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.
Las Vegas Lagging Behind in Home Appreciation
When Black Knight, Inc., released its most recent Home Price Index (HPI) Report, analysts immediately noted that 12 of the 40 largest U.S. metros hit new highs in home values by the end of 2017. That list included Boston, Massachusetts; Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dallas, Texas. Notably, it did not ...
Expert Warning: Private Lending Social Media Scam
LinkedIn is arguably the most “professional” of social media platforms and, as a result, many real estate investors doing due diligence look to the website to find out as much as possible about potential private lenders and investment partners before they team up. However, even LinkedIn has its weak points, ...
“The Worst Mistake Ever” Revealed to Texas Agent
Julie Ziglar Norman, a real estate agent with Dallas-based Prime Properties Realty and vice president of business development at Ziglar Inc., has seen a lot of things. The worst mistake she’s ever seen in real estate, however, nearly defies explanation. “I think the worst mistake I ever saw an investor ...
Rising Rents, Stagnant Wages, & the Burden of Unstable Housing
While homelessness may not be viewed as a looming issue on the horizon for those who are financially stable, or otherwise have secure and stable housing—it’s not as distant as some might think. With rents rising faster than wages, the burden of affording rent is looming larger and larger for ...
3 Ways to Maximize Your Team’s Productivity
It is hard to argue with the idea that the key to success in any business, including real estate investing, is getting the right people in the right seats. Best-selling authors from Jim Collins to Gino Wickman teach this in business books. Posters with expressions like “Teamwork Makes the Dream ...
3 Actions to Start Self-Directing Your Retirement
“Most financial advisors will tell you that you simply cannot have a better lifestyle in retirement than you did while you were working full time. Most financial advisors are wrong.” So begins Edwin Kelly’s 60-minute training on exactly how real estate investors should begin self-directing their retirement. Kelly, CEO of ...
Don’t be a Jack or Jill of All Trades
What’s it like to be a jack of all trades? I wouldn’t know, and you shouldn’t either. Often as entrepreneurs, investors, and small business owners, we feel like we need to do it all: be everything to everyone, a jack of all trades, if you will. We believe that if ...
Lender Reveals Biggest Investor Challenge
When Jon Shipley, a Senior Vice President at Longhorn Investments, thinks about horror stories, he doesn’t think about ghouls and gore. Instead, he thinks about the poor decisions real estate investors make when choosing their contractors. “Making the wrong choice in a contractor can completely change the outcome of any ...
Free Yourself: Fuse Time, Tenants & Tech
Ask Linda Liberatore, the president of national property management company SecurePayOne, what the most important thing in life is, and she’ll answer without a second thought: time. “Time is our most important resource, our true wealth,” she explained. “You want to learn to take the breath, to step back and ...
KB Homes Debuts Germ-Free Doors
As flu season continues to wreak havoc and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issuing dire predictions about the number of flu-related deaths likely before the outbreak is over, national homebuilder KB Home has decided to keep up with the times by announcing its standard interior door ...
3 Most and Least Affordable Rental Housing Markets
HomeUnion recently released its annual report on the most and least affordable rental housing markets in the country, and Chicago, Illinois, topped the list. “With its low cost of living, relatively large housing inventory levels, and high affordability, Chicago is an excellent market for residents entering the renting pool,” said HomeUnion’s director ...
Down Payment Program: Employers to Help Employees
A new program from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow borrowers to crowdfund their down payments from multiple sources, including their employers. HomeFundMe was created by mortgage banking firm CMG Financial, and allows employers to contribute directly to employees’ accounts for the express purpose of helping that employee purchase ...
Realtor.com Report: Housing Inventory Ongoing Problem
Late last week, Realtor.com released its “State of the Housing Union,” an annual report published shortly prior to the president’s State of the Union address. The association stated, “The housing market outlook is looking bright on several fronts: strong buyer demand, particularly among first-timers, and a growing U.S. economy urging ...
As investors, we look at properties through different eyes than most. We see the flaws and the telltale signs of hard use and neglect, but we also see the potential. We understand the importance of thoughtful discernment. We know from experience that success is in the details and that the ...
Amazon’s HQ2 Short List Silenced, for Now
The location of Amazon’s second headquarters will benefit in enormous ways from the influx of jobs and development that will come with HQ2 but cities vying for the position will be keeping quiet about what they’re offering while the contest continues. According to CNBC reports last week, Amazon has requested ...
Whole Home Cast Iron Repipe Video with Q&A: Blake Johnson
Sitting at the Think Realty editorial desk, we were able to walk through a repiping project with Blake Johnson, owner of Fort Worth-based Finishing Touches Remodeling, by watching a video he shared with us. Awestruck at the amount of work, time, and money that goes into a repipe project as extensive ...
8 Kitchen Design Trends for 2018
Looking for the newest trends in kitchen design? Look no further! Those Shaker-style cabinets should be the first thing to go, and you’ll probably want to give the dramatic paint trend a try. Here are some trends professional designers say we’ll be seeing a lot of. 1| Clean Lines “We ...
3 Goal Setting Questions to Ask Yourself
The NASCAR racing season wrapped up in Miami, Florida, this past November. We have just two short months full of holiday merriment and planning before we are back on track to start next season in Daytona. The short break is a wonderful time for gratitude, reflection and of course, preparation ...
Grow Your Network Daily – Week 5
Grow Your Network Finale We started our journey to grow our real estate investor connections on January 1. Each of us may have a different reason, but ideally, we all hope to enhance this REI industry that makes a difference in communities as well as impacting individual families and lives ...
All Insurance Policies and Coverage Are Not Created Equal
One of the biggest mistakes a real estate investor can make is to assume that all types of property insurance are created equal. Make sure you learn and understand the difference between Basic, Broad and Special form coverages as well as the difference between Actual Cash Value vs. Replacement Cost ...
Waste DNA Testing, Key to Solving Pet Owner Issues
Dog-friendly rentals are in big demand, and landlords are coming up with some great amenities for their four-legged tenants. But, despite the good behavior of most tenants and dogs, some pet owners don’t pick up after their pets. Tenants either don’t see it, or ignore it, and it’s left for ...
How Housing Agencies are Affected by Government Shutdown
Last week, spending authority for most government agencies expired on midnight, January 29, 2018, as a result of ongoing conflict in the U.S. House of Representatives that prevented a national budget bill from being passed. At time of publication, the Senate had voted to pass a temporary spending bill to ...
Kitchen Construction and Design, 84 Lumber
Fix-and-flip investors know better than anyone just how important the kitchen is to overall investment returns, but knowing how and at what level to do the right kitchen remodel is vitally important. According to Remodeling Magazine, minor kitchen remodels return roughly 93 percent at resale in a home, making them ...
Most Preventable Property Losses for 2018
At Affinity Loss Prevention Services we see multiple property claim submissions each day. Some of the losses described in submissions aren’t avoidable, like hail damage. However, many losses we see are preventable, and to our dismay, those types of losses, if with a few subtle variations, happen over and over again. So, ...
2018 Hot Market Picks for Real Estate Investors
Every year, real estate analysts, experts, and economists release assorted “top hot markets” lists related to housing. These lists should always be taken with a healthy dose of context. As Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow and January's Think Realty cover story feature says, “Economists, like meteorologists, should be taken ...
