To begin with, you should know that being a real estate investing can be extremely risky business. So risky, in fact, a study commissioned in 2001 of large real estate investor associations in America found that 92% of fall first time investors drop out within 3 months. Other research has uncovered that 9 out of 10 investors do not survive the first year of their investment portfolio.

What is equally sad, is that the Small Business Administration reports that 95% of all businesses fail within their first year. Then, within 5 years, only the remaining five percent are left over.

Therefore, real estate investor attrition rates are Far HIGHER than the failure rate of small businesses!!!

As you can see, we’re not painting the most glamorous picture for you to become a real estate investor now, are we? (Hey, like the title says…this is the “411”…the real lowdown on the ugly truth suppressed by those television programs and late night infomercials that paint a pretty rosy picture of real estate investors getting their way all the time).

However, there are a few causes – specific reasons why – such a high rate of investors fail. Much of those reasons can be addressed by gaining access to a highly regarded real estate mentoring program. Other causes, such as not have an appropriate business plan and set of step-by-step processes to following when becoming a real estate investor, can be as easy as pulling a real estate investing book off the shelf at your local book store, and reading through its contents.

All in all, the reasons can be argued for and against being a real estate investor. In my mind, when I looked to become a real estate investor, I jotted down a “Top 21” list of things I did (and did not) want to do, which would define me as a person and my business.

Those same twenty-one reasons are copied below for you, and are a large part of why I would argue that being a real estate investor beats any other type of career, hands down:

• Spend just a few hours a day or week at “work”,
• Be you own boss,
• Wakeup when You want,
• Not have to travel every week (I traveled extensively at the time),
• Ability to run almost my entire business from a laptop and phone,
• Earn an exponential income,
• Dress how You want,
• Live a virtually tax deductible life,
• Do what You want, wherever You want,
• Never be held down to a time schedule,
• Not have to develop or ship products (e.g. online),
• Not have to apply for a merchant account (a real hassle),
• Not have to write-up an extensive business plan (can you say “yawn”?),
• Have an abundance of customers wherever my business went,
• Not have to be tied to economic cycles (where demand still increases no matter what),
• Could generate profit anytime, anywhere, any market
• Could get involved with little personal risk,
• Could get started without any previous industry experience,
• Could be my own boss,
• Did not involve office politics,
• And ultimately, one that focused on people helping people

I’d challenge anyone to take this “Top 21” criterion and try to apply it to any other home-based business model, franchise, networking scheme, internet marketing, hard product or service based business and have those meet all twenty-one criteria mentioned here.

By the way, there’s another key item you should consider about being a real estate investor, because there are 4 Principles of Business that any entrepreneur should ask themselves when it comes to getting into – and starting – a new business enterprise.

“When Looking To Build A Business, The Entrepreneur Must Consider & Weigh 4 Critical Qualifying Factors To Identify That A Business Opportunity Exists Prior To Entering The Industry…Otherwise Their Efforts Will Be Fruitless”

4 Principles of Business – Applied to Being a Real Estate Investor

1. Does the industry have a huge, expanding market? (Law of Supply & Demand)
2. Is there a unique product or service that consumers need? (roofs over their head)
3. Is the timing to enter the industry right? (Can you get properties at a big wholesale discount)Expansion: 5-7 years Absorption: 7-10 years Contraction – 10 years
4. Can ‘Leverage’ be used effectively for geometric growth and scale?e.g. direct, through an alliance, or in an outsourced manner

As you can see, real estate investors have the odds stacked in their favor. Provided they approach investing in a strategic manner, minimize the risks by utilizing the right contracts, having the right real estate mentoring, and follow through on an already proven process to generate a 6 figure bank account and realize 7 figure gains in as little as 7 months on a part time basis, they truly do have the best career hands down.