Here are 85 possible career paths you could choose in real estate. I break them down into five categories for you: Hold, Flip, Marketing, Passive, Vendor and then tell you whether this is a part-time or full-time job. Note that many of these have several variations.
Method or Career Path | Category | Time |
Buy and Hold | Active Hold | Either |
Hybrid fix and Hold | Active Hold | Either |
Small Multi-family (duplex through quads) | Active Hold | Either |
Small Apartments (5-50 units) | Active Hold | Either |
Large Apartments | Active Hold | Full |
Small Office | Active Hold | Either |
Large Office | Active Hold | Full |
Commercial Sub-leasing (Regus, WeWork, etc.) | Active Hold | Full |
Virtual Office | Active Hold | Either |
Triple Net Leasing – large companies don’t always want to own the real estate. | Active Hold | Full |
Manufacturing / Industrial | Active Hold | Full |
Retail | Active Hold | Full |
Motel / Hotel | Active Hold | Full |
Raw Land | Active Hold | Part |
Farm Investing | Active Hold | Either |
Timber | Active Hold | Either |
Water/Mineral/Oil/Gas rights | Active Hold | Either |
Mobile Homes | Active Hold | Either |
Mobile Home Parks | Active Hold | Either |
RV Parks | Active Hold | Either |
Vacation Rentals | Active Hold | Either |
Billboards | Active Hold | Either |
Mini-storage | Active Hold | Either |
Business short-stay (AirBnB) | Active Hold | Either |
Real Estate Syndication | Active Hold | Either |
1031 Exchanges | Active Hold | Either |
Bird Dog | Active Resell | Either |
Wholesaler | Active Resell | Either |
Fix and Flip | Active Resell | Either |
New Every 2 Flip strategy | Active Resell | Part |
Turn Key Rental sales | Active Resell | Either |
Lease Arbitrage | Active Resell | Either |
Apartment wholesaler | Active Resell | Either |
Fix and Flip Apartments any size | Active Resell | Either |
Single family developer | Active Resell | Full |
Commercial developer | Active Resell | Full |
Non-performing Notes | Active Resell | Either |
Performing Notes | Active Resell | Either |
New Construction Residential | Active Resell | Full |
New Construction Commercial | Active Resell | Full |
International investing | Active Resell | Either |
Auctions | Sell or Hold | Either |
Foreclosure sales | Sell or Hold | Either |
Tax Liens | Sell or Hold | Either |
Subject-To | Sell or Hold | Either |
HUD sales | Sell or Hold | Either |
VA sales | Sell or Hold | Either |
Bulk packages | Sell or Hold | Either |
Joint Ventures | Sell or Hold | Either |
Residential Realtor | Marketing | Either |
Commercial Realtor | Marketing | Either |
Real Estate Marketer | Marketing | Either |
Realtor Lead Generation | Marketing | Either |
Realtor Lead Management | Marketing | Either |
Leveraged Contract for Deed | Active Resell | Either |
Residential Mortgage Lender | Marketing | Full |
Commercial Mortgage Lender | Marketing | Full |
Lending Broker | Marketing | Either |
Property Management, Residential | Marketing | Full |
Property Management, Commercial | Marketing | Full |
Own the Brokerage | Marketing | Either |
Retirement Specialist | Marketing | Full |
REIT | Passive | Either |
Crowd Funding | Passive | Either |
Stock in publicly traded RE company | Passive | Either |
Cash Lender | Passive | Either |
IRA Lender | Passive | Either |
Real Estate Private Equity Fund | Passive | Either |
Appraiser | Vendor | Full |
Home Inspector | Vendor | Full |
Insurance Agent | Vendor | Full |
Title/Escrow Agent | Vendor | Full |
Real Estate Attorney | Vendor | Full |
Real Estate Accountant | Vendor | Full |
Resident Manager | Vendor | Part |
Handyman | Vendor | Either |
Contractor | Vendor | Full |
Project Manager | Vendor | Full |
Real estate photography | Vendor | Either |
Consulting / Mentoring | Vendor | Either |
Blogging | Vendor | Either |
Author | Vendor | Either |
REIA owner | Vendor | Either |
Trainer / Guru | Vendor | Either |
Radio Host! (wait – we were talking about making money…) | Vendor | Either |