In 2005, a bestselling book called The Millionaire Real Estate Investor was written by Gary Keller with Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan. The question is, because of the recent market changes of a buyers market from a sellers market do the principles laid out in the book still apply?

First, lets understand how the book was originally written. It was based on extensive research and interviews with over 120 millionaire real estate investors. The basic model laid out were Criteria, Terms and Network.

Criteria: What you buy. Criteria is the name used for the checklist you use to identify the type of property that you are going to buy. This applies to a buyers market because there appears to be all type of opportunities available, but you still need to establish what you are looking for & how you are going to take advantage of the market conditions. Are you going to stick to one particular type of property? Only condos or single families? These apply no matter what the market. Will you be able to resale it or rent it? The buyers market does enter in and present some new criteria. Are you going to focus on short sales, pre-foreclosures, foreclosures, auctions? With these situations presenting themselves more & more, including them in your criteria checklist would be worth considering to see if they provide the greatest opportunity and the least risk.

Terms: The headlines are full of the sub prime fall out, yet interest rate remain low, terms are even more important in the buyers market then they have ever been. Add to that the true evaluation of proper offer prices when overall prices are stagnant or declining. Simply taking the time to establish your own parameters to determine when a deal is a good deal & when a deal should be walked away from is critical in an emotion filled buyers market.

Network: Who helps you. This truly applies. Having a network of select relationships that know your criteria & that are able to feed you opportunities is essential. Imagine a well placed attorney that knows of pre-foreclosure proceedings or a Northern Virginia Real Estate Team that is intimately aware of a particular area or that is working in conjunction with a bank to dispose of Bank Owned / Foreclosure Northern Virginia Homes.

You see, the principle that the book laid out: "you make your money going into the deal, not going out" still applies. That is part of the why it is called a "Buyers Market". "You buy right and let the market do the work for you as opposed to buying less than right & hoping the market will save you".All of these areas still applies & answers a lot of the questions of what you'll buy, how you'll buy it & who will help you.

As the book said, "Mastering these areas will give you the greatest chance for long term success & place you solidly on the path to becoming a Millionaire Real Estate Investor".