Whether you are new to real estate investing or an experienced professional, the internet is essential to your on-going success. Researching real estate, neighborhoods, cities, and towns can be done on the internet. What used to take days and weeks on foot is now accomplished in mere hours.

It’s not just about researching the marketplace. You should be using the internet to find review sites for your handyman, contractors, and any other trades people you need. By using review sites, you avoid the risk of blindly picking an unknown trades person based on a Yellow Page advertisement.

Build Your Real Estate Investing Team Online

With the internet, you can build both local and distant investing teams. Often the markets in different parts of the country have very different opportunities. For instance, if you’re id Detroit, you might have good reason to invest in a healthier marketplace. By joining local but virtual investing clubs you can find birddogs, real estate agents, wholesale brokers, etc., living and working at the location you want to invest in.

Of course, most real estate investing professionals have websites. Before even contacting them, you narrow your search by researching what they specialize in. You can use local forums and websites to network with real estate professionals to find the best available.

Other Real Estate Investing Uses for the Internet

Most investors know about online mortgage calculators making it simple to perform a variety of cash flow or financing scenarios before investing in a property. Another handy tool is the ability to track interest rates at the national level when you need financing. Whether you are looking for a bank loan, a hard moneylender, a bridge loan, or something else, the internet increases your financing options to a much higher level.

If you aren’t familiar with a squeeze page, you probably aren’t using the internet any where near the potential it has for your business. Finding leads and investment opportunities is about having a network of contacts. A squeeze page is a way of building just such a list of leads and contacts. Once the list is built, you send out regular emails letting people in your network know what you are doing and what you are looking for. Using the internet for these types of purposes exponentially increases your reach to far-flung locations.

Use Social Network Sites

Facebook and MySpace are two social networks you need to engage. Both have real estate investing groups at locations across the country. This can be a good way of learning the market conditions at distant locations.

LinkedIn is a business networking site with huge possibilities for real estate investors. It’s different than Facebook and MySpace because it’s all about business networking. One successful use of Linked in is to use it for introductions to others in the industry that you want to know. As you grow your network, you look to see who others are LinkedIn with. When you find someone you want to do business with, you contact him or her through LinkedIn by starting a conversation about being LinkedIn to a mutual businessperson. Having something in common works much better than cold calling.

When it comes to selling properties that are near or far, posting a quality YouTube virtual tour is an effective and proven internet tool.