Are you interested in finding out how to make a healthy profit every time that you buy a piece of investment property? Well you are not alone, as almost every real estate investor is looking for the same thing. And there are lots of ways to make profits by buying investment real estate, but let's discuss one of the most important ways to lock in healthy profits as you buy your investment properties.

If your main interest is in rehabing properties, then most of your profit will actually be made when you buy the property instead of when you sell it. This may sound like an odd statement, but successful real estate investors know that buying the right property at the right price is the most important ingredients toward locking in future profits.

So that means that you have to look for investment properties that are going to make you the most money, rather than just buying whatever seems to be available at the time. The most profitable rehab properties tend to be those that look or appeared to be run down, and needing an awful lot of work. But the vast majority of the word needed is mainly cosmetic, not structural.

So when looking for a real estate property for investment, here are some things that you should be looking for.

1. Houses that need a good paint job on the outside can be a good candidate for investment. The curb appeal, or outside appearance, of a house can play a large part in how buyers value a home. So a house that has cracked and peeling paint that is faded and dirty will often appear to be more run down than it really is. A new paint job would only cost a few hundred dollars though, making it a very cost-effective investment.

2. Very often, if the paint has been neglected, the yard and landscaping most likely has gone without any attention for a while too. This is another very easy and relatively inexpensive situation to remedy. Quick landscaping upgrades can include seeding the lawn, trimming the grass, hedges and bushes, trimming the trees, and adding a few more flowers and bushes for eye appeal.

3. Inside the home, areas of the house that tend to bring more results for the investment dollar spent there is the kitchen and bathroom. Look for houses where these rooms appear to be old and outdated. Again, a few simple and inexpensive investments here can change the entire appearance of both the kitchen and bathroom. Perhaps refacing the kitchen cabinets, changing out the hardware on cabinets including knobs and hinges, replacing the faucets, installing outdated lighting fixtures, changing the tile to reflect more modern tastes, and so on, can totally change the appearance of these rooms with very little outlay of money on your part.

Hopefully, you are starting to get the idea of what you should be looking for when buying an investment property. By staying away from major structural damage such as a bad roof or foundation problems, and focusing instead on cosmetic changes that can be made easily and relatively inexpensively, you can lock in healthy profits every time that you buy an investment property.