When building a pro-forma for a potential acquisition, there are certain elements that are often overlooked, one of which is Loss to Lease. Why – because while we kinda all know what it means, most people’s understanding is very uni-dimensional and lacking in-depth perspective. Thus, let’s define the term, and consider some of the perspective… WHAT […]
Excited to Announce My Latest eBook – Is This a Deal?
Real Estate opened doors of opportunity for me, and I am passionate about helping my readers find their way in real estate! In 2012, I created a set of educational materials for real estate entrepreneurs called Cash Flow Freedom University, which focuses on Creative Finance – the ability to buy property without money. And in […]
Why Real Estate Investing Works – The Truth
Someone once told me that success is a function of the images in your rear view mirror – I agree! The problem I am noticing more and more is that a lot of people never take the time to look back, and a lot of those who do, struggle to interpret what they see. Life […]
Getting a Bank Loan For a Syndication
Every day, as I delve into the process of syndication, I am greeted by more and more challenges; it’s actually somewhat overwhelming. Don’t misunderstand me, as I am confident of my capacity and intellectual worth as a real estate entrepreneur to be able to find ways to resolve or go around every obstacle in my way. I am […]
The Problems of Syndication
What they say is that you can not teach an old dog new tricks – this is false. Just yesterday, standing at the kitchen sink I found myself telling Patrisha that I am learning at an astonishing (for me) pace. Every day I thrust the shovel into the ground, figuratively speaking, thinking that I know […]
How to Calculate ROI on Investment Property
One of the questions I am asked often is how I know if a property is a good investment. To me, the answer to this question translates into knowing exactly how to calculate ROI on investment property. The reality that folks are willing to put money under my management via syndication of real estate is […]
First Impressions of a Syndicator
As you know, I have chosen to go through a career change and cross over into the field of syndication of real estate. Being a syndicator, as compared to being a real estate investor, is two jobs wrapped into one in that not only is it a real estate business, but also a securities business, […]
Why Do People Sell Cheap – Vending Machine Wisdom
If you are indeed a newbie in this sport of Real Estate Investing, you might be wondering why anyone would ever sell for 60 cents on the dollar, and at times for less. The circular logic goes like this: If it makes money, then why do people sell cheap; And if people sell cheap, then it […]
What Is Financial Statement
The world of accounting and paperwork is a dark, dark forest to me indeed, and if it weren’t for Patrisha, my incredibly organized better half, I’d be totally lost. There is, however, one piece of paper that excites me like none other, and it is the Financial Statement! When I learned what is financial statement, […]
What Is Due Diligence
In the world of real estate investing and finance there is a lot of jargon; a lot of terms that can sound strange to someone not immersed in this world on a daily basis. Fortunately, with just a bit of research most of these terms become self-evident quickly. But, then there is this term – due-diligence… I […]
How to Build Wealth with Rentals – A Case Study
INTRODUCTION I have been investing in income-producing real estate for nine years now. My portfolio currently consists of 28 units which generate Gross Rental Income of about $170,000/year and Cash Flow of around $45,000/year. I don’t flip houses. I don’t wholesale houses either. I don’t do Sub2 or Lease/Option sandwich deals or any other fancy VooDoo real […]
I Don’t Make Down-payment – Here’s Why
Real Estate investing is a cash intensive game, and this is nowhere evident than in the requirement of a down-payment. Yes indeed, the overriding reality for most people is that financing the purchase of an investment property generally involves a sizable down-payment. More than that, unbelievably enough, a rather wide cross-section of real estate investors […]
Featured
Ben Leybovich – As Featured On
As you know by now, I love real estate and I love to talk about real estate. More specifically, it’s not real estate in and of itself that I love, but what it represents in my life and the lives of many well-educated but otherwise ordinary people. Real estate provided opportunities and answers in my […]
Paying Too Much for Real Estate – Really?
Some people struggle to find a way, while others seem to turn everything to gold that they touch. How is that? I‘ll tell you – while most people LOOK, only a few SEE. Does that make sense? I hope so… This ability of making finer distinctions in life; of being able to look at the […]
How to Invest in Real Estate Safely
Most of you know that I am a featured writer on the BiggerPockets blog, which means I spend a lot of time on BiggerPockets (not a bad idea for you either). Last week I came across a comment to one of the articles by another blogger, a buddy of mine Mark Ferguson. I could not […]