Knowledgebase
All of Think Realty's extensive content archive is at your fingertips. Filter by media type and keyword to hone in on exactly what you need.
Knowledgebase
All of Think Realty's extensive content archive is at your fingertips. Filter by media type and keyword to hone in on exactly what you need.
3 lessons from your full-time career that will help your part-time real estate investing
Your part-time real estate investing is a business. It’s not a hobby or a fad, it’s a business. You have to treat it like a business and run it like a business in order for it to be successful. So many of the things I learned, the experiences I gained ...
Test your real estate investing knowledge with our quiz
Each week we test your real estate investing knowledge with our quiz to let you have some fun and perhaps learn more about real estate investing. How many single-family home sales in the last year were flips? What is a gross rent multiplier? How many investors identify themselves as part-time ...
A walk-through on a rehab in Atlanta by a flip expert
By Abhi Golhar I like flips. I am a flipper. I like where trends are headed, and I like capital gains from flips. That is what I am interested in. I am not interested right now in buy-and-hold. Flipping is never that simple, and it is certainly not for everybody ...
Why it is important to invest outside of your neighborhood comfort zone
This is something I experienced in my own investing. I learned a lot when I was able to overcome my hesitancy to invest outside my neighborhood comfort zone or my immediate geographical zone. It is so important because you might find yourself, as a part-time investor, being stifled, slowed or ...
3 big things you need to know before you raise the rent
It is a great time to be a landlord. In fact, landlords have been having a great time enjoying some of the fasted growth in rent rates in recent history. Being aware there is a cap to the growth is now key. Rental demand continues to remain very strong, which ...
Of course bonds are right, and stocks don’t get it
Last week was an exercise in perspective, stocks versus bonds and mortgages, and here versus over there. In a week with little new U.S. data (apartments hot, single-family not), bonds and mortgages stayed the same -- which is remarkable given the performance of stocks. The 10-year T-note could not break ...
Investor rehabs: Some tips, and borrowing options A number of active real estate investors have developed lucrative careers by investing in less-than-perfect residential properties, renovating them and re-selling or flipping (or renting) them, for a profit. The real estate market has now turned around, and although foreclosures are on the ...
Residential real estate investing looks great – what’s the catch?
On paper a single opportunity may look great, but how do we know if there’s a catch? Or what the catch is? From my personal experience as a part-time investor and former full-time corporate employee, I do not know if I was intelligent or astute enough to identify the catch ...
Long-term rates down and the prospect of Fed liftoff receding
Non-junkies find the Fed about as interesting as other non-junkies enjoy presidential debates, but I promise that Fed issues are vastly more important. And current. Long-term rates fell this week as a direct result of Fed disarray, the 10-year T-note below 2.00% briefly, and the prospect of Fed liftoff receding ...
Investor Question: Out-of-the-Box Due Diligence Tactics
DEAR MONTY: About six months ago, three longtime friends and I decided to make some real estate investments together. Our investment goals are similar; we are each high-income professionals, share similar risk tolerance and see real estate as a long-term investment opportunity. Now, we have identified a 60-unit apartment building ...
8 questions to ask yourself about your investing strategy
Working with hundreds of investors over the years, I have found a very small percentage who have actually taken the time to identify and to clearly define their investment goals. What I witness every day is investors bouncing from one real estate investment strategy to the next. Ultimately they will ...
What is the best strategy for insuring your real estate entity?
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 ...
Can’t find a deal? Create one!
Perhaps the best investments that I have ever personally done or helped investors with are the manufactured investments. As the world renowned personal developmental instructor Jim Rohn would always say, “Imagine the possibilities; turn nothing into something.” As the markets tighten, seasoned investors are less affected than others. They excel ...
How to get and build equity – the unappreciated gift
Many of us get into real estate investing to generate passive income or monthly cash flow from rental properties. That is a good and a viable reason to get excited about investing in real estate as a part-time investor. Cash flow is king, as many say, and renal real estate ...
Perhaps the Fed’s best option is to shut up – you look ridiculous
It is odd out there. High-volatility markets have gone still. Long-term interest rates certain to rise have fallen, mortgages back in the threes. The 242-seat Republican majority in the House is captive to 40 wild men, the party in many ways no longer a party. Vladimir’s latest excursion is only ...
Hybrid financing and “mezzanine” instruments in real estate financing
“Mezzanine” finance is a bit like it sounds – something in between two “regular” floors. In department stores like Fields and Macy’s, the mezzanine floor was often used for just about everything in between the women’s and men’s displays on the 1st and 2nd floors. In real estate finance and ...
3 ways to make sure your investment deals are still good
When I talk to investors and ask if their properties are performing the way they intended when first purchased, I often get a glazed expression as they try to decide. Just as a bad apple in the bag will spread decay into the other apples, so can one bad or ...
The 7 Best Renovations for Rental Properties
Here are a number of renovation suggestions designed to help ensure that a prospective tenant will choose your rental. When dealing with rental-property ownership, two of the biggest variables are dealing with vacancies and the length of time it takes you or your property manager to re-rent the property. Marketing ...
When should I make the transition from part-time to full-time real estate investor?
Whether you are a part-time investor trying to become a full-time investor, or whether you are not an investor but you aspire to be, this topic is relevant. There is no silver bullet or single answer to the question of how or when you transition to full-time investor. What does ...
The Fed, the employment rate, the bond market going anywhere in particular?
Trying as always to grasp the present, it seems to me the financial markets today reflect a world wandering through an odd passage. Not aimless (plenty of people have aims... too many), but without direction in two senses: not headed anywhere in particular, and certainly not led by anybody greatly ...
How to take calls from motivated sellers like a pro and convert more leads into deals
Leads into deals Real estate investing success hinges on being able to find good deals. If you don’t have leads coming in and are not making offers on those properties, you’re just not going to make it. It really is as simple as that When I got started flipping houses ...
How one 28-unit apartment complex could be your road to building equity for retirement
When leverage is used properly it’s your best friend in real estate. Using the right financing for the right property allows you to create true wealth over time. We help our private coaching clients establish a custom plan, identify the right properties and financing structure for each deal. How one ...
Moving on up: From real estate to rent estate
When you think of real estate investments, well-known business moguls and investors probably come to mind. But while getting into large-scale real estate investing is largely relegated to the realm of the top 10 percent, there’s another option that’s available – an easier way to make money with real estate ...
7 things to do when walking through your rental property with a tenant
Do you want your rental property in better shape after your tenant moves out? Landlords who conduct a good initial walkthrough of their rental property with a new tenant will experience less damage and receive the property back in better shape than those who rush through or skip the walkthrough ...
Is your hometown always the best place to invest?
A popular debate I hear regularly among real estate investors concerns the question of whether to invest locally in your hometown or in another market. I hear this debate at local real estate offices as well as at local real estate investment club meetings I attend. I enjoy hearing the ...
