By Paula Pant
Lindy feels like her $300,000 of accumulated equity could be put to better use. But she doesn’t want to buy more real estate right now. What’re her options?
Katie wants to become a landlord in her home state but she’s concerned about the effects of redlining. Should she look into Section 8?
Claudia lives in Germany and wants to buy an apartment in Manhattan. But she knows nothing about US real estate. Where does she start?
I tackle these questions in today’s episode.
Enjoy!
By Paula Pant
Today we chat with Scott Trench, the CEO and President of BiggerPockets, a real estate investing education company with more than 2 million members.
He joins us to share cutting-edge insights on today’s real estate market. We discuss economic trends, demographic shifts, and talk about how interest rates impact home buyers.
Whether you’re a potential homebuyer, an investor, or simply curious about the housing market, this conversation will shield light on what’s REALLY happening in today’s confusing real estate market.
By Paula Pant
Yvette recently retired with the goal of reaching a $10,000 monthly income from her real estate investments. Should she put her money toward debt payoff or portfolio expansion?
Carly wants to buy a second home and convert her current home to a rental. What are the pros and cons of tapping into existing equity versus saving cash for a down payment?
An anonymous caller plans to move back to her touristy hometown in six to seven years. Is it smart to buy something now and take advantage of a thriving Airbnb market?
I tackle these three questions in today’s episode.
Enjoy!
By Paula Pant
Jackie is a 42-year-old paralegal with two rental properties. She wants to buy three more. She asks for Paula’s thoughts about today’s economy. Should she buy under these economic conditions?
Jen’s husband will retire with a pension that pays twice their living expenses. Does she still need her own retirement account?
Rachael just bought a duplex, which she wants to househack. But she’s having second thoughts. Did she bite off more than she can chew?
“Minouche” is a return caller with new information: she believes that borrowing from Dad is her only path to home ownership. Does this change Paula and Joe’s advice to her? (And is it even true?) And Molly, a concerned mom, shares some thoughts about this situation.
Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these four questions in today’s episode.
Enjoy!
By Paula Pant
D is worried that she’s going to suffer from her parents’ poor financial choices. Is it time to confront them about it?
An anonymous caller and her fiance both own a house. Which one do they move into after the wedding?
In a world of rising inflation, Nick wants to know if it’s time to change the way he saves for his future.
Another anonymous caller wants to buy a second home within a decade. How does she start planning now?
Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these four questions in today’s episode.
Enjoy!
P.S. Got a question? Leave it here.
By Paula Pant
Chad Carson’s friends called him a “nerdjock.”
When former college football linebacker Chad Carson graduated from Clemson University, he decided to start a business. But he didn’t have any money.
He was a 235-pound athlete who attended college on a football scholarship. He graduated debt-free with $1,000 in savings from various odd jobs. He wanted to become an entrepreneur, and he knew he was starting from zero.
As Chad viewed it, starting from zero meant he had nothing to lose.
He started jogging around local neighborhoods near the university. Whenever he noticed a property in disrepair, he’d ask if it was for sale.
If he noticed a ‘For Sale by Owner’ sign in the yard, for example, he’d dial the number.
If he noticed a home with an overgrown lawn and no curtains in the windows, he’d leave a note on the door, or he’d knock on the neighbor’s doors to get the owner’s phone number.
By doing this, Chad started a real estate wholesaling business. He’d find off-market properties, enter into a sales contract with the owner, and then ‘flip’ the contract to an investor. He earned around $5,000 for each deal.
The benefit to a wholesaling business, Chad discovered, is that he could get a foothold inside the real estate industry without much access to capital. He was a recent college graduate without any official employment, so most banks weren’t interested in offering him loans. Wholesaling gave him a start in the industry.
But after awhile, he wanted to chase bigger deals. He and a business partner decided to start flipping houses themselves. They earned profits of around $20,000 to $30,000 for each deal.
While this was great, Chad wanted to transition into something that would provide a steady, stable income stream. He was running an active business; he wasn’t accumulating a portfolio of passive investments.
He and his business partner stopped flipping homes and began accumulating buy-and-hold rental properties. Today they have 90 units between the two of them.
A few years ago, Chad realized that the passive income from his investments made him financially independent. He and his wife decided to enjoy their newfound freedom by moving to Ecuador with their two children, ages 3 and 5.
They spent 17 months living in Ecuador, learning Spanish and enjoying a slower pace of life. They recently returned to the U.S. and are considering moving to either Spain or Germany — or maybe Colorado? — for their next adventure.
In today’s episode, Chad and I discuss real estate, financial independence, and international travel with children.
By Paula Pant
Welcome to Invest Anywhere, our monthly series on long-distance real estate investing.
Invest Anywhere airs on the First Friday of each month and is co-hosted by Paula Pant and Suni Rao.
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In this episode, we tackle the challenging decision of how to evaluate a city for rental property investment.
We will cover three specific […]
By Paula Pant
Welcome back to the third episode in our special series, Afford Anything Presents: Invest Anywhere.
Invest Anywhere is a new monthly series that runs on the First Friday of each month. It lays out the information you need to invest in real estate at a distance.
Many of you want to invest in real estate, but you live in a high-cost-of-living area. (Ahem, California and New York). The homes in your city are prohibitively expensive, and they offer lackluster returns.
You could invest in a lower-cost area like Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Omaha or Wichita … but HOW? That sounds terrifying.
We’re here to dismantle that fear, piece by piece, by sharing our knowledge and experience.
The Invest Anywhere series is dedicated to giving you the guidance you need to make smart, confident choices about investing out-of-state.
It’s co-hosted between myself (Paula) and esteemed real estate investor Suni Rao, who’s experienced everything ranging from buy-and-hold rental investing to (accidentally) wholesaling. She’s managed short-term and long-term rentals. She’s owned houses, multi-units, and even a mobile home park.
She joins me in this episode to talk about a variety of strategies that will help you make money in real estate.
By Paula Pant
Welcome to our First Friday bonus episode.
Once a month, Afford Anything presents a special feature called Invest Anywhere, in which we teach our audience how to invest in real estate from thousands of miles away.
We kickoff today’s episode by discussing current market conditions. Yesterday the Fed raised interest rates by another 50 basis points, which means mortgages are more expensive than they’ve been in years. Additionally, jittery investors worried about an impending recession led the stock market to its worst day of the calendar year so far.
How should we interpret the current market conditions? Is this a good time to buy an investment property? We cover this in the first 20 minutes of today’s episode.
Next, we discuss 5 challenges associated with investing in long-distance real estate investing: (1) fear, (2) accountability, (3) traction, (4) stress, and (5) relationships.
We elaborate on each challenge and offer solutions.
Finally, we discuss 4 benefits to investing out-of-state: (1) competitive ability, (2) diversification, (3) returns, and (4) repeatability. We elaborate on four types of diversification: economic, strategy, business cycle, and asset based.
Enjoy!
By Paula Pant
Ashley is paying affordable rent for a home she enjoys, but she feels certain that the real estate market in her local market will stay strong. She’s thinking about buying a home with 3 to 5 percent down, but she doesn’t have much in savings.
Should she wait for a year to save more? Or should she take advantage of a rising market and relatively low interest rates?
Ian and his girlfriend live together in Washington D.C. and have a combined 40 percent savings rate. He’d like to buy a rental property, but his girlfriend has $18,000 in student loans and is about to re-enroll in school. Should they buy an investment home, or use their cash to repay her loans and cash flow her new academic program?
Annette is about to travel to Spain with her family. How can she plan an affordable and high-value international trip?
William is concerned about losing his job. What if he can’t pay his bills, especially his new mortgage? How can he protect himself?
Anonymous is a renter, and she often encounters surprise fees and charges when she arrives at the lease signing. Can she negotiate with her landlord?
I answer these five questions in today’s episode, and I also feature a short interview with special guest J. Money, my former podcast co-host from the early days!!
Enjoy!
