6 Key Reasons Women Should Buy Real Estate Properties

There are countless female real estate agents, but it is hard to find women who invest in real estate properties!

Why do so few women have an interest in investing in real estate? Should women buy real estate properties?

There are many factors for why women are so scarce in the world of rental property investing, but there are many great reasons why women can have fantastic success as a real estate investor!

This article will outline 6 unique reasons why women should buy real estate properties!

1. The Power of Investing

Before diving deep into the unique benefits of rental investing for women, let’s take a wide lens view about why people invest in the first place!

The whole point of investing is to take a risk in hopes for a greater return on their money. People invest in the stock market, in horses, and in classic cars, for example.

Next, we need to consider the “why” behind investing. People may invest into index funds in a Roth IRA, in order to have money when they retire. A person may invest in a plot of land, hoping that it will appreciate so they can sell it at a profit one day.

Investing in houses is just another option to fulfill a financial goal. Here are some reasons why people invest in real estate:

• Buy and hold onto rentals to earn monthly, recurring income
• Reduce living costs by using a house hacking strategy
• Flip houses to earn enough money to replace a W2 job

The biggest factor for why women should consider rental investing is that it can make a massive impact on your personal finances!

And, yes, I understand that this relates to men as well. However, as you’ll read in this article, women have not historically been the breadwinners for families, nor have they been the ones to control the family’s money.

Imagine building up your rental investment portfolio from scratch and eventually being able to financially support your whole family’s lifestyle – just from buying a few rental units!

Or, imagine what life could be like if you studied up on real estate investing and got your partner/spouse on board. You could work together to buy and flip homes to quit working your day jobs!

Now, these are long-term goals, but they are absolutely real-life opportunities. As we go on in this article, it is encouraged that you begin your research! Find a few podcasts to listen to and head over to YouTube to learn about rental investing. It’s never too late to begin!

2. Be in Control Of Your Money

Another great reason for any woman to begin rental investing is to have ultimate control over your investments.

When placing money in the stock market, in bonds, or in other market-based investment accounts, your investments are at the mercy of outside factors!

What’s awesome about real estate investing is how much control you can have. This offers you the opportunity to learn, grow, and improve each time you invest!

Additionally, since men are typically seen as the ones who are more “knowledgeable” about money, rental investing gives women a very tangible opportunity to practice money management, budgeting, owning a business, and investing. Just be sure you’ve done your research beforehand!

3. Women Succeed at Connecting and Networking

Guess what everyone always talks about when it comes to becoming a rental investor?

One common factor of successful rental investors is networking.

This article on Forbes shows how women make connections with other women. The focus is on close-knit circles of networking. This is vastly different than how men network.

Women are at an advantage with becoming successful investors due to their ability to focus on creating circles of networks. Stemming from this is the fact that most real estate investors need mentors.

By growing a small network, women can likely get more personal deals. This is done by connecting closer with real estate agents and getting more honest feedback on their potential investment deals. As you’ll read in point #5 in this article, this can really benefit you in the long run!

4. Women Buy More Homes

According to an article found on Apartment Therapy, more single women are buying homes than men. Why would this be?

This article reports that a Bank of America study showed that homeownership is a top priority – even higher than marriage and having children!

More women are becoming independent and straying from the classic, stereotypical expectation of only buying a home when getting married.

Women are now less likely to be questioned about home purchases and may inspire other women to go outside the outdated status quo!

5. The Minority Advantage

For so long, investing has been known as a man’s game. This frame of thinking still trickles down to young adults, who see investing as accessible only to men.

In fact, a 2018 study by Fidelity Investments showed that only 29% of women see themselves as investors!

This study outlines how women tend to have more of a fear of how investing can be risky. But, as we all know, there is no difference in knowledge between men and women. So, why the fear?

Although the study was focused on investing overall, real estate investing fits right in there! Thing is that real estate investing has grown so much in recent years. Not just that, but far more women have started!

As a woman in real estate investing, you’ll be at an advantage! Down the road, experienced women in real estate are likely to be sought for as mentors and can have an edge over other new investors at the time.

Additionally, being a dime in a dozen can help you network with other women in real estate, such as lenders, agents, and home inspectors.

6. Conquer Your Cash Flow

Lastly, it is important to consider how rental investing will help you achieve your personal finance goals.

That’s the whole reason why people invest in rental properties in the first place!

What are your personal finance goals?

If you don’t have some written out yet, here are a few examples to brainstorm off of:

• I want to have enough money to stay at home with my kids without the fear of my husband losing his job
• I want to own a business and grow my money at the same time
• I want to have a way to make money, so I have more cash to spend on vacations/experiences

There are many ways to “invest in real estate” but we’ll stick with the classic way of “buy and hold” for the sake of this article. This method includes buying a house or multifamily property (i.e. duplex, triplex, quadplex) and renting it out. The tenant pays you rent, which covers your mortgage, and then some. If calculations are done right, you can pocket money each month and eventually keep a lot of cash when the property is paid off.

So, how could a few extra hundreds of dollars a month impact your family?

Using a strategy like Buy and Hold can really make a difference after buying a few properties. This may take a few years to accumulate homes, but it can significantly benefit your family!

As a woman, it is important to consider your role in your family or your role as a spouse. By initiating your journey as a rental investor, you can make a generational impact on your family’s legacy!

(And again, yes, a man could do this too. But I always like to support when women do amazing things!)

Summary

How are you planning to use rental investing in your life?

There are many reasons why rental investing is a great option for women to grow their wealth and impact their family’s finances for many years to come. Plus, it is a unique way to have the option to work less at a W2 job and earn more income!

Real estate investing is not for everyone, but I believe that more women should consider it as a part of their investment portfolios. Let’s grow and learn together as real estate investors!

This article was written by Scarlett, the owner of ThirtyEight Investing, a platform that empowers everyday women to live out their optimal lives, using down-to-Earth money guidance!