While flipping and renting out residential and commercial investment properties provide steady sources of income, many real estate investors could benefit from leveraging experience, knowledge and connections to create new revenue stream.
These side gigs can easily be done on a part-time—even very part-time—basis, with the flexibility to work around your schedule and however many hours you can make available. And they’re not only great for increasing revenue, but also for helping weather fluctuations in the market and building your professional network and reputation across various aspects of the real estate industry.
If you’re looking for some practical ideas to create new revenue streams for real estate investors, consider the options below.
Generating New Sources of Income as a Real Estate Investor
- Become a real estate agent. You already know a good deal about buying and selling properties, so why not help others do it while earning healthy commissions? It’s estimated that only about one in four or five real estate agents do it as their full-time job, so don’t hesitate just because you could only do it on the side. Even a single commission every few months can be a significant injection of money. Of course, it does take a few thousand dollars in prep and licensing fees and trade organization membership dues, so you need to bring in enough to make it worthwhile.
- Find deals for buyers for referral fees. If you know where to look for good deals on properties and put in the time, you can bring them to cash buyers seeking investment opportunities. You collect a referral fee; just get the terms in a contract up front. Over time, you can build up a network of buyers and develop trusting relationships, getting a better feel for what appeals to your buyers and streamlining your process.
- Monetize a real estate investment blog. Put your know-how into words for other investors. Once you build up some traffic, run digital ads on your blog. But the real money comes from affiliate marketing. Incorporate links to products and services relevant to the topic and your audience, and earn commissions whenever readers buy via the link. To be successful, trust is important. Only recommend things you have experience with and believe provide genuine value. When you recommend something, tell your readers how it works, who would benefit from it, why you like it, and be honest about any drawbacks.
- Write e-books about real estate investment. If you’re not a great writer, consider paying a professional ghost writer to handle your outlined material. You can self-publish and sell e-books for free through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing and earn high royalties on every sale, and there are plenty of other free and low-cost options for self-publishing. Amazon is a good route to go, though, as it comes with a built-in network of millions of shoppers. You could also publish in PDF format and sell e-books through your own website for total control and 100 percent of the sales price.
- Give webinars and/or seminars on real estate investing. This is another potentially lucrative way to leverage your experience and expertise. Speaker fees and webinar registration fees run much higher than e-book prices, so you need to sell a lot of books to match the earnings potential of this source of extra revenue. Of course, high-paying public engagements can be tricky to book—especially starting out—and it takes some social media and digital marketing savvy to get people to sign up for your webinars if you don’t already have an established platform.
- Get certified as a notary. Notaries attest to the authenticity of signed documents, and lots of contracts and other paperwork require the stamp of a notary present at signing. Becoming a notary is relative low in cost, and can bring in $100 or $200 for a brief appointment. If you’re already tapped into a network that includes real estate agencies, law firms, title companies, escrow offices, and other professionals, you have a decent head start at finding paying opportunities; also, get listed on sites like 123Notary.
