Fayetteville Real Estate Investing & Real Estate Financial Planning™ Podcast

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....

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. Downloa...

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 o...

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 usua...

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 t...

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 strat...

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 co...

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...

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 conven...

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...

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...

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-clas...

Improving Cash Flow on Rental Properties as a Landlord 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 of the best...

Low Down Payment Financing Options for Real Estate Investors Real estate investors often believe that minimizing their down payment leads to higher returns. This is partly true since a lower down payment means higher leverage, which amplifies returns. However, returns can be amplified both positively (when returns are positive) and negatively (when returns are negative or things don't go as planne...

Property prices and interest rates are currently high, while rents are not keeping up. Achieving cash flow has become even more crucial and challenging than ever, despite our 88 strategies to maximize it. One common question that arises is whether it is better to purchase rental properties with 20% down payments or to invest in stocks. Buying rental properties with 20% down allows you to use lever...

Is Creative Financing Really Nothing Down? Every real estate investor has heard stories of the amazing deals that can be found with creative financing, often involving instant equity from buying significantly below current fair market value with nothing down. While these deals do exist, they are not typical. So, what can an investor reasonably expect when it comes to creative financing deals that...

Improving Cash Flow on Properties You Already Own When real estate prices, mortgage interest rates, and rental rates are high, generating great cash flow from a rental property can be more challenging. 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 powerful ones relat...

Nothing Down Financing Options for Real Estate Investors Some real estate investors are obsessed with investing in real estate with no down payment. For some, it is a practical necessity because they don't have the funds for a down payment. For others, it's about boosting their return on investment. Although there may be other local options and creative financing options available, there are two p...

Property prices and interest rates are high, while rents are lagging. Cash flow is both more important and harder to achieve than ever, even with our 88 strategies to improve and maximize it. Another question common rises to the top of the list: I’m going to buy an owner-occupant property with 5% down first, but then… should you put 20% down when acquiring your rental properties, or should you sav...

Selecting a Lender for Real Estate Investors The top two, most commonly used dream team members for real estate investors are real estate agents and lenders. In this mini-class we will discuss how to select a lender to use as a real estate investor. We will discuss some of the selection criteria I consider when choosing a lender to work with. Check out the video from this class here: Selecting a L...

Improving Cash Flow When Marketing Your Property for Rent When real estate prices, mortgage interest rates, and rent rates are high, generating great cash flow from a rental property can be challenging. However, it is more important than ever to maximize cash flow. There are 88 strategies for improving cash flow on rental properties. Some are used when searching for properties, some when selecting...

WARNING: This is not our typical content. Normally we teach real estate investing classes. This is not one of those classes. May 20, 2023 is the 1-year anniversary of launching the new real estate investing podcasts. To honor the anniversary, we’re recapping how the first year went including: Key milestones achieved Number of episodes published Number of podcast downloads Number of subscribers How...

FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums New, lower mortgage insurance premium (MIP) rates will apply to mortgages insured by FHA on or after March 20, 2023. These rates were announced by HUD on February 22, 2023. In this mini-class, James will discuss the improvements to FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums, as well as their previous rates. Additionally, James will explain how this change could impact your cas...

Property prices and interest rates are high, while rents are lagging. Cash flow is both more important and harder to achieve than ever, even with our 88 strategies to improve and maximize it. Another question common rises to the top of the list: should you put 20% down when acquiring your rental properties, or should you save up a little more and put 25% down even if it means a slightly slower acq...

Alternate Uses for Down Payments It might seem obvious that the more money you save up for down payments, the more you can and maybe should put down as a means of improving cash flow. But that might not always be the most optimal and effective strategy. In fact, there are a variety of other options available as alternatives that might improve how you look as a borrower and that may ultimately impa...