Category: Real Estate
Five Ways to Make Rental Income Without Owning Rental Properties
The real estate market is tougher than ever. It is difficult for the average person to buy a primary residence, let alone own rental properties. I own two rental properties, and it’s safe to say that they are a pain in the rear end. Being a landlord is not for most people. However, everyone’s goal…
My Secret Formula to Determine Housing Affordability
The housing market is out of reach for most American households. However, there are still small pockets of affordable places to live—you just need to find them. I have been using an affordability technique over the last ten years that has served me well. It uses a combination of Zillow and Military housing calculators to…
Is Homeownership Still The American Dream?
I detest paying rent to someone else. Currently, I am renting a room as I finish the last month of my military career. I am paying $800 monthly in San Diego as my family awaits my return to Florida. I feel many negative emotions every time I pay rent on the first. I am a…
Rents Go Up: Which Side of the Equation Are You On?
Rent prices across the United States and the world will continue to rise. There is little we can do as the average consumer. Once institutional investors, foreign interests, and the Airbnb crowd entered the real estate game, it changed the landscape forever. So how do we become homeowners in today’s environment? Even better, how do…
What I Have Learned From Having Tenants for 10 Years
Most people will never become landlords and oversee tenants; they simply don’t possess the drive to manage another human being. Being a landlord requires you to separate who you are as a person from what you represent as a landlord. Sometimes these two individuals (you) are at odds. I own one large house in Arizona,…
House Hacking to Defeat Credit Card Debt
Being in credit card debt is one of the worst situations in the world. There is nothing fun about the incredible power of compounding working against you. We must employ extreme measures to get ourselves out of dangerous credit card debt. We will struggle if we are trying to “work more hours” to clear our…
Living in 1,000 Square Feet as a Family of Four
When did we become so selfish here in America? We want our small families to live in a 3,000-square-foot home on three acres. Unfortunately, we need to be alone, and this is destroying our finances. Living in these monstrous homes as a single family simply costs too much money. The need to be individuals. Families…
Renting Rooms to Family Members
Do you own a big single-family home with only a single family living inside? Well, congratulations, that’s a fantastic feat. The follow-up question is, how is your financial situation looking? Chances are, it is not looking too good. The bait and switch. Who told Americans we all deserve to live in 2,000-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom homes?…
5 Takeaways from “Scale”
“Scale: A Successful Agent’s Guide to Leveling Up a Real Estate Business” by David Greene is book three in the Top-Producing Real Estate Agent Series. Luckily, I have finished all three books in the series (Sold, Skill). At its heart, Scale is a leadership manual. You can use this book for any profession where you…
Why Rents Will Continue to Rise: And How You Can Get Ahead of the Rental Curve
Are you waiting for a housing crash before jumping into the market? Well, you may be waiting for a very long time. The rental market will continue to rise for the foreseeable future for one main reason—investors. There are simply too many individual and foreign investors, institutions, syndications, and real estate investment trusts (REITs) for…
The True Value of Owning a Home
Sometimes it takes work to distinguish between value and price. In my last article, I discussed the true costs of owning a home. However, you can deal with the costs if you understand the value. Owning a home is difficult but can be an essential investment in the long run. Inflation protection. The best reason…
Turn a Reverse Mortgage into an Income-Investing Portfolio
At some point, our parents may need to use their primary residence as a retirement plan. We, as their kids, need to remove the emotion from these decisions. Each generation’s retirement years are getting longer, so it could be tough to generate income for 30 to 40 years. This is especially true if they liquid…
The True Costs of Owning a Home
If you are on the fence about owning a home, this article is for you. No matter how bad this makes homeownership seem, it’s still a must. In the following article, I will discuss the VALUE of owning a home. But, before value, I need to talk about the costs. Let’s make one thing clear—owning…
Learn to Barter and Trade Today: How to Prepare for the New World
We should all be fearful of the future. No, this does not mean living in fear, but having a healthy respect for the fact things will change. Money is becoming much harder to obtain through a W-2 job. If you have a job, it’s like having five jobs because you are doing the work of…
Homeownership Will Only be for the Rich
When did Americans become so greedy? Okay, I may need to word this differently. When did Americans become so entitled? As Americans, we want to work a standard job but own a home, drive two late-model cars, and put our kids through private school and college. And we want to do all these things without…
Retiring to a Small City and Living on Passive Income
Are you living in a big city attempting to fulfill the American Dream? How’s that working out for you? Even in small remote towns, the American Dream can cost upwards of $5 million. Actually, it’s more than that, just from last year’s inflation. If you are seriously considering retiring before 50, you must be extreme…
5 Signs That Your City is Too Expensive For You?
We all want to live a life of luxury, right? We don’t turn on the television (or YouTube) to watch people struggling in poverty. No, we want to envision ourselves walking down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills with bags full of expensive clothes. We cruise the strip in our luxury two-door convertible coupe. How exciting.…
Fundrise vs. US Treasuries: Chase Yield Outside of The Stock Market
The average person avoids the stock market like the plague. Too many horror stories exist about people losing it all gambling on the stock market. Investing in the stock market has become a limiting belief, but wonderful alternatives exist. When the stock market tanks, you will want some assets that can still perform well. Today,…
5 Takeaways from “How to Pay Off Your Mortgage in Five Years”
“How to Pay Off Your Mortgage in Five Years” by Clayton and Natali Morris centers around performing a lot of math. If you don’t enjoy math, this may not be the book for you. However, they present a good argument for how to pay off your mortgage quickly. If you are a financially disciplined person,…
The Leveraged Millionaire: Increase Your Risk, Increase Your Returns… Maybe
Leverage is a powerful tool to expedite your path to wealth. Leverage, sometimes called other people’s money (OPM), can also destroy your wealth, progression, and livelihood. I read in a book (I can’t remember which one) that you can only become as rich as the amount of money you borrow. For example, if you borrow…
