Making the decision to invest in real estate is exciting! The doors of opportunity are wide open, welcoming you to a future of passive income and financial security. Better still, you have decided to take on a turnkey rental home, so it should be smooth sailing from here, right?

While turnkey properties offer investors a much more hands-off approach than traditional purchase options, they aren’t without a required amount of work. Investing is a process, a business, and should be treated as such. This means that, as an investor, you should spend an adequate amount of time researching, reaching out, and being involved in the process.

If you’re getting ready to purchase a turnkey rental home, here are a few things you can do to prepare yourself for this new and exciting venture.

Find a Mentor

If you’re considering investing in a turnkey property for the first timevesting in a turnkey property for the first time, a mentor is an invaluable asset. Find someone in the industry who has been around the block a few times—someone with a substantial portfolio and a few wins and losses under their belt. A mentor who has experienced poor investment choices as well as successful ones will be able to steer you in the right direction and teach you by exampling their mistakes rather than just surmising how to handle them.

Here’s the kicker…

A mentor is a great tool to have in your wheelhouse as they are often only a phone call away. Unlike an investment agent, a mentor is a someone with whom you’ve developed a personal relationship with. They are someone who wants to see you succeed, not just sell you a property. If you are hesitant about a deal, or unsure about the process, they are more likely to be honest with you than someone who will be reaping a financial gain from the process.

Subscribe to Online Courses

The internet is an investor’s dream. It is an open source of endless information and can provide easy access to some of the top players in the industry. In addition to this, regardless of your location, there are a multitude of online courses that you can partake in. Subscribe to as many of these as your schedule will allow prior to investing. It never hurts to have additional knowledge before getting involved in any form of business enterprise. In fact, it’s likely to become quite useful in giving you a clearer picture of the industry, allowing you to make informed decisions regarding your investments.

While subscribing to general real estate investment courses is important, make sure to work in a few that deal specifically with turnkey properties as some of the aspects differ from traditional investing.

Attend Conferences

Conferences are incredibly useful when starting out in real estate investing. In addition to providing a wealth of industry-specific knowledge, conferences are a gathering place of likeminded individuals. Essentially, real estate investing conferences are giant pools of networking opportunities. They are great places to find a mentor, a future business partner, or just resources you can reach out to in the future.

Go to Local Meetings

Local meetings are similar to conferences, but on a much smaller scale. Local meetings are usually hosted by community investment associations or real estate agencies. These meetings are a good place to gather up to date intel on your local area’s market trends. Attending local meetings gives you an opportunity to meet other members of your area’s investment community and learn a few of their secrets—you can get information on local contractors, turnkey investment companies, and other such companies which are required to have a successful investment venture.

These meetings are also a great place to meet other local investors, get tips, make contacts, and network.

Network with Local Realtors

Having a good realtor in your back pocket is invaluable.

Here’s the deal…

Realtors are the social butterflies of the real estate industry. They can give you great references for services such as turnkey investment companies, property managers, lawn services, contractors, and more. They also tend to have their hands in the pot first—meaning they’ll be able to notify you as soon as a property that meets your criteria comes available. Realtors are also great at finding buyers when it comes time to sell.

Realtors are also a great source of market knowledge. They spend day in and day out working in the neighborhoods and communities of your area. They know what buyers and renters are looking for and how well the market is sustaining.

Turnkey rental homes do offer investors a hands-off way to create a profitable monthly revenue stream, however, they should be approached with the same caution as any regular real estate transaction. You should always do your own due diligence prior to signing any deals. Do your research, talk to others, create a network. Investing is a learning process and should always be treated as such, regardless of how long you have been in the industry. Taking these steps prior to investing—as well as continuing them along the way—will be the key to a successful investment venture.