The Rental Rookie Podcast

Quick Announcements: The Podcast is Coming Back Apr 16, 2021

Yes, that’s right. The podcast will be returning to this summer!

I can’t tell you how excited I am to be chatting with you each week again as I feel like there is so much we have all learned and experienced over the last year that we can share.

On this quick announcement episode, I share some details about the return of the RentalRookie Podcast and what to expect.

I also invite you to a Virtual Real Estate Investing Summit happening April 22-24, 2021.

It’s 100% FREE and is comprised of 18 buy and hold investors who are coming together to teach and share with you what works and what we’ve learned in our experiences building rental portfolios.

You can expect to learn:

About creative investing strategies that could yield double-digit returns
The steps to take to become a full-time real estate investor
How and where to buy your first rental property
The build-to-rent and BRRR strategies, two of our favorite investment strategies
Financing strategies to get unlimited rental property loans
and more…

If you’re interested in grabbing your spot to attend for free go to rentalrookie.com/summit to learn more!

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Show164: How we Doubled our Unsecured Line of Credit Mar 12, 2020

Lines of credit can be a great financial strategy when it comes to financing rental property.

Whether it be a HELOC, secured line of credit or unsecured line of credit it allow you some flexibility to acquire property.

What is an unsecured line of credit?

An unsecured line of credit is a revolving account that allows you to draw and repay based on your need for the money.

What’s great about an unsecured LOC is that you don’t have to put any personal funds or properties up as collateral for the access to the money. With the turnkey real estate investments you can learn facts and how to manage your future real estate investments.

This is the fundamental difference between a secured and unsecured line.
If it happens that your credit debts get out of control, you may consider visiting a place like debtconsolidation.com credit repair for credit repair assistance to help get your finances back on a track. For a secured LOC you must put up property or cash as collateral so that if you can’t pay the line back the bank may take your assets and hiring a credit repair specialist.

In this podcast episode we shared how we were able to take our secured line of credit to an unsecured line of credit…

…then we were able to get it increased by 50%.

Tune in to hear the strategy we used to reach this goal.H

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Show163: This is Your Year…Make it Happen Jan 09, 2020

Yep….not just a new year…it’s a new decade.

And with that comes excitement and inspiration and motivation.

It’s like you wake up one morning a totally changed and motivated individual….

because that’s what happens.

We go to bed on December 31st every year and wake up a new person the next morning.

Right?

I’m here to tell you that this year…..is your year.

Stop letting your fears get in the way….

Stop letting what other people think about you get in the way…

Sit down and take control of your life and where you want to go.

Be intentional about what you want your like to look like.

Because I can tell you that Kirk and I sat down 8 years ago and sketched out what we wanted our life to look like.

Why?

Because we wanted to be different.

We wanted to live a life not like the average Joe.

We wanted freedom and flexibility and financial stability.

We committed to the family we one day wanted to have.

We committed to it so hard that we started working on that dream and that commitment two years before we even had children.

I can tell you that this ride that we have been on over the last ten years and has been wild and sometimes scary but it has been intentional.

I can look back now 10 years later and say that the things we wanted our life to look like when we were just babies who had just been married…

…they’ve come true.

You guys…..they’ve come true!

But it took a level of commitment and courage that few will pursue.

But I can tell you that it’s worth it.

So make this year yours.

Take action…dream big and commit to making those dreams become a reality.

Because you’re worth it!

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Show162: 4 Things to Kick off Your Investing Journey Dec 28, 2019

The 12th Day of Christmas!

We’ve made it to the end of our 12 days of Christmas and I hope I’ve inspired and motivated you to kick some butt in 2020.

So to end our 12 day long focus of learning about investing in real estate (look at here for advice) I’m giving you 4 things to do right now to jumpstart your journey toward buying that first property. You can look at the covid and the condo market for options.

!. Do a financial audit of your finances

Take a look at everything.

Calculate you total monthly income (include work income, side job incomes, child support, etc.
Add up your fixed expenses (the expenses that you HAVE to pay each month)
What you are currently saving each month
What does your current investment portfolio look like, is it enough to start gold trading in United Kingdom?

2. Get knowledgable

Get some new books and podcasts to add to your list for the new year.

The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Kellar
The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner by Christine Karpinski
Building Wealth One House at a Time by John Schaub
Real Estate Tax Loopholes & Secrets by Stephen Nelson
The Book on Managing Rental Property by Brandon & Heather Turner

Visit thechildrensisa.com for tips on saving for your child’s education or a new home.

3. Determine your why

Think about the following things and spend some time reflecting.

Do you want the property to provide you with monthly income or gain appreciation for future resale?
What type of demographic do you wish to rent to? (families, low income, high end, etc) Get in touch with a new home builder or to a custom home builder so they can give you a quote and offer something in line with your wants.
What types of properties do you want to invest in? (condos, duplexes, mobile homes like those from the AmericanListed site, and etc)
Where do you want to invest?
What is the financial goal you are working toward with the investment in rental properties?

Visit the beautiful Sky Eden showflat soon at Bedok District 16 of Singapore.

4. Join an investor’s group

RentalRookie Private Facebook Group

National REIA Groups

BiggerPockets

Rental Property Accelerator Challenge

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Show161: Overcoming stage fright with investing Dec 27, 2019

It’s the 11th Day of Christmas

Stage fright.

Have you ever felt this?

When you’ve worked so hard at something (dance, piano, athletic event, choir concert)

you’ve put your blood, sweat and tears into really mastering the skill so you can perform well.

And you get to the event…..and your slammed with stage fright.

It can totally inhibit your performance.

Fill you with anxiety and fear,

Even when you know you’ve done the work to get out and do your best.

Some of us can push through and face that stage fright head on …..

…while others can’t.

I see this same ‘stage fright’ happen with newbie real estate investors.

They’ll spend months and years learning, reading, listening, mentoring with seasoned real estate investors.

They’ll listen to podcasts.

Read book after book.

Buy online courses to learn

Attend events. Here’s a list of the best online stores for cocktail dresses so you’ll have an outfit for events with dress codes.

Find a mentor

Not just that but they’ll do the work to learn the market and master running the numbers and know what questions to ask.

And then it happens.

They find a potential deal that checks all of their boxes.

And the stage fright comes barreling in.

In our world we will often refer to it as ‘analysis paralysis’

The paralysis of moving forward and actually making the offer sometimes is so strong that it will paralyze newbie investors from ever taking action.

And this kills me.

I see smart, steadfast rookies who are determined to reach their goals stop just footsteps before the finish line.

And it comes down to fear.

Those fears and limiting beliefs pop back up and hold us back.

And what is important to realize is that even when you make the offer and get under contract there is still protection for you.

As a newbie investors making sure that you include the contingencies in the real estate contract are huge for giving you protection and peace of mind.

Home inspections protect you the buyer form anything unforeseen with the structure of the house that could ultimately make the deal bad.

Maybe there’s some foundational damage that you didn’t notice that would cost a ton.

Maybe some work hasn’t been done up to code and would require a heavy investment to fix.

These things that come up with the home inspection that are unforeseen give you the chance to walk from the contract if it would ultimately inhibit the deal and the numbers.

The appraisal contingency is in place to protect you from buying a property that isn’t worth the value that you are paying for it.

If you were to get an appraisal and find out that the property isn’t valued at what the agreed on sale price is and is lower you have room to renegotiate or walk.

The financing contingency is there to protect you if there’s anything that goes wrong in the loan process which would result in you not being able to get the loan you plan to use to buy the property.

But you have to be sure to include these contingencies in your contract.

And as a brand new investor…I would always include these for your own peace of mind and protection.

So don’t let the stage fright or analysis paralysis stop you from going after that first property and reaching your financial and lifestyle goals.

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Show160: Tax benefits of buying rental property Dec 23, 2019

It’s the 10th day of Christmas!

We are about to kick off a brand spanking new year.

And if you already own rental properties like student apartments for rent but have not kept track of your tax deductible items for investing in rentals now’s the time to clean that side of the business up.

If you’re coming in hot to 2020 ready to buy your first property…then knowing the things you should be keeping track of from the start will make your life 100x more easier when it comes time to do your taxes.

—-Tax time of the year can be such a drag for a lot of people.

Although it is a time to financially reflect on your year, it also is a time that can cause a lot of headaches if you haven’t stayed organized throughout the year.

Whether you complete your taxes on your own or hire a tax professional to do them, there is always work that you need to do. Yes, more work if you desire to tackle this challenge on your own. But if you hire an accountant to do your taxes you still have to organize and compile all of your documents and tally up business expenses. To deal with such situations, visit Tax Shark here >>

The reality is that even if you are a newer investor with one or two properties you had a year of rental activities and whether it feels like a business or not….it is a rental business.

So it’s important that, especially during tax time, you treat it as such.

This can be scary for rookie investors, especially if you feel accomplished that you were able to find, buy, and manage your very own rental property.

If you are reading this before you’ve started investing, great, you will know what things you need to keep track off throughout the course of the year when you finally get a property.

If you already own a property, then hopefully this will reinforce or shed some light on something you hadn’t thought of or kept track of before.

What Do You Need To Track…

Below is a list of the documentation and expenses that you will want to keep track off to give to your CPA.

1098- This statement should be supplied by the bank that services your loan and is an overview of the mortgage interest you paid in your mortgage payments throughout the year. In the 2018 tax year you can only deduct

Real Estate Tax Records- This record you must seek out on your own and it can be found on the county website or on your escrow statement.

HOA Dues/Condo Fees- Each month you should keep the statements that are sent to you so that you can total it up at the end of the year. **Tip: Hang on to these statements in a file in case you are ever audited.

Management Fees- If you use a property manager, keep track of the monthly fee you pay them. You can contact Redkite law firm for professional legal services.

Advertising- Any advertising fees that you have throughout the year should be totaled and given to your CPA.

Utilities- If you, as the landlord, pay any of the utilities keep the statements so that they can be totaled and included in your overall analysis.

Rent- You should use some sort of tracking system throughout the year that every time you received a rent payment, you enter it into a tracking system. You will need to total your gross rental income for your analysis and you should have a record to show these payments.

Operating Expense List- This is a record that you create that keeps tally of expenses related to the operation of the business each year: gas, meals, contractor service calls, lawn maintenance, snow removal, etc. These expenses are deductible.

Improvements- Any one time improvements that you make on the property should be tracked throughout the year. However, they are not included in your annual tax analysis and you cannot deduct the cost of those one time improvements. That record will be utilized whenever you go to sell the property to reduce your cost basis.

What’s that mean?

You are going to sell your investment property in 10 years for $200,000. You originally bought the house for $100,000. So your gains would be $100,000. When the time comes, pay attention to cash buyers scams.

But, if you’ve kept track of these improvements, you add it to the $100,000 (original price) which then reduces your gains for tax purposes, requiring you to pay less in tax.

Rental Property Tax Benefits
One of the many features of investing in rental property is that as rental business owners we are able to have tax benefits each year.

While we don’t necessarily feel these benefits as in money directly going into our bank accounts every month (like cash flow) tax laws do offer us an advantage in terms of mortgage interest reduction and depreciation that allows us to reduce or cost basis for tax purposes.

For example, if you have a $100,000 property (structure only not land value) you are able to calculate your depreciation by dividing the value by 27.5 resulting in a tax write off of $3,636.

This is savings that you don’t feel every month but ultimately helps your business profits.

There are multiple resources out there for you to use to keep your records. One specific one I use is the iSpending app on my phone. I can easily input information anywhere and it allows me to export my information to print to take to our CPA when it’s that time.

Yes, there are many things that you need to keep track of. But if you get a system in place, it can be rather easy and at the end of the day, when April 15th comes around, you and your CPA will be breathing much easier!

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Show159: The importance of tenant experience Dec 22, 2019

It’s the 9th day of Christmas and it’s my birthday!!

And in the spite of gift giving in receiving I want to talk about tenant experience and how providing tenants with unexpected gifts can be huge in having proud, loyal tenants.

Think about it.

We put a lot of effort, time and money into buying these investments and we want to have a great experience ourselves so we need to have our tenants have a great experience.

How do we do this?

We have welcome packages for our new tenants.

We provide new tenants with a welcome gift. It could be a gift card, welcome flowers, a gift basket of items you need when you first move in. This gives the tenants a great feeling when they move in and get things kicked off on the right foot.

We also provide a welcome package that gives them important necessary information that will help smooth the transition so that there aren’t any hiccups with the move in. Canberra’s removalist specialists can also help you to out in getting a level of service that ensures a happy and successful transfer.Another one is we recommend our trusted professional moving services provided by Removalist Perth for their move.

2. We give holiday gifts to our tenants

Providing tenants with an unexpected small gift at the holidays leaves tenants feeling so appreciated during the holidays. We’ve had the sweetest messages and emails from tenants after we’ve sent cookies, gift cards, gift baskets for us thinking of them.

It goes to the notion of being seen, heard and appreciated by us as the landlord.

When we do this with our tenants, it helps create a better experience for all!

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Show158: Running numbers on properties to ensure it’s a good deal Dec 21, 2019

Jacob recently asked, “How do I know I’m buying a good deal?”

What is awesome about investing in real estate is that we know before we ever close on a deal and sign the dotted line whether a property is a good deal.

The process of buying rental property is in a lot of your control.

Which either…

A. people love because they like control

or

B. scares the daylights because they don’t want to be responsible for the make or break of their financial investment.

And a big part of this comes down to knowing how to run numbers.

Knowing how to determine the return on investment that a property is going to yield you.

Knowing how to property find and estimate potential costs on the property.

It really comes down to knowing what to look, what questions to ask and how to calculate it.

When it comes to running numbers on properties…this is the part you want to get right!

I can’t stress enough the idea that when you invest in rental property the numbers should really make the decision for you. It’s not an emotional decision.

It’s an investment decision.

And you need tools to help you ensure that you are looking at the numbers the right way.

1.) Use a Property Analyzer/Calculator
When you’re just getting started you’re probably wondering….ok I can find out all of the numbers you mentioned earlier….but what the heck do I do with them?

And it’s a valid question. Most of us aren’t going to sit down and create an elaborate excel spreadsheet that runs the numbers for you.

No sweat.

There are tons of resources out there can help you run the numbers on properties. There are free analyzers (grab our analyze here) there are free apps that are mortgage calculators that can give you an idea of what a mortgage would look like so that you don’t have to figure this out on your own.

The best thing about these analyzers/calcuators is that you simply input all of the information about the property (list price, taxes, insurance, rent, fees, etc) and it will calculate your return on investment and cash flow…

…so that you know right away whether that property meets your return on investment goals.

If it does then you can start going down the path of finding out more information and potentially scheduling a showing.

If it doesn’t meet your ROI goal then it’s easy to say…no way.

….and keep looking.

Not only does having a tool like this make it easier to qualify or disqualify a property for you but it ultimately saves you a lot of time too.

2.) Numbers are Black and White
For some this makes them breathe easy…

For those who like some gray area, this might be difficult to deal with.

But the truth is numbers are not subjective.

There is data and information out there that you will find on each and every property that will allow you to run a black and white analysis of a property.

This actually is what you used to drive me crazy about math classes. While I was an ok math student, I never really enjoyed the black and white nature of math.

As an English teacher, I lived in the gray area.

Symbolism and subjectivity lived in my classroom on a day to day basis and my students and I would spend class periods building arguments for the different interpretations of the mockingbird in To Kill a Mockingbird or the ibis bird in the story The Scarlet Ibis.

But what I have found is that when it comes to dealing with our money that we have saved and sacrificed for….

I want things to be black and white.

I want to know, with much certainty, if I buy this property it will make me a certain amount of money each month and year so long as it is rented.

In this niche of investing in rental property, there is subjectivity in some of the decisions. The location, the type of tenant you put in the property, the condition of the property.

Those things aren’t so black and white.

But when it comes to the numbers…it should be.

When you run an analysis on a property and it spits out your projected ROI and cash flow, you’ve got to trust it.

You take out the emotion and focus on what the property will make you and whether that reaches your profit goals as an investor.

The Hard Truth

At the core of investing in rental property, we do it to make money.

Yes, that money that we make allows us to reach those personal freedoms, whether it be leaving your job, spending more time with your kids, traveling the world.

But in order for us to reach those freedoms, we have to buy the right properties at the right price.

And the only way to know that a property is the right price is to do your due diligence in learning the market you plan to invest in.

And

Know how to run the numbers so that you can get a pretty darn close estimate of what type of return that property should make you.

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Show157: How do I find good deals on rental property? Dec 20, 2019

7th Day of Christmas….How do I find good deals?

Guess what….I love to travel.

IT’s my passion…it’s my jam.

So I subscribe to many different email newsletters dedicated to travel.

Travelzoo, Sherman’s Travel, Hotel Tonight, you name it I’m on it.

And I don’t just let those email go to my junk email address and not read them

I know what days those emails come out every week and I look for them in my email inbox week in and week out.

WHY?

Because I want to see what the deals are this week.

Are there any that we want to jump on and schedule for the upcoming year.

I once was able to get Kirk and I RT flights to Denver for about $170 per person RT. I rarely see that go that low…if every anymore.

And guess what….the day I saw that deal…

I booked the flight.

Again Why?

Because I knew that it was a good deal because week in and week out I’m watching what trips are going for, what flights are going for.

I monitor the travel sites and emails so I’m ready to jump on the deals when they come up.

GUESS WHAT…

This is exactly what I do with real estate investing too.

Once you take the time to learn your market and complete a market audit where you’ve been watching for listing prices, closed sale prices and rental prices….

…you’ll be able to keep your eye open for emails from your agent or scroll through the Zillow app to see what’s new for sale.

And when you see something pop up that seems like a good deal…

you’ll be able to jump on it.

Without having to spend a few days researching and running numbers.

Because you’ve done the work in learning your market you can run a quick less than 5 minute analysis on the deal to see if it’s worth calling about, viewing or even making a quick offer.

The same concept I use with travel and booking trips and flights applies here.

It’s all about learning your market and keeping a pulse on what’s going on.

And I mean a weekly pulse.

Not that you did some researching two months ago and knew what it was like and now a few months later you’re trying to determine deals.

I’m saying keeping tabs weekly on what is happening.

Watching…

Monitoring….

And when you see something come up you’ll be ready to grab that great deal.

So when I get asked how or where do I find great deals.

I always say well how well do you know market?

If you don’t know your market you’re not going to be able to find great deals very quickly

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Show156: Running a Rental Market Audit Dec 19, 2019

Running a rental market audit is critical to your success as an investor in ensuring that you are investing in an area that you know and can reap benefits from.

This one critical component of the entire journey is foundational in ensuring that you find success with investing.

Spending time tracking what your rental market is actually doing, meaning what properties are listed for, closing for and renting for.

Knowing this information will ensure that you get a good deal!

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Show 155: Should I self-manage my rental properties? Dec 18, 2019

5th Day of Christmas

Do I need to consider rental property management? Should I self-manage my property?

This is one of those questions you will have to ask yourself when you decide to buy that first rental property. But I will say that it is a loaded question.

It goes a lot deeper than just a yes or no question. There are a number of things that you need to think about when it comes self-managing and a number of questions you can ask yourself to help you determine what might be best for you and your current life situation.

Just like any other decisions in life, there are pros and cons to both. One of the biggest pros to self-managing your property is the fact that you keep more money in your pocket.

There are a number of questions that you need to take some time self reflecting on or discussing with your investing partner.

These will help you determine whether or not you should plan to self-manage your property or if being a landlord just isn’t in the cards for you.

Consider some of these questions to help you decided if self-managing is right for you. All of the following questions relate to the varying aspects of property management.

Do you have the time or desire to show your property?
Do you wish to keep all of the profit from the property in your pocket?
Are you willing to trade some money for a more passive investment option?
What do you plan to do if there is an emergency at the property? Who will take care of it? Who will you call?
How do you plan to screen your tenants to ensure you get a good tenant?
Are you aware of the national and state landlord-tenant laws that you will need to abide by as a landlord?
Is your rental a single family home that requires one person/family or multi-unit that may require more work?

Subscribe on iTunes to the RentalRookie Podcast

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Show154: Where do I find rental properties? Dec 17, 2019

It’s the 4th Day of Christmas!

If it’s your first property finding, it doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive

There are tons of resources available to help you find potential rentals.

The key is knowing and using the variety of resources available for you because not all properties are listed on every platform.

And sometimes properties aren’t listed anywhere at all.

Yes, you actually have to get out and talk to people and get deals through word of mouth.

But sometimes these can be the best deals.

So let’s go over some of the places you can find deals.

1.) Traditional Real Estate Apps/Websites

While I mention these above in passing of course this is one of the most used ways people find property today. And one I use week in and week out. (I just don’t rely only on this one).

There are a number of Apps/websites out there that you can use to find properties (Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, etc) Find one that works for you because they are all a little bit different and offer some different information.

Pros: They are easy to use and navigate. They list all properties, not just residential, not just investors. Since they have Apps you can access them anytime, anywhere.

Cons: They don’t list every property for sale and may not list the distressed or foreclosed properties that investors often go after. Sometimes the information that is presented (taxes, insurance, etc) isn’t always the most accurate.

2.) Facebook Market Place Groups

This is an up and coming way for investors to find deals and is not in every town or city yet. However, even in my small town in PA we have a group that is a For Rent/For Sale Group where people can go on and list properties for rent or for sale.

It’s great because it’s accessible by many and easy to get information from the sellers because of the notification system within Facebook. Also, you can get a feel for feedback people are giving on properties and use that as good data for you while you learn your market.

Pros: It’s Facebook, so many of us are on it numerous times a day. They have the notification system so you can get notified when there’s activity in the group so you can respond to deals quickly. It’s easy to gather information and ask questions about potential deals without having to go through a realtor.

Cons: If you don’t know what questions to ask then you might get stuck. Some don’t like to mix personal and business and view Facebook as a personal platform. You can end up working directly with the seller without a 3rd party representative.

3.) Work with a Real Estate Agent

When you’re just getting started one of the key things that can help you find comfort in the process of buying an investment property is working with a real estate agent. When you’re planning to buy a property in a luxury apartment complex, a real estate agent will be able to provide you options based on your preferences or budget.

But I caution that you don’t just want to work with any agent. I recommend working with one that is ‘investor friendly’. Meaning that they already work investors or are investors themselves.

The truth is that buying and selling property for personal consumption is very different than for investment purposes.

There’s a tweak in mindset that has to happen and if you’re looking for someone to support you in the process you need someone who understands that this is different.

When you choose this type of agent, they’ll know what sorts of questions you should be asking, what numbers you need to know and how to analyze the deal to see if it makes sense for your ROI.

Pros: They do the searching for you, so you don’t have to. This saves you time. They can even preview properties for you to see if they meet your goals/standards as an investor before you waste your time scheduling showings.

Cons: If it’s not an investor friendly agent then they might not give you the best advice. You have to work around your schedule and someone else’s to find time to see the property.

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Show153: Financing My First Property Dec 16, 2019

It’s the 3rd Day of Christmas!

This is always one of the top issues.

I hear it time and time again from my community of rookies..

“How do I finance my 1st property”

What sucks about investing in rental property is that there is most definitely a high barrier to entry…

20% is a lot of money.

IF you plan to buy a rental property using a conventional loan and not living in the property you can expect to have to put down 20%

So in real numbers…

…we’re looking at

$20,000 on the purchase of a $100,000 property.

That’s a lot of money

And is often one of the bigger challenges and obstacles that newbie investors have to overcome.

Where do I get the money?

If you’re anything like Kirk and I we had to save our money like crazy. We got married in 2010 (put our finances together while we were engaged in 2009) and bought our 1st rental property in 2012.

And did I mention we used most of the money we had saved at this point in our lives to buy it.

That’s scary stuff.

But two things here…

It took us time to save to buy that 1st property. In fact, from June 2009 when we combined our finances to August 2012 when we closed on the first rental.

Granted, we weren’t specifically saving that whole time for the intention of buying a rental (while Kirk maybe…but me no) but we were saving like crazy to do something with it.

So that took us over 3 years.

2. Even though it was a lot of our money we still did it.

Yes, we were newly married, young ( I mean we were 23 years old) and had no kids.

So we could have survived if something bad happened.

But we still took the leap.

We had faith in the numbers we ran over and over again and the fact that we were committed to this thing working.

And so we did it.

Even with me knowing nothing (thank God for Kirk and his finance brain)

So if financing is the issue for you….

…the mountain that is standing between you and your first rental

Here are some tips:

1. House hack your rental so you can put less money down.

Using an FHA loan and living in the property first allows you to put as little as 3.5% down.

Remember that $20,000 down payment I mentioned earlier?

Using this strategy now makes that a down payment of $3,500.

That’s much more manageable for someone facing the money mountain obstacles.

2. Partner Up

Find someone else who has similar goals and interests as you with investing in rental property and put your money together to buy the first deal.

Just because you buy one together doesn’t mean you have to buy all of the rest of them together.

You might be wondering….”Emily, I don’t know anyone who is interested in doing this”

Have you asked?

Have you told people that you are interested in investing in rentals?

My guess for most of us is NO.

We tend to not talk about the things that make us vulnerable.

Start talking about it.

My guess is you’ll be surprised who you find that is also interested in reaching financial independence.

3 Be Patient and save the money

I know this one isn’t sexy or fancy.

But for crying out loud….get a budget, set some savings goals and just start putting your head down and doing the work.

Saving isn’t always easy. Especially if you’re a spender.

But the things you’re wastefully spending your money on now…are they getting you any closer to your financial goals?

Is Netflix and magazine subscriptions and eating out 5 times per week getting you any closer??

No.

So make some sacrifices, commit to yourself and your goals and save the money.

Remember investing in rental property is a marathon not a sprint.

Keep in mind…saving for the 1st one is the longest and hardest.

Each time it gets a bit easier.

All in all….instead of standing and staring at the money mountain standing in your way of your goals….

…start climbing the dang thing so you can reach the top and buy that 1st property.

The post Show153: Financing My First Property appeared first on Rental Rookie.

Show152: Goal Setting for 2020 Dec 15, 2019

It’s the 2nd Day of Christmas!

With every new year comes the excitement of a fresh beginning…

…a new start…

…a new you.

Right….many of us sit down and make audacious goals about what we want to accomplish in the new year.

And trust me…Kirk and I are here for it!

We LOVE sitting down and talking about what we want to accomplish in the new year

and looking back on what we accomplished the previous year.

We actually used to get made fun of by much of our family for not just setting goals but creating action steps that actually helped us reach our goals!

My mom will still joke to me on the phone about her action steps for the day when she’s trying to tackle cleaning her house!

But anyways…the truth is there is a lot of power in fresh starts and goal setting.

At the same time, it becomes pretty easy to lose sight of those goals 30-60-90 days into the new year.

You know what I mean.

For anyone who is a gym rat throughout the entire year (this is me) you know how frustrating it is to walk into the gym on Jan 1 and in fact most of the month of January to find the equipment that usually is empty you now have to wait in line to use…

Yep….and while it’s sooo frustrating for the regulars usually by mid February it all goes back to the typical regulars who are always there day in and day out.

But this is what happens.

Yes, you need to create long term goals for the year.

But you need to create shorter, more measurable goals (action steps, sprints) that you can use to keep you on track toward actually reaching your goals.

Otherwise….hello empty elliptical.

In applying this to your real estate investing journey you need to give yourself timelines for what you want to achieve.

Kick off 2020 with the goal of buying that 1st rental property or saving a certain amount of money for a down payment.

And create monthly and bi-weekly check ins that you can use to keep yourself on track.

To help with this I’ve included a 3 month goal calendar that you can print out and use so that you don’t lose sight of buying that 1st rental property in 2020.

Click here to download it now!

So set some goals, create some measurable action steps and start building momentum to a great 2020.

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Show 151: Stop Worrying about Failing Dec 14, 2019

It’s the 1st Day of Christmas…..Stop worrying about failing.

If you’re anything like Kenny who recently said his obstacle is “worrying about the fear of failing”

or like me

who was scared to start because I lacked confidence and knowledge.

Then you’re not alone.

And sometimes it can be reassuring to know that others are feeling the exact same way you are in your journey right now.

Getting started with rental property is not easy and is very intimidating as a rookie investor.

You’ve probably thought to yourself…

“I’m not smart enough to do this”

“I don’t have the money to be doing this”

“What are people going to think when they hear we are doing this”

“I don’t know anyone else who does this…what will my family say”

“What if we buy a bad property and lose money”

“What if the market turns and we bought at the top of the market”

Give me a ‘hell yeah’ if you’ve said any of these things….thought any of these things…or felt any of these things.

You are not alone!

But as Warren Buffet has said “risk comes from not knowing what you are doing”

The good thing about all of those limiting beliefs that we all feel is that we can overcome them by simply realizing 2 things.

There are people who have gone and done this before you who are here to teach you what they’ve learned, the mistakes they’ve made and how to find success.

Investing in rental property is controllable. You have a lot of control over the outcome of the endeavor.

So if you put the time in to learning and gaining the knowledge the risk factors go down dramatically because you will know what you’re doing.

Lean on those who have been there!

Find a mentor to learn from.

Find a friend to learn together.

2. People don’t think about you.

This might be harsh but I feel like in a lot of podcasts and books I’ve been reading lately this is a common statement that keeps coming up.

So I will pass it on to you because it hit me like a ton of bricks when I read it.

All the time I spend worrying about what my family will think or what our friends of parents of our children’s friends will think…..

No one cares.

Everyone cares about themselves.

Most people are not spending any extra energy thinking about you and what you are doing.

Why??

We are all busy and tired and going 100 miles per minute.

We are so focused on ourselves and what we are doing there isn’t much time to sit and think about what Sally’s parents from Jamie’s school are thinking about you.

Forget about others.

Focus on you, your family and the goals that you want to achieve.

If you believe so deeply in what your mission is together and what you want to achieve you can’t take time letting the fear of failing or the fear of what other people think stand in your way.

So commit….right now and as we begin a new year…..

Commit to your goals and your mission because this is your life.

Are you going to stand up and fight for your life?

You only get one chance!

The post Show 151: Stop Worrying about Failing appeared first on Rental Rookie.

Show150: The 12 Days of Christmas- RentalRookie Edition Dec 13, 2019

Yes, it’s true.

I love this time of year.

The holiday songs, decorations, reed diffusers, lights, trees.

I love the way our house feel all decorated and at night when only the lights of the tree and our decorations are lit.

It’s cozy.

So I thought it would be fun to end the year and prepare for the new year by starting the 12 days of Christmas- our edition.

Meaning that we’ve taken some of the most asked questions from the year, topics we’ve covered and put them into short, digestible snippets of content for you to take in everyday for the next 12 days.

Why?

Because this is a crazy time of year for many.

So being able to spend 30-45 minutes listening or watching content is nearly impossible.

So for the next 12 days we’re brining you 3-10 minutes short spurts of both education on topics you’ve been asking about and motivation to help you get your mind and heart ready for a new year.

The topics we will be covering include:

Getting over the fear of failing
Goal setting for 2020
Financing the 1st deal
Finding properties
researching your market
self-managing your rentals
how to determine great deals
and more….

I invited you to tune in and celebrate the holidays with us here at RentalRookie!

The post Show150: The 12 Days of Christmas- RentalRookie Edition appeared first on Rental Rookie.

[LIVE Training] Understanding the Foundational Pieces of the Buying Journey Oct 25, 2019

Enroll in ZerotoProperty Now before Doors Close

The journey to buying that first rental property is no doubt a bit scary.

When you actually commit to stepping out of your comfort zone and seriously tackle the endeavor you can find yourself a bit lost and confused and overwhelmed.

While there are a number of things that you need to be aware of and learn about the journey to that first rental property (which we cover in our Rental Property Roadmap) there are foundational pieces of the process that are a bit more critical than others.

I’m not discounting any part of the process here; however, I want to draw your attention to the areas that I have found are the ones where you need to spend extra time understanding so that you can set yourself up for major success.

In this LIVE training that I recently hosted I break down those four pillars and talk about how they impact your journey.

We talk about #1 MINDSET and how your view and understanding of wealth has been shaped since you were a kid.

And how if you associate negative things with money and wealth you are ultimately self-sabotaging yourself from finding it.

Wondering why you haven’t bought that property yet…..there’s one answer!

Next, we move into talking about #2 Financing because 8 out 10 newbie investors have this as an obstacle they have to overcome to buying that 1st property.

So we break down two strategies that are great ways for newbie investors, who don’t have a ton of cash, to use so they can make that a reality.

#3 Understanding Your Market...this is my favorite and to me the most important piece of the puzzle.

This is where confidence is built and knowledge is truly mastered.

When you know your market you know how to spot good deals which ultimately makes a force in the investing world.

Lastly, I touch on #4 Analyzing Deals the next most important piece of the puzzle. As this is where you know before you ever buy a property whether it will make you money. Sure, there’s loads of repairs and cool upgrades like a solar battery installation that will give you better odds. Ultimately, how you come out the other end of the deal and the property location will be the biggest determining factors most likely.

That’s what’s awesome about real estate.

You can know before you buy the deal that it will cash flow you so much each month.

But you have to know how to run the numbers and what your ROI goal is.

So we cover A LOT in this training to help you continue kicking over dominos on your journey.
#

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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Show148: The Roadmap to Buying Your First Investment Property Oct 21, 2019

Grab your Seat for the LIVE Training

When you’re just getting started with investing in real estate everyone goes through a period in their journey where they don’t know where or how to start.

And let’s be honest…in today’s society many of us want to know the answer now.

We hate having to go down the road of figuring it out and mostly because time is the thing that we all seem to never have enough of.

So for years of working with brand new investors we’ve answered the most frequently asked question when it comes to starting the journey to that first investment property, if you would like to check all the options available, we recommend you to use this property investor app to simplify your search.

When you are buying property, you also need to find an accomplished real estate agent as that will make a huge contribution to your success. We us the ones who are easily the best Bristol letting agents so have a look into those if you are in that area.

Where do I start?

We’ve put together this roadmap that has been used and refined over the last 6 years in our investing journey to show where to start AND how to get to that first property. Before you invest in a property, make sure it undergoes Property Condition Assessment.

#1 Personal Financial Audit

In order to move forward in this journey you have to know where you are now. You have to get your financial house in order, so to speak, and truly take stock of what your financial picture really looks like. Taking time to determine a budget to ensure that this long term investment will work for you is critical. Melbourne Property Valuers Metro can provide you with exceptional customer service for a range of valuation reports, read here for more details.

#2 Goals & Overcoming Fears

You have to give yourself a path to follow. It’s easy to get distracted and chase the shiny object but if you can determine your why and set goals to keep you on track your journey will be much smoother. Thinking about the type of property you’ll pursue, buy luxury homes or those Luxury Log Houses For Sale that you can turn into vacation rentals, pet friendly apartments for rent, single family homes for sale, commercial properties, ranches for sale, etc., these properties will help you stay the course. You can check out Lowcountry Real Estate’s offering to get an idea.

will help you stay the course. You can check out Lowcountry Real Estate’s offering to get an idea.

#3 Financing

Once you’ve determined your financial picture, it’s time to actually figure out what you can afford. A lender will help you determine what kind of monthly mortgage payment and interest rates you could afford given what you earn and what type of property you own now. Also, they will be able to get you pre-approved so that you can take action quickly when you find a rental property that is a great deal!

#4 Learning the Market

This is HUGE. Once you’ve figured out how much you can spend, now you have to figure out where to buy property. I stress this step so much because I truly believe you have to take time really researching and understanding the community/town/city you want to invest in. What does this mean?

Learn about the industries, employment rates, entertainment, population growth, good and bad parts of town. What do the property taxes look like in the area and how does that affect your budget. Learning what properties sell for, list for and rent for will all help you become a better investor and know when a good deal comes up.

#5 Running an Analysis

This is the next huge part of the roadmap. You’ve got to learn what types of numbers to look and for and how to take those numbers and run an analysis so you can see what kind of cash flow this property will earn you. We get into buying rental property to earn a return and the cool thing about investment properties is that you can generally know what you can make before you ever even buy it.

So knowing how to calculate the rental income a property will generate is critical to you not setting yourself up for failure, uk property investment can guide you on this if you do not how to make it.

By spending time in the previous step and learning your market and what kind of monthly rents you can actually earn, talking with real estate agents to get even more in depth understanding of an area married with running an analysis is the cornerstone of finding success.

#6 Due Diligence

Once you’ve figured out where to buy and whether the property makes financial sense, now it’s time to really dig deep into the deal to make sure the property itself fits the other pieces of the puzzle. This is where you are looking at the quality of the property (cap ex) and getting verified information from the current property owner about current rental amounts, leases, utilities etc. A true and verified idea of the operating expenses will be huge in this part. And because they are selling the property they obviously want rid of it for a reason. But ask for documents to verify all of the information they are giving you.

#7 Offers & Closing

You’ve got to figure out how to put together competitive offers together so that you put yourself in the best position possible to getting the deal. There are definitely things you can do when putting the offer together to allow yourself to give a bit in the negotiations so that you are working with the sellers to get the best deal. We deep dive into this in our course.
A real estate closing attorney can help in preparing and reviewing all documents involved in the sale or purchase of a home.

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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Links Mentioned in the Show

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147: Avoid these 7 common real estate investing mistakes Oct 04, 2019

When you’re just getting started with investing in real estate it’s easy to get caught up in the overwhelm of everything there is to know.

You are learning everything on the fly and trying to put it into practice and it’s easy to let things slip through the cracks.

We see it happen with new investors all of the time and admittedly we have fallen victim to some of these too.

Marc Anthony Estates put together 7 mistakes that are often made by newbie (and even seasoned investors) to help save you from yourself!

#1 Not asking for verification of numbers

Be invasive. This is your hard earned money that you’ve saved and plan to invest to help build your short and long term wealth.

#2 Underestimating maintenance costs

You want to account for this when you are running the numbers before you buy property. Things like maintenance and upkeep, perhaps putting down laminate flooring to really renovate the look of the house and make it more modern, and dividing rooms to fit your needs should all be considered well before making a decision. Those costs will eat into your net cash flow and actually make your return less than expected, specially if not properly accounted for.

#3 Starting the eviction process too late

So even though you may want to give people multiple chances…

…remember that this is business and this is your money.

Follow your lease when it comes to starting the eviction process.

#4 Not screening tenants thoroughly

So my advice to you is take the time to really vet out your potential tenants.

Make the phone calls, pull the credit, do the background check.

Because ultimately you want to get the best potential tenant living in your investment.

The person who is going to take care of it like it’s their own and respect it and you.

#5 Not treating your venture as a business

A huge mistake that rental investors make is viewing this as a hobby and not as a business.

Even with just one property you need to begin to realize that it is a business and you are buying it to make money.

#6 Overestimating potential rents

So when you are running numbers on potential deals be sure to take time to research what properties are actually renting for where you are investing. Click here to learn more about rent to own properties.

Don’t guess….do the due diligence.

While it may seem annoying in the beginning it’s only going to ensure you make a good investment.

#7 Underestimating the importance of cash

You don’t want to put everything you’ve saved into your investment and be left with barely anything in reserves.

First, if you are using financing the bank will required at least 6 months of reserves…but even still

I would recommend having even more than that available.

So tune in to hear us deep dive into each of these topics to save yourself from making these same mistakes!

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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Links Mentioned in the Show

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Show146: Factor Based Investing for Real Estate Sep 19, 2019

When you are just getting started when it come to real estate investing there’s no doubt that it is overwhelming.

Then when buying a new-build property there are always snags (so problems) but you can get those fixed before you buy if you conduct a quality snagging survey so that is essential if you are buying a new-build in the UK.

You’re probably asking yourself questions like:

where do I start??

how do I start??

What investment strategy should I use?

Are the market conditions right for me to buy a property right now?

And while we have an entire roadmap that we’ve put together to help you figure out where to begin and what things you need to know along your way.

You have to spend some time sitting down and really asking yourself some hard questions and reflecting on where you want to go with investing and what you want this journey to look like.

We often talk about figuring out ‘what type of investor’ you are early in your journey so that you can filter out a lot of the things that will get in your way.

But another thing you can consider is the conceptual ideas or high level thinking around investing and how they can apply to real estate and your long term investments.

In this podcast, Kirk and I break down 5 critical factors to investing and apply the concept to real estate.

We talk about:

Persistence
Pervasive
Robust
Investable
Intuitive

So tune in for a 100 foot view of the investing world and why you need to be considering these factors in your REI journey.

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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Links Mentioned in the Show

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Show145: Should I worry about a real estate market crash and other investing questions. Sep 11, 2019

Well….if there’s an elephant in the room when it comes to talking about the market I think it’s this question that Tatiana (from our community) asked.

Kirk and I jumped right in to talk about it.

There’s no secret that right now all over the news there’s some talk about the market and what may happen in the somewhat near future.

It’s been over 10 years since the big recession hit in 2008 and the housing market has been on an upward swing since.

The reality is that the market is cyclical and after an upward tick there’s going to have to be a market correction at some point.

We talk about how it’s not necessarily always about timing when it’s going to happen (unless you have a crystal ball) but realizing and thinking 3-5 years down the road from buying property right now.

Ask yourself questions like if the market should turn a bit can I hang on to this property through the swing?

If the market drops 20% will the numbers still work?

We can’t predict when it will happen but we can be forward thinking in our investing and set ourselves up to be able to handle the downward turn.

These are a few of the questions we unpack on this episode. Tune in to hear more answers to common investing questions.

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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Show144: How capital expenditure can ruin potential deals Sep 04, 2019

When it comes to buying rental property as long term assets one of the most important things you need to pay attention to is the capital expenditures of a property.

You’ll often hear people refer to things like Cap Ex.

And really, what those are, are the big ticket items that you may eventually have to replace on a property that are going to cost a lot.

These capital expenditures are including things like the roofing repair, electrical and plumbing issues. Depending on how big the physical asset of the property is will dictate the amount of money you’ll need for those projects to be complete. If you need
roofing services go with a licensed and insured company.

Finding a good Gillingham based plumber is always stressful, you can ease that stress by visiting many reviews sites to find out a little more on the company at hand.

And I’d be lying if I said that we were super focused on these in the beginning of our investing journey.

We knew about them and that they were important, but we rarely even used it as a line item when we did our financial analysis on a potential deal.

Now in our defense we were buying properties that had a cash on cash return of around 20% so we had wiggle room for these expenses if they came up.

But the reality is that these capital expenses can kill your cash flow and if you’re not prepared for them with the right amount of reserves they’ll demolish your account or put you in debt.

One of the things that a lot of investors will do is in their property analysis, they will include every month a line item for Cap Ex expenditures.

And so, maybe they save every month a certain percentage or a certain amount of money each month from their rental income that they make and they will put it in a Cap Ex fund.

Capital expenditures is essentially saving for the idea that Cap Ex expenses are the major expenses that a property is going to entail over owning that property for the life of your ownership. If you buy a property that just has a brand new roof, that might not be something that you’re going to have to worry about or think about unless you’re planning on owning the property for 15, 20 years.

You might not even have to think about a roof. Maybe you bought a property that just had updated plumbing and electrical. Again, an issue you might not have to think about. However, if you have already moved into the property an emergency plumber can help you repairing the plumbing system.

But you have to look at the property as a whole, make note of some of those large ticket items, find out how long the furnace has been there (visit website here to know how you can make your furnace like new), how long the hot water tank has been there, those sorts of things, and then that will allow you to determine how much you should be saving each month toward that Cap Ex fund.

In this podcast episode we share our own story of how the impending capital expenses on a property in our portfolio caused us to decide to sell the property.

While it was a cash flow performing property, the reality was that we were going to have to sink so much money into the property in the coming 3-5 years that it would eat up so much of our cash flow it didn’t make sense to keep it.

Even though we had amazing tenants in there. Which ultimately helped us when it came to selling because we were able to talk about the great tenants that we had.

No one wants to buy a property with crappy tenants.

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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Show143: Buy Rental Property with Partnerships Aug 23, 2019

Buying rental properties such as one bedroom apartments as a new real estate investor can be overwhelming, scary and flat out hard.

There are a number of obstacles that come into play when beginning to invest in real estate and one of the major ones is with how to find the money to buy properties.

A great investment strategy for both newbie investors and seasoned investors is using partnerships to acquire investment properties.

It can be a huge struggle when you are just starting out to save up thousands of dollars for a down payment.

That’s actually one of the tough parts about investing in rentals is the high down payment amount (usually 20%ish).

There’s a high barrier of entry.

But if you’re looking to invest long term to make great cash flow then finding others who have similar goals shouldn’t be too difficult.

The cool thing about partnerships is that there are a variety of ways that partner structures can come together.

There’s no one way to partner.

Depending on the need you have can help determine what type of partner you can look to team up with.

It could be another brand new investor, family member, friend, colleague or even another property owner.

This week on the podcast, we are sharing a behind the scenes look into one of our video lessons from our Financing Avenues for Buy & Hold Investors all about partnerships.

This is critical for newbie investors because many rookie investors run into obstacles with funding their first deals.

This is a great option for rookies who want to start and need some help and creativity with financing.

Because purchasing a rental property doesn’t have to be a scary thing. Take canary wharf apartments rent, for example. These properties offer a blend of luxury and convenience in a prime location.

In this lesson, we explain what a partnership actually is, why it can be a great option for any investor and we share actual example structures of partnerships to help get you thinking about how you can use this strategy in your own journey.

Lesson Objectives:

learn how partnerships can be a viable option for investors
see examples of partnership structures (with monthly profit splits/property management) that you can use in your own investing
learn where to find potential partners

Grab the rest of the Financing Avenues for Buy & Hold Investors >>https://bit.ly/2N4LW8tr

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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Show142: Stop wondering what’s on the other side of your first rental property Jul 25, 2019

You guys….this week I’m here to inspire.

Kirk and I often jump on the podcast to share practical tips and strategies that we’ve learned in the 7 years we’ve been investing.

However, this week I want to inspire you.

I want to share with you a dream I’ve had since I was a kid.

One that, for a period of my life, thought it wouldn’t be something I could achieve until I was in retirement.

But believe it when I said that we’ve achieved this dream of mine when I was only 32.

Yes…not 65…..32.

And without a shadow of a doubt I can tell you that when we bought our first rental property…

…a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo I never imagined that this investing road would take us where it has.

I never actually thought that it would replace my income as a teacher.

I never actually thought that it would allow me to stay home and raise my babies and live a flexible life that we designed.

I never actually thought that it would allow me to buy a beach house in my favorite beach town at such a young age.

But it has.

And even though it was scary as hell to buy that first rental property.

It truly took that first one to change everything.

Tune in to this week’s podcast to get inspired!

Grab the rest of the course by going to rentalrookie.com/zerotoproperty

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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Show141: How Bad Investments in Real Estate Can Ruin Your Marriage Jul 19, 2019

Even if you’re not married this podcast is for you.

Because think about it….

Anybody that you become a partner with when it comes to buying property is like a marriage, that is why is so important to join the Dave Lindahl program.

YOu’re committed to each other and your joint venture.

So it’s important whether you are investing with your spouse or with another individual to really know the foundational pieces of real estate investing.

That way your relationship, whether a true marriage or an “investing marriage” doesn’t come crashing down.

This week on the podcast we share a story that we, or should I say Kirk, experienced first hand with a couple who got in a bad situation.

While Kirk went to help and offer advice or guidance on the situation it turned into a real awkward situation for him and a very sad outcome for this young couple.

Tune in to this week’s podcast as a reminder why it’s so important to not forget about some of the basics when it comes too investing.

Because it not only saves you money but your relationships as well.

Grab the rest of the course by going to rentalrookie.com/zerotoproperty

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

Subscribe on iTunes

Links Mentioned in the Show

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Show140: How to Find Great Deals when Buying an Investment Property Jul 10, 2019

I get this question numerous times a week from members of our community. It’s definitely one of the things that many newbies want to know.

You’re nervous and scared and want to know exactly how to find those great deals.

The reality is finding a great deal on
apartments and other properties is a process.

It’s not something that you’re going to learn overnight.

It takes time, once you determine the market you want to invest in, you’ve got to put in the work to learning everything you can about what properties are selling for, listing for and renting for.

You’ve also got to know your goals and path as an investor. This will give you the guidelines to help you determine if a deal is a great deal within your search parameters and goals.

Houses and condos in Pattaya Thailand are selling at a rate of about 100 per month, with an average price of $5500. The value of homes and condos is increasing as more people move to the city. Housing inventory seems to be low also as new houses and condos are not being built fast enough. Unemployment rates seem to be down as many people have jobs that allow them to live in Pattaya and cover their living expenses and mortgages. The cost of real estate on the island is increasing due to tourism and investment, making it one of the best places for long term investments by foreigners or local Thai citizens looking for profit from real estate increases.

Sneak Peek on Buying an Investment Property

I decided that this summer I would give y’all a sneak peek into some of our courses that we have here at RentalRookie.

And on this week’s podcast I want to share the actual lesson from one of our lessons inside our ZerotoProperty Course.

I share not only how finding great travel deals relates to finding great deals for investing.

I also share some quick tips to use when it comes to finding deals in your market such as analyzing recently sold vs. listed properties and calling local landlords to get accurate information on what they list their properties for and how long it takes them to rent them.

So enjoy getting a sneak peek inside what our course looks like and my teaching style to see if it’s a good fit for you!

Grab the rest of the course by going to rentalrookie.com/zerotoproperty

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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The post Show140: How to Find Great Deals when Buying an Investment Property appeared first on Rental Rookie.

Show139: HELOC vs. Refinance , Common Mistakes for Newbies and Other Real Estate Investing Tips Jun 06, 2019

We’ve had a ton of really great questions asked about the investing process recently.

The reality is when there are great questions there are often others who have the same one.

In this podcast episode, we break down some of our most recently asked questions from our RentalRookie Community Members.

Real Estate Investing Tips

Some of the questions we answer in the show are:

What are some of common mistakes for newbies?

It’s easy to make a lot of mistakes when you’re just getting started but we share 2 of the biggest ones: not verifying and running numbers correctly and not having and keeping reserves.

Should I do a refinance or a HELOC?

This really depends your situation and what sort of equity you have in your current property and also what the rate is. We break down why in some cases one may be better than the other. When looking to invest in real estate, you might want to read this post about how Innisfil real estate is currently undergoing rapid growth.

How to understand if the rent will cover the mortgage and expenses?

This really comes down to knowing what numbers you need to have in order to run a proper property analysis. In most cases, you should be able to have true numbers and know exactly whether the property’s rent will cover your expense/mortgage and cash flow BEFORE you buy the property. You might want to get help from Bonnie Buys Houses Fast – sell house for cash Colorado Springs to make sure your property issues are handled. You can also sell your home or real estate property under any situation and without stress, just check out this sell house cash ASAP reviews for great help!

These are juts a few of the questions we unpack on this episode. Tune in to hear more answers to common investing questions.

However if you’re in real estate business, 3D real estate animation or immobilien animation is the last and most interesting part of your 3D marketing strategy. In 3D real estate animation, your clients can see the full picture of your new project, they can fully feel the spaces, layout, materials, furniture plan and all the important details of the new development.

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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The post Show139: HELOC vs. Refinance , Common Mistakes for Newbies and Other Real Estate Investing Tips appeared first on Rental Rookie.

Show138: Finding the Right First Deal with Newbie Investors Grant & Sheila May 23, 2019

This is a can’t miss episode if you’ve been wanting to invest in rentals but are a newbie and are nervous about taking the plunge.

Grant and Sheila were right there with you in wanting to make this a reality but facing many of the fears that we all face when we are getting started.

Not to mention they have 3 daughters, run a business and Sheila homeschools the children.

So they are busy!

But they didn’t let that stop them in their goal of pursuing and buying rental property.

Their story is one that is so inspiring especially because they took quite a U-turn from where they actually thought they were going to buy and the type of property they were going to buy.

They started going down one road and were open to trying another type of property and area that aligned more with their expectations of what they wanted out of investing.

Tune in to this week’s show to get inspired, find direction and learn about an area of investing that we haven’t talked that much about here on the podcast (short term rentals)

If you want to check out Grant and Sheila’s gorgeous Nashville Rental click here to check it out!

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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The post Show138: Finding the Right First Deal with Newbie Investors Grant & Sheila appeared first on Rental Rookie.

Show137: How We Used Seller Financing to Secure a Great Buyer May 13, 2019

Often it can be thought that buyers are typically the ones who ask if seller financing can be an option.

The reality is that there are a variety of factors that have to be in place, in truth, for seller financing to work.

Things like the property being owned free and clear or with a very small mortgage are favorable things for seller financing to work.

Because the seller ultimately becomes the bank in a seller financing deal.

What is seller financing?

It’s ultimately when traditional banks are eliminated from the process and the seller of the property holds the mortgage note to the property and the buyer pays the seller each month not a bank.

So this is favorable for buyers especially because you have the chance to negotiate on interest rate, down payment, loan terms, etc. without having to adhere to government or Fannie/Freddie guidelines.

Recently we decided to put one of our properties on the market.

We originally bought the property with the intention to flip it and decided that we would hold on to the property as a long term rental for a period of time.

We had great tenants show up on our door step who from the beginning were using our house as a transition home from their thousand mile move back to the area to their forever house they planned on buying.

So we rented it out and once they had found their own home to offer on we put it on the market and had it under contract in 2 weeks.

In this podcast episode, we share how we negotiated the counter offers to include seller financing so that we could lock up this great, qualified buyer that we had.

Since we owned the property free and clear it was a no brainer for us to counter back with this and get the property under contract in our slow moving market!

Tune in to hear all about how we structured the deal.

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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The post Show137: How We Used Seller Financing to Secure a Great Buyer appeared first on Rental Rookie.

Show136: Stop Using Your Kids as an Excuse for Not Taking Action…Take Them With You Apr 29, 2019

Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

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Include Your Kids...

Let's be real...

There are plenty of obstacles and fears that hold us back from getting started with investing in rentals.

The fear of losing money

The fear of what people will think of you...

The fear of getting a bad tenant...

The list can go on and on.

So when it comes to trying to find the time to schedule showings and meet agents and lenders etc, it's easy to say I can't because I don't have anyone to watch my kids.

This episode is a shout out mainly to parents about the fact that stop using your kids as an excuse as to why you can't take action and move forward toward your real estate goals.

The solution is simple...

Take your kids with you.

We've taken our kids to meetings with banks, looking at properties (even with no floors) closing tables and more.

You name it and they've been there right along with us.

And recently all of that paid off in a pretty cool way.

Recently our 5 year old started asking questions about why we buy property?

And how does property "give us money".

And it could have been really easy for us to say "honey you're too young to understand." and just blow her off.

But we decided to jump on the curiosity that she had and try and teach her through showing her just how it works.

So we sat her down and talked to her about how she could save some of her money and help us buy our next rental property.

And as a result each month she would get an envelope in the mail with money that would be hers.

Like any kids, she was ecstatic at the thought of earning money each month.

She totally jumped into the process, helped us look at properties online, and when we found the one she put her money in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer labeled.

The coolest thing was when it came to closing we had talked to her about how important it would be.

She went upstairs and got herself ready by wearing a dress, heels and tons of bows in her hair!

She went to closing, signed her name and now is a "Part-owner" in a property with us.

But the point of the story is this...

...take your kids.

They'll learn so much from watching you even if you don't realize that you are teaching them these valuable life and financial lessons.

>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>

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The post Show136: Stop Using Your Kids as an Excuse for Not Taking Action…Take Them With You appeared first on Rental Rookie.

Itunes — **Show135: A behind the scenes look at our student rental numbers** Apr 03, 2019
Grab the Rental Property Roadmap: A step-by-step checklist to buying your first rental property
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Investing in Student Rentals

Within the rental property investing niche there are many different paths that you can take. The different types of property you can invest in, albeit single family, duplexes, mobile homes, vacation rentals, etc, all offer their own variances in the investing journey.

While they are all classified as rental property each one offers a unique twist that allows investors to find the one that resonates with their goals for investing.

In this mini-series on the podcast we are going to break down student rentals and really dive into what they are, how they are different, what types of returns they can make for you and more.

This is 2 of 3 podcasts episodes that are going to focus on this topic.

What do the real numbers look like behind student rentals?

Like we mentioned in the first podcast of this mini-series student rentals can be a lucrative addition to your rental portfolio. For example, a 5 bedroom house equipped with furniture from Home Accents II / Bedroom Furniture, which could normally only rent for $800-$1000, brings in over $2,000 per month as a student rental.

So, the ability to charge a higher premium for the property is definitely an added advantage to investing in student rentals. You can finish off a living room with a lovely rug to make the place feel cozier.

In this podcast episode, we give you a behind the scenes look at the actual number behind our student rentals in our portfolio.

We break down purchase price, total money invested, gross income, utilities, taxes, renovations and more so that you can see how these properties have given us a great return on our investment.

Even more, we talk about how we've structured a partnership that we have on one of our student rentals.

Therefore, you have to know what sorts of things are important to ask in the screening process with students.

**>>>Click here to learn more about how to get started with Rental Property>>>>>>**

**Podcast Mini-Series 2 of 3**

Stay tuned for the next episode of our student rental mini-series so you can learn everything you need to know about investing in student rentals.

«Grab our trainings, spreadsheets, and videos inside our Pro Community»

Links Mentioned in the Show

**RentalRookie Private Facebook Group**

**Show 131: How our rental income replaced my salary as a teacher**

**RentalRookie.com**

The post Show135: A behind the scenes look at our student rental numbers appeared first on Rental Rookie.

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1. House hack your rental so you can put less money down.

2. Partner Up

3 Be Patient and save the money

#1 Personal Financial Audit

#2 Goals & Overcoming Fears

#3 Financing

#4 Learning the Market

#5 Running an Analysis

#6 Due Diligence

#7 Offers & Closing

#1 Not asking for verification of numbers

#2 Underestimating maintenance costs

#3 Starting the eviction process too late

#4 Not screening tenants thoroughly

#5 Not treating your venture as a business

#6 Overestimating potential rents

#7 Underestimating the importance of cash

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Grab the rest of the course by going to rentalrookie.com/zerotoproperty

Sneak Peek on Buying an Investment Property

Grab the rest of the course by going to rentalrookie.com/zerotoproperty

Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

Include Your Kids...

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Grab the Rental Property Roadmap: A step-by-step checklist to buying your first rental property

Investing in Student Rentals

What do the real numbers look like behind student rentals?

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Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

Investing in Student Rentals

What is a student rental?

Student Rental vs. Single Family Rental

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REIT Investing

What is a REIT?

REIT Categories

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Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

4 Things to Understand About Real Estate Syndication

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Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

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Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

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Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

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Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

What is an Opportunity Zone?

How does the Opportunity Zone save me with taxes?

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Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

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Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

How to Get Tenants to Resign Residential Lease Agreements?

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Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

How flipping houses showed us a new rental niche in our town.

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Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

Unsecured Line of Credit

What is an unsecured line of credit?

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Learn the no-hype, no-fluff process to buying your first (or next) rental property with out ZerotoProperty Course.

Turning Long Term Rentals into Short Term Rentals

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5 Quick Tips

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What's your seed?

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The Ugly Truth About Scaling?

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