If you spend a lot of time watching TV late at night, smoking crack and drinking the Kool Aid infomercial, you may think that foreclosure investments are very easy to achieve and can earn you a lot of money.

Reality has to intrude at some point. Making money investing in real estate is no different than any other investment really. The amount of time you spend before, during, and after a foreclosure investment settlement will determine how much money you make or don’t make.

Nobody wants to make a deal to lose money. So plan to spend a lot of time on it. Most of the time, the seller won’t come to your door handing you cash and a title and saying “sell it.” While not absolutely necessary, the more money you have available to participate in the deal, the better positioned you’ll be to make the deal. You can make foreclosure investments without money if you plan to spend more than your own personal time doing it. Choose wisely.

Keep in mind that homes that are being foreclosed on inevitably need a bit of TLC to bring them up to market value. That money or personal time spent fixing problems has to come from somewhere to get maximum market value.

We all wish we could walk over to our friendly realtor office, fire up the MLS, and have the best deals in our span. It won’t work that way. If you are not an experienced real estate investor, you will need help interpreting the information. Seasoned savvy investors, including real estate agents themselves, will have already picked the listings.

Knowing what you are good at and what you are not good at when it comes to evaluating and marketing real estate should be one of your main concerns. Self-assessment is essential, as you will need assistance where you are not yet up to speed if you want to make money on your property.

It is also important to be aware of the real estate foreclosure law in the state where your property is located. There might be something more frustrating than having a 100% closed deal get hung up due to some obscure legal requirement, but I wouldn’t know what that is.

And last but not least is the issue of money. While you don’t have to bring suitcases full of bills to every deal for it to work, it doesn’t hurt and will actually open up more opportunities for you. Never fear that it is not absolutely necessary. It just makes things easier sometimes.

Keep your enthusiasm and your goal clear in your mind. Nothing can stop your foreclosure investing from being profitable if you spend your time wisely and develop your own system or learn from others.