Racking Up Rentals

We think of ourselves as real estate investors.   That means we invest in properties, right?   Not so fast.   It may be properties that we buy, but it's not properties we actually invest in. In this episode, Jeff explains that the investment we're making is not in the property, because the property is just the investment vehicle.   Rather, the investment is in ourselves and our ability to take a p...

There are certain decisions we must make in life and business that we recognize as being big and important decisions, and we allocate much time and energy to them. There are other decisions we must make that seem small and insignificant; in fact, sometimes we don't even realize they are decisions at all, and to these we allocate very little time and energy. In negotiation, though, the seemingly sm...

Most real estate investors have been taught to focus on numbers, numbers, numbers.   And numbers are indeed very important, but numbers without CONTEXT are meaningless.   In this episode, Jeff explains the expression "from people come numbers," and discusses how people are the needed CONTEXT, while numbers are the needed CONTENT.   Without understanding the context (people), we can't possibly nego...

Often times the best way to learn is to hear the real life deal stories from other real estate investors doing great things! In this episode, Jeff interviews The DEALS Workshop and coaching client Pasha, who purchased four off-market duplexes at once, all from the same Seller!   Pasha tells the story of how the lead originally started, the hurdles in the negotiation and how he conquered them, how...

There are many different things a real estate investor must know about and be able to do. From deal analysis to understanding construction to having property management knowledge and beyond, there's a lot to learn and know. But there's one skill that rises above the others.   In this episode, Jeff explains a huge irony for most real estate investors:   the desire to seek financial independence thr...

As buyers of real estate, we wish we could have every great opportunity be competition-free.   After all, who wants to compete with other buyers for every great deal?   But the truth is, we can't avoid competition; we can simply choose which type of competition we want to face.   In this episode, Jeff explains the different types of competition that come from different types of Sellers, and ultima...

When we meet a new Seller lead, our tendency is to immediately begin gathering lots of information. After all, with real estate, there's a lot of information we need, right? Information on the condition of the property, age of mechanical systems, rents, expenses and more.   But while information is important, there's another thing that's also equally—if not more—important than information, that we...

Often times the best way to learn key concepts in real estate are to see and hear them in action in real-life deal case studies!   In this episode, Jeff interviews Tom, a coaching client in The DEALS Workshop.   Tom shares the case study of how he recently purchased an off-market triplex with Seller Financing, by using a highly relationship-oriented approach to negotiating the deal. Learn the art...

Many real estate investors have an underlying belief that universally all Sellers would prefer to sell their properties for cash, and that selling via Seller Financing is an inferior backup plan they would only reluctantly agree to.   This leads to a belief that if the Seller agrees to Seller Financing, they are doing the Buyer a favor, and would want to be compensated accordingly for that favor....

"Always be willing to walk away" is fairly standard real estate investing advice.   And like with all standard advice, it's important to examine them so that we can formulate our own philosophies to guide our investing.   In this episode, Jeff discusses how "being willing to walk away" is a two-layered conversation:   the internal dialog with ourselves, and the external negotiation with the Seller...

Conducting due diligence and physical inspections of a property in contract is an important part of the overall real estate investing business. And it can be tempting sometimes to simply do one's own "inspection," instead of hiring a professional, licensed home inspector—especially when the buyer has experience in construction and renovation. But in this episode, Jeff explains why it's important t...

Most real estate investors are open to many different acquisition strategies for finding, negotiating and financing their deals.   Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, tend to be more selective, and stick to the acquisition strategies that best fit their talents and gifts.   In this episode, Jeff describes why employing different acquisition strategies is like playing completel...

As real estate investors and rental property owners, are tenants our customers? Seems like an obvious question with an obvious 'yes' answer, but when we look at it from a different perspective we get a different answer.   In this special 200th episode of Racking Up Rentals, Jeff explains why he does NOT see tenants as customers, and instead sees them in a different role. This change of perspective...

The holy grail of relationship-based negotiation and Seller Relations is when your Seller says—or even thinks—"I can tell you're my kind of people."   In this episode, Jeff tells the story of a coaching client's recent deal, in which the coaching client got the deal as a result of successfully building rapport and leading the Seller to the natural conclusion that the buyer was "their kind of peopl...

Many real estate investors have a mentality of "I don't care where the deals come from as long as they make sense." These investors are more than happy to buy properties from wholesalers, through real estate agents, or any other source.   But as Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneurs, we aren't interested in buying properties negotiated by other people—at all.   In this episode, Jeff explains why TR...

Real estate investors in today's market are finding it difficult to buy properties the traditional way. One of the main difficulties they lament is "low inventory." But is inventory really low? And is "low inventory" even an issue that should affect them? In this episode, Jeff reframes what inventory is, explains why there's not really low inventory at all and why higher inventory isn't necessaril...

As real estate investors, we are growth-oriented creatures.   We want to grow our portfolios, wealth and cash flow to achieve financial freedom.   But most of us also want to grow as humans as well; fortunately, the two go hand-in-hand.   In this episode, Jeff interviews real estate entrepreneur Alexandra Haider, who—in just the first five years of her real estate investing career—has built a port...

We've all met them: the off-market Sellers who we chat with and immediately have red flags that they are not reasonable.   But what exactly defines "unreasonable"?   For more real estate investors, an unreasonable Seller is one who has unrealistic expectations for their property's value. But for us Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneurs, our perspective is different and we define "unreasonable Selle...

Many real estate investors think that Seller Financing is only beneficial if it results in a tiny—or zero—down payment.   In other words, they think that unless they get 90% or higher LTV financing, it's not worth it.   This simply is not true.   In this episode, Jeff asks the question: "what if the Seller Financing you could get is only 10% of the total purchase price—would you still do it?" and...

Every one of us has unique talents, gifts and strengths.   But unfortunately, the real estate investing education industry doesn't often emphasize the importance of discovering and harnessing those talents in the pursuit of financial freedom through real estate.   Instead, mainstream REI education focuses on teaching us supposed universal formulas and recipes for success…with little or no consider...

It's no secret that the world of real estate investment education is absolutely vast.   From podcasts to books to events to courses and so much more, there is endless information out there.   But the most successful investor is not necessarily the one who has amassed the most information and knowledge; it's the person who has found a single "School of Thought" in real estate and has gone deep in t...

In this special case study episode, Jeff interviews Ryan, a client in The DEALS Workshop. Ryan recently bought his first rental property using the thoughtful approach he learned in The DEALS Workshop, and in this episode he tells the entire story of acquiring this excellent off-market duplex with Seller Financing.  Learn to buy Seller Financing properties off-market, the thoughtful way:   http://w...

Sometimes, we work with Sellers who are very open to the conversation about selling us their properties, but who may not be sure exactly how to make a decision.   This can leave them ambivalent and unsure about how to proceed. In this episode, Jeff describes a simple but powerful two-step framework for helping a Seller to get clarity on their own situations and options, so that they can make the b...

We all know the power of setting goals, declaring the actions we will take—even if they are outside our comfort zone—and then taking those actions to progress towards our goals.   But what about the opposite—defining what we WON'T do?   It turns out there is great value in setting boundaries that eliminate certain possibilities.   In this episode, Jeff explains the value and importance of defining...

It's no secret that if you want to grow a portfolio, buying multifamily rentals can boost your portfolio size, door count and monthly income quickly.   In this episode, Jeff interviews multifamily real estate investing legend Rod Khleif.   Rod shares his epic journey—including both highs and lows—in real estate investing, explains why he feels we will be facing an economic downturn, discusses the...