Articles
Ready to get your read on? Dive into the article archive to help you build wealth through real estate investing. We feature top subject matter experts exploring every facet of the industry.
Articles
Ready to get your read on? Dive into the article archive to help you build wealth through real estate investing. We feature top subject matter experts exploring every facet of the industry.
Snap IPO Millionaires to Snap Up Property in Silicon Beach
The little private app that erases your chats and snaps just became public. And for many newly made millionaires, it’s been a very friendly little ghost. Snapchat, the app that teenagers opted to use once they discovered that Mom and even Grandma could comment on their Facebook pages, has made ...
Understanding Interior Design vs Decorating
The way you design, decorate, or even stage your investment property, can either attract a buyer or dissuade them from a purchase. As real estate investors, you are bombarded with everything, literally. You have so many balls up in the air, as you catch them, finish placing that ball, you ...
Classically Simple Design Choices are Best
In last week’s column, I discussed my lack of design skills and how Lucas and I called in our talented friend, Jess, to help us choose aesthetically pleasing choices for our rental home. We talked mainly about exterior last week (take a look here!), so this week we’ll attack the ...
How To Choose the Perfect Interior Paint Sheen
You’ve picked the house –now, time for the fun part: choosing the wall colors. Unfortunately, as our Real Estate Rookie discovered, picking out something seemingly simple soon turned complicated. Instead of wasting time and money, we’ve got tips for you to choose the right sheen for the paint job. Think ...
Your Next BIG Investment Could Actually Be Very Tiny
INVESTOR VOICES - Sponsored Content Unlike stocks and bonds, real estate has proven to generate stable (and in many cases, significant) returns, which makes it an attractive investment and lucrative asset. This article weighs the pros and cons of each type of investment. For account holders of self-directed IRAs, real ...
Marketplace Platforms and Institutional Investors
Until the recent development of online real estate financing marketplaces, it was difficult for smaller investors to participate in direct investments in commercial real estate projects. The development of these platforms also benefits institutional investors. How can marketplace investing and institutional investors work together? Real estate finance marketplaces have experienced ...
Invitation Homes IPO Good for Buy-and-Hold Investors
The nation’s largest landlord is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Invitation Homes made its stock market debut on Jan. 31, 2017, as the largest IPO this year and a positive sign for the single-family rental market. The company claims it has almost 50,000 single-family rentals in 13 ...
Residential Refinance Originations Increase Q4 of 2016
More than 1.7 million (1,748,177) loans were originated on U.S. residential property in the fourth quarter of 2016. This is down 15 percent from previous quarters but up 2 percent from a year ago, as reported by ATTOM Data Solutions, parent company of RealtyTrac, in its Q4 2016 U.S. Residential ...
Single-Family Rental Research Performance Summary Released February 2017
Single-borrower, single-family rental securitizations rated by Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC are performing within expectations. The Single-Family Rental Research Performance Summary, released February 28, 2017, shows the average vacancy rate improved to 4.9 percent from 5.1 percent in December 2016. Delinquencies held steady at 0.9 percent. Morningstar expects the vacancy rate ...
The Ideal Mobile Home Park for Your Investing Business
I was offered a mobile home for free last week. Score, right? No, I turned it down. I could keep it in the park, but it needed more work than I was willing to do. It simply did not meet my investment criteria, because I would not be able to ...
Cincinnati Real Estate Rental Market On Positive Course For Investors
Cincinnati, Ohio, started 2016 off with a bang. The Queen City, which had been experiencing population declines since the 1950s and took the housing crash very, very hard (with losses in values and a foreclosure crisis that extended long into the purported national “recovery”), found itself once again gaining in ...
Diversify Your Real Estate Portfolio to Minimize Risk
There is no doubt that real estate is usually one of the most stable long-term investments. But like everything else, this type of investment can experience hiccups. The 2008 recession is enough proof of that. That said, you should still include real estate in your investment portfolio. However, if you ...
Investor Highlight: Bryan Blankenship
Bryan Blankenship describes himself as a “boring Ohio guy,” but the “general contractor at heart” is much more than that. With multiple roaring real estate investing businesses that literally run the gamut of the industry from retail fix-and-flips to commercial development, and a thriving turnkey rental property organization, Blankenship is ...
How To Use Virtual Reality To Your Advantage
In the past, the commercial real estate industry has been regarded as a laggard in tech adoption. But when it comes to virtual reality (VR), it’s game on. In fact, commercial real estate as an industry has been a leader in embracing this increasingly popular technology, which is projected to ...
Real Estate Insurance Policy Myths Debunked
EDITOR’S NOTE: This excerpt is a continuation from “Debunking the 13 Insurance Myths for the Real Estate Investor,” which we began last issue. We’re exploring three common misperceptions about personal dwellings’ fire policy sufficiency for nonowner rentals, umbrella policies and how claims prior to owning a property can affect your ...
Small Investors Can Now Provide Turnkey Properties Nationwide
Large real estate investment firms have been riding a large wave of opportunity and profit margins by providing turnkey rental investment properties to out-of-town investors. We recognized that small investors failed to pursue this opportunity because they didn’t have all of the necessary components. This inefficiency led us to create ...
4 Tips On How To Pick The Right Tenant
The screening process can be long and tedious at times, but it pays dividends to have the right tenant in place. Having a tenant who causes problems can be a real headache, especially for a new or inexperienced landlord. Luckily, the majority of tenant-related issues can be avoided altogether by using ...
5 Fail-Proof Ways To Generate Traffic To Your Website
In my last article for Think Realty Magazine, I shared the ingredients for a high-converting real estate investor website. That article focused on what is necessary to get website visitors to submit their personal information to you about the house they want, or possibly need, to sell. But even a ...
The Landlording World Is Flat. Or Is it?
Stubborn misconceptions about landlords and property managers have led to some disastrous legislation. It’s time to make your voice heard. Despite Aristotle’s evidence (circa 330 B.C.) that the Earth is round, its shape nevertheless was hotly debated for centuries thereafter. Even today, “flat Earth societies” still exist, based on a belief ...
The Edwards Brothers: Expanding Their Real Estate Empire
Almost 15 years ago, identical twin brothers Kelly and Chris Edwards found a historic house in Raleigh, North Carolina, that their real estate agent advised them not to buy. But they borrowed $5,000 from Dad and bought it anyway. The slanted floors were only the beginning of the repairs that ...
The Right Lending Partner: The Difference Between Project Profit & Loss
2016 was a solid year for the real estate industry, and the ranks of fix-and-flip rehabbers continues to swell. According to RealtyTrac, 5.1 percent of all condo and single-family-home sales in the third quarter of 2016 were of the fix-and-flip variety, totaling 45,718 transactions. As fix-and-flip properties remain a sizable ...
Rising Tides: How Concerned Should Investors Be?
According to Climate Central, Florida has more than 3.5 million people at risk of coastal flooding due to rising sea levels. This number is expected to rise to 4.6 million by 2050. While South Florida is the poster child for coastal flooding due to global warming, it’s not the only ...
12 Questions For Properties Owners To Ask Themselves During Tax Season
Accounting is the non-glamorous side of real estate investing, yet it is a critical component of cash flow and negotiations. You need to be well-versed in the latest federal and state rules surrounding taxes and accounting (e.g., exemptions, depreciation, deferrals, deductions, marginal tax rates, etc.) so you can use these ...
Exercise Your Rights for a Better Business and Life
You want to be a successful entrepreneur or have success with everything in your life, right? That means elevating your performance, and there’s no better way to help yourself accomplish that than by making exercise a regular and continuing part of your life. That’s top of mind for me now ...
Private Money Lending Guide: The Money Matchmaker
For newer real estate investors, the world of private money loans can often feel intimidating, especially if they’ve only ever borrowed from traditional banks. But private money lenders – also known as “hard money” lenders – serve as important partners to real estate entrepreneurs who need relatively quick financing from ...
