Real Estate Investor is an interesting title.  It is routinely applied to anyone involved in buying, selling, renting, exchanging in the realm of real estate.  And what about all the other ways to specialize in real estate “investing”, like wholesaling, flipping, short sales, foreclosures, rehabs, auctions, options, renting etc…?  Are we really all investors or are we just working a job?

Investing has been defined as:  Money put in property or other ventures with the expectation of making a profit, with sufficient security to return and protect the capital; not speculation.  Many “investors” who speculated on the market with marginal profits or short term loans have been unable to hold on in todays changing market.  While I find it necessary and profitable to work on the short term buy/sell strategies of real estate “investing” to earn chunks of cash to make a living, it seems to me to be more of a job than real estate investing. And if I stop working, so does the income.

While we all struggle somewhat to find and keep our niches in the market, I, for one, plan on concentrating more of my efforts on really investing, buying for the long term and earning income through cash flow from rents and building up my portfolio.   And, now seems like a great time, since prices are falling and the rental market seems stronger in our area than in the past.  I plan on more real investing for Cash Flow.  More on that later.