Who do you call when you are on the beach in Acapulco and the water heater at your investment property dies? Or more importantly, who do your tenants call when the water heater dies and you are out of cell phone range? Do you have a plan?

Read More...

When I read Steve's post at The Property Pundit, I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. When he takes applications for his apartments, he searches the Internet to see if the prospective tenant have an on-line identity. In one case he came across a prospect that was advertising her erotic services on Craig's List! Oh boy!

Probably th

Read More...

Many people buy investment property not really knowing how much they should be making in cash flow per month. Unfortunately, single family houses are the most difficult to try and increase your monthly cash flow. Scott Ficek gives us 7 different ways to either increase your income or decrease your expenses on your Minnesota I

Read More...

Although not an exhaustive list, there are a number of things that you should prior to putting your investment property on the market for sale. It is amazing how many real estate investors don't even bother to put their best foot forward. This is a business, you should be always thinking about how to maximize your profit and

Read More...

Obviously this can only be done when the lease renews, but how do you decide when and how much to raise the rent on your tenants? As you imagine, that can be a touchy subject. I think raising the rent depends upon a couple items. Every landlord faces this situation. Here are some tips and tricks to getting the rent increase

Read More...

Time to get your investment properties ready for the winter. Every year I say I am going to do it earlier in the fall and I end up waiting until November (and do it when it is an emergency). Why not tackle those projects and prep items when the we

Read More...

If you own investment property, you know it can be difficult to unplug from your phone for a week at a time. Who are your tenants going to call. What if I have a major problem at one of them, who will fix it? These are all great questions that every real estate investor struggles with. With some work up front, you can make

Read More...

If you own investment property long enough, you may run into the day when one of your tenants just won't leave, even when their lease has expired. There are many twists and turns in this drama. By being prepared as early in the process as possible with good contingencies, you should be able to avoid the “What Now!”. I have

Read More...

In any business you will find partnerships. Sometimes they are built originally from friendships, sometimes they are between complete strangers. Regardless of their origin, partnerships can create a huge synergy by drawing on each of the partners strengths and bolstering their weaknesses. Conversely, I have seen some miserable

Read More...

Just like many industries, Real Estate requires specialization. Because the markets and property types are so broad, it is difficult to be an expert at all areas. Plus, if you are looking to spend your hard earned savings on an investment property, wouldn't you want an expert/specialist? Here are 7 questions that every real

Read More...

Whenever anyone asks me how the market is going these days I tell them it is smoking hot. Then I always say the same thing: “If you have money, now is the time to spend it”. Are you waiting for your Internet stocks to rebound before buying property? Do you think those government bonds are going to bring you extraordinary gains?

Read More...

While I rarely see a tenant that has a great credit report, the tenants that have problems paying their rent on-time (or ever) have typically shown a history of financial and/or rental problems on their background checks. The ones that have several items in collections especially seem to have issues with rent. I guess paying la

Read More...

When you own investment property, you lease is usually the only relationship you have with your tenant. Unfortunately, many landlords take that relationship too lightly and simply do not put in the time to understand what is written in their leases and put any teeth into it. In this post, Scott Ficek outlines 10 different add

Read More...

Most investors can see the incredible opportunities in the market these days between all the foreclosures, short sales, and generally the lower prices of investment properties. Add to that one of the strongest rental markets that we have seen in years and good interest rates and you could call this the perfect storm of real est

Read More...