You're a real estate investor looking to acquire properties by saving up and putting 25% down. Should you buy an owner-occupied property first? What if that's more expensive than renting? Should you still do it? What if it means you'll be saving less for acquiring rentals by buying an owner-occupied property first? In this comparison class, we will put buying 25% down rentals in a head-to-head competition... We will analyze 304 real estate markets and see if you can achieve financial independenc...
Jan 12, 2024•31 min•Ep. 83
Deal Alchemy™ - Lease-Options Different real estate investors desire, prefer, and prioritize different returns. For example, many real estate investors have a strong preference for the cash flow part of their return. With Deal Alchemy™ , we can manipulate returns and move them from one area to another. Or, we can move them from one or more areas to one or more other areas. For example, using Deal Alchemy™ , we can sometimes manipulate the appreciation return in exchange for better cash flow. In ...
Jan 05, 2024•27 min•Ep. 82
Warning - Insurable Risks When Investing in Real Estate Life has risks. Real estate investing in Kansas City adds some additional risks. Some of these risks can be shifted from your responsibility to the responsibility of a third party for a fee. This is often described as insurance. You choose to pay someone else to take on a risk you don't want to take on yourself. In this mini-class, James will go over a variety of insurable risks that real estate investors experience and how to mitigate or e...
Dec 29, 2023•33 min•Ep. 81
How to Analyze a 20% Down Single-Family Home Rental Using the latest version of The World's Greatest Real Estate Deal Analysis Spreadsheet™ , we will walk through how to analyze a single-family home rental property with a 20% down payment. Learn how to analyze deals correctly and avoid buying cash flow vampires. Only buy the best deals that make sense in this special mini-class, which is part of our deal analysis series. Check out the video from this class here: How to Analyze a 20% Down Single-...
Dec 22, 2023•54 min•Ep. 80
What is PMI And How to Avoid It You want to work with a lender so that you don't need to purchase a property with all cash. The lender is willing to lend you money, charging you interest to make a profit, and ensuring there is a safety buffer of equity in case you default and they need to foreclose to recover their funds. Your goal is to minimize the amount you need to invest in the deal to maximize your return on investment, but the lender requires a minimum down payment of 20% to feel secure i...
Dec 15, 2023•22 min•Ep. 79
Should you use the Nomad™ strategy to acquire properties with a minimal 5% down payment as quickly as possible? Or is it better to be a little more patient and save up for full 25% down payments and buy rentals without moving into each? By saving up for a 25% down payment, the properties will cash flow better. That may allow you to save up faster for subsequent properties and maybe... just maybe... ultimately be able to buy properties faster. If you're buying properties with a 5% down payment, t...
Dec 08, 2023•33 min•Ep. 78
Improving Cash Flow on Rental Properties by Improving the Property When real estate prices, mortgage interest rates, and rent rates are high, it can be more challenging to generate great cash flow from a rental property. However, it is also more important than ever to do everything in your power to maximize cash flow. There are 88 strategies for improving cash flow on rental properties , with some significant ones that you can apply by making improvements to your rental property. This mini-class...
Dec 01, 2023•28 min•Ep. 77
Refinancing Rental Property Tips There are many flavors of refinancing rental properties: cash-out refinances, cash-in refinances, rate and term refinances, and recasting loans. Understanding each one, when you might want to use them in your real estate investing, the general rules and guidelines for using them, and the impact of each are all important bits of knowledge you should have as a real estate investor. In this mini-class, James will cover some tips for refinancing rental properties. Ch...
Nov 24, 2023•33 min•Ep. 76
Financing Tips When Writing an Offer to Buy a Rental So, you understand financing for buying your next property, and you're ready to go out in search of a property to buy. There are a few financing-related tips that might help set you up for success, improve the odds of getting your offer accepted, getting the best price and terms on your offer, and make your life easier. That's what we will discuss in this mini-class. Check out the video from this class here: Financing Tips When Writing an Offe...
Nov 17, 2023•19 min•Ep. 74
Sometimes buying rental properties is merely a means to an end: financial independence. Some folks don't want to hold onto their rental properties, manage them, or deal with the business of owning them when they achieve financial independence. Instead, they may prefer to have their money more passively invested in stocks. Can a real estate investor buy properties and hold onto them until they can sell off all the rentals, pay all their expenses of the sale—including closing costs, capital gains ...
Nov 10, 2023•31 min•Ep. 73
Tips for Getting Mortgage Quotes from Lenders If you choose a random lender, you'll have a random chance of closing with financing. And in many markets, if your lender fails to perform, you as the buyer are in default (since your lender is not a party to the contract). Wouldn't you rather have more certainty that your lender will perform and that you select a lender that will give you great service, with reasonable fees, and a great mortgage interest rate? Yes, it seems like a very reasonable ex...
Nov 03, 2023•34 min•Ep. 72
In the last few years, we've seen equity explode. Property prices have been growing like a weed in a spring. And, lower mortgage interest rates mean loan paydown has been more like the Mississippi than a backyard creek. Many real estate investors who owned property during that period will be tempted to tap into that equity to invest in more properties... leverage up. But, leveraging up is not without risk. In this special class, James demonstrates how risk changes as you leverage up and much mor...
Oct 31, 2023•40 min•Ep. 123
How can you speed up your journey to financial independence (FI)? In this special class, James will go over a brand-new spreadsheet and walk you through all the different ways to speed up your achievement of financial independence. James covers the following in this class: What is financial independence? How is financial independence defined mathematically? How do you know if you're financially independent? A brief discussion of pensions, annuities, and social security and why you may prefer to ...
Oct 30, 2023•59 min•Ep. 122
Preparing to Get Mortgages So, you’ve decided to invest in real estate and know that you’ll need a mortgage to buy property. There are some things you should do BEFORE you apply for your mortgage. You should be thinking about these things ideally for multiple years before you try to get a mortgage. In this mini-class, we will discuss the preparation you should do before getting a mortgage and how to make the process faster, better, and easier, especially if you plan to buy more than one property...
Oct 27, 2023•31 min•Ep. 71
Accessing Equity in Properties With prices up a lot over the last few years and interest rates having lingered near all-time lows, many real estate investors find themselves sitting on massive amounts of equity in their properties. But, how do you access that equity? In this mini-class, James will look at a variety of ways to access equity in properties. Check out the video from this class here: Accessing Equity in Properties - Video In this class, James discusses: The returns you earn on rental...
Oct 20, 2023•30 min•Ep. 70
The Return on Investment on Extra Down Payments You’re buying a rental property. You have more than you need for a down payment, closing costs and reserves. One option you’re considering is putting more down. Putting more down will often improve cash flow and Cash on Cash Return on Investment. The dollar amount of returns from Appreciation and Depreciation remain unchanged but, it can also lower your overall return on investment from Appreciation and Depreciation because your investment amount h...
Oct 13, 2023•41 min•Ep. 69
Most real estate investors consider themselves financially independent when the income from all of their investments exceeds their personal expenses. To achieve this, they need net positive cash flow from all rental properties after all expenses, any income generated from stocks, bonds, or other investments times a safe withdrawal rate, and any social security, pensions or annuities. On the expense side, they need to consider all personal expenses, such as food, taxes, insurance, entertainment, ...
Oct 06, 2023•23 min•Ep. 68
Use this special spreadsheet to track the returns on each property in your portfolio. It utilizes the Return in Dollars Quadrant™ methodology to easily allow you to track appreciation, cash flow, debt paydown, Cash Flow from Depreciation™ and the return on your reserves all in one place. Plus, see how and when each return is taxed. And, whether the return is cash now or cash later. And finally, whether the return is more speculative and uncertain or less speculative and more certain. Download th...
Oct 02, 2023•44 min•Ep. 119
Should I Put 15% or 20% Down When Buying a Rental Property? In a real estate market that has seen significant increases in property prices and rapidly rising mortgage interest rates, it can be harder than ever to obtain decent cash flow. However, many real estate investors are tempted to minimize their down payments to optimize their overall returns by investing as little as possible in the deal. A debate looms regarding whether a 15% or 20% down payment is preferable when purchasing an investme...
Sep 29, 2023•14 min•Ep. 67
Use this special budget spreadsheet to model changes in your situation like buying an owner-occupant property, buying rental properties, getting married or divorced or remarried, retiring and much much more. The spreadsheet allows you to create 6 variations to your budgets for different seasons of your life to easily see how that impacts what you need to have to be financially independent. Download the spreadsheet: https://refp.info/soml Free Real Estate Deal Analysis Spreadsheet: Download a cop...
Sep 28, 2023•36 min•Ep. 118
Loan Comparison Spreadsheet for Real Estate Investors Sometimes it can be helpful to compare various loan programs and options simultaneously. For example, it could be useful to compare the monthly payment differences between various "nothing down," "low down," and full-size down payment options when buying a rental property. Visually seeing a chart comparing the monthly payments of your choices of loans can assist you in making better decisions. If you had a spreadsheet to easily compare a vari...
Sep 22, 2023•22 min•Ep. 66
Buying Down Mortgage Interest Rates for Real Estate Investors There are several ways to improve cash flow on your rental properties. One option is to put more money down to reduce the amount you borrow. In some cases, this can also improve your interest rate by lowering your overall loan-to-value. However, when comparing putting more money down to buying down the mortgage interest rate, it is usually better to buy down the interest rate for any reasonable holding period. This is true from both a...
Sep 15, 2023•48 min•Ep. 65
Other Financing Options for Real Estate Investors In the last several classes, we covered a variety of traditional financing options, including nothing-down financing , low down payment financing , conventional financing , and portfolio loans . These options represent the overwhelming majority of financing options used when purchasing properties. However, there are a handful of financing options that are used infrequently, but it's still important to be aware of them. In this mini-class, we will...
Sep 08, 2023•43 min•Ep. 64
Home prices are up a lot over the last 10 years or so, interest rates are up even more in the last 18 months or so, and—while rents are up—they’re not up enough to counteract the higher prices and interest rates. That makes cash flow harder... but not for Ryan and his strategy... We discuss this method of improving cash flow under "Improve Strategy" when we discuss our 88 cash flow improving strategies, but Ryan really drives home just how amazing it is. Check out the interview and his website ....
Sep 03, 2023•58 min•Ep. 117
Prices have gone up rapidly in the last few years. And, interest rates are much higher. And even though rents are up, they’re not up enough to counteract the much higher prices and much higher interest rates. That makes it harder to achieve good cash flow with a reasonable down payment. One way to overcome the impact of higher interest rates is to not use loans to buy rental properties. In this comparison mini-class James will compare the Nomad™ real estate investing strategy to taking the signi...
Sep 01, 2023•37 min•Ep. 63
The Importance of Loan Planning for Real Estate Investors Real estate investing is a little like the game of Chess. You can play the game with an elementary understanding of the basic rules. But, you soon learn that just knowing how the pieces move about the board are the table stakes for being able to sit at the game board. If you want to do well, you need to start thinking about the consequences of your actions. And, not just the consequences of your actions for the immediate next move, but th...
Aug 25, 2023•28 min•Ep. 62
Hard Money and Private Money for Real Estate Investors Certain real estate investing strategies suggest certain types of financing. For example, most long-term buy-and-hold real estate investors purchasing non-owner-occupant properties will opt for 30-year fixed rate conventional financing or commercial loans. House hackers and Nomads™ will often seek out low or zero down VA, USDA, FHA, and conventional financing options. However, sometimes the real estate investing strategy will lean toward uti...
Aug 18, 2023•49 min•Ep. 61
Commercial Loans 101 for Real Estate Investors Recently, we have been covering a variety of financing options for real estate investors. However, we have primarily focused on financing single-family homes, condos, townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes. But what if you're interested in purchasing a commercial building, an apartment with five or more units, or an industrial property? That's where commercial financing comes in. In this mini-class, James will introduce you to commercial fin...
Aug 11, 2023•19 min•Ep. 60
Portfolio Loans 101 for Real Estate Investors Most real estate investors initially use conventional financing options to acquire their rental property portfolio. However, when they hit the limit of conventional loans they can obtain, they may switch to portfolio loan products to continue acquiring properties. Additionally, when doing certain types of partnerships, it may be beneficial to consider portfolio loans. In this mini-class, James covers the basics of portfolio mortgage financing for rea...
Aug 04, 2023•25 min•Ep. 59
Conventional Financing 101 for Real Estate Investors While about one-third of real estate transactions are all-cash, the majority of real estate investors use conventional financing options to acquire their rental properties. Even new investors often desire to utilize creative financing strategies, but it's important to have a foundational understanding of conventional financing. In this mini-class, James will cover the basics of conventional financing for real estate investors. Check out the vi...
Jul 28, 2023•32 min•Ep. 58
