Investing in real estate remains the great wealth dream of the French, but also a source of anxiety. Fear of making the wrong property, of overpaying, of renting poorly… and the impression that you would have to go through paid training courses before daring to get started. In reality, the blockages come more from the absence of method concrete than lack of knowledge.
“When you’re starting out, I always recommend starting with three very concrete steps: defining your borrowing capacity with your bank or a broker, identifying two or three cities that you know well, then analyzing around twenty ads without trying to buy right away. This exercise allows you to quickly understand market prices, rents charged and profitability levels, without spending a euro on training”explains Brice Cardi, president of the Address network. From this base, a few free tools are enough to bridge the gap between dreaming and taking action.
Borrowing capacity simulators
First of all, you need to know how much you can actually borrow. THE simulators credit online banks and comparators allow you to test several scenarios : amount, duration, rate, maximum sustainable monthly payment. They offer an initial range, which can then be refined in a free meeting with your bank or a broker, who will also check your debt ratio and your remaining life. This framing avoids wasting time on out-of-budget items and allows you to target consistent announcements with your financial situation, without spending a cent.
Learn the market with announcements and observatories
Second pillar: become familiar with a small number of territories. By selecting two or three cities that you know well, you can use the ad portals and rent observatories to sift through twenty similar properties (surface area, neighborhood, condition). “The best way to learn real estate investment is not to follow training courses, but to put yourself in a situation. Visiting properties, comparing yields, talking with real estate agents, brokers or landlords allows you to acquire a very concrete vision of the market in a few weeks”insists Brice Cardi. This rapid immersion reveals the true levels of prices, rents and yields, without educational costs.
Profitability simulators and risk checklist
Once the market is better understood, rental profitability simulators available online for free help translate this data into figures: gross yield, net yield after chargesimpact of future credit. Before looking for the “ideal operation”, it is above all a matter of “to learn to identify what makes a good investment: location, rental demand and the balance between purchase price and potential rent. You must also be attentive to the energy performance diagnosis and be vigilant about the amounts of charges and property tax”recalls Brice Cardi. By combining these simulators with a simple risk checklist, any beginner investor can structure their decision without going through the paid training box.
