Warning - Risks of Neighborhood Decline When Investing in Real Estate Everything in life has risks. Not investing adds certain types of risks, while investing adds other risks. One risk that some real estate investors face is the possibility that the neighborhood they're investing in will decline, causing values and/or rents to drop. So, how do we prevent this, and what can we do about it if it happens to us? In this mini-class addressing the dangers and risks of investing in real estate, James discusses the risk of a decline in the neighborhood you're investing in and what to do to mitigate t ..read more

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 using The World's Greatest Real Estate Deal Analysis Spreadsheet™. In this class, James discusses: What is Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) and why does it exist? How to anaylze deals with a single up-front, lup-sum PMI payment How to anaylze deals w ..read more

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, it might be better to invest money that you have earmarked to pay off properties in something else—like the stock market, for example—until you have enough to completely pay off the mortgage in one single large payment. In this mini-comparison class ..read more

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 the right to call a loan due—like many types of creative financing, using home equity lines of credit, and many commercial loans—adds the additional risk of possibly having loans on your properties called due and payable in full. Add in the fact that ..read more

How to Analyze Buying a Rental Property at a Discount in Baton Rouge 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 test of time. Buffett began as a deep value investor and eventually shifted his focus towards investing in high-quality companies. “It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price,” Buffett confidentl ..read more

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 rate for taking on more risk and require that you pay a third party to insure them in case you default. This insurance you pay to the third party is called Private Mortgage Insurance. But how much is it? The easiest way to find out is to call your lend ..read more

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 worth? Which gives you the highest standard of living in retirement? Which has the lowest amount of risk? Which should you pursue and implement? These are some difficult questions. But, in this mini-class James will compare saving up to buy 20% dow ..read more

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 investors prefer the cash flow return over the others. Often, we can manipulate the investment to shift returns between appreciation, cash flow, debt paydown, tax benefits, and reserves. We call this Deal Alchemy™. There are many variations of Deal Alch ..read more

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 investing we opt to do minus the risk mitigation and elimination strategies we put in place. One of the risks of investing in real estate is the risk of rental property expenses increasing. James discusses those risks and how to mitigate or eliminate them ..read more

How to Analyze a New Construction Single-Family Home Property in Baton Rouge 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, James will help you utilize The World's Greatest Real Estate Deal Analysis Spreadsheet™ (a free download) to analyze a new construction single-family home that you plan to buy as an investment. Analyzing new construction is slightly different from analy ..read more