7 Real Estate Investing Lessons We Can Learn from Steve Jobs I recently read the book “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson. As brilliant as Steve Jobs was, I came away from the book not with a sense of awe about the man who Steve Jobs was, but how despite his incredible success, how idiosyncratic and deeply flawed a human being he really was.Yes, he was a certifiable genius, although in some ways “certifiable” as well.Yes, we’ll never see anyone else exactly like him, although Apple’s … [Read more...]
Private Lending: Pros and Cons
October 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Private Lending: Pros and Cons One of my investors called me up today and told me he had decided he was ready to get into the lending business. He had already purchased a number of properties over the last year or so and was ready to diversify his real estate investing strategy. Part of his decision making process had to do with the tedious financing process he had experienced when buying a property a few months prior, but I think most of the decision had to do with a desire to branch out … [Read more...]
The Five Financial Benefits of Real Estate Investments
October 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Five Financial Benefits of Real Estate Investments Financial advisors will tell you that there are five ways that you can earn a return on any investment. In no particular order, these are:Cash Flow or Rate of ReturnFederal Tax BenefitsLeverage of OPM (Other People’s Money)Principal PaydownAppreciation.One of the wonderful things about real estate is that you can get all five! Real estate is the only investment that I know of that potentially gives you all of these advantages!Think … [Read more...]
8 Stupid Mistakes That Can Kill Your Real Estate Investing Business
September 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
8 Stupid Mistakes That Can Kill Your Real Estate Investing Business When you were a baby, you made tons of mistakes.You learned to walk on your own by walking, falling, getting up, walking again, falling…You hit your head, you cried, and you learned to be more careful… but, what would have happened if you one day decided to give up walking entirely?You said: “This walking thing is just too tough for me, y’know I keep hitting my head, bumping my butt, its just waaaay too hard. I think … [Read more...]
The Power of Appreciation and Leverage: Boost Your Real Estate Returns
September 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Power of Appreciation and Leverage: Boost Your Real Estate Returns If you’ve read any of my blogs on BiggerPockets, http://www.biggerpockets.com, you’ve probably noticed that I am a believer in real estate appreciation. Yes, real estate can and has lost value in recent years; but over time, real estate generally increases in value. This is especially true if you happen to time the market effectively. I have not been shy about the fact that I believe now is a very good time to buy … [Read more...]
Real Estate Investing for the Next 10 Years: If It Were Easy, Everyone Would Do It!
September 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Real Estate Investing for the Next 10 Years: If It Were Easy, Everyone Would Do It! Real Estate seems so simple; all you do is buy low and sell high, right?Wrong!!!Well, what about buy and hold investing or land lording? That’s simple, right? All you do is buy a property and sit on it for 10 years or so and magic happens, no?Wrong!!!Okay, but setting up a long term financial plan and retiring from your day job has to be easy, because all you do is buy one additional property a year for … [Read more...]
The Six Pillars of Real Estate Investing Success
September 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Six Pillars of Real Estate Investing Success I’ve been thinking a lot about ”success” recently.Not only about success in real estate investing, but also success and just plain happiness in general.No doubt, there’s been a ton written about “the steps to success” in real estate investing. Reading what’s here on BiggerPockets is a tremendous way to learning so many of the skills needed to achieve success in real estate.There’s been a lot less written about the mindset or … [Read more...]
How To Earn Infinite Returns in Real Estate
September 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How To Earn Infinite Returns in Real Estate Earning infinite returns on your investment is one of the most exciting accomplishments of a great real estate invest. It doesn’t happen on every deal, but when it does, it’s awesome. Infinite returns are achieved when you no longer have any of your money invested in a property, but you still own it and the property is still generating income. You can earn infinite returns in real estate through two strategies. One you’ve probably … [Read more...]
Real Estate Investing Without Cash: Leasing Your Credit
September 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Real Estate Investing Without Cash: Leasing Your Credit Rather than re-hash the same “getting started in real estate without cash” article, I thought I would take my post in a different direction.Let me explain. . .A few weeks ago, Todd, a former co-worker, and I went out to dinner. During our meal, the topic of real estate investing came up. Todd shared that he had wanted to invest in real estate, but just never had enough capital to get started. I asked him why he let money stand … [Read more...]
Best Real Estate Investing Book Ever Written
September 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Perhaps I am a bit bias when I claim that my new book, "How to be a Real Estate Investor," is the best real estate investing book ever written. This is the book I wish I would have read (I wish it would have been written) when I first got started investing in real estate. It provides a complete picture of how to become a successful real estate investor in today's market and covers all aspects of investing, from the more traditional techniques all the way to the most advanced creative strategies. … [Read more...]
The Seven Deadly Sins of Real Estate Investing
September 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Seven Deadly Sins of Real Estate Investing Have you committed one of the seven deadly sins? No, I’m not referring to gluttony, wrath, or sloth. I’m talking about the Seven Deadly Sins of Real Estate Investing. Ok, maybe they aren’t physically deadly – but they are possibly catastrophic to your business. If you are concerned about the health of your investments, make sure to steer clear from these seven sins:Buying Based On Future Value Also known as “pro forma” numbers, many … [Read more...]
The Number One Irrational Behavior of Real Estate Investors
September 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Number One Irrational Behavior of Real Estate Investors If you ever get a chance to read my posts on the BiggerPockets forums, you notice that I am a big proponent of education, mentor ship, coaching, whatever you want to call it. I call it surrounding yourself with people you want to learn from and always learning something new. One week ago, I had the chance to travel to Boston to attend the Hubspot Inbound ’12 conference and do both!Before tying this into real estate, I think … [Read more...]
The Top 100 Ways To Make Money In Real Estate
September 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Have you heard my “toilet story?”Let’s just say it involves a plugged toilet, three college-aged tenants, three weeks of procrastination (with continual use of that plugged toilet), and my bad mistake of not hiring a plumber. It was a low point in my investing career but a turning point as well. I realized the type of investor I wanted to be and the type of investor I did not want to be. I no longer work on toilets.It’s been years since that event, but I still think of it when I hear … [Read more...]
3 Missteps That Can Derail Your Real Estate Investing
August 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
3 Missteps That Can Derail Your Real Estate Investing With the unprecedented drop in real estate values over the last few years, more and more people are trying their hand at real estate investing. With the wealth of available knowledge related to real estate investing, it is not difficult to research the possible investment strategies and locations in which to invest.Not surprisingly, investors in this market cycle seem to be more cautious about their investing … especially when compared … [Read more...]
The Hardest Part of Buy-and-Hold Real Estate Investing: Delayed Gratification
August 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Hardest Part of Buy-and-Hold Real Estate Investing: Delayed Gratification Let me start this post by saying I love “buy-and-hold” real estate investing. I just wish it was easier.Flipping real estate or wholesaling deals is appealing, as cash is quick and you know in a short time frame if you have made a good deal. Unfortunately, buy-and-hold real estate can take a long time to generate a meaningful amount of cash flow.This leads me to today’s topic, as I want to highlight what I … [Read more...]
So You Want to be a Full Time Real Estate Investor?
August 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
So You Want to be a Full Time Real Estate Investor? Reading Michael Zuber’s post the other day got me thinking back to the days when I was a newbie investor and still had a full time day job. My weekends were pretty full also, as well as many of my nights after work. My wife and I worked very hard, buying and rehabbing properties, dealing with tenants, raising and saving capital. Heck, I even cut all the yards for a while. However, we worked so hard because we had a goal.That goal was … [Read more...]
An Average Weekend for Someone Who Works Full-Time and Invests in Real Estate
August 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
An Average Weekend for Someone Who Works Full-Time and Invests in Real Estate Like many of you, I work a demanding full-time job. My “day job” as I call it, includes a lot of airplane flights, ridiculous schedules, and many days when I have no idea what city I am in, given back-back-back-back business trips.Thus, I have to find time to maximize my non-working hours if I want to be successful with buy-and-hold real estate investing. As you might imagine, this means I have to focus a lot … [Read more...]
Pursuing Real Estate Investing Freedom? Consider Getting a Real Estate License!
August 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Pursuing Real Estate Investing Freedom? Consider Getting a Real Estate License! One of the most highly talked about and debated questions within the world of real estate investing is ‘should’ or ‘should you not’ get licensed in your state? There are numerous articles on BiggerPockets discussing pros and cons and everything in between, but I wanted to throw my $.02 into the debate.There are a ton of financial reasons to pursue the license, but in this article, I’m going to focus on … [Read more...]
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Real Estate and “The Bathtub Recovery”
Real Estate and “The Bathtub Recovery” In last week’s article I talked about the importance of a ten year plan for real estate investing. In addition, I highlighted how important it is to use changes in market cycles to your advantage and the importance of adjusting your business model to suit the current and changing market cycle. Lastly, I called the reader’s attention to the fact that the market may be turning in a significant way. An outcome of the article was a reader’s … [Read more...]