It seems that everybody wants to become a millionaire investing in real estate these days. There are so many books, courses and infomercials spouting how anyone can make a fortune buying and selling real estate that it all sounds just too easy.

The fact of the matter is that real estate is still the best vehicle for the average individual to use to achieve financial freedom. The problem however, is that it is not as easy as many believe it will be. Most beginners using the "conventional" methods of real estate investing being taught today, find out very quickly that there is an extreme amount of competition, there are risks that are not discussed, financing can be a stumbling block and there are budgets and deadlines that must be met.

Perhaps the worst aspect of real estate investing is the risk that is not talked about much. When you invest in foreclosures for example, you assume a tremendous amount of risk. With foreclosures, you go to the courthouse and bid on properties that were taken back by the lender for non-payment by the homeowner. Generally, you cannot thoroughly inspect these properties before the bidding takes place. You can imagine the nightmares some foreclosure investors run into! Many times it is much more problematic than just holes in the walls, leaky faucets, and so on. I've seen houses where the entire electrical system needed to be replaced including the outside meter which was laying on the ground with wires hanging all over the place.

Then along came the great idea of buying directly from the homeowner before the foreclosure takes place - called pre-foreclosures. With pre-foreclosures, you will have an extreme amount of competition from other investors. I recently had a house advertised for sale by owner on the Internet and in my local newspaper. 93% of the responses were from investors and my advertisement did not even lead them to believe that this house was a great deal! You see, 95% of the people who are facing foreclosure do not want to sell! Of the few that will consider selling, most do not have enough equity for investors to make a profit. So, investors are finding out that they need to call every "for sale by owner" they see to try to find a deal! So now, they are not looking for pre-foreclosures, they are looking for anything they can find!

You also have the "rehabs". Properties that you can buy for far below market value, fix them up and resell for a profit. Again, most people believe this will be easier than it actually is. When rehabbing, you need to worry about the contractors showing up and getting all of the work done on schedule. Then you'll need to worry about the inspection - will the electric pass, the plumbing, is everything up to code? Lastly, you will be second guessing yourself. Can you sell the house quickly and still turn a profit? What will you do if you are still holding the property when the payments come due?

Basically, I see a lot of people making money with real estate the hard way. Most people are so caught up in the hype of all of these "systems", they never even think about becoming sort of a "bird-dog". Most people don't consider that it is much easier to make thousands of dollars a month from referral fees! The bird-dog concept is not new - just forgotten. Now, some people are taking the bird-dog concept one step further for even larger profits!

It has come to my attention that the newest game in town is optioning move-in ready properties and selling them to credit challenged buyers. When you option the house at a discount and resell it at full value, you keep the difference.

For even larger profits, you hook up with a mortgage broker who will fund the purchase. When your buyers use your special broker you receive hefty referral fees from that broker! These days, the mortgage broker business is extremely competitive and brokers are more than happy to pay you very handsomely for your leads. The referral fees from the mortgage broker alone could add up to thousands of dollars a month.

So with this new concept, people get paid once for optioning move in ready properties at a discount then reselling them at full value and another fee for guiding potential homebuyers to financing. When investors are dealing with move-in ready properties, it makes sense that they do a much higher volume.

So real estate is still the very best vehicle that almost anyone can use to generate wealth but the game changes every couple of decades. Now it appears that the time has arrived for a new and promising system that will surely become what foreclosures, pre-foreclosures, and rehabs once were - an unknown and unexploited way to generate riches through real estate!