If you are going to do your own management, buy Leigh Robinson’s book, titled Landlording. And read your local landlord-tenant laws. The most important thing is to properly screen tenants. First you have to find potential tenants. You can advertise Read more…
The MLS is one of the best places to find real estate. Not only does it have retail, move-in ready, properties, most bank owned repos and HUD properties are also on the MLS. On the other hand, as a buyer, Read more…
This video describes the foreclosure process in Washington State, in easy to understand terms, with options for the borrower.
The U.S. has some of the most affordable real estate in the world, as pointed out in my earlier posts. Rental yield or rent versus price is also higher than in most other countries. This is because of the real Read more…
The United States is one of most affordable countries in the world right now in which to buy real estate. You don’t have to believe me, take a look at this and sort by affordability or by mortgage percentage of Read more…
I found a Monopoly app in the app store and just installed it a couple of days ago. It is just like the Monopoly game I played as a kid except with slick graphics (if you touch the cat it Read more…
The concept of 1031 exchanges sounds good. The idea is that when you sell an investment property, you can buy another investment property of greater or equal value, and tax is deferred into the future. My problem with this is Read more…
Financing up to four properties is relatively easy, if you have the income. When you get beyond four, things get a lot trickier. Although Fannie Mae guidelines allow up to 10 financed properties, the reality is that many banks do Read more…
I’ve often been asked by friends if they can be silent partners in my deals. I’ve never accepted for a couple of reasons. One reason is that different people have different exit strategies. I tend to hold long term while Read more…
This map shows gross rental yields by market. I doubt they are considering taxes, vacancy rates, cost of utilities, etc., and the data is crowdsourced so not scientific, but it can give you some rough ideas. I’ve personally invested in Read more…
My first thought when I started investing was that there is more management hassle with two small units than one big unit. On the other hand, with two small units (or a duplex), if one tenant does not pay or Read more…