The world of property investing can seem daunting to an inexperienced young hopeful, yearning to get his or her foot on to the ladder – but this needn’t be the case!

So, here are a few tips from experts to help you take the first steps to building your real estate empire, without making costly mistakes along the way.

1. Have a strategy

There are a number of approaches to property investing, and all of them have their risks and benefits.

For someone starting out, it’s vital you have some idea of the strategy you’re going to use, and how well it fits with your current situation. For example, are you hoping to negatively gear the property?

While this could work well for a higher income earner looking to buy a new build, it’s not likely to have the same pay-off for those on a lower wage or buyers of established properties without depreciation benefits.

Contrary to popular believe, negative gearing is not an investment strategy – it's just the way your property is financed at a point in time.

Similarly, you may have been inspired by the seemingly endless array of home improvement programs on TV, and are thinking of flipping a renovator’s delight for a quick profit?

If so, you’ll need enough free time to either project-manage or work hands-on during the build, not to mention access to cash or credit to fund the work and you should have some experience under your belt.

Either way, having a plan and doing your due diligence on what is required to execute it is one of the cornerstones of investing success.

2. Research before starting

Once you know what path you’re planning to follow, it’s time to do some thorough research into the areas and types of properties you’re thinking of buying. House or apartment? Inner-city, suburban or regional? Residential or commercial?

Just so that you're aware...searching for a property is not the same as researching property.

Just because you know your local neighbourhood, it doesn't mean you understand "the property market."

You’ll need to know median prices and growth trends as well as rental vacancy rates and median rents, not to mention those little details about a suburb that can make or break your investment – such as school catchments, public transport links and existing and planned infrastructure.

Talk to local real estate agents about the kinds of tenants they have on their books and ask what the vacancy rate for the suburb is. For long term tenants, families may be the best bet. While professional couples tend to rent for a couple of years before buying a place of their own. Whereas students, tend to be more transient though this may potentially be offset by higher rental.

3. Get professional advice

Property investors know that it can really pay to have a professional in your camp, especially as you build up the confidence and knowledge to fight your own corner. Professionals such as an accountant should be any important member of you advisory team.

You should talk to your accountant about your tax strategy and if you have a financial advisor, they should have completed your risk analysis and factored that into your wealth building plans.

Check how your loan compares

4. Spend money to make money

When buying property, be it to live in or as an investment, there’s always those niggling extra costs that seem so unnecessary… until they come back to bite you, sometimes literally.

Things like building and pest inspections, conveyancing fees and depreciation report when seeking to capitalise on a property don’t come cheap. However, forgo them at your peril!

These types of investing "checks and balances" can help you ascertain whether the property you’re looking at makes sense.

A $700 investment on a building inspection on a potential property investment could alert you to potential expensive hidden issues, which could cost you 10 times as much (or more) down the track.

Tell us: Enjoyed this article? Don’t forget to like and share.

And while you’re here, take our mortgage shredder challenge and discover how much you can save on your home and investment loans by using loansHub technology as your personal mortgage manager. To discover why loansHub and what we do, click here.

This article via Your Investment Property does not constitute advice; readers should seek independent and personalised counsel from a trusted adviser that specialises in property, a tax accountant and property design specialist.