Real Estate Rookie

It takes most real estate investors a while before they make the jump from single-family homes to commercial properties or large multifamily properties like mobile home parks. Edwin Byler isn't like most real estate investors. After successfully flipping his first home, he decided to throw the profits into a rental property. For the first month, everything was going well, then the tenant stopped p...

This week is a special Rookie Reply, Ashley and Tony are in the same physical location! They both stopped by Denver, Colorado to record some future episodes of the Real Estate Rookie Podcast! Ashley and Tony are both talking about the first deal they acquired, the mistakes they made as rookies, the lessons they learned, and why you should never be afraid to fail. They walk through things like find...

Greg Schwartz didn’t plan on getting into real estate, he was keen on becoming a private pilot. He figured he’d make $200k-$300k per year and that would be enough money to help him retire. That was until he talked to a real estate investor who told him about the potential to make 7-figures in a month. Greg knew that the investor was on to something and he took some time convincing his wife, Rachel...

This week’s question comes from Lisa on the Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group. Lisa is asking all about property management this week: I’ve never had a property manager, what are the responsibilities of one? I was recommended a manager and was told he charges 10%. What is the average pay for a manager? What questions should I ask when I speak with him?  While there is no standard on fees or respon...

When most people think of USDA loans, they tend to think of farmland or some very, very rural house in the middle of nowhere. While this can be the case for many USDA loans, it isn’t the standard for all of them. As today’s guest Holly Barrett describes, USDA-applicable properties can be outside city centers and just a bit rural. Not only that, these loans provide homeowners with the chance to get...

This week’s question comes from Ben, who actually direct messaged Ashley and asked her a pretty personal question. Ben is asking: As someone with student debt, should I start investing in rentals or wait until I’ve paid off my student loans? It goes without saying that this is a very personal question, especially since it has to do with personal (not business related) debt. Everyone is different i...

In this hot housing market, it seems like almost everyone is telling you to make offers on anything that could be a potential deal. But Erik Wright, founder of New Horizon Home Buyers, poses a different strategy. Erik has been getting more and more off market deals in Chattanooga, Tennessee without offering a single dollar to potential sellers. He has a specific way of negotiating that allows him...

This week’s question comes from Shantay on the Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group. Shantay is asking: We are about to close on a duplex. It is going to need a $6k-$10k upgrade. What are some options for funding the rehab cost? Different investors have different preferred methods of funding rehabs of this size/price point. Both Ashley and Tony have renovated numerous properties and used the below me...

Lili Thompson didn’t plan on getting into real estate investing, she was supposed to be a WNBA prospect. After tearing her ACL in college, she was brought onto the Harlem Globetrotters to showcase her skills across the country. One of her teammates started talking to her about real estate investing, specifically wholesaling. This happened at the perfect time since she was closing on her house hack...

This week’s question comes from Joey on the Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group. Joey is asking: Was driving in a new part of town and came across a house that had a yard that hasn’t been maintained in months and the house looks unkept.  Any suggestions on how I should go about finding the owner and asking if they would be interested in selling?  We had a ton of great responses in the Facebook group...

Sometimes, new real estate investors tend to forget about the other types of real estate investing outside of single-family and multifamily homes. What about self-storage, or commercial, or in Matt Racker’s case, warehouses? All these options can make you passive income, sometimes with far less hassle than managing residential properties. Matt caught the real estate bug doing his first live in fli...

Today, we have a question from Ashley to Tony, on a subject he has a lot of experience in. Ashley wants to know: How do you analyze a market for short-term rentals? Which factors come into play and how can you stay away from the markets that won’t work for short-term rentals? This is a perfect time to ask Tony, especially since he’s looking to find a third market to invest in (outside of Joshua Tr...

Young love is beautiful, but what’s even more beautiful is young love that produces residual income together! That’s exactly what Sam and Nick of Eagle Hill Homes have done. Even though they have been together since their teenage years, Sam still had to be nudged by Nick to get into real estate investing. Once Sam started designing, planning, and executing on rehabs, she knew that this was the lif...

This week’s question comes from Adri on the Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group. Adri is asking: I came across a seller financed mobile home park, this would be my first out of state investment. What should I be looking out for on MHP (mobile home parks) and is this a huge jump to make while still being a rookie? While we can’t answer how ready Adri is for investing in a mobile home park (we believe...

Coming up with capital isn’t easy when you’re just starting out. How are you supposed to get 20% down for one property, let alone multiple when trying to grow your portfolio. This was the predicament Justin Munk was in until he found out about the BRRRR strategy. When implementing the BRRRR strategy, Justin was able to use a fraction of the money he would need as a down payment to get a renovated,...

This week’s question comes from Joaquin on the Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group. Joaquin is asking: When you purchase a property with a tenant already in the middle of their lease can you increase their rent or do you have to wait until their lease is up? Inevitably, you’re going to come across some deals that have renters in place, but whether you want to keep them on as tenants is up to you. Du...

Many landlords decide to switch from renting by the unit to renting by the room in order to maximize cash flow per unit. Renting by the room is usually best situated for students and for properties nearby sizable universities. This type of strategy is exactly what Hastings College track and field coach, Ryan Mahoney, has done with his 2 units that have a combined 10 rooms being rented out. After a...

This week’s question comes from Jimmy on the Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group. Jimmy is asking a couple of great questions about those in partnerships going in on a property: 1. How do we split the cost of buying a property 50/50 and keep the funds in one place?  2. How would it work right now as 50% of the money is with him and 50% of the money is with me?  Many real estate investors will come a...

A familiar voice pops in for this episode of the Rookie Podcast, it’s David Greene! The real estate agent, investor, entrepreneur, and co-host of the BiggerPockets Real Estate podcast joins us to talk about making the transition to top real estate agent and what new investors can do to find better deals and a great agent. Most newbie investors want to be hand-held, which makes sense when you’re ju...

This week’s question comes from Bryan on the Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group. Bryan is asking:  How do PM (property management) companies handle maintenance? Do they fix the issue and submit invoices to the owner or withhold the amount from monthly payments to the owner?   This is a great question for those who want to transition from self-management to hiring property managers. Both Ashley and...

Wholesaling is a tough game. Most investors who try their hand at wholesaling quit after only a few months, while those who have the grit to stick it out can end up making a much-deserved profit. Even real estate veterans have a hard time getting into wholesaling, but what about a 19-year old college student without experience in real estate? Isabelle Zukowski just happens to be that 19-year old c...

This week’s question comes from Gre on the Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group. Gre is asking: How do you find accurate property tax info, including school taxes, when running numbers on a potential investment property? Great question Gre! Running your numbers accurately is super important when making sure a deal will be profitable, thankfully, there are many online (and in person) resources where y...

Amanda Han is a familiar face to the BiggerPockets audience. She’s been featured on the BiggerPockets podcasts before and has written multiple books published by BiggerPockets (The Book on Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor & The Book on Advanced Tax Strategies). Amanda has worked with lots of real estate investors and invests in real estate herself, so she’s answering some common q...

Before cooking at Michelin star restaurants, Ellen Bennett worked as a lottery announcer, an English tutor, and a “booth babe”. All of these jobs taught her to be comfortable in uncomfortable positions. When her head chef told her that he needed new aprons for all the cooks, Ellen took to the challenge, with no business plan, no connections, and no experience designing aprons. The deadline, uncomf...

Travis Watts grew up with frugal parents. They taught him about coupons, buying the off-brand products, and basic financial 101, but never taught him about real estate investing. In 2009, as the market was hitting unprecedented lows, he decided to start investing in real estate. He purchased a single family home to start, then started house hacking, moved on to some fix and flips, bought some vaca...