The time to start looking at investment properties is now. The housing markets have taken their beaten and now seem to be close to their bottoms. As foreclosures are still running rampant, people are fighting to keep their homes. Many are looking for conventional ways to stay, but quite a few are willing to go a different route.

I've been investing in the real estate for some time now. It's been successful, but in recent months I've had to sit and wait for the smoke to clear. Some of the properties that I purchased to flip (buy, renovate, and sell in a short period) didn't work out that way before the credit crisis hit the financial industry. How I made the best of a bad situation was to go ahead and rent those homes to people who either lost their home to foreclosure or didn't qualify to get a loan.

I don't rent single family homes, but when I had two properties that I bought with borrowed money(loan). I was prepared. In my dealings with real estate I've learned to network myself within my city of 350,000 people. I also own 2 quad-plex houses they are 100% occupied and the tenants always tell me that they know someone who needs to move out of their home for one reason or another.

Why do I say that the time is now? First, most of the analysts are saying that the bottom for the financial' are near. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been saved by the Federal Reserve. Their Injection of cash to the two have opened the door for mortgages to be available to the average person. If you have a job and a steady pay check you just may qualify. There are many investment vehicles out there to use, but real estate investing is the most profitable when done correctly. The prices are at a good level for buying and holding for now. In time the markets will improve and the values of homes will go up.