Financial Freedom One House At A Time
Every industry has expenses associated with the cost of doing business. In real estate, however, those cost may not be as apparent, especially for new and aspiring investors. I know this because I got to explain some of those expenses to two different investors involved in two different deals this week. I would like to talk you through both scenarios so you’ll be better prepared to account for…
I had an interesting time with contractors last week. We have five rehabs going right now, which means we are dealing with lots of contractors and many different schedules. And last week’ workflow was, well, inefficient at best. I had one contractor go MIA. I chose that term because we didn’t know he was gone. He normally goes out, works and sends us his invoice when he is…
I’m a firm believer in the idea that rental property is an essential part of attaining financial freedom. It’s different from any other capital asset you can purchase. I mean think about it: for what other asset can you get a loan for the purchase price? I’m not aware of any bank loans for stocks. But I do know a lot of programs geared toward obtaining mortgages. Having…
I recently sat down with a property owner who was about to become a landlord unexpectedly. You’d be surprised how often this happens. Their scenarios range from inheriting property to going through a divorce or even just experiencing a job transfer. This particular owner falls into the last category. He’s being deployed overseas and received about a months’ notice. Like I said — unexpected landlord. Before I…
I did something a little gutsy this week. I decided to do a Facebook live video were I walked the viewers through a house we had just gotten back from some vacating tenants. What made this move gutsy was the fact that I had no idea what the condition of the property would be. I just turned the camera on, unlocked the door and began filming. The house was…
Boy, do we have a full plate right now. We have four active rehab projects, plus three rentals houses we need to fill. Put it all together: yep, that’s seven open properties. Woohoo! Rehab No.1 is located on Rush Chapel Road. Painting and light installation was completed Tuesday which meant I had to get cabinets and flooring ordered and delivered so the guys could keep moving forward. …
I’m often asked how I’ve learned to successfully manage rental property. You see, every landlord takes a course in property management, either via the school of hard knocks, or from a good teacher. I was blessed to learn my property management system from two great teachers, Bill Cook and David Tilney. And because of their philosophies and strategies, we have a track record of getting great tenants who…
I was in the middle lane of Interstate 75 about a mile south of Exit 312 heading north. I needed to meet Ashley at Exit 315. People were slowing in front of me, so I decided to merge left. I glanced left, saw nothing and began to drift into the next lane. That’s when I heard an almost immediate crunch. I whipped my truck back into the…
If you’re in real estate in Georgia, chances are you’ve heard someone talk about black mold. Most of the time it’s a potential tenant complaining about their current landlord, how he doesn’t fix anything and that there’s black mold all over the property. As and aside, here a word to the wise: Stay away from tenants like that. It’s not always the case, but most of the time…
The other day I was reading a forum discussing myths in real estate investing. One of the contributors said the phrase “it doesn’t take money to make money” is the biggest myth in real estate investing today. I disagreed with the contributor from the standpoint of personal experience; Ashley and I had no money when we started. We were broke kids, straight out of college, with a ton…