Real estate is one of the safest assets to invest in as, if plan and execute properly, it can generate an ongoing, steady passive income and high capital gains over the long term.

It is definitely a great choice for one to begin building wealth and 2020 is arguably the best time to do so as many are looking to relocate to a new home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is expected to create a dynamic housing market that offers plenty of opportunities for investors, who can capitalise on the buying and renting demand from these people.

But what if you only have very little or no money, would you be able to invest in property? 

The answer is, “yes”! Fortunately, you don’t need six figures in the bank to be a real estate investor today. 

All you need is a solid plan that starts with little or no money. Here’s some examples:

1. Take advantage of developers’ zero-downpayment incentive

Many developers are offering a rebate or discount that allows buyers to fork out a lower or zero downpayment for their projects.

Moreover, they may take care of some or all of the legal fees and stamp duty on the Sale and Purchase Agreement.

With these incentives, you can buy a house without having to save up for few years for the large sum of upfront cost.

2. Consider a dual-key unit 

Buy a dual-key unit, and live in one part of the unit while you rent out the other one for extra cash.

This caters to those who are wishes to get their own place to stay while also looking to invest in property, but only can afford one house. 

The beauty of this real estate investing strategy is that the rent derives from the other side of the dual-key unit will probably pay a good portion of your mortgage and these units usually fetches a higher per square foot rental price.

3. Subletting a house 

Subletting is another strategy that enable one to get started with real estate investing without having to buy a house.

This is a technique where you rent a property and get permission from the owner to sublease the bedrooms or units to other tenants.

For instance, let’s say you rent a 4-bedroom landed home for RM1,800 per month. You then find four tenants who each pay RM600 for one room for a total of RM2,400 per month, which gives you a net return of RM600 every month.

Subletting is one of the strategies that has a lot of potential in areas where there are a high number of students or workers. Furthermore, investing with this technique gives you an opportunity to prepare yourself to manage your own property later.

4. Rent-to-own and government homeownership schemes

Through rent-to-own scheme offer by developers, you can lock in the property price today and stay in it while you save up the downpayment for the purchase later.

Hence, you don’t need to come up with a hefty downpayment and other upfront payment to buy a house outright.

On the other hand, if you still haven’t bought a home yet, you can take advantage of various homeownership schemes provide by the government.

For example, the My First Home Scheme allows first time house buyers to obtain up to 110% financing from the participating banks for the purchase of houses priced at RM500,000 and below.

Besides that, the Home Ownership Campaign that will run until May 2021 also offers a once-in-a-decade opportunity to buy a home with little or no money.