, elevated eviction rates, or a surplus/deficit of a particular type of real estate, can create investment opportunities in the industry.

Selecting a distinct investment niche combined with rigorous research, allows for the identification of profitable opportunities and risk mitigation. This targeted approach allows you to focus on a specialized market segment and develop a deep understanding of the trends and dynamics at play, ultimately leading to better investment decisions.

Crafting Your Real Estate Investment Strategy

Constructing a bespoke investment strategy based on your goals, niche, and market analysis guarantees a successful and lucrative real estate venture. Real estate investment strategies may include:

  • A low-risk, slow-roll strategy of maintaining long-term investments
  • House flipping for potential quick profits
  • Investing in multi-family apartment buildings

Formulating a customized investment strategy based on your objectives, specialization, and market analysis also ensures a prosperous and lucrative real estate venture. Your investment strategy should include exit strategies such as rehabbing, wholesaling, and renting, which can help secure profits and protect your investments. Establishing metrics for measuring success in your real estate investing business plan is essential in monitoring progress and making judicious investments.

An astutely designed investment strategy offers a transparent route to tread, enabling the making of strategic decisions that coincide with your broader business objectives. This approach helps minimize risks and maximize returns, setting your real estate investment business on the path to success.

Conducting Comprehensive Market Research

Conducting market research in real estate investing is essential for staying informed and foreseeing changes due to external influences. A comprehensive market analysis, including a SWOT analysis, is crucial in understanding the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats before launching your business.

A comprehensive market analysis can assist in selecting the most advantageous market segment and the optimal locality for investment. A thorough market analysis is essential in a real estate investing business plan to identify trends, opportunities, and potential challenges in the target market, thus providing the necessary information to make informed investment decisions.

Comprehensive market research equips you to:

  • Recognize trends, opportunities, and potential hurdles in your target market
  • Make well-informed investment decisions
  • Stay ahead of the curve and seize lucrative opportunities
  • Ensure the growth and success of your real estate investment business.

Developing a Robust Marketing Plan

Developing a marketing strategy for your real estate investment business can help establish a strong brand, foster trust with investors and clients, and promote your services. A marketing plan should encompass the strategy for identifying and concluding transactions, essentials for sustaining profitability per transaction, and expenditure for each transaction. The marketing strategy in a real estate investing business plan demonstrates the methods and locations utilized for marketing and acquiring new customers.

Various marketing strategies are available for real estate investing businesses, such as Facebook advertisements and search engine optimization. The specific area of real estate you focus on significantly influences the emphasis placed on marketing and the strategies you choose.

real estate aerial shot

A solid marketing plan is indispensable for drawing in leads, enhancing brand visibility, and cementing a powerful presence within the property market. By implementing effective marketing strategies, you can reach your target audience, generate interest in your business, and ultimately, drive growth and success.

Financial Planning and Projections

Developing a detailed financial plan for your real estate investment business is essential for financial stability and growth. Your financial plan should include:

  • Income statement
  • Cash flow statement
  • Balance sheet
  • Short-term and long-term goals regarding profits and losses

By creating a comprehensive financial plan, including projections for income, expenses, and cash flow, you can ensure the success of your real estate investment business.

Accuracy in crafting a financial plan is crucial, as it allows you to identify areas that are and are not performing well for your business. Investing in real estate requires careful consideration of many costs, including:

  • Closing fees
  • Property management
  • Repairs and maintenance

All of these must be taken into account to ensure a successful investment.

An all-inclusive financial plan aids in tracking your business’s performance, pinpointing possible issues, and making well-informed decisions to secure its longevity. By keeping a close eye on your income, expenses, and cash flow, you can maintain financial stability and support the continued growth of your real estate investment business.

Building Your Real Estate Team

Having a real estate team can optimize productivity and bolster your business. Essential roles for a successful real estate investment team include:

  • Acquisition manager
  • Real estate lawyer
  • Money lender
  • Project manager
  • Civil engineer
  • Property manager

Expert-trained representatives can answer incoming calls, converse with motivated sellers, ask pertinent questions, and arrange subsequent appointments with the investor or their Acquisitions Manager.

Real estate investors should have vendors on their team to assist with purchasing, rehabilitating, and buying or selling investment properties. A strong real estate team not only supports your business operations but also contributes to the overall success of your real estate investment ventures.

Real Estate Investing Mentors

BPM REIA is a comprehensive real estate investing mentorship program that offers educational resources and mentorship on real estate investing strategies. Collaborating with BPM REIA offers advantageous insights, direction, and assistance in constructing a prosperous investment venture.

BPM REIA offers:

  • Educational and mentoring resources on real estate investing strategies
  • Assistance in streamlining the investment process and attaining financial freedom
  • Guidance and support in establishing a strong and dependable power team to ensure the success of your real estate investment business.

Partnering with real estate investing mentors, such as BPM REIA, can provide you with valuable insights, guidance, and support to build a successful investment business. Their expertise and experience can help you navigate the complexities of the industry and make informed decisions, ultimately leading to greater success and financial freedom.

Implementing Efficient Systems and Processes

Instituting effective systems and processes in real estate investment is crucial for streamlining daily operations, enhancing productivity, and expanding your real estate investment business. Best practices for implementing efficient systems and processes include:

  • Constructing systems and policies for scaling and growth
  • Instituting property search, evaluation, marketing, and lead generation systems
  • Instituting follow-up systems

Examples of efficient systems and processes in the real estate investment industry include lead generation systems, follow-up systems, marketing systems, bookkeeping systems, and real estate appraisals and field inspection automation. Reinvesting into your business is essential for delegating and automating daily operations, such as responding to emails, developing marketing strategies, communicating with sellers, gathering buyer data, and purchasing profitable properties.

Implementing efficient systems and processes allows for the optimization of daily operations, enhancement of productivity, and expansion of your real estate venture. This approach allows you to:

  • Focus on strategic decision-making
  • Focus on growth
  • Ensure that your business remains competitive and successful in the ever-changing real estate industry.

Preparing for Challenges and Risks

Having a contingency plan or escape route in the event of an unfavorable outcome, anticipating potential issues before they arise, and taking precautionary measures to safeguard investments and guarantee long-term success are all crucial elements of real estate investing. Real estate investment requires an exit strategy. This plan outlines how an investor will dissociate themselves from a deal or the business..

When formulating an exit strategy, consider reducing financial losses, recovering as much of your original investment as possible, and avoiding any unanticipated fees that could reduce profits, such as tax implications. Potential lenders, employees, and clients may inquire about scenarios such as extended market times, seller cancellations prior to closing, and higher than average vacancy rates. These should all be accounted for in your exit strategies and backup plans.

Preparing for possible obstacles and risks helps safeguard your investments and guarantees the longevity of your property investment venture. Developing contingency plans and exit strategies allows you to navigate unforeseen obstacles and make strategic adjustments as needed, ensuring that your business remains resilient and adaptable in a dynamic industry.

Frequently Asked Questions

To write a real estate investor business plan, establish your vision, outline short-term and long-term goals, take inventory of your current finances, conduct market research, develop an investment strategy, and create a marketing plan.

Yes, a business plan is necessary for real estate investing as it can help you to navigate potential obstacles and set yourself up for success.

LLCs are the recommended option for real estate investments, as they offer limited liability protection. However, it is still ultimately a personal decision as to whether an LLC is the right choice for your particular investment.

Real estate investing can be a highly profitable opportunity offering both income and appreciation potential. It also provides diversification benefits, making it an attractive investment for those seeking portfolio balance.

In conclusion, crafting a comprehensive real estate investing business plan is vital for success in the industry. By defining your investment goals, selecting a niche, developing a tailored investment strategy, conducting market research, creating a robust marketing plan, and assembling a skilled team, you set the foundation for a thriving real estate investment business. By preparing for challenges and risks and implementing efficient systems and processes, you can navigate the complexities of the industry and build a successful, profitable business that stands the test of time.

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How to Create a Real Estate Investment Business Plan for Residential Rental Properties (Free Template)

real estate investor business plan

Ready to unlock the potential of real estate investment and build your financial future? Whether you’re an experienced investor or just starting out , crafting a well-thought-out business plan is critical if you're to succeed in the world of residential rental properties. 

This article will guide you through the essential steps, considerations, and components of creating a real estate investment business plan. Plus, we've got a valuable free template to make your journey even more manageable.

Why You Need a Business Plan for Real Estate Investment

Crafting an effective real estate investment business plan is about more than paperwork; it's about turning your aspirations into achievements.

Creating a formalized business plan for your real estate investment venture is tantamount to success. It forces you—the investor—to organize your thoughts, feelings, goals, and ideas moving forward in the business in a single, powerful document. 

Remember, this is a living document meant to be flexible as your business grows or changes tactics over the years. It keeps you on target, helps expand your business, and keeps your financial goals on track. 

It’s also a helpful document for potential investors, creditors, and partners to peruse before pursuing a business venture with you. 

And speaking of collaborators, finding sample real estate investment business plans or a template to download to get you started is a good idea. But before diving into that, let's look at a few general considerations that will shape your plan.

General Considerations for a Real Estate Investment Business Plan

Before you start actually writing your business plan, there are a few general considerations to keep in mind:

  • The Why. When you start any new venture, it’s good to know you’ve got the strength to realize your goals, even when things get tricky. Defining why you’re embarking upon this real estate investment journey is necessary if you want  to reach your destination. Why do you want to invest in real estate? To create financial independence? To serve the community? To provide for your family? Everyone’s “why” is unique to them. As such, your underlying motivation should be the starting point of creating a business plan. Everything follows from this origin.
  • Financial Goals. Next, it’s wise to consider your financial goals. What are you hoping to accomplish financially? This is a business, and having defined financial goals will help keep your real estate investments trending in the right direction. 
  • Timeline. When do you want to achieve all this? Are you taking this business from now until retirement or looking to flip a few houses before the decade closes? Having a general timeline in mind when planning means you’ll be realistic about what goals you can accomplish. 
  • Real Estate Investment Strategy. There are countless ways to jumpstart your real estate investments. Doing a bit of research to discover which real estate investment strategies best suit your financial goals and desired timeline will ensure your business plan is realistic moving forward.

These considerations form the foundation of your real estate investment business plan. But how do you piece it together and create a comprehensive, winning document? 

Spoiler alert: Property managers can be your secret weapon in crafting an airtight plan and guiding you through your investment journey. 

But first, let's explore the essential components of your business plan and how a property manager can make the process smoother.

Essential Components of a Business Plan for Real Estate Investment 

A well-thought-out business plan for real estate investment should help you secure the financing and partnerships needed to bring your dream to fruition. 

To do this, it must include the following components:

  • Executive Summary: a bird’s eye view. The first section of a business plan is like an abstract for a research paper. Here, you’ll introduce the plan and give an overview of what comes later in the document. 
  • Define your team. Who are you bringing on this journey? What are their qualifications? This section can attract new investors and partners by touting the team's accomplishments. 
  • Outline marketing strategy. A business plan won’t succeed without a marketing strategy to connect with potential clients, in this case, future tenants. Your real estate business plan must include understanding the need for top-quality marketing and a method to market your business successfully. Will you run social media ads? Rent local billboard space? 
  • Demonstrate initiative and a willingness to learn. Include a section to show that you know this industry, have researched the competition, and are aware of local real estate market trends and areas for growth. This will communicate to potential investors you’re willing to put in the elbow grease it takes to succeed long-term in this business. 
  • Describe the “What”. What services will you offer? What type of properties will you invest in? What are the next steps to your plan moving forward? 

As you dive deeper into your real estate investment journey, remember that the strength of every property manager relationship reflects the property owner's dedication. 

How to Create a Residential Real Estate Business Plan Quickly 

If you're looking to create a residential real estate business plan quickly, here are a few must-have tips to get you started:

  • Define: Mission. Vision. Values. A business is only as strong as its “big three” pillars: the mission, vision, and values. Begin your business plan by defining what the purpose of your business is (its mission), your plan to bring this mission to life (vision), and the values that will guide your actions when the going gets tough. Careful consideration of these will give you clarity when finding team members to build your business later on. You need people who click with what your business stands for. 
  • Identify short and long-term goals. A real estate business is only as successful as it prepares to be. Remember the adage: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Spending time identifying short (3-12 months out) and long (1-5 years in the future) term goals gives you and your team ways to mark the journey to success with well-defined milestones. 
  • Figure out the finances. How will you fund your business? There are many ways to find capital to bring your real estate business plan to life, but you may have to get creative. And you’ll need to stay organized and on task to bring your financial goals to fruition. 
  • Find the perfect property manager. The quickest way to accomplish this magnificent business plan you’re creating? Hire a property manager to help you skip the grunt work. But while finding the right manager for your business isn’t easy—you’ll need to research and interview several property managers before you get a feel for what’s best for you—the road will be much less bumpy with a solid business plan in hand. 

How a Property Manager Can Help You Create a Real Estate Investment Business Plan

A property manager can help you create a real estate investment business plan in five important  ways. 

  • Provide you with insights into the local real estate market.
  • Help you identify and evaluate potential investment properties.
  • Help you develop a marketing strategy to attract tenants.
  • Help you manage your finances and keep track of your expenses.
  • Provide you with guidance and support throughout the investment process.

When you enter property manager interviews armed with a robust business plan, you demonstrate your commitment and pave the way for a successful partnership. 

Ultimately, creating the ideal business plan for real estate investment begins with you. Every property manager relationship is only as strong as the drive of the property owner. 

Download APM’s free sample real estate investment business plan template to get started.

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Creating a Winning Business Plan for Real Estate Investors

Creating a Winning Business Plan for Real Estate Investors is essential for success in the real estate investing world. It takes time to put together a comprehensive plan that outlines your goals, strategies, and expected return on investment. This blog will provide tips and best practices on how to craft an effective business plan that will help you achieve success. With the right plan in place, you'll be better prepared to make the right decisions, minimize risks, and maximize returns.

In this blog post, you will learn:

  • How to get started in real estate investing and set achievable goals
  • What strategies can be used to help you reach your investment goals
  • How to finance your real estate investments and develop a winning business plan
  • How to find the right property and close the deal
  • How to monitor and adjust your investments over time for maximum returns
  • The benefits of having a business plan for real estate investments

Introduction to Real Estate Investing

Real estate investing can be a great way to generate passive income and build your wealth. Investing in real estate can be a lucrative business if done correctly. It can be a source of long-term income, and it can even be used to finance retirement. In order to get the most out of your investment, it is important to understand the different aspects of real estate investing. This guide will provide an introduction to real estate investing, including identifying your investment goals, determining your investment strategies, financing your investment, developing a real estate investment business plan, setting a budget and timetable, finding the right property, closing the deal, monitoring your investment, making adjustments to your plan, and the benefits of having a winning business plan.

Identifying Your Investment Goals

The first step in successful real estate investing is to identify your investment goals. Do you want to generate short-term income, or are you looking to build long-term wealth? Are you looking to invest in properties that can be rented out, or do you want to buy and flip properties? Knowing your goals will help you determine which investment strategies are right for you.

Determining Your Investment Strategies

Once you have identified your investment goals, you will need to determine the best investment strategies for achieving those goals. There are a number of different strategies, such as buying and holding, buying and flipping, and house hacking. Each strategy has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it is important to do your research and choose the one that is best for you.

Financing Your Investment

After you have chosen an investment strategy, you will need to finance your investment. This can be done through a variety of sources, such as traditional bank loans, government-backed loans, private investors, and other sources. It is important to understand the different financing options and choose the one that is best for your situation.

Developing a Real Estate Investment Business Plan

Developing a real estate investment business plan is an important step in setting yourself up for success. A business plan will help you define your investment goals and strategies, as well as determine the budget and timeline for your investment. It will also help you stay organized and on track with your investment goals.

Setting a Budget and Timetable

Once you have developed your business plan, it is important to set a budget and timetable for your investment. This will help you stay on track and ensure that you are not overspending. It is also important to set realistic goals and timelines so that you don't become discouraged if things don't happen as quickly as you had hoped.

Finding the Right Property

Once you have determined your budget and timeline, it's time to start looking for the right property. You should take into account the location, size, condition, and other factors when selecting a property. You should also consider the potential for appreciation and rental income when selecting a property.

Closing the Deal

Once you have found the right property, it's time to close the deal. This involves negotiating the purchase price and terms, as well as obtaining the necessary financing. It is important to have an experienced real estate professional to help you with this process.

Monitoring Your Investment

Once you have closed the deal, it is important to monitor your investment to ensure that it is performing as expected. This includes keeping track of rental income, cash flow, appreciation, and other factors. It is also important to make adjustments to your plan as needed to ensure that you are getting the most out of your investment.

Making Adjustments to Your Plan

As your investment progresses, it Below we answer common questions entrepreneurs have about these topics.

1. Introduction to Real Estate Investing

What is real estate investing and why is it an attractive investment option.

The number one reason to invest in real estate is the power of leverage. For example, if an investor puts down $50,000 and buys a $500,000 property (20% down payment) they have access to $450,000 of investment capital. This is a much higher return than most other investments.

What are the different types of real estate investments available?

The best way to answer the question, What are the different types of real estate investments available? is to discuss the different kinds of real estate assets. Real estate assets include land, buildings, and other improvements on those buildings. There are many different types of real estate investments that an entrepreneur can pursue, including buying and renting out commercial or residential property, buying and leasing out commercial property, and investing in real estate securities.

An entrepreneur should also be sure to explain the risks associated with real estate investments, including the possibility of depreciation, the possibility of being sued, and the possibility of losing money if the property is not properly maintained.

2. Identifying Your Investment Goals

What are your long-term financial goals.

One thing to include in your answer to the question, "What are your long-term financial goals?" is the desire to build the company's brand. Many entrepreneurs want to build a company that lasts. Because of that, they want to ensure that the company's brand remains strong and continues to grow. To do that, they need to figure out how to market the company and make it more visible. They also want to make sure they can find employees who are committed to the company's mission and values.

How much risk are you willing to take on investing?

An entrepreneur should consider their appetite for risk in relation to their long-term goals. For example, if your goal is to grow your business to a certain size within the next five years, you may be more willing to take risks than an entrepreneur who is looking to build something that will outlive them. Additionally, your risk tolerance may change over time depending on your personal and professional experiences.

3. Determining Your Investment Strategies

What type of investments do you want to make.

Don't be afraid to say yes. An investor who wants to see their investment grow appreciates an entrepreneur with unwavering goals. For example, if you want to hire another employee, say so! It's better to be honest about what you want to accomplish so that an investor can understand your vision.

What level of risk are you willing to take on?

The right level of risk for you is based on your tolerance. If you are an entrepreneur who doesn't mind the possibility of failure, you shouldn't be afraid to take risks. After all, you don't always have to win. If you take enough risks, you will eventually succeed. The key is to know your limits. If you are risk-averse, you should avoid risks. That doesn't mean you should never take them. It just means you should be smart about the risks you take.

4. Financing Your Investment

What sources of financing are available to fund your investment.

As an entrepreneur, you should be prepared to answer this question. One of the most important sources of financing for new businesses is investors. Potential investors want to know that you are a good risk. They want to see that you are willing to work hard and that you have a good plan for the future of your business. They also want to see that you have a realistic idea of what you can achieve with their money. Remember, investors want to see a return on their money. So you have to show them that you have a good business plan and that you have a good chance of success.

What are the associated costs and risks of each financing option?

Entrepreneurs should consider answering the question about associated costs and risks of each financing option by stating that, for example, seeking out an investor is a more risky option than obtaining a line of credit from a bank. This is because, with an investor, there is no guarantee that they will actually follow through and provide the funding, whereas with a line of credit, there is a guarantee that you will receive the money if you meet the terms of the agreement with the bank.

5. Developing a Real Estate Investment Business Plan

What are the various steps involved in creating a real estate investment business plan.

Before you can begin writing a real estate investment business plan, you'll need to do your research. Look into the local market, find out what's currently available, and try to get a feel for what properties are currently selling for. Then, you'll need to figure out your target market. Who are you trying to attract as tenants? How much are you willing to spend on advertising and how will you do it? Finally, you'll need to assess your own strengths and weaknesses as an entrepreneur and decide whether you're ready to take the plunge into real estate investing.

How can a real estate investor use the business plan to confidently assess potential investments?

A real estate investor's plan should include a detailed marketing plan. This plan should include the investor's strategies to attract tenants, as well as the steps they will take to maintain the property. It should also include a plan for the eventual sale of the property, including the steps the investor will take to find a buyer. By including a detailed marketing plan, an investor can assess potential investments and be confident that they will be able to find tenants and buyers for their property.

6. Setting a Budget and Timetable

What is your expected budget for this project.

The first thing that comes to mind for me when thinking about answering this question is to be honest. If you don't know an exact number, don't try to make one up. If you don't have a good idea of how much you can put into a project, just say so. Entrepreneurs have to be realistic with their budgets and if you don't have a good estimate, it's best to just say so. Otherwise, you're just setting yourself and your potential partner up for failure in the long run.

What is the timeline for completing the project?

There is a difference between a realistic timeframe and one that is overly optimistic. The best way to approach this answer is to have a clear idea of what can be done in terms of planning, and what will require more time for execution. For example, it is possible to have a detailed plan for the first three months but know that the last six months will require more improvisation.

7. Finding the Right Property

What types of properties should i consider when searching for a rental property.

The location of the property is the most important aspect. A property in a location with high rent should be considered over a property in a location with low rent. It is much easier to increase rent in a high rent area than to increase rent in a low rent area. The amenities are also important, but secondary to the location. A property in a high rent area with good amenities is likely to be more successful than a property in a low rent area with good amenities.

What are some tips to help me find the best property for my needs?

When you're looking for the best property for your needs, the first step is to decide what kind of property you're looking for. Do you want an apartment building, a single-family home, a commercial building, or something else? Once you have that figured out, then you can start looking for properties that fit your needs.

8. Closing the Deal

Are you ready to move forward with this project.

Being an entrepreneur is challenging, and moving forward with a project is no different. You need to be sure that your project is doable and that your business has what it takes to handle it. So, when asked, Are you ready to move forward with this project? You should respond with a clear and confident, Yes.

What is the next step in our collaboration?

It's essential for an entrepreneur to be open about your next step in collaboration. If you're having difficulty in deciding, it's okay to say that you need more time to think about it. You can also ask the other party for advice or suggestions. You should never feel pressured to make a decision right away, especially if it's a big one.

9. Monitoring Your Investment

How frequently should i review and monitor my investment.

Entrepreneurs should think about reviewing and monitoring their investment on a daily basis. There are so many things that can happen within a day that can make or break your investment. It's important to keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening in your business and make sure there is no slowdown in production or any other issues that could be detrimental to your business.

What financial metrics should I use to evaluate the performance of my investment?

A common financial metric used to evaluate the performance of an investment is the rate of return. This measures the total amount of profit made from an investment, divided by the amount of money invested. It's usually expressed as a percentage. So, for example, if you invested $10,000 and made $1,000 in profit, your rate of return would be 10%.

10. Making Adjustments to Your Plan

What processes can you use to measure your progress towards achieving your goals.

As a small business owner, I find that the best way to measure my progress is to simply look at how much revenue we've generated in a given period. It's a simple and direct way of measuring success, and it's one that we keep top of mind at all times. Of course, there are other ways to measure success as well, such as tracking website traffic or customer satisfaction. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide how you want to measure your business's progress, but in my opinion, revenue is a good place to start.

What strategies can you use to stay on track and make necessary adjustments to your plan?

Often, entrepreneurs will get the question about staying on track and making adjustments to a business plan. A great strategy is to make sure you're not only focusing on short-term goals, but also on long-term goals. This will help you make sure that any adjustments you make are still in line with where you want to go long-term.

11. The Benefits of Having a Winning Business Plan

What advantages does having a winning business plan offer.

An entrepreneur should think about answering the question, "What advantages does having a winning business plan offer?" by explaining what a winning business plan is. A winning business plan is one that is carefully thought out and written down. It is a plan that is adaptable to change and one that gives a clear picture of what the company will look like in the future. An entrepreneur should also explain how a winning business plan can help them succeed. A winning business plan can help an entrepreneur succeed by providing a roadmap for their business and by providing a clear picture of where they want the business to be.

How does having a successful business plan contribute to a company's success?

There is one thing that every successful business has in common, and that is a fearless leader. A fearless leader is someone who is not afraid to take risks, and they are willing to do whatever it takes to make their company successful. Without a fearless leader, it would be impossible for a company to be successful.

12. Conclusion

What have we learned from this study.

If you think about it, the question, What have we learned from this study? is essentially asking, what is the biggest takeaway from the data we have collected? The answer to this question can vary greatly depending on the type of business you are in. If you are in a highly regulated industry, for example, the most important takeaway from your data may be that your data is not being collected correctly. If you are in a more customer-facing industry, the most important takeaway may be that your customers love a new product you have started selling. There are so many different variables that go into the answer to this question, but one thing is for certain, it should be tailored to the industry you are in and the data you have collected.

What further steps can we take to improve our understanding of this topic?

When you're invited to pitch to investors, you need to be prepared. Research the investors and their portfolios. Have an elevator pitch ready. Have a 30-second pitch ready. Have a 1-minute pitch ready. Know your numbers. Know your competitors. Have multiple slides with different variations of the same information. You never know what will resonate with investors, so be ready to present in many different ways.

Key Takeaways:

  • Real estate investing is a great way to diversify your investments and increase your wealth.
  • Establish your investment goals and strategies beforehand to ensure you are making sound investments.
  • Financing and budgeting are essential when planning your real estate investments.
  • Developing a business plan is beneficial to help you make the best decisions and maximize your success.
  • Monitor your investments and adjust your plans as needed to ensure you are on track to reach your goals.

Real estate investing is an excellent way to build wealth and financial freedom. It requires careful planning, research, and due diligence. Following the steps outlined in this article can put you on the path to success and help you achieve your financial goals. Investing in real estate requires hard work, dedication, and a strategic plan. With the right knowledge, tools, and support, you can become a successful real estate investor and enjoy the financial rewards that come with it.

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The Impact Investor | ESG Investing Blog

The Impact Investor | ESG Investing Blog

Investing for financial return is only part of the equation.

12 Best Real Estate Investing Business Plan Templates

Updated on September 26, 2023

Our posts may contain links from our affiliate partners. This supports helps support the site as we donate 10% of all profits to sustainability organizations that align with our values. However, this does not influence our opinions or ratings. Please read our Terms and Conditions for more information.

Investing in real estate can be lucrative, regardless of whether you make it your primary business or a side hustle. It can be a great source of ongoing income and profits from appreciation. Investing in real estate is also an excellent way to build wealth. These are some real estate investing business plan templates to help you get started.

Table of Contents

Key Components of a Real Estate Investment Business Plan

Executive summary, company description, industry analysis, investment strategy, customer analysis, competitive analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, management team, financial plan, best real estate investing business plan templates, 1. growthink, 2. fit small business, 3. upmetrics, 4. fortunebuilders, 5. businessplantemplate.com, 6. planbuildr, 7. real estate investing.org, 10. wiki download, 12. property geek, frequently asked questions, do i need a business plan if i want to buy a couple of houses and flip them, must i hire a consultant to help me develop a business plan for my real estate business.

However, real estate investing requires a business plan, as with all business ventures. A business plan is necessary to guide your decision-making and growth and help you finance your real estate and business operations.

A real estate investing business plan includes several components.

The executive summary introduces your business and provides an overview of your business and the contents of your business plan. It describes how you plan to succeed at your business. It also includes your mission and vision statement.

Your mission and vision statement articulates the values and direction of your real estate business. It is the guiding star that you use for developing your strategy. The mission statement should inspire customers and your team.

You’ll develop your mission and vision statement first, and your strategy will fit your vision. To create your mission and vision statement, consider companies that you admire. (They can be from any industry.) Then, find their mission and vision statements and use them to develop your own.

Your executive summary is the first part of your plan. However, you wait to write the executive summary after you’ve written the rest of the plan.

Your business plan should contain a brief overview of your company, your management team, and your expertise. It describes your legal structure, such as whether you are an S-Corp., LLC, or corporation.

It also describes the type of real estate investing business you will operate; for example, do you plan to make long-term investments in rental properties or embrace a short-term investment strategy where you buy a fixer-upper, renovate it and sell it quickly at a profit?

You’ll provide further details on your company in the rest of the business plan.

This section includes a market analysis, including any market trends that may affect your business. Writing this section requires that you research the business, which educates you. It also should prove to potential funding sources that you are knowledgeable.

The industry analysis section should include answers to several questions, such as

  • How big is the market?
  • Is it increasing or decreasing?
  • What trends are affecting the industry?
  • Who are your key competitors?

See Related: Predictive Analytics in Banking: Enhancing Financial Decision-making

Although you briefly mention your strategy for your investment properties in the company description, you’ll deal with it in depth. You’ll also discuss how your strategy will help you meet your business and personal goals.

For example, you may purchase real estate and want to focus on long-term investments that produce income while also appreciating. However, until you can build up sufficient capital, you may engage in wholesaling, where you put a contract on a home and then find an investor to buy it.

Your strategy should also include the types of properties you will invest in, for example, single-family homes, apartment buildings, or commercial properties. If your investments are within a specific geography, you’ll also list that geography in this section.

The customer analysis section briefly overviews your target customers, for example, renters or home buyers. A well-researched customer analysis will break their target market into demographic and psychographic groups.

The competitive analysis section overviews your competitors, their target market, products and services, and marketing share. Many real estate business plans also analyze their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT), especially concerning their competitors. A SWOT analysis is an excellent way to find solutions to potential challenges.

The SWOT analysis starts with strengths and weaknesses. You might consider questions such as

  • Are you successful at finding high-quality tenants?
  • What is your track record in identifying good properties to renovate and sell?
  • What is your competitive advantage, i.e., what do you do better than your competitors?
  • How successful are you at raising capital?

The SWOT analysis also looks at opportunities and threats. A potential opportunity could be a new subway stop opening near a property you own that could boost its desirability or an opportunity to increase amenities at one of your apartment complexes. A threat could be a competitor renting similar properties at a lower price.

The marketing plan is a critical component of any business plan. The marketing plan should include

  • Your business logo. Your logo should reflect your mission statement in some way.
  • The value proposition of your real estate investing business. The value proposition is what the business offers customers that is unique.
  • Promotions strategy, including how you’ll gain referrals, use the Internet and social media, advertise in publications, and undertake other promotions.
  • Your plan to develop, maintain, and grow relationships with potential customers.
  • The type of products or services you will offer are property management services, renovated homes, or brokerage services.
  • Your pricing strategy and how that compares with competitors.

The Operations Plan describes how you operate from day to day. It includes information on how you:

  • Find properties to acquire
  • Oversee renovations
  • Market properties when you wish to sell them
  • Determine when to sell

It also should include information on how your company’s organizational structure is organized, the status of specific projects, milestones you expect to reach and when, and the steps you’ll take to reach them.

See Related: Free Financial Advisors to Start Financial Planning

You’ll have briefly discussed the expertise of your management team as a whole. You want to provide details in your real estate investment business plan. Highlight the experience of each key team member, emphasizing how each member will help you reach your business goals.

If you feel your team lacks experience, consider assembling an advisory board of experienced real estate professionals and noting the board’s existence in this section.

Also, note if you plan to hire additional managers as your real estate investment business reaches certain milestones. List what experience and skills you’ll seek in your new hires.

Financial information is a significant component of a real estate investment business plan. Begin this section by specifying the source of your revenue as well as what drives your costs. If the purpose of your business plan is to receive funding, state the amount of funding you need and what you’ll use it for.

Then, include financial projections for your real estate investment property and business for the next five years. You’ll include several types of financial statements in your financial plan. In each statement, you’ll also include the assumptions you used to arrive at the projects.

Income Statement

The income statement (or profit and loss statement) shows the revenues minus the costs to show the amount of profit. To derive your revenue projections, you’ll need to assume a certain level of sales or number of rental units at a specific price.

Your costs would include maintenance, repair, or renovation costs, salaries and commissions, office rent (if any), marketing costs, and the cost of utilities and software. Do market research to base your assumptions on reality as much as possible.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is a snapshot of the assets and liabilities of your real estate investing business at a specific time. You’ll project assets, such as cash, real estate, and accounts receivables, for each of the five years. You’ll also project liabilities, such as debt and accounts payable. You’ll also launch the amount of equity for each of the five years.

Cash Flow Statements

The cash flow situation of a real estate investment business can significantly affect its success. Some businesses turn a profit but end up in bankruptcy because their cash flow is insufficient to pay bills when they are due.

For example, suppose a new commercial tenant requests a significant build-out. You’ll have to front the money to make the improvements and may not recoup it until the tenant has paid six months or more of rent. You may also have other expenses during that time.

If you have no other source of income, you could run out of money before you recoup your investment. Remember to list the assumptions that led you to project the cash flow as you did.

If potential funding sources will be scrutinizing your plan, add an appendix. The appendix might include all the documents related to your financial plans, such as leases and a potential exit strategy, as needed.

See Related: Best Green Companies to Invest in 2023

Writing a business plan requires considerable research and strategy skills. It also requires a significant time commitment. Templates help reduce the time you need to write your business plan.

Many types of organizations offer business plan templates that you can download for free, although you may have to leave your email. Here are free business plan templates for the real estate investor.

Growthink Homepage

Growthink  is a consulting firm that helps companies develop business plans and raise capital. Its co-founders, Dave Lavinsky and Jay Turo, graduated from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and started Growthink to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. The company’s values are “Integrity,” “Courage,” and “Positivity.”

Lavinsky  has designed  a real estate investing business plan template that includes most of the key elements above. Lavinsky also provides advice on how to complete each section.

Fit Small Business Homepage

Fit Small Business  is an online publication to answer questions from small business owners across all industries. It has industry-specific experts and a management team that supports the experts. The company, founded in 2013, claims 80,000 readers.

The publication provides tips on how to write your vision and mission statement, complete your SWOT analysis, and choose an investing model. It also provides tips on measuring business success, writing a company summary, and developing a financial plan. Its business plan template is free and  downloadable.

Upmetrics Homepage

Upmetrics  is a data analysis and data management software company. Its software is designed to help startups plan. Based in India, its software is used worldwide.

The company aims to help spark business growth, promote job creation, and help foster personal wealth. In addition to software, the company’s website offers several small business guides and resources.

The company provides 200 sample business plans across several industries, including  one  for a real estate investing business. It also explains the various sections of the plan and tips on completing the sections.

See Related: Best Real Estate Investment Websites

FortuneBuilders Homepage

FortuneBuilders  teaches people how to invest in real estate through courses, coaching, books, and podcasts. Its four founders have considerable experience in the real estate investment market, having invested more than $1 billion in residential and commercial properties.

They still manage real estate projects, generally 25 to 40 at a time. They also provide additional information through their blogs.

FortuneBuilders  bases its  real estate investing business plan template around eight “must-haves,” including a mission statement, goals, strengths and weakness analysis, investment strategy for each property, marketing plan, management team bios, explanation of financing, and answers to “what if” questions. The introduction to its full business planning template also has excellent information to help you determine whether you are likely to succeed in the real estate investment business.

BusinessPlanTemplate.com Homepage

BusinessPlanTemplate.com  has over 250 customizable business plans for small businesses across many industries. Dave Lavinsky, also a co-founder of Growthink, founded BusinessPlanTemplate.com more than 20 years ago, and BusinessPlanTemplate.com is a subsidiary of Growthink.

The company claims to be a leading resource for business plan templates. In addition to templates, it includes advice on writing a business plan.

The company  template  for a real estate investment business is highly detailed, with more than a page on how to write each of the nine sections. It is also updated for 2023.

PlanBuildr Homepage

PlanBuildr  is another Growthink company founded by Dave Lavinsky, who serves as its president. The company’s management team has deep entrepreneurial experience. Lavinsky, a managing partner in several other entrepreneurial ventures, previously worked as a marketing consultant.

Jay Turo is the CEO. Turo works with Lavinsky in many of his other ventures. He has an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in international business.

The PlanBuildr real estate investment business plan template includes  sections  on the investment company’s success factors and most of the standard business plan sections. The customizable plan is also downloadable.

Real Estate Investing.org Homepage

Real Estate Investing.org  aims to help families “replace their income with passive income.” The company claims to have more than 25,000 investors.

It has articles and stories to help real estate investors succeed. Its values include having an abundance mindset and always empowering others.

Founder Eric Bowlin is an experienced real estate investor who has managed a portfolio of 450 properties. Real Estate Investing.org’s business plan template provides extensive advice on successfully projecting financials.

It also provides some information on other sections of the  plan.  Although you can download a plan for free, the plan’s information includes a link to a business plan software solution that you purchase.

IncFile Homepage

IncFile  helps small businesses manage the paperwork for forming or dissolving a new business or obtaining a trademark. The company also helps businesses develop an annual report and provides a free tax consultation.

It features a lot of information on business entity types. It claims to have more than 1 million customers.

IncFile’s blog contains several guides for startups, including a guide and template for a business plan for a real estate investment business. In addition to the more common sections of the business plan, it also  includes a section  on a backup business plan writing too. It links with a  template.

Carrot Homepage

Carrot  is an online lead generation hub for real estate agents and investors. The company says its members convert leads at a rate of seven times that of nonmembers and earn a profit that is $14,000 greater on each lead.

Carrot also provides SEO and other tools to help real estate business owners market and run their businesses. CEO Trevor Mauch is an experienced real estate investor with expertise in inbound marketing.

Carrot also includes advice on how a real estate investment business can develop a business plan. Its  free template  includes an executive summary, business description, competitive analysis, building credibility section, and marketing strategy.

See Related: Ways to Start Investing in Apartment Buildings

More than 19,000 people have downloaded the Wiki Download real estate investment business template. Available in a PDF or Microsoft Word format, the 12-page document outlines the business plan and uses questions to take you through developing a simple real estate investment plan yourself.

Sections include the executive summary, market analysis, implementation plan (operations plan), marketing efforts, sales strategy, financial forecasts, and assumptions.

Truic Homepage

Truic  provides business services such as business organization, accounting, and business banking. It provides many of these services through partners and receives a referral commission.

It also provides classes on setting up a small business. The company is mainly focused on helping LLCs.

Truic offers many guides for small business owners; the real estate investment business template is one of those guides. Truic’s real estate business plan guide primarily aims at those who invest in and sell residential properties. Its  template  also differs slightly from others because it starts from the owner’s financial goals.

The owner decides how much they wish to earn, then defines the amount of revenue required, and then the number of houses that must be purchased. It also offers advice on tailoring your business plan to potential readers, including lenders and investors.

Property Geek Homepage

Property Geek’s  business plan template is aimed at property investment businesses. Rob Dix, a writer, founded Property Geek in 2012, and property soon became his life. He later launched Property Hub, which offers free courses and a YouTube channel, and created an investment app called Portfolio.

He also has written books and podcasts on property investment issues. He aims to make property investment fun. His website offers investment strategy, financing, property management software, and tax advice.

Property Geek’s real estate investment business plan development starts by determining goals. Then, you build a strategy to get from where you are now to the goal you hope to achieve.

Much of the strategy is developed around compensating for a lack of cash. The site offers a  free downloadable  business plan worksheet.

A business plan will help you succeed at any real estate investment endeavor, no matter the scale or time frame. Startups with plans are likelier to launch and grow than those without.

No, many companies in the real estate industry offer free worksheets and templates for real estate investment businesses. They also provide advice on writing the plan. Most real estate investors can complete the business plan with these resources. If you need additional advice, you can generally obtain it through the SBA or another nonprofit.

Related Resources

  • Proven Ways to Start Investing in Apartment Complexes
  • Ways to Start Investing in Small Business
  • What is the Impact of Foreigners Investing In US Real Estate?

Avatar of The Impact Investor

Kyle Kroeger, esteemed Purdue University alum and accomplished finance professional, brings a decade of invaluable experience from diverse finance roles in both small and large firms. An astute investor himself, Kyle adeptly navigates the spheres of corporate and client-side finance, always guiding with a principal investor’s sharp acumen.

Hailing from a lineage of industrious Midwestern entrepreneurs and creatives, his business instincts are deeply ingrained. This background fuels his entrepreneurial spirit and underpins his commitment to responsible investment. As the Founder and Owner of The Impact Investor, Kyle fervently advocates for increased awareness of ethically invested funds, empowering individuals to make judicious investment decisions.

Striving to marry financial prudence with positive societal impact, Kyle imparts practical strategies for saving and investing, underlined by a robust ethos of conscientious capitalism. His ambition transcends personal gain, aiming instead to spark transformative global change through the power of responsible investment.

When not immersed in the world of finance, he’s continually captivated by the cultural richness of new cities, relishing the opportunity to learn from diverse societies. This passion for travel is eloquently documented on his site, ViaTravelers.com, where you can delve into his unique experiences via his author profile.

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Real Estate Investment Business Plan

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Zenith Real Estate Investments

Executive summary.

Zenith Real Estate Investments specializes in acquiring undervalued properties to renovate, rent, or resell for profit. Our mission is to create value through strategic investments in the residential and commercial real estate markets, offering lucrative opportunities for our investors and enhancing community value.

Company Purpose / Mission Statement

To identify and capitalize on real estate investment opportunities that provide superior returns for our investors while contributing to the revitalization and growth of communities.

Problem We Solve

The real estate market often presents undervalued properties due to various factors, including distressed sales, poor management, or deferred maintenance. These situations create opportunities for investment and improvement but require expertise, capital, and strategic vision to unlock their potential value.

Our Solution

Zenith Real Estate Investments leverages market insights, extensive due diligence, and a network of industry professionals to identify promising investment opportunities. We specialize in refurbishing properties to enhance their market value, optimizing rental income, or preparing them for profitable resale.

Target Market

Our target market includes individual and institutional investors seeking to diversify their portfolios with real estate assets, as well as communities in need of revitalization through property improvements and investments.

Financial Summary

Zenith Real Estate Investments aims for robust growth with projected returns of 15-20% on investment annually. Our model focuses on strategic acquisitions, efficient capital deployment, and maximizing value creation for sustainable profitability.

Funding Needed

We seek $5 million in initial capital to fund property acquisitions, renovations, and operational expenses, with a structured investment plan offering competitive returns to our investors.

Products & Services

Problem worth solving.

The challenge of accessing and transforming undervalued properties into profitable investments requires specialized knowledge, experience, and capital, which many investors lack.

We provide a turnkey real estate investment solution, managing all aspects from acquisition to renovation and either rental or sale, delivering value to both investors and communities.

Market Size & Segments

Our focus is on emerging and stable markets with potential for growth, targeting both residential and commercial properties that offer significant upside potential through strategic investments.

Competition

Current alternatives.

  • Other real estate investment firms
  • Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
  • Individual investors

Our Advantages

Our competitive edge lies in our local market expertise, agile investment strategy, and commitment to ethical investments that contribute to community development.

Marketing & Sales

Market positioning.

Zenith Real Estate Investments positions itself as a strategic partner for investors looking for opportunities in real estate with a balance of risk and reward, prioritizing long-term value over short-term gains.

Unique Value Proposition

Our unique value proposition is our ability to uncover and transform undervalued real estate assets into high-yielding investments through meticulous market analysis, renovation, and property management.

Location & Facilities

Our operations are based in a central office that serves as the hub for our investment, renovation, and property management activities, equipped with the latest technology for market analysis and project management.

We utilize advanced real estate analytics and project management software to identify investment opportunities, track renovation progress, and manage properties efficiently.

  • Acquisition of first property portfolio by Q3 2024
  • Completion of initial renovation projects and rental/sale by Q2 2025
  • Portfolio expansion to 10 properties by 2026
  • Expansion into new markets by 2027

Company Overview and Team

Organizational structure.

Our organizational structure is designed to support a seamless investment process, with dedicated teams for market analysis, acquisitions, renovations, property management, and investor relations.

Led by a seasoned real estate professional with a track record of successful investments, our team includes experts in market analysis, property management, renovation, and finance, ensuring comprehensive expertise in every aspect of the investment process.

Financial Plan and Forecast

Projected profit and loss.

  • Year 1: $2 million
  • Year 2: $4 million
  • Year 3: $6 million

Expenses/Costs

  • Year 1: $1.5 million
  • Year 2: $2.8 million
  • Year 3: $4 million
  • Year 1: $500,000
  • Year 2: $1.2 million
  • Year 3: $2 million

Use of Funds

The raised capital will be allocated towards property acquisitions, renovation costs, and operational expenses, with a clear strategy for maximizing investment returns.

Additional materials, including detailed case studies of past projects, market analysis reports, and investment prospectuses, are available to provide further insight into our approach and track record in real estate investment.

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How to Use Real Estate in Your Portfolio

What you need to know about the advantages and risks of investing in real estate.

real estate investor business plan

Real estate—a broad asset class that includes both public and private investments as well as both equity and debt securities—is often touted as a good investment thanks to its potential to improve both returns and portfolio diversification.

In this series on portfolio basics, I’ll explain some of the fundamentals of putting together sound portfolios. I’ll start with some of the most widely used types of investments and walk through what you need to know to use them effectively in a portfolio.

What Is Real Estate?

The most familiar form of real estate for most people is the roof over their heads—the house, mobile home, or condominium they purchase as a place to live. Purchasing a home is often the only type of investment many people have. It can also play a crucial role in helping people lift themselves out of poverty, as monthly mortgage payments are a form of forced savings that build equity over time and offer the potential for building wealth (or simply a place to live) that can help the next generation.

Real estate as an investment asset can take many different forms, though. As mentioned above, real estate covers a broad range of investment types, including private equity investments in commercial or residential properties, private debt securities for similar properties, publicly traded real estate equity (offered via real estate investment trusts), and publicly traded real estate debt (offered via mortgage-backed securities). Many personal finance gurus also advocate investing directly in real estate, which involves purchasing residential or commercial property and using it to generate a monthly income stream.

In this article, I’ll focus mainly on real estate investment trusts and REIT funds, which are the most liquid type of real estate available to the average investor. In contrast to buying real estate directly, REITs don’t involve an extra operational burden of maintaining the property over time.

Based on data from Nareit, assets in REITs totaled about $1.9 trillion globally as of 2022. The broader real estate market of professionally managed real estate totals nearly $10 trillion globally based on data from MSCI. The sheer size of the real estate market would argue for making it a significant portfolio holding for people taking a “market basket” approach to asset allocation.

What Are the Advantages and Risks of Investing in Real Estate?

Real estate has two main advantages: diversification and the potential to perform better than other stocks over certain periods.

In the past, real estate has had relatively low correlations with the broader U.S. equity market. Rolling three-year correlations have dropped below 0.10 during some periods, such as the early 2000s. Being untethered to the overall equity market can lead to better risk-adjusted returns when real estate is added to a diversified portfolio. In recent years, however, real estate has generally moved more in tandem with the broader U.S. equity market. For the trailing three-year period ended Jan. 31, 2024, for example, the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index had a 0.87 correlation with the broader equity market.

Rolling Three-Year Correlation

A line graph showing the rolling three-year correlation for the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index versus the IA SBBI US Large Stock Index over time.

There have also been certain periods, such as the late 1970s, early 1980s, and early 2000s when real estate stocks have fared better than the overall U.S. equity market. These periods often overlap with periods of high inflation, as the sector’s limited supply and ability to increase rents can provide a hedge against inflationary pressures.

Along with their return potential, real estate stocks come with certain risks. Real estate is both highly cyclical and subject to periodic downturns, as its double-digit losses in both 2007 and 2008 made clear. Overall, real estate has generated both above-average risk and returns over longer time periods, as shown in the scatterplot below.

Trailing 20-Year Risk and Return: Real Estate and Other Assets

A scatterplot showing risk and return statistics for real estate and other major asset classes.

Historically, REITs have been subject to some painful downturns, including during the 1990 banking crisis, the global financial crisis in 2007 and 2008, and the pandemic-driven downturn in early 2020. On a quarterly basis, they’ve been subject to losses as large as 30% or more. In the past, REITs have always managed to rise from the ashes; the industry made a strong rebound after the 1990 banking crisis and after suffering double-digit losses in both 2007 and 2008. The Morningstar US REIT Index has recovered from its pandemic-driven losses, but it is still down from its more recent highs in early 2022.

Other Risk and Drawdown Stats (Since 1972)

A table showing risk and drawdown statistics for the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index and the IA SBBI US Large Stock Index.

How to Invest in Real Estate Stocks

There are two main ways to invest in REITs: by purchasing individual REITs or by purchasing a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund. There are about 200 U.S.-based REITs that are publicly traded. They span a variety of industry subgroups, including healthcare, hotels and motels, retail, office, industrial, and residential. It’s also possible to invest in diversified REITs, which are involved in buying, managing, and selling a variety of property holdings.

But purchasing a mutual fund or ETF is an easier way to get diversified market exposure for most investors. The table below shows a subset of real estate funds with Morningstar Medalist Ratings of Gold.

Highly Rated Real Estate Funds

A table showing the Morningstar Medalist Rating and other key information on several highly rated real estate funds.

Tax considerations are another important point. Because of their legal structure, REITs don’t pay corporate taxes on their earnings. Instead, they’re required to pay out at least 90% of their income as dividends to shareholders, who eventually pay ordinary income taxes on the dividends they receive. For that reason, we’ve typically recommended that investors only hold REITs and REIT funds in tax-deferred accounts, such as 401(k)s and IRAs.

However, the tax-law changes that went into effect in 2018 make REITs and REIT funds slightly more attractive for taxable accounts. Taxpayers can now deduct up to 20% of income earned through qualified publicly traded partnerships and REITs that operate as pass-through entities. The IRS has issued guidance clarifying that this deduction also applies to taxpayers who own mutual funds that invest in REITs. (Note: Check with your tax advisor for more details about this deduction.)

When Do Real Estate Stocks Perform Best?

Like all stocks, real estate stocks typically perform best during periods of strong economic growth and rising corporate profits. As mentioned above, real estate can also perform well during periods of above-average inflation. The table below shows annualized returns for real estate stocks during some of their strongest periods.

Annualized Returns During the Best Times for Real Estate

A table showing returns for the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index and the IA SBBI US Large Stock Index over selected periods.

How Long Should I Hold My Investments in Real Estate?

Morningstar’s Role in Portfolio framework recommends holding REITs or other real estate exposure for at least 10 years. We came up with this guideline partly by looking at the historical frequency of losses over various rolling time periods ranging from one year to 10 years. We also considered the maximum time to recovery, or how long it usually takes to recover after a drawdown.

How Much of My Portfolio Should Be in Real Estate?

While institutional investors and endowment funds often invest much bigger chunks of their portfolios in real estate (including both public and private debt and equity securities), I’d argue that most individual investors should keep their real estate exposure limited (which Morningstar defines as 15% of assets or less). It’s also worth noting that most broad-market index funds already include exposure to real estate. So, if you already have one of those, you don’t necessarily need a separate allocation to real estate.

The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar’s editorial policies .

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New York governor seeks to quell business owners’ fears after Trump ruling

Kathy Hochul says law-abiding businesspeople have ‘nothing to worry about’ after question on state’s commercial climate

The New York governor has told business owners in her state that there is “nothing to worry about” after Donald Trump was fined $355m and temporarily banned from engaging in commerce in the state when he lost his civil fraud trial on Friday.

In an interview on the New York radio show the Cats Roundtable with the supermarket billionaire John Catsimatidis, Kathy Hochul sought to quell fears in some quarters that the penalties handed to Trump for engaging in fraudulent business practices could chill the state’s commercial climate.

Asked if businesspeople should be worried that if prosecutors could “do that to the former president, they can do that to anybody”, Hochul said: “Law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are businesspeople have nothing to worry about because they’re very different than Donald Trump and his behavior.”

She added that the fraud case against Trump resulted from “really an extraordinary, unusual circumstance”.

Hochul’s comments were directed at some New York business leaders who said they were concerned that the attorney general Letitia James ’s case against Trump could deter businesses and investment from coming to the state. Hochul noted James’s case demonstrated how Trump and some allies obtained favorable bank loans and insurance rates with inflated real estate values.

The governor said most New York business owners were “honest people, and they’re not trying to hide their assets and they’re following the rules”.

Hochul said most business owners would not merit state intervention.

“This judge determined that Donald Trump did not follow the rules,” Hochul added. “He was prosecuted and truly, the governor of the state of New York does not have a say in the size of a fine, and we want to make sure that we don’t have that level of interference.”

Trump, who denied wrongdoing in the case and maintained there were no victims, now has 30 days to come up with a non-recoverable $35m to secure a bond – a third-party guarantee – against his real estate holdings to show that he can pay the full fine if his appeals fail.

Alternatively, he could put the $355m into an escrow account but would get the money back if he wins on appeal.

Either way, the ruling is a blow to the developer-politician whose sense of self is tied to financial success. And James has said Trump is actually in line to pay more than $463m when interest is taken into account.

In September, Trump’s former lawyer Christopher Kise argued in court that the decision against the ex-president would cause “irreparable impact on numerous companies”. It would also threaten 1,000 employees within the Trump empire, Kise maintained.

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But the judge, Arthur Engoron, who found the former president liable for fraud and assessed the fine and three-year disqualification from doing business in New York, dropped an earlier ruling to dissolve all the companies that Trump owns in the state that could have led to a liquidation.

“This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin,” Engoron wrote in a 92-page ruling that allowed the Trump businesses to keep operating and appointed two overseers to monitor “major activities that could lead to fraud”.

Engoron said he could renew his call for “restructuring and potential dissolution” based on “substantial evidence”.

Trump has lashed out at the ruling, vowing to appeal and calling James and Engoron “corrupt”.

But James said on Friday: “This long-running fraud was intentional, egregious, illegal.” She added: “There cannot be different rules for different people in this country, and former presidents are no exception.”

This article was amended on 18 February 2024 to correct a misspelling. An earlier version referred to “venal” rather than “venial” sin.

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Trump Organization says $364 million fraud ruling will fuel the 'exodus of companies from New York' — but Trump's frauds may make him an outlier

  • The Trump Organization, Trump, and lieutenants face a $364 million judgment in a civil fraud case.
  • The company said the ruling will cause the "exodus" of other New York businesses.
  • But several factors, including the extent of Trump's fraud, could make him an outlier.

Insider Today

After former President Donald Trump was hit with a nearly $355 million judgment in his civil fraud case, the Trump Organization said the ruling could cause businesses to flee the state of New York for fear of being targeted.

"Today's ruling is a gross miscarriage of justice," a spokesperson for the Trump Organization said in a statement after the ruling, adding, "Every member of the New York business community, no matter the industry, should be gravely concerned with this gross overreach and brazen attempt by the Attorney General to exert limitless power where no private or public harm has been established."

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered Trump, his sons, and former CFO Allen Weisselberg to pay a total cash penalty of $364 million for their roles in manipulating the value of their assets in order to get better deals on loans.

Interest could add another $100 million to the total, New York Attorney General Letitia James told reporters on Friday in a celebratory statement that called Trump's ego "staggering."

The judgment also says Trump cannot run any businesses in New York for three years, while his sons Eric and Don Jr. are barred for two years, among other penalties.

Trump denounced the verdict and denied wrongdoing in the case, which resulted from a yearslong investigation by James.

"If allowed to stand, this ruling will only further expedite the continuing exodus of companies from New York," the Trump Organization spokesperson said.

Trump's fraud case is extreme, according to the judge

But Trump's proven frauds are so extreme — the judge found he added more than $2 billion to his bottom line each year, in a decade of annual financial statements — that some experts say his getting caught and punished likely won't impact other businesses.

"This decision is unprecedented, but I don't think we'll necessarily see similar cases against other individuals," Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Business Insider. "Trump is unique in that he stubbornly thumbs his nose at our justice system and finds himself in legal turmoil. Sometimes, it's better to cooperate with authorities or to settle a civil lawsuit rather than fight a losing battle."

Instead, Rahmani said Trump again chose to litigate a losing case.

The judge in the fraud trial basically said as much. In his 92-page verdict , Engoron hammered in on Trump's refusal to admit any errors.

"Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological," he wrote. "They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin. Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways."

The judge also noted that this was not the first time the Trump Organization or related entities had been found to have engaged in fraud, citing prior cases, including one that involved Trump University.

"This is not defendants' first rodeo," Engoron wrote.

It's also worth noting the exceptional circumstances that led to the investigation into the Trump Organization.

While running for attorney general in 2018, James promised to aggressively investigate Trump's business dealings.

The fraud investigation that led to this ruling started in 2019 after Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez questioned former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen during a congressional hearing.

When Ocasio-Cortez pressed Cohen on whether Trump had ever inflated assets to an insurance company, he answered affirmatively.

James later credited the exchange with kicking off the probe .

"I will remind everyone that this investigation only started after Michael Cohen, the former lawyer, his former lawyer, testified before Congress and shed light on this misconduct," James said in 2022.

So don't expect New York businesses to pack their bags and ship out to New Jersey anytime soon over this.

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Watch: Trump fights back as fraud trial begins

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