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A common question you will inevitably face about buying a Minnesota home or investment property is how you'll use it once you have purchased it. You might not be the kind of investor who wants to buy a property and hold on to it for an extended period of time. You may not want to have to grapple with property managers and renters or to see to the upkeep of a piece of property. If you don't see these sorts of activities as appealing in the slightest, your other option is flipping.

Investing in Minnesota real estate can appear to be a complicated issue, however that's just since there are so many decisions. As an investor, you have a virtually unlimited infinite array of ways to profit. But that means that you must have the ability to choose wisely. You must choose how much you'll educate yourself about each aspect of real estate, whom to add to your team, where to find properties, whether a particular property is the right one for you-and on and on.

Flipping a property is the practice of selling it as soon as you buy it, often at the same closing. At the latest, flippers tend to begin setting up a sale on a property the day that he or she purchases it. Some flippers even start the process prior to purchasing the property, which is risky business. However one chooses to approach the process, flipping inevitably involves a frantic rush to the auction block, since a vacant property is always a liability.

On the other hand, when you hold a piece of property, you are afforded the opportunity to raise its value. If you get a really good deal, the price you paid for it will probably represent only a tiny fraction of what you stand to make off it. And when you finally decide to sell it, you will be able to do so at your leisure and get more than you would've by flipping.

This is true particularly if the piece of property is a multi-family dwelling such as an apartment high-rise. If it is a good property in a good area, and you take care of it, occupancy is probably going to stay high. With a piece of property like that, your profit tends to increase exponentially. If you manage your property well, this is almost guaranteed.

On the topic of management, you will have to choose between performing that function yourself and hiring a management company to do that on your behalf. If you own an especially large piece of property, or if you own many pieces of property, you'll probably have to employ a property manager. Ken McElroy, author of The ABCs of Real Estate Investing, strongly suggests that you employ a property management company so your talents and your time can be used more efficiently elsewhere.

Maybe the rich achieve their success because they have been taught not to neglect the basics. Many people who see real estate investing, for instance, might assume that successful investors are just incredibly fortunate or that they have been born with some innate knowledge about investing.

That just is not the case.

What the wealthy do differently from other people, and what all successful property investors do, is prepare. The successful real estate investor makes sure to do his or her homework.

"The ABCs of Property Investing" author Ken McElroy tells an anecdote regarding a client of his that became a client only after turning his investment into a complete and utter mess. Ken McElroy and his company are in the business of property management. Ideally, a property owner hires a property management firm at the outset, instead of trying to manage his property himself while living in another city. That is what this investor did, and he quickly learned that the time needed to do such a thing was too much for him to handle.

That wasn't this investor's sole mistake. The owner had neglected to even make a visit to the investment property prior to making the purchase, and as a result he hadn't the faintest clue it was full of criminals and deadbeats. He had neglected to engage a team of real estate experts who would've gladly told him to steer clear of that area, which was also full of criminals. It was a bad place, and he should have known to avoid it. In fact, he could've avoided it very easily if he had only done his homework.

It is easy to imagine how much money he spent the rehabilitation of the building-an expense he could've spared himself simply by budgeting for the experts he so badly needed. There wasn't any way to fix the problem of the property's location, and therefore the property did not have the potential to pull in high rent.

More often than not, the savvy property investor cannot afford not to employ a team of experts.

Successful investors also tend to have an amazing amount of focus. That is why they are wealthy. They pick a target and hone in on it until they're zooming in on one property. They've already decided what type of investment property they're interested in. As a matter of fact, they may concentrate on apartment complexes or hotels or what have you. They constantly keep in mind what neighborhoods interest them and the age range of buildings they're willing to consider.

In the event that their preferred area doesn't yield anything that interests them, they try their second choice, and so on, but they never lose track of the acceptable parameters.

One thing that being rich teaches people is that money opens many doors. They understand that one doesn't need to wait until a For Sale sign goes up in order to try to purchase. If an interested party surprises the owner of a piece of property with an offer, it's sometimes possible to get a good deal on a piece of property that isn't actually for sale. Best of all, there are no competitors to outbid you.

The rich do seem to reside in another world. For them, resources are not scarce. They will not break a sweat in the event that a deal doesn't go through, since they know another is just around the bend. A person seeking to improve his life substantially through investing may worry that he let one get away.

Ken McElroy says it is best to be aloof, and to work under the assumption that each and every negotiation will end with the investor walking away from the deal. Most deals just are not deals, McElroy said. The savvy investor understands that it's dangerous to become attached to closing the deal.

Successful real estate investors are aware of all of this, not because it's innate knowledge, but because they've been educated on the subject, or else they've made the effort to educate themselves. Anybody can potentially invest as the wealthy do. It just requires practice and research.

What is the difference between people who get rich and people who don't? It is a very simple question that many people simply forget to ask. The first time you are truly confronted with this question, you will probably reach for an easy answer, such as, "Being born into a rich family" or "Getting lucky with the lotto" or even "Having a good career that pays a lot of money." And you might indeed be considered lucky if any of those things had happened to you.

The truth is that not all of these lucky people can be truly considered to be rich. It is the belief of "Rich Dad" author Robert Kiyosaki that the true measure or wealth isn't really the amount of money you take in, but how much you manage to keep.

Kiyosaki's father, the titular "Poor Dad," was no bum; his work earned him more than enough to live on. The problem was, however, that none of his money was left at the end of each quarter

Fortunately for you, the circumstances of your life, such as the family into which you are born or the salary you receive at your job, are not what will determine whether or not you become rich. Being wealthy depends on internal factors, not external circumstances.

Whether you ever become rich or not is determined, in large part, by nothing more than how you think.

Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad" demonstrated the effects that one's personality and attitude have on the way in which one earns and handles money using a graph called the Cash Flow Quadrant. This graph is split into four quadrants, labeled 'E,' 'S,' 'B,' and 'I'-- "employee," "self-employed," "businessmen," and "investor," respectively. Not only do these four categories show how a person earns his or her money, claims Kiyosaki, but they shed light on the way in which different individuals view the world.

The quadrant into which an individual falls isn't determined simply by the luck of the draw; on the contrary, a person's perspective on money and the world, and their resultant decisions are the key.

According to Kiyosaki, the people who fit into these four categories are fundamentally different in their thoughts and emotions, and these essential differences drive individuals to behave differently towards their money.

Because of individuals' innate natures, says Kiyosaki, they are drawn to different corners of the graph. This is because different people have different values, and will treat money differently based on these attitudes. A person who values security above other things will definitely be drawn to the 'E' corner of the graph, and the consistency is offers. There's nothing wrong with that-- if security truly is what you desire, a life spent as an employee will be satisfying and fulfilling. It is worth noting, however, that it is highly unlikely that an occupant of the 'E' corner will ever become truly rich.

It sounds a little scary at first, but this is actually good news for you. It's good news because it means that, if you want to get rich, all you have to do is start thinking more like the people who live in the I, or investors, quadrant.

If you want to be rich, you should invest, and buying properties is a great place to start. Investing in real estate, in fact, was the very path Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad" took to become rich. So, start thinking rich-- quit working for your money, and start letting the money you earn work for you, building your wealth.

About the Author: Alexandria P. Anderson is a Golden Valley Minnesota Real Estate agent that helps people to find and purchase Golden Valley houses in Minnesota.