Financial Freedom One House At A Time
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…
This has been the year of the septic system. So far we’ve put in three sets of field lines and had to learn what not to do on a lower pressure drip system. (After owning one for four years, we learned they have a filter that was supposed to be cleaned every six months. Not doing so overpressurized the low pressure system and literally blew holes in the yard….
It’s my opinion that in today’s market, landlords should be offering all their rentals as rent-to-own. In this deal structure, a tenant buys the right to purchase the landlords property, for a predetermined price and time frame, all while renting the house. It’s also called a lease option. So what makes this deal structure attractive? First, you’ll get market- or above- rent rates. That’s because the number of…
I’m often asked when talking to aspiring real estate investors what a “full timer’s” daily schedule consists of. So far my reply has not been that we push computer buttons for 10 minutes each day, in order to make a bazillion dollars a day while enjoying umbrella drinks on exotic beaches. I say that because that’s how infomercials portray us. My experience, however, has been… well let me tell…
So you bought your first rental property, you’ve gotten it looking nice, and now you’re wondering how to announce to the world that it’s available. There are tons of great ways to accomplish this. Ashley and I recommend utilizing multiple sources when placing a property on the market. Today, I’d like to go over some of the ones we use as well as things to watch out for. …
You often hear tired landlords complaining of midnight calls from their tenants about leaky toilets. We’ve never experienced those calls. That’s because our tenants know that if they call after 5 p.m., they’ll get a response the next day- unless it’s an emergency of course. We’ve received a couple of those late-night calls for things like busted water mains, but they’ve been few and far between. The issue…
As I write this I’m 15,000 feet in the air, courtesy of Delta Airlines, somewhere between Atlanta and Springfield, Mo. I’m on my way to go see one of the strongest and bravest people I know. Her name is Kaleigh, and she’s my little sister. What makes Kaleigh so brave you might ask? She’s fearless. Well that’s not true. She frets on the inside just as badly as…