The game of hockey has specific rules. If you want to play hockey, you need to know what the rules are and be willing to play the game by these rules. Can you imagine what would happen if you tried to play hockey with tennis rules? It wouldn't be hockey and it wouldn't be tennis. It's the same in real estate. You can buy real estate with consumer rules and you can buy real estate with investor rules. What happens when you attempt to invest in real estate with consumer real estate rules? Often, you will end up with a result you don't want.

Are there really consumer money rules for real estate? The most important rule is that you have to qualify to buy the real estate. This means that the most important considerations are whether you can pay for the real estate with your own money and whether you can qualify for credit. As a consumer, you will need great credit and enough money down payment. For a consumer real estate purchase, it is first of all about you.

When you want to become a real estate investor, you will find that those consumer money rules often get in the way. They hinder you from making money in real estate. One of the primary reasons people are unsuccessful when they attempt to invest in real estate is that they think they have to invest in real estate the same way they invest in their own personal property.

Many people don't have enough money or credit to buy their own homes. If they can't buy their own homes, how can they afford to buy investment property, using their own money and credit? This is especially true when property values are expensive. And in such markets, it is usually impossible to collect enough rent from a property to cover the mortgage. This means that when people try to buy investment property using consumer money rules, most people can't even get started.

It is possible for people to build real estate portfolios following consumer rules. The problem is that buying real estate this way ties up your money and depends on your own credit. As a means to create financial independence, this is a long and laborious way to build wealth.

Investors live in a world that is different than the world of consumers. Even though we're all living here on the same planet together, investors think differently. They know that there are different rules of money.

This means that the first money rule of a successful real estate investor is to invest with investor money rules. When you buy property as a consumer, the focus is on you and your money. When you buy property as an investor, the focus is on the deal itself. It's not about you. It's about whether the deal makes sense. This means that you don't necessarily have to have a lot of money or excellent credit to invest in real estate. You do need to know the difference between consumer rules and investor rules. This is very good news for people who want to invest in real estate, but don't have much money or great credit.