Real Estate Investing: Utilize Online Resources to Make Money

Despite the crash in the real estate market, buying property and managing rentals is still great for many reasons: leverage, the potential for passive income, the ability to gain an edge by having more information. There are a ton of resources online for savvy real estate investors (and potential investors), and many people aren't even aware of them.

Most everyone who has looked at houses is aware of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system. If you have any kind of internet skills at all, and I know you do, you should look at the MLS listings before you get a realtor. There are a variety of free, full access MLS listings in every city. You've got to get an idea of the market and the area where you might be interested in. The plus here is that you might even find the property you want. Then, you can just hire a discount broker like HelpUSell and it will save you some money in realtor fees.

LoopNet is the best source to search for commercial properties. If you're looking for a residential building that has five or more units, it's considered commercial. You can become a member for free... Only become a premium member if you've got a lot of deals going on. LoopNet has listings throughout the country and even has some listings of individual houses. You can search among a variety of property types including multi-family, hotel, office, industrial, special purpose, land, etc. You also can search for properties for lease.

If you're interested in buying a business, LoopNet also offers a link to its partner, BizBuySell. BizBuySell is the largest marketplace for business sales and is a great resource, again offering listings nationwide.

Whether you're in the market for buying rental properties, or just interested in the process, I highly recommend LoopNet. And, if you're just a poor college student, take a look at LoopNet to see how much your landlord is making off of you! The market may have crashed, but if you have the ability, now would be a once in a generation time to buy good income producing real estate at a huge discount.

Any situation where you can use the massive amount of information that the internet provides can help you make money. LoopNet is a perfect example of an online resource that can allow someone living in Chicago, for example, to narrow down properties they might be interested in buying in a place like San Antonio. I would be hard-pressed to believe that you could have done anything like this 15 years ago.