Rental Property Owner & Real Estate Investor Podcast

As the host of this podcast, I enjoy getting questions from our listeners.  As a member of the RPOA, I love having experts on hand to help me answer those questions.  Today Mark Troy joins me to answer listener questions and share his wisdom and experience gained over 18 years in the business.  Mark is the Managing Broker at Compass Realty Services and the Director of Real Estate Investment at Com...

Should Rental Application Fees be Banned?  Today we're going to discuss an issue that's happening right here in Grand Rapids, but it affects landlords and rental property owners everywhere.  It has to do with the affordable housing challenge communities are facing as rents rise and neighborhoods gentrify.  As tenants find it increasingly difficult to locate and afford housing, those communities an...

In today's tight real estate market its very difficult for investors and home buyers to find good investment deals.  Believe it or not, there are still plenty of opportunities in Distressed, Foreclosure, and Bank-Owned Properties.  One of the ways to find these deals is through Auction.com. Today I sit down with Casey O'Neill to discuss the transparency Auction.com is bringing to the distressed ma...

Ratan Khatri is a strong believer in the power of leveraging other people's money through syndication.  He's recently completed his first syndication with the purchase of 50 single family homes in Muskegon, Michigan, and he'll be investing in Senior Assisted Living, Mobile Home Parks, Self-Storage, and Multi-Family through syndication as well. Today Ratan & I discuss his philosophy of investing, a...

Vinney Chopra came to America with $7 dollars in his pocket and a dream.  Today he Asset Manages a $172 Million dollar portfolio of Multi-Family Properties.  He's done over 26 syndications and has over 3,100 apartments under management.  The great thing about Vinney is that he can raise $6 to $10 Million dollars without breaking a sweat, but he remains humble and friendly and willing to share how...

Calvin Beeke left college to become a full-time entrepreneur, found success with a business he created, and then decided to become a full-time real estate investor. Within a short span of time, Calvin has dived right in.  He likes to have three flips going in any given period: one that he's just purchased, one that is being rehabbed, and one that is being sold.  At the same time, Calvin is buildin...

Real Estate investors are quite often focused on acquiring assets and building their portfolios.  But how often do we stop to think about our 'end game', and when and how we'd like to wind down our investments? Transition Planning is an important part of every investor's game plan, and having a team that consists of a real estate attorney, CPA, and financial planner can be very helpful in putting...

Jeremy Garcia and Melanie Hall's path to real estate investing is very different than what you might expect from two successful entrepreneurs. Both have had to overcome the self-doubt and lack of confidence that many of us experience when starting down this road, but Melanie also faced tragedy and bankruptcy along the way. Today they share their stories of working through that initial bankruptcy w...

Statistics tell us that one-in-four Americans will be sued in their lifetime, and Real Estate Investors are targeted even more frequently.  So what can we do as investors to protect ourselves and our investments? Our guest today, Scott Smith, is an Asset Protection Specialist and owner of Royal Legal Solutions, which provides business, tax and legal solutions geared exclusively toward real estate...

Ric Conkey is a true "Do-It-Yourself" Landlord and Multi-Family Investor who grew up helping his father manage their family's rental properties. Today Ric shares the secrets he's learned over the years on maximizing rent, decreasing turnover time, and marketing to tenants.  He also shares the frustrations of being on call for maintenance and repairs, waiting for cleaning crews, and sorting through...

Lane Kawaoka is an engineer by day, but whenever he's not on the job, he's full-on into Real Estate Investing as the owner of MPFE Investments which is focused on value-add multifamily apartments. Lane and his partners own over 626 units and he's raised over $2 Million from private investors. Today we're going to discuss the steps Lane is taking to break the "Golden Handcuffs" of his high paying j...

Tyler Lyons has acquired and rehabbed three houses in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, and in the process he's added substantial value to each one. Tyler's goal has been to "BRRRR" - Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, and Repeat. But when it came time to put financing on those properties, he wanted to make sure he avoided the pitfalls that led many investors to lose everything during the Great Recession...

Jack Gibson knew early on that having a job and working for someone else just wasn't in his destiny, so he sought out alternative paths to creating wealth. By the age of 21 Jack was running a successful multi-million dollar business coaching clients on effective nutrition and fitness strategies.  Then he realized how profitable real estate investing could be.  Now he's the Co-Owner of High Return...

When it comes to Finding the Money for your purchase of a home or investment property, Seller Financing can help you avoid traditional lenders while setting terms that work for both the buyer and seller. From a seller's standpoint, seller financing can help you maintain a steady income, while spreading out the tax consequences of a sale. But with the passage of the Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection A...

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to star in one of those Fix & Flip Reality TV shows, then you're going to love this episode. Last year Jeremy Cole and Ramon Huerta shot a pilot episode for a new series called "Gritty To Pretty".  Last month it debuted on the DIY Network, and today they'll share their 'behind-the-scenes' stories and secrets. You're going to learn how Jeremy and Ramon...

When it comes to politics, everyone has their reasons for voting for a certain candidate or backing certain issues.  And as real estate investors, we need to be aware of which candidates are best suited to support our ability to provide housing for our residents while still making a profit. Today we're going to talk about the places where politics and Real Estate Investing connect, and how we as r...

Vacation Rentals & airbnb's can be a great way to exponentially increase the returns on your real estate investments.  But there are also many pitfalls that investors must avoid and be aware of in order to be successful. On February 23, 2018, the RPOA hosted an expert panel to discuss short-term vacation rentals - how they work, why they're such a great strategy for real estate investors, tips on...

Raising Other People's Money to invest in real estate is a time honored tradition.  But did you know that once you have more than two investors in an investment that you technically have a syndication?  Are you also aware that the Security and Exchange Commission (The "SEC") has rules regulating how you go about raising that money and the types of investors you can allow in your deals, and that if...

Joe Howard and Kevin Schultz were standing in the middle of a dumpster when they came up with a business idea that would change their lives.  As real estate investors, they knew there was a huge need for getting rid of all the junk that accumulates in the houses they were looking at for flipping or rehabbing.  So they became the owners of "Junk King of West Michigan". Through this business they've...

With the recent passage of the Trump Administration's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, there have been a lot of questions from real estate investors and rental property owners about how the new tax changes will affect their tax preparation for 2017 and beyond. Here to explain the changes and their potential benefits to investors is Duane Culver, CPA and President of Culver CPA Group.  Duane will give us the...

This is a Special Re-Broadcast of last year's episode with Jeremy Cole and Ramon Huerta.  You can WATCH THEM This Saturday, March 3rd at 7 p.m. on the show "Gritty To Pretty" on the DIY Network.  HGTV has shown a strong interest in taking their show to series, so the more people who watch, the more likely we'll get to see more! Whether you love or hate those HGTV shows on Rehabbing and Flipping, y...

When it comes to raising Other People's Money, syndication is both a science and an art.  There are specific and time-proven ways to do it right, and many ways to do it wrong. Today David Toupin, a Detroit-area investor and syndicator, will share his top-ten tips on Successful Syndication.  David's company, Borland and Toupin Holdings, owns and manages a $6 Million Dollar Portfolio of 120 units, a...

From the outside looking in, Shaun McCloskey was a successful real estate investor and making a ton of money doing short sales and pre-foreclosure investing.  But deep down he know that he was working way too much and becoming consumed by his business.  He needed a better balance, and a better vision for his business. Today Shaun discusses the Lifeonaire strategy that he discovered, and how it hel...

Is it possible to buy a house that no one else wants for $5,000 and then turn that house into a successful money maker? My guest today, Larry Goins, says that not only is that possible, but you can earn more than the average investor makes on a house worth 10 to 20 times that amount. And he has real-life examples to back that up. Larry has been investing in Real Estate for over twenty years, and h...

Chris McClatchey initially built his Real Estate Portfolio the Traditional Way - by using Bank Financing.  But then it struck him;  the majority of his cash flow was going back to the bank to pay off his mortgage.  Not only that, but the first seven to fifteen years of mortgage payments were primarily paying off the interest on his loan rather than paying down the principal. Chris knew that there...