If you’ve started any business prior to being in real estate, you know the importance of creating a comprehensive business plan as a roadmap for the path of your future business.
Starting a new real estate venture is no different. Creating a business plan for your real estate investing company will set you up for future success in real estate, regardless of whether it’s your first, second, third, or tenth business venture.
This article will highlight the seven steps and components you should include in your real estate investing business plan. You’ll learn how to create a marketing plan, conduct competitor analysis, build a management team and much more.
Enough talk, let’s get started!
What is a Real Estate Investing Business Plan?
Like any business plan, a real estate investing business plan is a written document that highlights the key goals and strategies for a real estate investing venture.
Whether you’re an individual investor or part of a larger investment group, business plans are essential for real estate companies of all sizes.
Business plans are created to accomplish several objectives, including:
Defining Your Investing Goals
You’ll need to have a solid understanding of your investing goals before officially launching your business if you hope to find any meaningful success. At the highest level, defining your investing goals is the starting point for your real estate journey and will shape the way you operate your business in the coming years.
While businesses often change their investing goals as the economy and markets change, it’s still important to make this distinction at the beginning of your journey to set the stage for the future of your venture.
Clear Financing Plan
Cash is king in real estate, which is why you’ll need to have a solid strategy for how you plan to finance your investments. Creating a business plan will allow you to lay out a guide on how you will find the financing and use it effectively with your investment projects.
Nailing Down Your Competitive Advantage
A competitive advantage is what differentiates you from others offering the same services in your area. Without a competitive advantage, you won’t be able to stand out from your competitors in the real estate industry.
Nailing down your competitive advantage in the real estate investing industry is crucial for investors who want to acquire properties with the best opportunities for rental income and property appreciation.
Marketing Strategy
Marketing your real estate investing business is the best way to find new opportunities and make connections in the industry. Even for seasoned investors, understanding the basics of marketing in real estate will put you ahead of other investors.
Benefits of Business Plans for Real Estate
If you’re reading this article, you know that creating a business plan for your real estate business is an important step before launching your venture. Here are a few reasons why:
- Risk Management: By analyzing the real estate market and your investment strategy, you can identify potential risks and develop strategies to manage them or eliminate them entirely. A solid business plan will help avoid costly mistakes and reduce your overall risk exposure when your business is gaining traction.
- Decision-Making Tool: A business plan is also a valuable reference when making investment decisions. It provides a framework for evaluating opportunities and helps you determine whether a particular investment aligns with your overall strategy and financial goals.
- Communication: If you are working with partners or seeking investors, a business plan serves as a communication tool. It allows you to convey your vision, strategy, and financial projections clearly and persuasively for anyone involved in your business.
- Adaptability: While a business plan provides a rough framework of how you want to run your company, it should also allow for flexibility. Real estate markets can change, and opportunities may present themselves unexpectedly.
- Accountability: Creating a business plan holds you and your partners accountable for your real estate investment decisions. It can help set benchmarks and timelines for reaching your real estate goals and make it easier to measure your progress as you go.
Components of a Real Estate Investing Business Plan
Regardless of your industry, business plans share many of the same components. Here are the main sections to include in your business plan and how to get started:
Mission and Vision
The mission and vision section of your business plan provides a clear sense of purpose and the overall direction for your business.
First start with the mission statement. Ask yourself what the big picture for your business is. Do you want to provide housing and improve the lives of disadvantaged communities? Or do you want to build a real estate empire and rub shoulders with other real estate magnates?
Whatever your mission is, write it down. A business plan is a living document and you are free to alter it at any time.
Example Mission Statement:
“Our mission is to provide high-quality real estate investment opportunities that generate long-term financial growth for the company while improving the communities in which we operate. Our goal is to employ a diverse group of real estate professionals from all backgrounds and nationalities.”
Next is the vision statement. The vision statement looks forward to the long-term future of your real estate investing business and should paint a picture of what your business aspires to become over time.
Key elements of a vision statement include a long-term goal or aspiration, a description of what success looks like for your business, and an emphasis on the values and principles that guide the business and decision-making.
Example Vision Statement:
“Our vision is to become a leading real estate investment firm known for innovation, excellence, and a positive impact on both our investors’ financial futures and the neighborhoods we invest in.”
Don’t stress if your mission and vision statement aren’t polished just yet. It’s important to jot down your ideas and move onto the next section of your plan.
Executive Summary
The executive summary section is a concise overview of the key parts of your business and how it operates. This is always the first section of the business plan following your mission and vision statements.
The goal of an executive summary is to provide a high-level overview of your company and how it operates. You’ll cover how the business makes money, who will be running the business, your geographic presence, and more.
The executive summary also serves as an “elevator pitch” for potential investors reading the business plan. They will need to have a general understanding of what your business is, who you serve, and what makes you different from other investors before they decide to work with you or make a substantial investment.
Market Conditions
The market conditions section of the business plan is one of the most important ones for real estate investors. Your target market and geographic presence can have a significant impact on the success of your business, which means having a deep understanding of the market is crucial.
If you’re not already an expert in your target market, now is the time to become one. Conduct extensive research on local market trends, housing prices, and inventory as well as macro trends like interest rates, inflation, and appreciation rates.
This section is where you will demonstrate why you’re an expert in your market and how you plan to overcome any obstacles that may present themselves.
Competitor Analysis
It’s unlikely you’re the very first real estate investor group in your area, which means you will likely have some competitors. The competitor analysis section allows you to identify some or all of your competitors, see what they’re doing, and come up with a plan on how you can beat them.
If you have many competitors in your area, choose four of the largest ones that you want to emulate and compete with. Then analyze their website, social media, and find any type of buzz or accolades they’ve received. Look at their previous investments, their management team, and ways that you believe you could position yourself as superior.
Try not to sugarcoat anything regarding your competitors. If they hold a large market share and seem unbeatable, it’s important to document all these details in the business plan.
Marketing Plan
The marketing plan component of your business plan outlines how you will use various marketing channels to acquire new customers and build repeat business activities. Here are the key parts for this section:
- Marketing Objectives: Clearly state your marketing goals, such as the number of properties to acquire, rental or sales revenue targets, or market share goals.
- Marketing Strategies: Describe your strategies for finding and acquiring investment properties, such as MLS listings, auctions, off-market deals, or working with real estate agents.
- Branding and Positioning: Describe your real estate investing brand and how you intend to position yourself in the market. This may include your unique value proposition, mission statement, and branding features.
- Marketing Tactics: List the specific marketing tactics and channels you plan to use to reach your audience. This often includes online methods like social media, content marketing, websites, email marketing, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising as well as offline methods like networking events, direct mail, and local advertising.
- Budget and Resources: Determine your starting marketing budget and how much you plan to allocate to each channel. As your business grows and you gain traction in the market, you will likely contribute more to your marketing budget than you do at the start.
- Marketing Timeline: Also set a specific timeline for when your marketing strategy will commence. Consider whether or not you’re waiting for funding and what a realistic marketing timeline looks like for your business.
Management Team
The management team includes the parties responsible for the high-level operation of the business. This will include you as well as any partners or senior leaders you plan to employ. If you’re a solo investor, list the people you hope to bring on in the future and your plan for finding them.
As your business grows and your organizational structure expands, it’s important to revisit your business plan and adjust the management team section.
Financials
Remember when we said cash is king? The financials section is the time to list the entire financial plan for the successful operation of your investing business.
Outside investors will want to have a total understanding of your current and future financial picture when considering an investment. Additionally, it’s essential for yourself and your partners to know where you stand financially and the roadmap for hitting your financial goals.
We recommend making loose financial projections with a three-year income statement in a Google Sheet or Excel document. It’s nearly impossible to predict the future revenue of a new venture, but creating realistic targets for revenue growth over time is a great place to start.