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.

On the Record

On the Record

So you have your first property under contract, and you’re ready to get started and hire a contractor. What now? This was the question that confronted us on our very first project. We had already done the business basics: formed an LLC for our company and got our EIN number, ...
In the Spotlight

In the Spotlight

Members of the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM) gathered recently in Hawaii for the group’s 28th annual convention and trade show. The three-day event was highlighted by presentation of the organization’s 2016 awards and the installation of its incoming board and 2017 President Steve Schultz, MPM, RMP. Awards ...
Profile: Greg Rand of OwnAmerica

Profile: Greg Rand of OwnAmerica

| Robert Springer | Article | Profiles
Greg Rand is founder and CEO of OwnAmerica, a real estate technology and services company that provides rental property owners a detailed analysis of their portfolio and enables them to buy and sell properties with other owners. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Rand was managing partner at Better Homes and ...
Bullish on Detroit

Bullish on Detroit

| James Hart | Article | Profiles
When Michael Jordan looks around his hometown of Detroit, he just can’t help seeing opportunity and growth. Jordan is the founder and president of Strategy Properties, a turnkey real estate investment company. Strategy buys and renovates residential properties in high-demand Motor City neighborhoods, particularly three-bedroom homes near desirable schools. The ...
What's Your Personality?

What’s Your Personality?

As a real estate investor, are you an investor, or are you a speculator? There is a significant difference. Speculating is when you form a theory or conjecture about a subject without firm evidence—for example, investing in the stock market. You’re buying shares of a certain stock in the hopes ...
Real Estate Investing in Orlando, Florida

Real Estate Investing in Orlando, Florida

It’s all about the numbers in Orlando, Florida, these days, and the numbers are looking pretty hot. The city recently made headlines as the fourth-hottest market in the nation, the “28th-Best Place for Careers and Business” and third-best city in the nation for job growth, per Forbes and online real ...
Non-Stop Support

Non-Stop Support

Carl and Peggy Mullin have made it their mission to provide real estate solutions. “Whether you are selling a house, buying a home or looking for investments, we provide solutions that are moral, ethical, legal and provide win-win-win results,” they state proudly. That’s a tall order in any investing sector, ...
Business Sense

Business Sense

| Teresa Bitler | Article | Operations
Often the difference between a successful real estate investor and a not-so-successful one is how they treat their investments. A successful investor sees investing as a business while a not-so-successful one thinks he’s being business-like but actually has more of a hobby mentality. Here are seven ways successful investors treat ...
Momentous Ruling in Tax Court

Momentous Ruling in Tax Court

| Steven Hickox | Article | Operations
On Aug. 10, 2016, the United States Tax Court issued an opinion in the case of George H. Bartell et al., v. Commission of Internal Revenue, 14 T.C. No. 5. This case may prove to be the most momentous tax authority dealing with 1031 exchanges in the last 20 years ...
Real Estate Resolutions

Real Estate Resolutions

This time of year, talk about making resolutions is everywhere—in conversations, on blogs and splashed across every form of news outlet. Now, what do New Year’s resolutions have to do with the reason you read this magazine? I’m going to point out the obvious: If you weren’t interested in how ...
Securing Quality Renters

Securing Quality Renters

Ask any experienced landlords, and they’ll tell you that one of the secrets to success with rental properties is finding the right tenants. The right occupants are a landlord’s dream-come-true. They’ll pay the rent on time—every time—and look after your property and treat it right. They’ll abide by the terms ...
Commercial Caretaking

Commercial Caretaking

The backbone of any commercial property is strong property management. If you have recently purchased a commercial building or have a building that you have owned for a while, there comes a time when you must truly consider hiring a professional property manager to skillfully guide the property through its ...
Soft Sell

Soft Sell

The right software can help you run your real estate business more efficiently. But how do you know the difference between useful features and bells and whistles when choosing a software package? Experts say that sticking to the KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid) theory will allow you to buy a ...
A Matter of Timing

A Matter of Timing

Most real estate agents tell their clients that the three most important things to consider when buying property are location, location, location. I disagree. Here’s why: If you sold a house in Stockton, California, in 2006, you might have received $400,000. If you sold that same house in 2009, you ...
Success by Design

Success by Design

A successful website conversion is when someone visits your real estate investor website and takes some action you want them to take. For investors looking to buy houses, it’s when your website visitor wants to sell his or her house and either submits the requested form or gives you a ...
Entrepreneur's Corner: Are There Holes in Your Boat?

Entrepreneur’s Corner: Are There Holes in Your Boat?

| Ben Rao | Article | Operations
As I learn more about myself and my business, I realize how little I really know. Don’t get me wrong, my business is successful, but sometimes as an entrepreneur, I’m wearing filters that keep me from seeing the entire truth. Sometimes it’s ego or pride. Sometimes it’s perspective. When these ...
The Senior Advantage

The Senior Advantage

In 10 short years, from 2005 to 2015, the number of people turning 65 each year exploded from 2.2 million to 3.5 million. Many of these older Americans are increasingly choosing to rent. With this surge of older renters, developers are building age-restricted or so-called “active-adult lifestyle” apartments. These apartment ...
Capital Idea

Capital Idea

Getting a loan doesn’t have to be a difficult process, according to Ron Blum, founder of Atlas Capital and Asset Management. In fact, building a portfolio doesn’t have to be complicated, either. Atlas offers quality properties in blue-collar neighborhoods; internal underwriting of fixed-rate, 30-year loans; and property management service—all under ...
On the Record: The Term Sheet

On the Record: The Term Sheet

| Eric Dean | Article | Operations
The Term Sheet is often used in a real estate transaction as a preliminary document that is incidental but not integral to the ultimate transaction because it is usually defined as “non-binding,” “confidential,” “preliminary” and/or “expiring.” But that should not lull either party in the transaction—property buyer or property seller—into ...
Closing the Gap with Mezzanine Financing

Closing the Gap with Mezzanine Financing

Mezzanine finance is a bit like it sounds—the semi-floor, halfway up the stairs, that in department stores like Fields and Macy’s was used for just about everything in between the women’s and men’s displays on the first and second floors. In real estate finance and the “capital stack,” the first ...
Investors' Choice

Investors’ Choice

When crunching the data for our Q3 2016 Single-Family Rental Market Report, ATTOM Data Solutions identified five sets of local markets representing different types of opportunity in the single-family rental space based on investor preferences and appetite for risk. Let’s look at each of those in some detail. Low Vacancy ...
Knowledge + Power = Freedom

Knowledge + Power = Freedom

When Marco Santarelli, founder of Norada Real Estate Investments, bought his first property at the age of 18, his gut told him the transaction held the key to his eventual financial freedom. What he did not realize at the time was just how many other investors would find financial freedom ...
Market Update - San Diego

Market Update – San Diego

In May 2016, San Diego, California, was the “eighth-hottest” home market in the United States according to Realtor.com. That had the media, analysts and even some economists starting to whisper the word “bubble.” At that time, Think Realty Magazine took a hard look at the San Diego housing market (“San ...
How Secure Are You?

How Secure Are You?

It seems like a week doesn’t go by without a company announcing it experienced a cyber attack, often with dire consequences for its bottom line and stock price. The security company Symantec reports that more than 500 million personal records were lost or stolen in 2015. And while small- to ...
True Community Investors

True Community Investors

Without question, the real estate business has a positive impact on communities in very visible ways. Houses are repaired and brought up to code to sell. Historic buildings are restored as trendy condos. And retail centers are revitalized. Believing their impact can be even greater, some leaders choose to extend ...