BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

The Federal Reserve just cut rates by another 0.25%, but mortgage rates went…up? This is now the fourth time the Fed has lowered its federal funds rate, and mortgage rates have defied them. It’s becoming clearer than ever before: real estate investors cannot rely on the Fed to save them. If you’re waiting for mortgage rates to get back in the mid-to-low 5% range, you might be waiting for a while....

He was right in 2000, 2008, and 2020—now he’s saying it’s time to buy.  Brian Burke is one of the most revered minds in real estate investing. Almost nobody has done what he has—purchased over $1 billion in real estate without ever losing investor money. He played it safe, made moves 99% of investors couldn’t believe (including selling 75% of his portfolio at the peak in 2022), and came out on top...

You’ve got little savings but want to buy a rental property. You see so many “no money down” investing strategies, but how do you know you won’t get burned trying them out? If you want to learn how to invest in real estate with no money, the right way, you need to take tips from those who have done it successfully without overleveraging themselves. Today, we’ve got two experts who bought rentals w...

Home prices might not rebound for years. For many markets, we’re seeing negative price growth, and even in the “hot” markets, that growth is slowing way down. Inventory is up, affordability isn’t, and the supply-demand balance is shifting fast. But here’s the thing. If prices remain stagnant, investors may have years’ worth of opportunities to buy, and when the market swings in the other direction...

Real estate investing is riskier today than it has been in years—and that’s a good thing. If you invest in real estate, what do you hope for? Opportunities to buy low, sell high, and cash flow in the middle. That’s exactly what’s happening in 2025—and it’s these “riskier” times that have made millions of real estate investors wealthy in the past. But if you don’t know the risks, you could get hurt...

Think you’re too young to start buying rentals and building wealth? You’re not! If you want to know how to invest in real estate while in college, or in your 20s, Daniel Kaplan has the blueprint. In three years, he went from having just $10,000 to his name to owning 99 rental units (and counting)! As a college sophomore, Daniel bought a rental property for less than $50,000 (yes, really!). Then, h...

30% of all jobs could be affected by AI. And if you work in sales, marketing, software engineering, or really any other white-collar profession, there’s a chance your job will be much different (or no longer exist) in a decade. This means that the “work for 40 years and comfortably retire” plan is slowly becoming less realistic.  But what’s the one thing AI can’t take? Your real estate portfolio a...

How much money do you need to invest to retire with real estate? We did the math, and it’s not as much as you’d think. In fact, in some markets, even with a small amount of disposable income, you could become financially free in just five years. We’re asked about retiring with rentals so often that we’re providing an in-depth answer in today’s show. You asked, Dave and Henry are answering. Today,...

How much passive income would you need to retire early? $60K/year? $80K/year? $100K/year? What if you could build a financially freeing passive income stream in just five years? Five years from now, you could retire early, quit your job, or keep building wealth. What would that freedom feel like? Joe Hammel has already achieved it, using a simplistic, beginner-friendly “bread and butter” rental st...

The buying window could be closing in these housing markets. For the first time in years, inventory is dropping in once-strong buyer’s markets. Sellers are tired of waiting for offers and refusing to get lowballed, so more are staying put. With less inventory comes more competition, rising prices, and vulnerable buyers. So, which markets are most at risk? Senior Economist at Zillow, Kara Ng, joins...

This is how to make the most money possible from your rental properties without buying another unit. We got into real estate investing to build wealth, not have the biggest portfolio possible. Financial freedom isn’t so freeing when you have a hundred rental units and hundreds of tenants calling. So, can you make more money with fewer rental units? Yes, and today, we’re giving you five ways to do...

This investor turned a $25,000 rental property (yes, you read that right) into a real estate portfolio producing $5,000/month in actual cash flow. He had no experience, lived in a small town many would write off, and was working 60 hours a week. But small towns mean less competition and lower prices, and Dustin Cardenas was ready to take advantage. Seven years later, he’s financially free thanks t...

House hacking is still the easiest way to start investing in real estate—and it’s getting even easier. You no longer need to live with roommates, share spaces with tenants, and give up your home to offset your mortgage. Instead, thanks to some new methods, you may not even need to live with or next to a tenant at all. These “house hacking” methods still make you rich, still save you tons of money,...

This is how to buy rental properties on a lower salary ($50,000 or less per year) in six steps. If you think you need to be rich to buy rentals, you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, real estate may be the best investment for those who want to go from low income to financial freedom. You can grow your portfolio faster by using loans, get cash flow that can retire you early, and even make hundreds o...

Have zero experience in real estate investing (literally no idea where to begin)? This guest proves you could be financially free in ten years or less if you start today.  Just a decade ago, Peter Fife was broke, working a dead-end job, and never thought about investment properties. He had such little money that when a book on investing piqued his interest, he would sit in a bookshop reading it, b...

We can definitively say it now: the buyer’s market is here.  The housing market is cooling down, but the deals are heating up as a “mild” correction slows down hot markets and gives buyers even more power in cold ones. With it comes buying opportunities—ones that real estate investors have been starved of over the past few years. You can negotiate for more, offer less, and lock in a lower mortgage...

Small multifamily rentals may be the secret to turning average investors into millionaires. These unassuming properties are in the perfect “sweet spot” for scaling a real estate portfolio, helping you reach financial independence faster with more passive income than regular, single-family rentals, but with even fewer expenses. Today, we’re giving you the five steps to buy your first small multifam...

Ashley Hamilton had every card stacked against her in achieving financial freedom. She was a single mother with two children, earning just $20,000 per year working as a waitress, living in Detroit, one of the hardest-hit markets following the Great Financial Crisis.  Sixteen years later, she’s making $50,000 per month in pure cash flow (and she has the receipts to prove it)! In Detroit, foreclosur...

The Federal Reserve has finally cut rates. Will mortgage rates follow? If you’ve been waiting to rate lock or refinance, is now the time, or does the market think we have even further to fall?  With inflation coming down from past years’ peaks and unemployment slowly ticking up, the Fed made the decision everyone was waiting for: cut rates…cautiously. There are still more 2025 rate cuts lined up,...

Should you buy a rental property now or wait? If you buy now and prices rise, you’ll get all the appreciation that comes with it and have the chance to refinance at any point in the future. But waiting to have a larger down payment could get you a better loan and put you in a stronger financial position. You want to get into real estate investing soon, so what should you do? We’re answering this q...

At 30, Sarah King was forced to liquidate all her assets after a messy divorce. She had to start over and rebuild any wealth she had acquired, all while being a single mom to her one-year-old. Now, just five years later, she has 17 rental properties and is on track to retire early as a multimillionaire over a decade before traditional retirement age. She did it all with very little money and creat...

You’ve built up (or are about to build) a rental portfolio, but something is telling you it’s time to pivot. Maybe you’ve gone too far into one strategy, like owning eight short-term rentals. Or you’re seeing new build-to-rent properties with low prices, low maintenance, and low interest rates, and thinking “hmm…that seems like a good deal.” How do you know when to stay on course with your origina...

The “Slow BRRRR” method. It’s less risky, comes with more cash flow, and is easier to pull off than the traditional BRRRR (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) strategy. A couple of weeks ago, we shared why this was the best rental property investing tactic for 2025, and today, we’re walking through the steps so you can do a slow BRRRR this year.  There are five steps to doing a Slow BRRRR. From f...

After a fateful encounter with a real estate investor on vacation, Pratik Shah's eyes were opened to the possibilities of real estate investing. Now, just eight years later, he has a rental property portfolio producing $12,000 per month in pure profit. Even better, he accomplished it all while working a 9-to-5 job, buying rental properties on the side, and managing them from afar. No creative fina...

Here’s where we’d invest in real estate right now. The best markets to buy rental properties are often overlooked, affordable cities with strong rents, reasonable home prices, and robust job growth. These markets could not only appreciate steadily, giving you the long-term wealth you’re looking for, but also pocket you some decent cash flow, so you have more passive income to grow your portfolio f...