BiggerPockets Daily

Mortgage rates recently rose above 7% for the first time this year, bringing an already glacial housing market to a standstill. The news has hit investors like a horror movie jump scare after we’d thought the worst was behind us.  A robust economy is partly to blame. During the pandemic, when U.S. citizens feared rationing and mass unemployment, predicting our current economy would have been almos...

  In our first sotry today, California ADU laws have been softening for several years in an effort to increase housing space and availability. ADUs are often used as rentals, which can help alleviate some of the pressure on rental supply. However, what it doesn’t do, is increase general housing supply, as ADUs are considered a part of the primary residence, where only one person can own it. Howeve...

As a rental property owner, there’s no better feeling than a tenant signing a lease. This puts you on track to generate a positive return on investment (ROI).  Unfortunately, things don’t always work out as planned. For example, a tenant not paying rent can turn your profit upside down.  Should you find yourself in this situation, there are several key steps you must take. Learn more about your ad...

Pittsburgh has the hottest housing market in the country. Who knew? According to Redfin, Pittsburgh housing prices were up a mighty 22% from February 2023 to February 2024, making it the city with the fastest-growing house prices in the country.  Formerly the heart of the Rust Belt, the city has recently reinvented itself as a tech town, welcoming major players like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Uber,...

When discussing rental properties, it’s common for people to refer to multifamily residences. How many times have you heard someone say something like, “I have 20 units under management,” most of which are probably spread across just a few buildings? This investment approach is logical from an economic standpoint. Having four units under one roof versus just one, four rents instead of one—you get...

During much of the year, this short-term, two-bedroom rental in Indio, California, a lovely, quiet, desert town about 35 minutes past Palm Springs, hovers around $172 a night. That is, until mid-April every year when thousands of revelers descend on the world-famous Coachella music festival, the listing says it is a 17-minute walk away. During those weeks, this very same rental commands $808 a nig...

Simply investing in any metro Sunbelt market is not a recipe for success. To catch a cresting wave of appreciation and cash flow, you’ll need to dive deep into the metrics to examine where people are moving to, how property and rental prices are increasing, and what the unemployment rate is like.  The good news is that we’ve done it all for you! So stop throwing darts at the map, examine our findi...

With home prices and interest rates still at record highs and inventory squeezed, homebuyers and real estate investors may be better off purchasing a fixer-upper in some cities.  At least that’s according to a report from StorageCafe, which found that fixer-uppers cost an average of 29% less than homes that are ready to move in. And in 20 of the largest 50 cities, they can cost 50% less than a reg...

You can’t eliminate all risk from investments. After all, the zombie apocalypse could strike tomorrow and probably wipe out your entire portfolio. But you can reduce risk, even among high-return investments. In fact, these are precisely the investments you want to minimize risk for—your Treasury bonds don’t need it.  I love real estate syndications as high-return investments. They’re completely pa...

The pandemic swept through the U.S. housing market like a tsunami. Radical price hikes and all-time low inventory accompanied massive migration away from pricey big cities. Four years later, the housing market still hasn’t fully recovered. If you plan to invest in real estate or scale your existing portfolio in 2024, it’s worth keeping these six things in mind for a clearer perspective on today’s...

Effective rental property management is essential to your long-term success. Without a defined strategy, there’s a greater chance of making mistakes that cost you time and money. Here’s a property management checklist that tells you two things: 1. What needs to be done 2. When it needs to be done Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Depending on the college, students nationwide looking to live at school have recently found themselves staying in luxury hotels, trailers, on friends’ couches, or Zooming in to class from their parents’ homes. That’s because available student housing is becoming as rare as a full-ride acceptance letter from an Ivy League university. The shortage has created a massive opportunity for private develo...

I don’t invest in Bitcoin because I am betting on the continuation of Western civilization, not its collapse or decline. If I did believe my government would collapse, I’d invest in guns, ammo, and canned corn. And if I believed that Bitcoin could peacefully replace my country’s currency, I’d still rather own real estate, businesses, stocks, or other alternative assets than a currency like Bitcoin...

I don’t invest in Bitcoin because I am betting on the continuation of Western civilization, not its collapse or decline. If I did believe my government would collapse, I’d invest in guns, ammo, and canned corn. And if I believed that Bitcoin could peacefully replace my country’s currency, I’d still rather own real estate, businesses, stocks, or other alternative assets than a currency like Bitcoin...

If you haven’t heard, Henry Washington and I are doing something special in honor of the 200th episode of On the Market. We are competing in a Flip/Off, battling against each other to see who can score the highest return.  We described our deals on the podcast and what we hoped to achieve, but I want to keep everyone up to speed on how my flip is progressing. So, every week, I’ll update this diary...

This year’s hurricane season is expected to be one of the busiest on record, with a potential for 25 named storms. How much risk is your property at? Meanwhile, home prices fell in 7% of markets, but some stand out as cities that, on paper, shouldn’t be showing declines. Is this indicative of a larger trend? Or is it just an outlier? https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/14-cities-facing-highest-prop...

With median house prices in the U.S. inching towards half a million dollars and mortgage rates back over 7%, homebuyers and investors alike are getting choked out of the market. Although there are several cities in the Midwest and South where you can still buy homes for $100,000, they tend to be the exception rather than the norm.  Despite the shortage of houses, according to Realtor.com, there ar...

A record 300,000 migrants entered the U.S. through the southern border in December. Rather than trying to sneak past border agents, many surrendered to apply for asylum.  Overwhelmed immigration courts take years to process these claims, and migrants are protected from deportation in the meantime. They hope to stay, work, and build a life here. But achieving legal status in the U.S. is a complicat...

Taxes and regulations impact your bottom line as an investor—and not always in direct or obvious ways. Unfortunately, as soon as you start talking about either one, the average person closes their mind, circling the wagons around their existing worldview and only hearing data points that support it. Look no further than this Yale study, which shows that people perform worse on math problems if the...

Before you find and hire a property manager, there’s something you need to know: Not all property management companies structure their costs the same way.  Knowing how much property managers generally charge—including their fee structure—allows you to determine if it’s the right fit for you.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Wave of Zoning Law Changes Could Have Huge Impacts for Investors and Housing—Here’s What You Need to Know  The U.S. is facing a housing deficit of about 3.2 million units, and the situation is especially dire in urban areas like New York. It’s one of the reasons prospective homebuyers are finding it increasingly difficult to find affordable homes.  That’s led many cities and communities to consi...

Are you sitting on the sidelines in this market? Many investors are. There’s a lot of fear and caution. But we’re not. And you don’t need to be, either.  Of course, I recommend staying in cash if you can’t find the right investment opportunity. But we are finding them on behalf of our investors, and they’re the beneficiaries. I’ll tell you about one here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

For real estate investors, the question of cash flow versus appreciation is as old as time. However, in an era of high interest rates, buying properties for cash flow isn’t easy. That doesn’t mean investing should be off the table, as there are many advantages of owning rentals other than immediate cash flow—appreciation and tax advantages being the most obvious.  Whether to keep buying or stay on...

In a recent episode of the BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast, I had the privilege of chatting with Mindy Jensen about my journey to financial independence. One burning question arose: How did I manage to lower my expenses without sacrificing quality of life?  Well, fellow FIRE enthusiasts, let me share six of my key insights into how I transformed my financial landscape by embracing strategic hack...

We are less than a month away from listing our Brooklyn, New York condo, which we bought for $375,000 back in 2004, the same week we got married. 20 years, two kids, and one chocolate lab later, we are selling the condo for something close to $1 million and then flipping the profits into a new investment via a 1031 exchange. (New here? Catch up on the last few monthly missives!)  As a reminder, we...