What Do Real Estate Investors Want From Real Estate Agents

As I continue to work on the vision for the Real Estate Financial Planner™ brokerage services, I stopped to asked myself what a real estate investor really wants from a investment real estate agent. The following is my list. It is based on three sources. My personal wants from my agent What I seen from my own investor clients What I’ve seen from investors attending my real estate investing seminars Of course, I would like to hear specifically what you want in the comments below. The Basics First, there are the basics. Your real estate agent should be performing the … Read more

Phases of Financial Independence™

When modeling your investments for achieving financial independence, we look at your journey as having 4 distinct phases. Each phase has its own sub-phases as well. Each phase is named after the goal you are working toward achieving. So, you might say, I am working on Phase 1… which is working toward having achieved minimal financial independence. Or, I am in phase 3 working toward safe financial independence. Or, I am working toward leaving a legacy (phase 4). Phase 1: Minimal Financial Independence In Phase 1, Minimal Financial Independence, you are working toward having the absolute minimum you’d need to … Read more

The Ultimate Guide to Private Mortgage Insurance

Since real estate investors utilizing conventional financing are often putting 20% or more down when purchasing rental properties, the discussion of Private Mortgage Insurance isn’t typically associated with real estate investing. However, with the increased popularity of real estate investing strategies like house hacking and Nomad™, there is an increase in real estate investors that are opting to live in their properties that will ultimately becoming investments. Plus, there are down payment options for investors that require less than 20% down as well. These will also have Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). Watch the entire 1 hour and 43 minute class … Read more

The Ultimate Guide to Should I Pay Off My Mortgage

In this 1 hour and 54 minute class, James helps you think about how to answer the question of whether or not you should pay off your mortgage on your properties and especially your rentals. We’ve only taught this class this one time (so far). Should I Pay Off My Mortgage? Are you wondering: Should I Pay Off My Mortgage? Such a simple question, but there are many considerations to whether you should pay extra on your mortgage and specifically… should you pay off your rentals early? Turns out that the Real Estate Financial Planner™ software is uniquely qualified to … Read more

The Ultimate Guide to Credit Repair for Real Estate Investors

As a real estate investor, your credit can be an important factor in how well your investment performs. How much of a difference does your credit score make? That’s what I will cover below. Why Your Credit Score Matters There are real estate investing strategies that you can do with little or no money and no or bad credit, but (as you might imagine) they do limit the number and types of deals you can do. We won’t be discussing the no and bad credit strategies here specifically. Instead, we will focus on how to improve your credit so you … Read more

The Millionaire Real Estate Investor

One of my favorite real estate investing books of all time is The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Jay Papasan and Gary Keller. In fact, I recommend that all members of my local real estate investor group read this book. I recommend they read it first and I recommend they read it once a year. You’ll learn something new each year that you re-read it. It’s that good. We’ve also taught real estate seminars of our top take-aways from reading the book. Like I said, it really is that good. Class Recording: The Millionaire Real Estate Investor If you want … Read more

Best Real Estate Investing Books

I read at least 50 books a year and have since at least 2000. Many of these books are books are real estate investing. I am often asked what are the best real estate investing books I’ve ever read are. Best Real Estate Investing Books Here’s my personal list of what I consider to be some of the best real estate investing books ever written. They are NOT in order: meaning the one at the top is not necessarily better than the last one. Each one is better than the others in its own way. How to Achieve Financial Independence … Read more

The Ultimate Guide to 1031 Exchanges

Check out our ultimate guide to 1031 exchanges including 1031 exchange basics, 1031 exchange rules, 1031 exchange timelines and much more. We will discuss 1031 exchanges for rental properties and even the challenges associated with trying to 1031 exchanges your primary residence. Class Recording: 1031 Exchanges The following two real estate seminars on 1031 exchanges are based on the same power point presentation. One was first presented on May 31, 2017 and the second was taught on June 12, 2019 to our local real estate investor group. Here’s the most recent version of the class. And if you want to … Read more

Real Estate Bookkeeping

Real Estate Bookkeeping Spreadsheet - Year Summary

If you’re a real estate investor learning for the easiest way to keep track of all the real estate bookkeeping and accounting for your rental properties, LLCs and investing activities then you’ve found the right place. Class Recording: Bookkeeping and Accounting for Real Estate Investors In this special real estate seminar recording, Brian walks you through how to get your entire real estate investing business organized and how to quickly and easily keep the books for your real estate investing business using the bookkeeping spreadsheet. Real Estate Bookkeeping Spreadsheet Download To access the real estate bookkeeping spreadsheet Brian is teaching … Read more

Return on Equity Quadrant™

The Return on Equity Quadrant™ is the amount, in dollars, of each of the four primary returns in a real estate investment divided by the current equity in the property. The four primary areas of return are: Appreciation Cash Flow Cash Flow from Depreciation Debt Paydown We typically display this graphically as: Or, with some numbers filled in like this: The Return on Equity Quadrant™ is automatically calculated for you at the bottom of the page when you’re editing your  Property assumptions. Just scroll to the bottom. Check it out for yourself by editting one from your Properties page. If … Read more