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.

The Bigger Picture

You are the CEO of Your Real Estate Investing Business

Today I want to talk about how we, as small real estate investors or part-time real estate investors, should step back from time to time and don a CEO’s hat, because that mentality can positively influence your approach to real estate investing and the success you ultimately achieve, enjoy and ...
Auto mechanic with female customer looking under car hood.

How an Auto Mechanic is Like a Rehab Contractor

Has it ever occurred to you how similar are the processes of finding a reliable contractor to renovate your investment property and locating a decent mechanic to fix your car? Just think about it for a moment. When you own a car or a house, you are investing both your ...
Client signing a real estate contract in real estate agency

HELOCs Increase for 17th Consecutive Quarter

Nearly 1.9 million (1,868,187) loans were originated on U.S. residential properties (1 to 4 units) in the second quarter of 2016, up 26 percent from the a two-year low in the previous quarter but down 4 percent from a year ago, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q2 2016 U.S. Residential ...
Businessman signs contract behind home architectural model

How to Crack the Code and Get ‘Into the (Deal) Flow’

| Jeremy Brandt | Article | Operations
I hear it every day from clients, partners and at conferences: “My real estate business would be growing faster if I could just find the deals!” Our companies work for people just like you. Our clients include thousands of real estate investors and agents in markets all over the world ...
4 Ways to Start Small as a Real Estate Investor

4 Ways to Start Small as a Real Estate Investor

The most common question that I’m asked as a real estate investor is, “How can I get started doing this?” I find that year after year, my answer to this question remains the same—regardless of the person with whom I am speaking, regardless of current market conditions and regardless of ...
The Best Military Towns for Investing in Rental Homes

The Best Military Towns for Investing in Rental Homes

| Home Union | Article | Operations
HomeUnion, an online real estate investment management firm, has released new data on the best military towns for investing in single-family rental (SFR) properties based on average cap rates, which are the relationship between an investment property's net operating income (rents minus expenses) in the first year of ownership and ...
From Eyesore to Awesome—Times Two

From Eyesore to Awesome—Times Two

In Episode 27 of my video series Real Estate Deal Talk, I’m going to take you through a project in super-hot Kirkwood in Atlanta. We’re going to look at a new build that is underway on the site of what originally was an old, burned-down church with a lot of ...
Have it Your Way, Whether it’s a Single Investing Strategy or a Variety

Have it Your Way, Whether it’s a Single Investing Strategy or a Variety

I was recently listening to a podcast of a real estate investor, one who might even be considered a guru. In this particular podcast he was touting the benefits of a certain type of residential real estate investing, but he also was disparaging all other types of investing that didn’t ...
Chinese Investors Like Stability of U.S. Market

Chinese Investors Like Stability of U.S. Market

Chinese investors, like those from other foreign countries, found deals aplenty in U.S. real estate at the height of the recent financial crisis here. Now that the U.S. economy has regained strength, the pickings aren’t as easy, but the Chinese remain as enamored of U.S. real estate as ever, even ...
The Tech Startup Curing the Lawn Care Headache

The Tech Startup Curing the Lawn Care Headache

| James Hart | Article | Profiles
Ken Davis had a problem. About eight years ago, the Utah man started building a portfolio of rental properties—more than a hobby, but not quite large enough to justify hiring his own team. So, for a long time, Davis was on the hook for lining up vendors to mow his ...
private-lenders-triple-play

REI Business — The Triple Play Approach

Loan options for investors who rehab and flip houses are pretty straightforward. Private lenders, banks and crowdfunding sites can all be good options, depending on the borrower’s credit and funding needs. But what if there were a funding source that also had a fix-and-flip division in addition to being one of ...
Watch List

Watch List

The global real estate market is built on a web of complexity that determines prices and hierarchical relationships of supply and demand. The activity of low-volume transactions, even at the local small-town level, helps determine the conditions and trends that affect the activity of larger investors making multibillion-dollar plays and ...
Housing Forecast

Deep Discounting

Don’t you love getting a good deal? When shopping for real estate, nobody wants to pay full price. As buyers looking for a bargain, we start with distressed properties, hoping to flip the property for a good profit spread. Seeing a substantial profit made over the original cost of the ...
A Class of Its Own

A Class of Its Own

Investment yields across many asset classes have lately been disappointing, but a recent report seemed to show that real estate investment vehicles outperformed most other asset classes over the last 15 years. REITs Outperforming Other Liquid Assets? A recent Wall Street Journal article remarked on the planned move by Standard ...
Digging Into the Details

Digging Into the Details

Successful land investing, like any type of investing, requires a lot of due diligence. Investing in land often requires travel, too, since there are several things a buyer cannot know about a piece of land before seeing it in person. Google Maps is a great resource, but it is not ...
Casting for Leads

Casting for Leads

Experts in the real estate industry always have a focus on bringing in leads for their real estate business. Without a steady stream of properties to look at, it can be nearly impossible to meet your investment goals. That said, there is an ongoing challenge in finding investment properties in ...
Trading Places

Trading Places

It’s relatively easy for the average American to buy into the stock market. According to a Gallup survey from last year, about 55 percent of U.S. adults own stocks. Investment in real estate is another story entirely. Becoming a real estate investor demands a level of time and expertise that ...
PeerStreet

A New Avenue for Real Estate Loan Investing

In only its first few years, PeerStreet has demonstrated that its combination of real estate expertise, big data and tech leadership can create an innovative opportunity for investors. This online real estate marketplace, based in Manhattan Beach, California, has funded more than $75 million in loan volume and exceeded $25 ...
Get in the Game

Get in the Game

| Kevin Guz | Article | Fundamentals
Are you one of those would-be investors sitting on the sidelines because you think you may not necessarily be qualified enough, you may not necessarily know enough and you may not necessarily be strong enough financially to invest in real estate right now? I was there once. Let me tell ...
Building A Power Team

Building A Power Team

So you want to be a real estate investor? Wondering where and how should you start? When we started our business in 2012, we attended a three-day boot camp that got us hooked and started us on our real estate journey. Building a foundation for your business starts with building ...
7 Creative Ways To Market Your Property

7 Creative Ways To Market Your Property

In a sea of MLS listings, creative marketing can help your property stand out. While these seven strategies may not be for everyone or for every property, under the right circumstances, one of them may help you get a competitive edge. 1. Throw a Party Open houses attract buyers on ...
The Sweet Smell of Success

The Sweet Smell of Success

The calls to OdorXit’s 1-877 help line come practically all day, every day. On the phone are real estate investors desperate to banish the stench of skunk spray, cigarette smoke and dead animals from their rental properties. OdorXit’s president, Deb Meyer, has heard practically every horror story out there—and has ...
Understanding Insurance Designations

Understanding Insurance Designations

You have created an entity to hold title to your real estate, but did you change your insurance policy to reflect the change in ownership? Unfortunately, some real estate investors who create LLCs, land trusts or other entities to hold title to their real estate forget or improperly update their ...
Creative Disruption

Creative Disruption

Innovation has been slow to arrive in the real estate sector, despite the fact that it’s a staggeringly large industry and would seem to be ripe for internet-fueled disruption. While real estate tech companies like Zillow get the lion’s share of digital ink, startups are creating innovation in almost every ...
Focus on Foreclosures

Focus on Foreclosures

RealtyTrac’s Midyear 2016 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows a total of 533,813 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings—default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions—in the first six months of 2016, down 20 percent from the previous six months and down 11 percent from the first six months of 2015. The report ...