How to Calculate PMI If you're a house hacker, Nomad™, investor buying properties with less than 20% down, or buying creatively where the seller has PMI, you'll want to make sure you know how to analyze deals that have Private Mortgage Insurance. In this mini-class, James will cover how to analyze deals that have PMI, with an emphasis on doing it u…

In many cases—not all, but many cases—real estate investors can speed up the time it takes to become financially independent by choosing to pay off the mortgages on their properties early. Sometimes it makes sense to take every extra dollar beyond a healthy amount of reserves and aggressively pay off properties as quickly as possible. Other times, …

Deal Alchemy™ - Residential vs Commercial Property Deal Alchemy™ is all about manipulating the returns you're earning on your investments. Often, this is done through the choices we make when selecting the investment property and the strategies we choose to implement. For example, you could choose to invest in residential properties where your tena…

Warning - Risks of Loan Called Due When Investing in Real Estate Investing in real estate adds some risk to an already risk-filled life. However, certain activities and strategies when investing in real estate create additional risks that other strategies and activities do not have. For example, choosing to utilize strategies where the lender has t…

How to Analyze Buying a Rental Property at a Discount in Wichita Falls Some real estate investors insist on only buying properties where they can purchase them at a significant discount. While not mutually exclusive, other investors insist on buying quality properties at a fair price as long as it gets them their desired returns and will stand the …

How to Calculate PMI If you're planning to buy a property and put less than 20% down, you're likely to be required to pay Private Mortgage Insurance. Lenders prefer that you put at least 20% down, but if you insist on putting less than 20% down, they may still make the loan. However, they will usually do so at a slightly higher mortgage interest ra…

There are a large number of investing strategies you could pursue as a real estate investor: Nomad™, house hacking, fix and flip, buying 20% down rentals, buying 25% down rentals, saving up to buy free and clear rentals and many, many more options. Which is the best? Which gets you to financial independence fastest? Which gives you the highest net …

Deal Alchemy™ - Increasing Down Payment There are four primary returns from investing in rental properties: appreciation, cash flow, debt paydown, and the tax benefits of depreciation. Additionally, there is a secondary return in the form of the interest earned on the reserves required to make the investment in the first place. Many real estate inv…

Warning - Risks of Rental Property Expenses When Investing in Real Estate Risk is all around us. When we choose to invest in anything, we’re choosing to take on the additional risk characteristics of that investment. For example, when we choose to invest in real estate, we choose to take on the risk characteristics of the specific real estate inves…

How to Analyze a New Construction Single-Family Home Property in Wichita Falls Your ability to analyze deals is arguably the most important skill as a real estate investor. It allows you to make smart investment decisions and helps you avoid making career-ending bad decisions, such as buying cash-flowing-sucking vampire properties. In this class, J…

The 3 Strategies to Pay Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) Whether they're putting 15% down and buying a non-owner-occupied property or utilizing an owner-occupied loan with 0%, 3%, 3.5%, or 5% down for Nomading™ or house hacking, some real estate investors will choose to put less than 20% down. With the decision to put less than 20% down comes the c…

Investing in real estate is full of truthy-sounding falsehoods: it is always better to do X than Y. However, if you were crazy enough to sit down and do the math, you'd find the truth to be much more nuanced. For example, should you take all your extra cash flow and savings and apply it to your mortgages each month to pay off rental properties fast…

Deal Alchemy™ - Cash Flow to Debt Paydown There are four primary returns from investing in rental properties: appreciation, cash flow, debt paydown, and the tax benefits of depreciation. Additionally, there is a secondary return in the form of the interest earned on the reserves required to make the investment in the first place. Many real estate i…

Warning - The Risk of Down Payment Size When Investing in Real Estate Life is full of risks. When we choose to invest, we choose to take on additional risks. If we invest in stocks, we choose to take on certain risks. When we choose to invest in bonds, we take on different risks. When we choose to invest in real estate, we choose to take on additio…

How to Analyze a 5% Down Single-Family Nomad™ Property in Wichita Falls Using the latest version of The World's Greatest Real Estate Deal Analysis Spreadsheet™, we will walk through how to analyze a single-family home Nomad™ property with a 5% down payment. Learn how to analyze deals correctly and avoid buying cash flow vampires. Only buy the best …

What Affects Your PMI Rate Lenders prefer that you put at least 20% down, but if you push hard enough, many will allow you to put less than 20% down if you're willing to purchase insurance to protect them in case you default. This insurance is called Private Mortgage Insurance. The cost of this insurance depends on several factors. Some are primary…

You're a real estate investor looking to acquire properties by saving up and putting 25% down. Should you buy an owner-occupied property first? What if that's more expensive than renting? Should you still do it? What if it means you'll be saving less for acquiring rentals by buying an owner-occupied property first? In this comparison class, we will…

Deal Alchemy™ - Lease-Options Different real estate investors desire, prefer, and prioritize different returns. For example, many real estate investors have a strong preference for the cash flow part of their return. With Deal Alchemy™, we can manipulate returns and move them from one area to another. Or, we can move them from one or more areas to …

Warning - Insurable Risks When Investing in Real Estate Life has risks. Real estate investing in Wichita Falls adds some additional risks. Some of these risks can be shifted from your responsibility to the responsibility of a third party for a fee. This is often described as insurance. You choose to pay someone else to take on a risk you don't want…

How to Analyze a 20% Down Single-Family Home Rental Using the latest version of The World's Greatest Real Estate Deal Analysis Spreadsheet™, we will walk through how to analyze a single-family home rental property with a 20% down payment. Learn how to analyze deals correctly and avoid buying cash flow vampires. Only buy the best deals that make sen…

What is PMI And How to Avoid It You want to work with a lender so that you don't need to purchase a property with all cash. The lender is willing to lend you money, charging you interest to make a profit, and ensuring there is a safety buffer of equity in case you default and they need to foreclose to recover their funds. Your goal is to minimize t…

Should you use the Nomad™ strategy to acquire properties with a minimal 5% down payment as quickly as possible? Or is it better to be a little more patient and save up for full 25% down payments and buy rentals without moving into each? By saving up for a 25% down payment, the properties will cash flow better. That may allow you to save up faster f…

Improving Cash Flow on Rental Properties by Improving the Property When real estate prices, mortgage interest rates, and rent rates are high, it can be more challenging to generate great cash flow from a rental property. However, it is also more important than ever to do everything in your power to maximize cash flow. There are 88 strategies for im…

Refinancing Rental Property Tips There are many flavors of refinancing rental properties: cash-out refinances, cash-in refinances, rate and term refinances, and recasting loans. Understanding each one, when you might want to use them in your real estate investing, the general rules and guidelines for using them, and the impact of each are all impor…

Financing Tips When Writing an Offer to Buy a Rental So, you understand financing for buying your next property, and you're ready to go out in search of a property to buy. There are a few financing-related tips that might help set you up for success, improve the odds of getting your offer accepted, getting the best price and terms on your offer, an…

Sometimes buying rental properties is merely a means to an end: financial independence. Some folks don't want to hold onto their rental properties, manage them, or deal with the business of owning them when they achieve financial independence. Instead, they may prefer to have their money more passively invested in stocks. Can a real estate investor…

Tips for Getting Mortgage Quotes from Lenders If you choose a random lender, you'll have a random chance of closing with financing. And in many markets, if your lender fails to perform, you as the buyer are in default (since your lender is not a party to the contract). Wouldn't you rather have more certainty that your lender will perform and that y…

In the last few years, we've seen equity explode. Property prices have been growing like a weed in a spring. And, lower mortgage interest rates mean loan paydown has been more like the Mississippi than a backyard creek. Many real estate investors who owned property during that period will be tempted to tap into that equity to invest in more propert…

How can you speed up your journey to financial independence (FI)? In this special class, James will go over a brand-new spreadsheet and walk you through all the different ways to speed up your achievement of financial independence. James covers the following in this class: What is financial independence? How is financial independence defined mathem…

Preparing to Get Mortgages So, you’ve decided to invest in real estate and know that you’ll need a mortgage to buy property. There are some things you should do BEFORE you apply for your mortgage. You should be thinking about these things ideally for multiple years before you try to get a mortgage. In this mini-class, we will discuss the preparatio…

Accessing Equity in Properties With prices up a lot over the last few years and interest rates having lingered near all-time lows, many real estate investors find themselves sitting on massive amounts of equity in their properties. But, how do you access that equity? In this mini-class, James will look at a variety of ways to access equity in prope…

The Return on Investment on Extra Down Payments You’re buying a rental property. You have more than you need for a down payment, closing costs and reserves. One option you’re considering is putting more down. Putting more down will often improve cash flow and Cash on Cash Return on Investment. The dollar amount of returns from Appreciation and Depr…

Most real estate investors consider themselves financially independent when the income from all of their investments exceeds their personal expenses. To achieve this, they need net positive cash flow from all rental properties after all expenses, any income generated from stocks, bonds, or other investments times a safe withdrawal rate, and any soc…

Use this special spreadsheet to track the returns on each property in your portfolio. It utilizes the Return in Dollars Quadrant™ methodology to easily allow you to track appreciation, cash flow, debt paydown, Cash Flow from Depreciation™ and the return on your reserves all in one place. Plus, see how and when each return is taxed. And, whether the…

Should I Put 15% or 20% Down When Buying a Rental Property? In a real estate market that has seen significant increases in property prices and rapidly rising mortgage interest rates, it can be harder than ever to obtain decent cash flow. However, many real estate investors are tempted to minimize their down payments to optimize their overall return…

Use this special budget spreadsheet to model changes in your situation like buying an owner-occupant property, buying rental properties, getting married or divorced or remarried, retiring and much much more. The spreadsheet allows you to create 6 variations to your budgets for different seasons of your life to easily see how that impacts what you n…

Loan Comparison Spreadsheet for Real Estate Investors Sometimes it can be helpful to compare various loan programs and options simultaneously. For example, it could be useful to compare the monthly payment differences between various "nothing down," "low down," and full-size down payment options when buying a rental property. Visually seeing a char…

Buying Down Mortgage Interest Rates for Real Estate Investors There are several ways to improve cash flow on your rental properties. One option is to put more money down to reduce the amount you borrow. In some cases, this can also improve your interest rate by lowering your overall loan-to-value. However, when comparing putting more money down to …

Other Financing Options for Real Estate Investors In the last several classes, we covered a variety of traditional financing options, including nothing-down financing, low down payment financing, conventional financing, and portfolio loans. These options represent the overwhelming majority of financing options used when purchasing properties. Howev…

Home prices are up a lot over the last 10 years or so, interest rates are up even more in the last 18 months or so, and—while rents are up—they’re not up enough to counteract the higher prices and interest rates. That makes cash flow harder... but not for Ryan and his strategy... We discuss this method of improving cash flow under "Improve Strategy…

Prices have gone up rapidly in the last few years. And, interest rates are much higher. And even though rents are up, they’re not up enough to counteract the much higher prices and much higher interest rates. That makes it harder to achieve good cash flow with a reasonable down payment. One way to overcome the impact of higher interest rates is to …

The Importance of Loan Planning for Real Estate Investors Real estate investing is a little like the game of Chess. You can play the game with an elementary understanding of the basic rules. But, you soon learn that just knowing how the pieces move about the board are the table stakes for being able to sit at the game board. If you want to do well,…

Hard Money and Private Money for Real Estate Investors Certain real estate investing strategies suggest certain types of financing. For example, most long-term buy-and-hold real estate investors purchasing non-owner-occupant properties will opt for 30-year fixed rate conventional financing or commercial loans. House hackers and Nomads™ will often s…

Commercial Loans 101 for Real Estate Investors Recently, we have been covering a variety of financing options for real estate investors. However, we have primarily focused on financing single-family homes, condos, townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes. But what if you're interested in purchasing a commercial building, an apartment with fiv…

Portfolio Loans 101 for Real Estate Investors Most real estate investors initially use conventional financing options to acquire their rental property portfolio. However, when they hit the limit of conventional loans they can obtain, they may switch to portfolio loan products to continue acquiring properties. Additionally, when doing certain types …

Conventional Financing 101 for Real Estate Investors While about one-third of real estate transactions are all-cash, the majority of real estate investors use conventional financing options to acquire their rental properties. Even new investors often desire to utilize creative financing strategies, but it's important to have a foundational understa…

Improving Cash Flow on Rental Properties as a Landlord When real estate prices, mortgage interest rates, and rent rates are high, it can be more challenging to generate great cash flow from a rental property. However, it is also more important than ever to do everything in your power to maximize cash flow. There are 88 strategies for improving cash…

Low Down Payment Financing Options for Real Estate Investors Real estate investors often believe that minimizing their down payment leads to higher returns. This is partly true since a lower down payment means higher leverage, which amplifies returns. However, returns can be amplified both positively (when returns are positive) and negatively (when…

Property prices and interest rates are currently high, while rents are not keeping up. Achieving cash flow has become even more crucial and challenging than ever, despite our 88 strategies to maximize it. One common question that arises is whether it is better to purchase rental properties with 20% down payments or to invest in stocks. Buying renta…

Is Creative Financing Really Nothing Down? Every real estate investor has heard stories of the amazing deals that can be found with creative financing, often involving instant equity from buying significantly below current fair market value with nothing down. While these deals do exist, they are not typical. So, what can an investor reasonably expe…