When people ask me what the best thing about house flipping is, I sometimes have a hard time answering. It’s not that I can’t think of anything—it’s that there’s so much to love about this business. From spending more time with the kids to feeling like we accomplish something with our work, I really feel like I could not have chosen a better career than real estate investing.

One of the hands-down best things about the real estate investing business, though, is that every time you fix and flip a house, you are actively improving that community. You’re lowering the vacancy rate and making the neighborhood more attractive at the same time.

From this perspective, house flippers are already involved in their communities. But if you do a little bit of work to really get involved and give back, you can see a lot of great things happen for your business, including:

• A better reputation
• More brand recognition
• Word-of-mouth referrals
• More relationships with local lenders, investors, and real estate pros

Here are a few ideas for how you can get more deeply involved in your community:

WRITE FOR A LOCAL PUBLICATION

If you talk to almost any marketing expert today, they’ll tell you that it pays to give your audience (customers or clients for a corporation, buyers and sellers for real estate investors) something for nothing. If you can set yourself up as an expert in your field, you can build trust with buyers and sellers in your area.

Do some research on local print and online publications and approach them about writing guest columns or blog posts about real estate, home renovation, and buying and selling tips for your area. It won’t take you much time to write a few columns, and people in your area will get to know you and appreciate the free advice.

GET INVOLVED WITH HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

Habitat for Humanity and other charities build homes for underprivileged members of the community. You’re a local expert on home renovations, and you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty. Why not get involved with this kind of charity? You can donate your time, some supplies, or some funds, and you’ll show your community that you care. That’s a big deal for buyers and motivated sellers, alike.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FOOD BANK

Every year, around the holidays, you’ll see canned food drives in just about every city around the country. People who are going through financial hardships don’t just need help at the holidays, though. Donating to your local food bank or running a food drive can directly help people in your community.

Plus, helping feed the homeless and underprivileged is a good way to show you care about helping people out of difficult situations. A lot of your work buying flip houses from motivated sellers is dedicated to helping people get out from under financial burdens, and by getting involved and giving back, you can show your community just how much you care.

Of course, these aren’t the only ways to get involved. You could also sponsor a little league team, volunteer with local charities, and much more. Consider how you can use your expertise and experience as a house flipper to give back to the community and improve it even more, and you’ll be on your way to seeing more leads, more flip deals, and more success in real estate investing.

So what do you think? How do you get involved with your community to help build, grow, and improve your real estate investing business?