In the past real estate climate, fix and flip strategies could be seen from books to late night infomercials as the WAY to make money in real estate investing. Buy that foreclosure, fix it up and flip your way to tens of thousands in profits. In today's market, this is appealing because of the number of foreclosures on the market. You must be careful, it is very easy to over improve a property, making it tough to recoup your investment.  Also, if a property is over improved for the market, it is harder to sell.  You don't want to invest your time and money and just make a few dollars an hour.

Today's real estate market is also ideal for a buy and hold strategy. Find a property at the lowest price in the last ten years.  Buy it and do the work needed to attract a quality renter.  (My rule is that I won't ever rent a property that I wouldn't feel comfortable living in myself).  This lets you, the investor hold on to this property long enough to build enough equity to make a good profit.

Now is the time to jump into this real estate market be it slowly with one property or whole heartedly with a few properties. If you have a good business plan and stick to your budget there is money to be made with fix and flip properties.  A slow and steady buy and hold strategy will win a real estate race too.