Parking lot maintenance is an important practice to protect the safety of your tenants as well as the longevity of your investment. Potholes, drainage, puddling, prolonged exposure to the sun, oil deposits, wintertime salting, and heavy traffic all can determine how long the asphalt pavement will continue to be structurally sound.

There are ways to be proactive which can reduce the overall cost of maintaining an asphalt parking lot. The first is to be sure the parking lot is constructed properly in the beginning – if the parking lot is to withstand high truck traffic for example it should be built accordingly.

Next, make sure the majority of the water run off drains properly. Standing water in the wintertime can cause problems on lots especially as the freeze thaw cycle occurrs. Water should drain off of the lot or into storm sewer boxes where it is piped away from areas where it can cause problems.

Any pot holes or surface cracks should be filled or repaired in a timely manner to prevent problems from spreading further. Pot holes can be excavated and patched with new asphalt material. Cracks can be filled with rubberized hot crack filler to prevent them from becoming larger.

As asphalt pavement ages, it loses its asphalt content and may require seal coating to prevent oxidation. Seal coating using a coal tar emulsion product mixed with silica is typically sprayed onto the pavement surface to protect and make it appear black again. After seal coat is applied, new line painting must be applied as well and the finished product appears as though the parking lot is “new.”

Buying land can be seen as a stagnant investment by few. However, if you compare investing in land with other investments that you want to make, you will know that investing in land is one of the best decisions you have made in your life. Also, it is a safe investment.

Buying land as an investment requires a deep understanding of the growth potential of the place you buy in. Buying next to a highway will be excellent. However, are you buying land in a saturated market? Or are you buying land in a growing market? Many of us may know the I-635 and I-75 highway flyovers under construction. In the same way, when you buy land, you should see the proposals of growth for highways and infrastructure projects. Study the trends in business growth and migration. Taxation policy for businesses may be something you want to observe.

Land is an excellent investment. Not only does it ensure security, it also ensures growth. It maximizes utility and has a greater return on investment than stocks or a Certificate of Deposit (CD). Should you want to build a house on your land, you can do so. You can sell it to a developer should there be an increase in demand for the property due to mobility of workforce or people into the area.

Let us examine investment in land by looking at a few other investment options. If you buy a CD, the return on investment can be lower than the inflation rate. So, you may be basically losing money by investing in a CD. It may be better to pay more money to your payment and ensure that it applies to the principal. Now, regarding investing in stocks, there are very few stocks that perform exceedingly well. Many stocks under perform or do not give the return on investment that one hopes for. Unless you invest in a startup with excellent growth potential, it is unlikely to have a return on investment that is more than the return on investment on a land investment.

If you consider the ratio of land/person, the ratio shows that the land per person is reducing every day. Population growth in the last century outgrew the population growth in the century preceding it. Land is limited in supply. So, it is valuable and ensures a better return on your investment. Even if it loses value, you will have the property and slowly it will regain its value. With all the reasons listed above, buying land is an excellent investment.

The point of this article is pretty simple. Buying land is a terrible investment strategy. If you are interested in real estate, then this is not the way to go. I’m sure you have heard numerous stories from friends and family about that great piece of land they bought on a limb and how the real estate broker told them the other day it was worth seven times what it used to be. They probably aren’t lying either, but this article is not about that. This article is about buying land as an investment strategy when you go into real estate. To understand why it’s bad let’s go over some business basics first.

When you go into any business the key to surviving is pretty simple. Keep your revenues above you expenses. This is so simple a kindergartner could understand it right? So, why is it that people think buying land is smart? Some of you may ask “would you say that about stocks?” No, I wouldn’t say that about stocks and here in lies the key difference. Stocks pay you something called a dividend. It’s either a quarterly or annual payment you get from each share. Getting the picture yet? Besides that, stocks don’t cost you property tax and other expenses each month.

To break it down simply, when you buy a barren piece of property with a strategy of making money in five or ten years by selling it you neglect the types of expenses that it can cause. The biggest one is property tax. Not to mention if you choose not to pay cash and get a loan. You directly cutting into your monthly cash flow! It’s an insane strategy if you ask me.

Having said all of that I admit there are people out there who are seasoned and RICH investors who are buying land and make a lot of money. These people are experts and they have the capital to handle buying land as an investment strategy. For everyone else looking to invest in real estate buying land is not a smart move. That’s why I advocate an entirely different strategy to make money in real estate. You can learn more about my full guide by going to BlueCollarRealEstate.com. Good luck fellow real estate investors!