December 2016

5 Ways Real Estate Can Help You Escape Your Lousy Job

by Brandon

real-estate-quit-job

In the summer between my junior and senior year of high school, I spent a few hours working at a local strip club.

But don’t worry, Mom. I was just helping my plumber boss fix a leak. And it was closed that day.

I’ve also worked on a congressional campaign, run a handyman business, and spent time as a banker.

I was on a streak of pretty terrible jobs.

That is, until I discovered real estate.

Real estate has some tremendous superpowers — not the least of which is its ability to get you out of a terrible job. Today I want to share with you five ways real estate can make that happen.

Here we go.

1. House Flipping

I know you’ve seen the TV shows. The annoying guy and attractive woman walk into the dirty house, the man takes the sledge hammer, pounds a hole in the wall, and 25 minutes later, they are touring the completed property and counting their profit.

Although house flipping might be a wee bit different than what you see on TV, you get the idea: buy nasty houses, fix them up, sell them for more, and make it rain.

house-flipping

2. Cash Flowing Rentals

Obviously, being a landlord isn’t the most glamorous job in the world, but behind male modeling, it’s a close second.

OK maybe not. But owning rental properties can be a great way to get you out of a job.

Think about it: If you made $200 per month in cash flow per unit after all the bills have been paid, how many units would you need to quit your job?

Twenty? Fifty?

Whatever the number is, that’s your goal. So go out and start collecting rentals.

Related: 5 Ways to Make Enough Side Money to Eventually Quit Your Job

3. Wholesaling

Imagine a scenario with me: Your neighbor tells you he wants to sell his go-kart for $500. You know that your cousin Jim-Bob has been looking everywhere for a go-kart. So you get the go-kart for $500, and then you charge JimBob $800 and make a cool $300 for just facilitating the deal.

Makes sense, right?

Well, wholesaling is pretty much the same thing. You find great deals, you find people who want great deals, and you put them together and make some cash on the spread.

Of course, there are a lot of rules and laws that govern this practice — and it’s easy to get yourself into trouble with wholesaling because you don’t want to break the law of “practicing real estate without a license.”

But if you do it right, you can wholesale just one or two deals a month and make enough to quit your job.

4. BRRRR Investing

BRRRR stands for “Buy-Rehab-Rent-Refinance-Repeat.”

(Click to read on BiggerPockets…)

P.S. looking for hard money loans in California? Be sure to check out my friends over at northcoastfinancialinc.com. They have very competitive rates, can fund within a week and specialize in fix and flip loans and other hard money loans.

How to Be a Rockstar Landlord: 6 Tips for Success

by Brandon

How to Be a Rockstar Landlord: 6 Tips for Success

How would you like to work 168 hours a week, never travel anywhere, and spend your days dealing with the ungrateful, entitled, lowest common denominator of public society?

No?

OK good, me neither. So, today I want to share with you my top tips for AVOIDING that lifestyle while still owning rental properties.

That’s right. You can be a rockstar landlord without being a slumlord — and today, I want to offer six tips for doing just that.

Let’s get to it.

1. Treat Landlording as a Business

Look, you don’t see Howard Shultz making lattes, Mark Cuban playing one-on-one with Shaq, or Donald Trump swinging a hammer.

Why?

Because these people run businesses. And if you own rental properties, you run a business too.

So start acting like it!

Take it seriously.

Build processes and systems that you can follow. Be consistent. Hire stuff out. Be organized. Know your numbers. Stop getting so emotional about everything.

It’s a business — and it’s time you started acting like it.

email-marketing

2. Provide a Great Home

If you want to attract weird tenants, provide a weird home.

But if you want great tenants, provide a great home. Fix the property up right before a tenant moves in. In the words of my friend and fellow landlord Darren Sager, make your home “tenant-proof” by using materials that won’t break down quickly.

Related: The 9 Things I Hate the Most About Being a Landlord

Your property doesn’t need to look like Buckingham palace, but it should be clean, durable, and better than average — because that’s exactly the kind of tenant you want to attract.

3. Get to Know Your Fair Housing Laws

If you really enjoy lawsuits and paying big bucks to bad tenants, ignore this tip.

But if you want to remain legal and avoid being called a lot of terrible names in the paper, listen up.

You need to learn what your Fair Housing Laws are.

Fair Housing Laws exist on federal, state, and local levels and are designed to make sure discrimination doesn’t take place against a “protected class.”

Protected classes include race, color, religion, sex, familial status, handicap, national origin, and potentially more depending on your local laws.

While it seems pretty obvious on the surface, sometimes it can be easy to discriminate and not even notice. For example,

“Yeah, this property is on the second floor, so probably not ideal since you have a wheelchair.”

or

“You know, I have another property that might suit you a little better since this is a high-crime area and you are a single woman.”

or

“It’s a small studio apartment, so we can’t allow seven kids.”

Each of these could get you in hot water, so be sure to review your local, state, and federal Fair Housing Laws.

(Click to read on BiggerPockets…) With Video!

P.S. looking for hard money loans in California? Be sure to check out my friends over at northcoastfinancialinc.com. They have very competitive rates, can fund within a week and specialize in fix and flip loans and other hard money loans.