Real Estate Rookie

A house hack that covers all living expenses and allows you to travel the world!? Many people dream of making passive income from real estate, but only some take action. After getting her real estate license and immersing herself in the world of investing, today’s guest was chomping at the bit to buy her first property. In this episode, we’re speaking with Olivia Tati—a former chemical engineer tu...

Let’s face it—property management fees aren’t cheap. While you may need to hire a property manager if you’re investing out of state or are unable to self-manage your property, these costs can quickly eat into your profits if you’re not careful. How can you ensure that you’re getting high-quality services for a fair price and keep your overhead under control? Welcome back to another Rookie Reply! I...

A $100K "exotic plant" side hustle to over $2 million in real estate? The truth is that you can use virtually any side hustle to help kickstart your real estate journey—whether you need capital to invest or want the extra business experience before diving in. While today’s guest may have taken a more unconventional approach to investing in real estate, he now has a portfolio of eight units cash fl...

Don’t have enough funds for real estate deals? Today, there’s no excuse. Beyond strategies that allow you to invest in real estate with no money down, you can always start a profitable side hustle and put the earnings towards your next deal. In this episode of the Real Estate Rookie podcast, we’re chatting with Ava Yuergens and Josh Janus—two young entrepreneurs who managed to launch their own pro...

Too busy to buy rental properties? After this episode, you won’t have any more excuses. Brandon and Dani Tilson started building their rental property portfolio just under a year and a half ago and have already acquired six properties while working schedules that would make most people faint. We’re not talking about one job or two; we’re talking about working three jobs while raising a family and...

Want to pay ZERO taxes next year? If you own real estate or are building a portfolio, there’s a good chance that you can legally keep your profits away from Uncle Sam. But you’ll need one thing before you can do so. Our own Tony Robinson plans on using this exact strategy to pay $0 in taxes for this most recent tax year. So, why aren’t all real estate investors doing this? And where do you find th...

Who knew living for free could be as simple as house hacking and renting rooms out to a few college friends? Today’s guest was able to generate enough monthly income from his first real estate deal to cover his mortgage payment each month—and then some! Welcome back to another episode of the Real Estate Rookie podcast! Ryan Hughes’ real estate investing journey started at the age of fourteen, when...

Want to know how to use your home equity to buy your next rental? You could be sitting on tens of thousands in potential funds that’ll make saving for the down payment MUCH easier. But first, you’ll need to know how much equity you have, the amount you can pull out, and whether or not a HELOC (home equity line of credit) is even worth it. So, if you’re itching to get your next deal faster, stick a...

A glamping site might sound like a fun real estate investment idea, but how feasible is it? Does it offer enough cash flow potential as a short-term rental property? How do you get a building permit for a unique structure like a geodesic dome!? Today’s guest managed to launch the very first glamping site in his area and make some killer cash flow, but not without jumping a few hurdles along the wa...

Want a better rental property loan? You’ve probably tried talking to banks, brokers, and residential lenders about growing your real estate portfolio, only for them to hit back with W2, income, and credit score requirements. Is there a loan that gets around these conditions for those that are hard to fund? What if you have a rock-solid real estate deal but no nine-to-five income to show to a bank?...

A 36% return on your FIRST rental property? In today’s housing market? That sounds almost impossible. With more and more inventors struggling to find a cent of cash flow and home prices still so high, how does a real estate rookie walk away with a deal most investors could only dream of? The answer lies within Danielle Daly’s strategy, and it’s one that most people would be too picky to repeat. Bu...

Using your real estate business to fund your DREAM vacation—with all or most expenses paid!? As a real estate investor, handling large amounts of money for materials, rehabs, and other expenses has its benefits. Today, we’re excited to talk about a simple but clever debt strategy that real estate rookies often overlook. Welcome back to another Rookie Reply! If you’re looking to take advantage of t...

Buying your first long-term rental property sight unseen? What could go wrong? While alarms might be going off in your head right now, they weren’t for today’s guest. What seemed like the “perfect” rental property turned into a major headache once he arrived to check it out four months after closing. Welcome back to another episode of the Real Estate Rookie podcast! After completing multiple whole...

Still waiting to buy your first rental property? Everyone’s been there. It can be nerve-racking not knowing where to buy, what makes a “good deal,” and whether or not all your hard work will go to waste. Even investing experts like Ashley and Tony were nervous about taking their first step, which is exactly what they’ll walk through on today’s episode! If you’re a rookie sitting on the sidelines,...

Over $1 million in real estate with $0 down—at 19 years old!? After reading the book Rich Dad Poor Dad and catching the real estate “bug,” today’s guests went from broke college dropouts to real estate investors with three multifamily properties to their names in a matter of months. In this edition of the Real Estate Rookie podcast, we’re speaking with real estate duo Caleb Hommel and Chuck Sotelo...

How important is the real estate market you’re investing in? You could be searching for deals for months, not finding anything worth buying, and may want to call it quits. But are you following the same steps that expert investors practice, or are you hoping a new housing market will magically give you the deals you need? If you’re struggling to find property with a profit in your housing market,...

How do you bounce back after waiving inspections, finding out your $100K rehab costs are actually $360K, losing your earnest money deposit, and ultimately having to walk away from your very FIRST real estate deal? Today’s guest had a rocky start to his real estate investing journey (to say the least!), yet was able to find the silver lining, learn from his mistakes, and turn his bad fortunes aroun...

Everyone wants to know how to invest in real estate with no money. And surprisingly, it’s much more straightforward than people think. You don’t need to be a real estate investing expert or have dozens of units under your belt already to buy a rental without cash or credit. As Pace Morby puts it, all you need is the right tools in your tool belt. The rest will take care of itself! So stick around...

Feel like you’ve already made a few blunders to kick off your real estate investing journey? Well, you’re in great company. Most real estate rookies make their fair share of investing mistakes right before they figure things out and go on to build successful investing careers. Today’s guests are living proof of this. After a series of failed house flips (including one that involved his family home...

A FSBO (For Sale By Owner) seller wants to move forward with your offer—that’s great news! But first, they have asked you to pull comps (comparable sales). Believe it or not, this is something you can use to your advantage. Of course, you’ll need to know where to find comps and how to estimate rehab costs so that you can defend your offer. Thankfully, Ashley and Tony are back with some of their be...

You don’t need to look very far to find a real estate success story, but it’s not every day that you hear from someone who is currently in the trenches of their very first real estate investment. The truth is that there are all types of hurdles to overcome during an investing journey, and today, you’re going to hear from someone who is still in the thick of it. For years, interior designer Sara Pl...

Learning how to get into commercial real estate investing seems like a challenging task. With so much industry-specific verbiage and vocabulary like cap rates, pro formas, NOI, triple net, and more, a rookie real estate investor can seem put off by the seemingly tricky world of commercial real estate. But what if we told you that finding, buying, and making money from commercial real estate was mu...

Owning multiple properties with no money? While it might sound ludicrous, there are several ways to do it. Money shouldn’t be the barrier preventing you from getting into the world of real estate investing. In fact, many people have been able to turn around their own fortunes by using other people’s money (OPM)—today’s special guest is one of them! In this episode, we chat with Mike Larson, who fo...

You’re buying a rental property and, in the process, inheriting tenants. What now? Can you go ahead and start raising rent? Not so fast. Before making any rash decisions, you might want to implement tenant estoppel agreements. These legally binding documents will help you and your tenants get on the same page. And Ashley and Tony are here to break them down! In this edition of Rookie Reply, we tal...

Over $100,000 from medium-term rentals…in just 18 months?! It’s a pipe dream to many, but it’s reality for today’s guest. After connecting with a few colleagues about real estate investing, David Rosenbeck left his established career as a nurse practitioner to dive headfirst into the investing world—carving out a niche that married his former job with his newfound passion: medium-term rentals for...