“House hacking” may be a newer term, but it describes a concept that has been widely popular in real estate investing for decades. Instead of buying a single-family home to live in, you buy a multi-unit home and live in one unit and rent out the rest. Why do this? It’s easy. You can collect income on a property where otherwise money would only be flowing out. In a ...
Have you ever gone into a real estate deal feeling like you just aren’t sure what you’re getting yourself into? Have you ever wondered if someone is trying to pull something over your head? How do you really know if the numbers on the deal you are pursuing are good? Well, there are two things to help with these questions. The first is due diligence. But due diligence ...
People think that when turnkeys are advertised as “hands-off,” it means they have to do nothing. Then, inevitably, when something goes wrong, the investor is irritated because things are getting handled. Well, I hate to break your cookie jar and spill cookies everywhere, but turnkeys aren’t fully hands-off! Turnkeys do, however, take care of a lot of the work for you. You don’t have to spend time focusing ...
Guess what? Turnkeys aren’t for everyone. But guess what else? They are perfect for some people. There is much debate about whether or not buying a turnkey rental property is a smart investment. The primary argument that comes up against turnkeys is that they are sold more or less at market value, so you can’t force appreciation on them, and being able to do that is the crux ...
I’ve been in and around turnkey rental properties for seven years now. It’s actually unbelievable when I think about it, because it seems like just yesterday I was sitting at my corporate engineering job secretly reading Rich Dad Poor Dad under my desk. I was just like everyone else who started with that book—I had no idea what I was going to get into with real estate ...
Buy a discounted property, do the work yourself, force appreciation from the work, sell it off or refinance it, and the money’s in the bank—it’s the real estate investing dream, right? Yes! Of course it is. It’s one of the fastest ways to make some serious buck. But let’s not kid ourselves here. This isn’t easy work. Knowing what makes a property a good ...
It’s the right time of year for it, no? Well, for most parts of the country, it is definitely winter sports time—or at least winter sports temperature. Here in Los Angeles, not so much, as I was walking the beach in shorts and flip flops earlier. But my intent is not to rub in LA’s fantastic weather but rather to apply an analogy of winter season to ...
You know, it’s so easy in this industry to forget why we are all here. OK, maybe the main reason we are all here is to make money, but hopefully we’re not doing that without having at least a little bit of fun along the way. I guess technically the returns can still be worth it even if you aren’t having fun earning them, but come on… ...
You’ve decided, for whatever reason, that you want to invest outside of your local area or state. Your next question is—where should I invest? I’m going to offer you a list of things that you can consider when trying to figure out what market to invest in. These things are in no particular order, and some of them may not apply to you or your particular situation. ...