If you are considering becoming a landlord, then you are about to embark on an epic journey.
Investing in rental properties for a beginner can be the best decision that they ever make or it can be a catastrophic nightmare.
This article gives you five things that will help make sure that it is your best decision and not your worst.

1. Get educated- The number one reason that most novice property investors end up losing money is because they did not get themselves the right property education in the first place.
   In this World of immediate gratification and wanting everything on a plate, most people approach property investing in the same way.
   This is a big mistake.
   Property investing involves you taking on huge amounts of debt and so education should be your number one priority.
   If you are short of cash and can't pay to get educated you can find many sources of free information about property investing on the Internet.
   
2. Assume the worst - There are a lot of very greedy people involved in property that will take your money off you quicker than you can blink and give you nothing in return.
   In any industry where you are talking about huge amounts of money being spent on deals, you are going to get the vultures who hang around trying to bleed you dry.
   Be on your guard and don't trust anyone blindly, make people work to gain your trust.
   
3. Learn how to do the maths - It doesn't matter if you where useless at maths in high school.
   if you want to succeed as a property investor or developer, you need to learn a little about sums now.
   Working out things like rental yield and return on investment are going to be essential to your success.
   
4. Research, research and then research some more - This is perhaps the most important thing.
   You need to research everything, from what location to investing, what type of properties to buy, what sort of finance to use, who is the best solicitor around, to who are the best workmen to hire.
   These are just a few of the things you need to research to insure that things run smoothly and that you are not over paying for anything and that you get the best people for the job.
   
5. Get yourself a mentor- Investing in rental properties for beginners can be a nightmare, if you want to progress quicker and reduce the mistakes you make, then you will need to get yourself a mentor.
   This doesn't have to be someone that you pay lots of money to, it can be someone you connect with on a property forum whose free advice you follow.
   A website can also act as a mentor if it has valuable advice to help you succeed.