I'm a huge proponent of the 80-20 rule wherein 80% of the tasks / projects must be outsourced or eliminated and only the most important 20% must be performed by entrepreneur. Even if the owner is in the same general vicinity, property management is one aspect that seems to fall under the 80% for a lot of investors. Over the course of the past few years, I've come to realize that managing one's own properties isn't just to save money, it has other advantages as well. With process streamlining and outsourcing key elements of property management, the tenant landlord relationship can be some thing an investor can maintain without a lot of time commitment. Here are the four key advantages that aren't always apparent.

1. Providing High Quality Service

The amount of money one can save by not hiring a property management company (5-10% of the rent) can be used to make both the tenant's and the landlord's life easier which helps provide high quality service. Time and again, my tenants tell me...

Look, I get it. We live in an information-overload world. We listen to hundreds of podcasts and read numerous stories about how people started in real estate and wonder, “Which strategy is the best? Which market is the best? Which is the best stage of the market cycle to invest?”

Fear of failure resulting in hesitance to invest affects male and female investors alike. There’s even a name for it: analysis paralysis. But if you try to understand the science behind it, you will see why these questions are undermining your ability to get started.

Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, talks about satisficers and maximizers: “Satisficers make a decision once their criteria are met; when they find the hotel or the pasta sauce that has the qualities they want, they’re satisfied.” On the other hand, “Maximizers want to make the best possible decision; even if they see a bicycle that meets their requirements, they can’t make a decision until they’ve examined every option.”

If you a...

Have you ever had an idea brewing in your head for years and then woken up one day and decided—no excuses—you’re going to just do it?

And you do, going so far as to execute it with the fervor you had dreamed about. You’re unstoppable!

This is the attitude I had the day I jumped into real estate full time.

However, after rehabbing a few properties, my progress came to a standstill. I was held up by the second-to-last “R” in the BRRRR strategy—the dreaded “refinance.” I wouldn’t have more cash to deploy in more deals until I was able to refinance.

Limited capital is the single biggest reason newbie investors are unable to scale. But I wanted to avoid knocking on the doors of private lenders or exploring partnerships. To keep growing my real estate portfolio, I had to find more capital within my existing properties.

And I did! How? Through the power of home equity.

In one year, I grew my portfolio from three to 20 properties by turbo-charging the BRRRR strategy with home equity loan...

“Your level of success will rarely exceed your level of personal development, because success is something you attract by the person you become.”

~ Jim Rohn (From: The Miracle Morning)

Do you use independent, passionate and perhaps perfectionist to describe yourself? Let me guess, you have a thriving career, great family and friends and are generally happy. Yet, something is missing, you find yourself wondering if you were meant to do big things, if this is all there is. However, despite this nagging feeling, you feel stuck. 

These attributes that you just used to describe yourself, those are your strong suits, right?… Wrong! It’s time to start looking as them as your drawbacks.

These attributes allow us to achieve growth and progress. They allow us to be liked by our employers and customers and have great relationships with friends and family. But that’s just the problem, you see! These are the same qualities that stop us from becoming the best we can be, to tap into our fulle...

One of the acquisition strategies many seasoned real estate investors swear by is REO properties. However, it is a very challenging field to step into and requires patience, relationship building, and risk taking that might not be for the novice investor. There are certain aspects that one needs to be aware of when trying to acquire an REO property. Perhaps the most important aspect is that investing in the REO market is a strategy that requires a high level of sophistication and diligence. The learning curve is far beyond what most people realize. This overview is intended to get you familiar with complexities the REO property market.

So, what are REO properties? REO stands for “Real Estate Owned”; a real estate owned property is a property whose ownership has lapsed back to the bank or mortgage lender. There are many steps through which a property goes before attaining the infamous REO title. Below is the life cycle of an REO Property.

1. Borrower associated with the commerci...

“What would you do if you weren't afraid?”

-Spencer Johnson

After my father passed away when I was very young, my mother – a teacher – dreamed to see me in a steady full-time job. Climbing the corporate ladder was the gold standard. So, when I made it to a managerial position she was thrilled, and I was too – for having made her proud.

For us 9 to 5 folks this dream, the gold standard, trains us to be risk averse. It makes us comfortable in the cycle of steady paychecks – despite marginal yearly wage growth, mortgage payments, and retirement accounts. Saving for a few weeks of vacation, cars, or some other indulgences reinforces our feeling of security, though rarely satisfies our desires. This tentativeness is generally even more pronounced in women, who are conditioned to keep their head down and be grateful for what they have. A risk averse 9 to 5 job further closes women off in a society which already puts them into a box.

Entrepreneurship, however, gives us the freedom to get ...

Have you considered investing money into a passive rental for additional income but not sure where to start? This blog post is a peek into how I choose properties to invest in. The number one thing to remember is that picking a passive rental different than choosing a home for yourself to live in. When it comes to investing in a passive rental, it is all about numbers and not about falling in love with the property. Though the analysis is complex, I have broken my strategy down into four key components for simplicity. 

1. Location

Location is key in any real estate investment. For single family passive rentals, this is specifically important in finding tenants quickly and also for retaining tenants which in turn is helpful in reducing the vacancy rates. I look at these specific elements:

a. Access to public transport and expressways

Note that if public transport isn't available and expressway proximity is what you're considering, ease of parking becomes a factor as well.

b. Proxim...

“It's not the notes you play, it's the notes you don't play."

~Miles Davis

I have mentioned the 80/20 rule in a previous blog post, so writing a proper introduction to the concept made sense. If you haven’t read about it before, you are in for a epiphany… this could potentially change your life.

What is the 80/20 Rule?

The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle, the law of the vital few or the principle of factor sparsity was originally observed in connection with population and wealth.  Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto noticed that 80% of Italy's land was owned by 20% of the population.  He then found a similar distribution in various other countries he surveyed. Since then, this principle has been successfully applied to sports, taxation, software, health and I have personally used it for many years when applying Six Sigma principles during my previous life as a Mechanical Engineer.  It wasn’t until I started my entrepreneurship journey that I learned how versatile th...

Contrary to popular opinion, a landlord’s roles and responsibilities comprise of much more than just collecting rent. On an ongoing basis, landlords need to stay on top of the current landlord-tenant laws - every municipality, state, and country has different laws regarding the landlord/tenant relationship. Additionally, landlords are often sales people, mediators, handymen/women, and negotiators.

Being a landlord can be a complicated and requires relationship management above all else. The following is a list of some of a landlord’s general duties and tasks. Of course, this is a simplified list, but should give a wholistic view of the entrepreneurial nature of the position.

1. Finding a tenant

Here are the main steps in getting a quality tenant into your investment property.

a. Get the property rent ready – this could include making sure the property is up to the local building codes, paint touch ups, etc.

b. Market the property – nowadays online marketing is sufficient. Websi...

“The only real valuable thing is intuition.”

~ Albert Einstein

Gut feelings, intuition, subconscious... I can’t tell you how many times I’ve passed on properties that my gut said were amazing. Why would I do that? I tried to tell myself that my experience was limited at the time and I couldn’t justify my gut feelings with data. In hindsight, I should have listened to my gut, persisted until I figured out why something inside me told me to go for it. But intuition isn’t considered to be a valuable asset when performing real estate calculations. I tried to tell myself it was because my gut feelings weren’t mature enough to be trusted at the time. The clear answer to the question “Why do we still not listen to ourselves?” kept coming up as “Because we’ve been trained to be not heard.” This is survival instinct for women that has been passed on to us. The great thing about this day and age that we are fortunate enough to be alive in is, some of us have the opportunity to fight against...