Copyright © 2005 Alex Nghiem

Did you know that real estate investing has created more millionaires that ALL other industries combined? The question, then, is why are more people not invested in real estate? Even with the increased awareness in real estate investing, more people are still familiar with other forms of investing such as stocks and mutual funds.

In this article, I will discuss 7 myths that about real estate investing that are costing you tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars). These myths persist because most people invest in real estate using conventional financing, which often requires 5% or more as a down payment. Assuming that $150,000 is average price of a house in your area (in most cities, it's significantly more than that), you would need $7,500 as a down payment (and this doesn't even include other fees such closing costs). The purpose of this article is to share techniques of creative real estate investing that debunk these common myths about real estate investing.

1. Myth 1: To create wealth, you have to invest stocks and mutual funds.

Fact: Real estate investing has created more millionaires that ALL other industries combined incluing Internet marketing, stock investing and mutual fund investing. In fact, according to the CEO of FNMA, in the hottest bull market in history, more people ended up creating wealth through home ownership than through stock ownership.

2. Myth 2: Real estate investing requires a lot of money.

Fact: Once you learn how to buy undervalued properties, you can find all types of people who will lend you their cash. You can find these people at your local real estate investor association or by contacting us. Additionally, you can use a real estate option (typically $10 to $100 for the option fee) to control the property and not even need to raise any capital.

3. Myth 3: Real estate investing requires good credit.

Fact: This is related to Myth 1. Again, once you learn how to find undervalued properties, you can find all types of people who will lend you their credit, especially if the property has significant equity. Additionally, you can also use a real estate option to control the property and this technique doesn't require that you have good credit.

4. Myth 4: Real estate investing requires you to do major rehabs in dangerous neighborhoods.

Fact: While you can indeed make good money doing rehabbing, you can make even more money working with "pretty houses", houses in suburban areas that need little renovation. In actuality, you can make $20,000 or more per $100,000 of property (thus, in a high priced market such as Florida, the average profit would be $40,000 or more per property).

5. Myth 6: Real estate investing requires dealing with tenants, repairs or house payments.

Fact: Again, while you can do that, you can also make money in real estate investing without ever having to deal with tenants, repairs or house payments through the use of a real estate option. One of our clients recently made $9,800 in 4 days on his last real estate option deal.

6. Myth 6: You can only make money in hot markets.

Fact: You may believe that you can only make money by investing in hot markets such as Las Vegas and Florida. The reality is that once you learn how to buy undervalued properties, you can make money regardless of what the local or national market is doing.

7. Myth 7: You have to take huge risks when investing in real estate investing.

Fact: You actualy have more control when buying real estate than when you buy stocks and bonds. You can determine the value of the house by using the multiple listing service (MLS) and commercial databases and as long you can the properties under value, you have a significant safety margin.

These myths about real estate investing are probably preventing you from real estate investing and therefore costing you tens of thousands of dollars. By using a real estate option and other forms of creative real estate investing, you can overcome these myths and make money in real estate investing without dealing with tenants, repairs and house payments or needing a lot of cash or good credit.

Alex Nghiem is the founder of WealthAutopilot, which provides coaching and educational products/events for real estate investors who want to turbo charge their results immediately.

Alex Nghiem may be contacted at http://www.wealthautopilot.com or alex@wealthautopilot.com