If you snooze, you lose. On the ladder of opportunity, that line is right behind the one about the early bird getting the worm. The reason “snooze” is in second place is because there can only be one early bird, offering investors another reminder to stay on top of all deals – even years after the deal is done.

And, with real estate now becoming a larger part of many investment portfolios, any snoozing – or even brief napping – can prove costly. Like income taxes, property laws change all the time. Local zoning, land use, and restrictive covenants should be checked periodically so that property owners can determine what effect those conditions might have on their real estate.

Investors need to be particularly careful when they live a distance from the property and are unable to monitor what is going on around it. The value may have risen or fallen significantly since the last visit, and it's best to seek several opinions before making any major decisions.

A good example: Dean and Marianne Strom, a retired Nevada couple who owned 76 acres near Las Vegas for the past 27 years. The rural property, once thought too remote for development, had appreciated greatly in recent years but the Stroms did not discover this until after they had entered into an agreement to sell the parcel.

According to the Stroms, the purchase offer had been put together by an attorney representing a group of investors. The investors planned to divide the property and sell the smaller parcels. Under the terms of the purchase and sale agreement, the purchase price would be $152,000, with a down payment of $44,000 paid at closing. The balance of $108,000 would be paid in annual installments of $36,000 together with an interest rate of 6.5% per annum.

All this looked acceptable to the Stroms, but there were some questionable requirements deeper in the agreement that would have been discovered long before any papers had been signed – had the Stroms been represented by a competent REALTOR®.