Real Estate Investing with House Money

House Money Weekly

In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts changed things up by discussing one of Alan’s books entitled “A Million Bucks by 30.” Alan shared some background on why he wrote this book and what he did to achieve that goal. Alan shared that to be a millionaire before you become 30 years old, you basically must live below your means and try house hacking. Putting 60% of your salary into a different bank, cutting down your finances, and budgeting your money is what he did to achieve it. He used the 60% that he saved as downpayments for properties. Tom became a millionaire by 31 years old. He did He did so by selling bras on eBay which he used to (among other things) buy a crack house on eBay. Tom bought a duplex and house hacked when he was in college, and he agrees this approach was huge for his trajectory. He had a roommate throughout college and the extra income he received help him save up for more real estate deals. Lauren’s story on how she became a millionaire was that she and her husband saved at least 40% of their income and that is what they used to buy their second house and rent out their first one. They started house hacking and that led them to get their first million. House hacking, especially when starting out, changed the trajectory of your hosts’ lives!

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Mortgage Minute: Jasmine answers the question: How many mortgages can one person have in their name?

Sponsored by: Jasmine Mortgage Team https://www.jasminemortgageteam.com/ 

Real Estate Is Easy Interview

Lauren interviewed Builder Monk, who has been a builder for a year and a half and is based in Northern Kentucky. He was a real estate agent before he became a builder. Builder Monk is a spec house builder and he shared what a spec house in. Lauren asked Builder Monk what’s the difference between building a big neighborhood of homes and buying one lot, building a house on it then selling it, which he answered in depth, including numbers. Lauren asked the Builder Monk if it was better to buy a virgin lot or to buy a lot that has an old, dilapidated house and knocking it down (knocking down is better). She also asked Builder Monk how the quality of builds in 2023 compared to those from decades ago and he answered that it still depends on the builder. He also shared that in the past, some builds weren’t good and some used outdated practices. Lauren asked how long a house takes to build and for Builder Monk, 3,000 square the numbers. He also shared his take on the home inspectors and some of his experiences with them. Of courses, Builder Monk answers how he makes real estate easy and Tom liked that he made a shoutout to the subcontractors.

Contact our Guest: https://twitter.com/BuilderMonk

Teatime with Tom

Tom’s segment talks about the bait and switch real estate practice. Tom shared his personal experience with a property listed and got ghosted by the realtor. The hosts share their own opinions about this issue. Alan shared his experience when buying a property and how slow the communication was. And Lauren shared they similar experience she had with Tom.

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Lauren:

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Alan:

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House Money Weekly

In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 119, where they talk about getting a real estate license as a real estate investor. Alan shares that the license you would get is called a real estate salesperson license which means you learn how to represent someone else who is buying real estate. Alan points out that a real estate salesperson license is not a master’s degree in real estate. Lauren asks Alan if you have to disclose if you were the owner and listing agent and Alan said that you must disclose if you are the owner or the part owner (or even related to the owner) of the property for transparency. Tom shares his point of view with people who want to be a realtor because they lost a job because they see it as an easy way to generate income. Real Estate investors look at real estate differently which leads them to think they know more than the real estate agents. Alan says don’t use your bad reps on yourself. Tom shares his experience with real estate agents and how they became a huge help for him.

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Mortgage Minute: Jasmine answers the question: What is Dodd-Frank?

Sponsored by: Jasmine Mortgage Team https://www.jasminemortgageteam.com/

Real Estate Is Easy Interview

Lauren interviews Dave, who has been a real estate photographer for 9 months now. Lauren asks Dave what the difference is when photographing occupied space and unoccupied space and he shares his experience capturing photos of an occupied and unoccupied home. He also shares a story about the time he captured photos of an occupied home and one of the renters was telling him stories about the house. Lauren asks for tips from Dave when getting properties ready for pictures and he gave simple tips. Lauren shares some tips from her own short-term rentals. Dave thinks that having an honest conversation between the seller and tenants helps when taking photos. Lauren asks about his rates when taking pictures of different home sizes. His package comes with 20 delivered photos which will be sent within 24 hours. Photos and walkthroughs dominate, and videos and drone shoots are not needed for him (yet). Dave is a busy guy! He points out that being a real estate photographer isn’t his only job, he is a costing engineer, and his photography company is standing strong. Dave tells us why he got into photography and his journey of taking photos of not only real estate properties but also concerts and family stuff. Dave also shares his wildest encounter while doing a real estate photo shoot. Dave’s answer on how to make real estate easy is very on-point and even our hosts agree on his answer.

Contact our Guest:

https://www.photodavephotography.com/

https://www.instagram.com/photodave_photography/

Tea Time with Tom

Tom’s segment talks about the trending article of personal finance guru, Dave Ramsey, about the issue experienced by the young landlord wanting to stop house hacking and the controversial response of Dave. The hosts share their own opinions about this issue. The article was hard to read for Lauren because she’s an avid fan of house hacking while Alan shares some methods for the landlord to still push through house hacking.

Article discussed:

https://moneywise.com/investing/real-estate/dave-ramsey-tells-frustrated-young-landlord-to-ditch-the-duplex

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House Money Weekly

In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 120, about the three types of insurance you must have as a real estate investor. Alan shared the three types discussed are Property Insurance, Umbrella Insurance, and Renter Insurance. The lender will require you to get property insurance and the minimum depends on your location. Alan explained that Property Insurance will be used to rebuild a building for different reasons, like a fire. When it comes to Umbrella Insurance, it’s like an umbrella over you that sits on top of your traditional insurance policy and it’s affordable, with $10 to $15 per month, you can get whatever size policy you want. Lauren also added that in an Umbrella insurance policy, there’s minimal coverage underlying insurance that you’ll need to have. Lastly is Renters Insurance. The tenants actually pay for this insurance and not the landlord. Lauren warns not to encourage your tenants to make claims willy-nilly though because it shows up as a claim on your property in the future.

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Mortgage Minute: Jasmine answers the question: What is the difference between a home equity line of credit and a home equity loan?

Sponsored by: Jasmine Mortgage Team https://www.jasminemortgageteam.com/

Real Estate Is Easy Interview

Lauren interviews Yonah Weiss, who is also known as the Cost Seg King. He is a cost segregation expert, and he was a teacher for 15 years before he got into cost seg. It’s been 8 years since he entered the real estate world. He works at the Madison Specs, the biggest national segregation company. He also hosts the podcast entitled “Weiss Advice.” Lauren started by asking Yonah about his opinion on whether real estate is passive or not. Yonah explained the IRS’s definition of passive. Lauren asked the opinion of Yonah on the question “Are you a real estate professional?” and he explained who is really considered a real estate professional. He then proceeds to discuss what the tax benefits are of real estate. Yonah also shared how much a Cost Segregation costs, and it all depends on a lot of factors like property size. But in 2023, it generally costs around $3,000 on the low end and up to $10,000 for the large commercial properties. Yonah’s answer on how to make real estate easy is very on point and even our hosts agree on his answer – networking!

Contact our Guest: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cost-segregation-yonah-weiss

Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/YonahWeiss

IG: https://www.instagram.com/yonahweiss

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yonah.weiss.1/

Weiss Advice: https://www.yonahweiss.com/podcast

Teatime with Tom

Tom’s segment talks about all the strikes going on around the country and their effects on the strikers’ ability to pay rent. The hosts share the effects on their properties and tenants because of the strikes. Alan also shared how he became part of TV shows since we can’t go even one episode without discussing it.

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Lauren:

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Alan:

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This show is a little different. Lauren, Alan, and Tom recorded live and in-person at the recording studio of fellow podcasters, The Debt Free Guys! The sound is a little different, but we all tried to make the flow the same.

House Money Weekly

In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 118, where they talk about how to HELOC hack your down payment. Alan explained what HELOC is and how to determine how much LTV you can get in a HELOC. Tom shared how he pulled the equity lines that he used to buy other properties. Alan also shared how he bought a house using a down payment from HELOC. Lauren explains that if it’s from a primary home, you can get up to 80% to 90% LTV, although it still depends on the different rates and depends on credit. Alan explains some potential downsides of taking your equity from your own home and using it to buy an investment property in the blog. Hosts reminded us that the best way to use our HELOC is to use it to buy assets that pay back that HELOC.

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Mortgage Minute: Jasmine answers the question:

Sponsored by: Jasmine Mortgage Team https://www.jasminemortgageteam.com/

Real Estate Is Easy Interview

Lauren interviews Sam, who owns Eco Pest in Atlanta Georgia. He was voted as “Bug Man of the Year '' three times and he’s been doing pest control for 25 years. Sam explained what pest control is and what it means to get pest control for your properties. Sam suggested that rental property owners get pest control service every two months. Lauren asked Sam what the biggest pest issue was in Atlanta and his answer shocked Lauren. Sam also explained if the chemicals used to kill pests are not harmful to people and why he thinks Landlords should be responsible for pest control instead of the tenants. He also shared some of his crazy infestation war stories while doing pest control and how he ended up being pest control. Sam also shared that the business is good and why it is growing. Lauren asked Sam how much pest control would cost her 6-unit apartment building and why doing it inside and outside is necessary. And just like any other business, there also came a time where there was a pest control problem they couldn’t fix, and the reason why will really make us know our pest controller well. Naturally, Lauren and Sam discussed bed bugs, which is always a concern with short-term rentals. Sam answered how real estate is easy and told a story about his funniest moment as a pest control guy, which involved a baby raccoon!

Contact our Guest: https://www.facebook.com/ecopestcontrol/

[email protected]

Teatime with Tom

Tom’s segment is about managing expectations that can go along with investors or tenants. It focuses on first-time investors going to their first property and how they manage their unrealistic expectations. The hosts share some insights on remembering whether you as an investor will be living there versus it’s an investment and others will be living there.

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House Money Weekly

In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 117, where they talk about buying real estate with bad credit. Although you can buy real estate with bad credit, it is not as easy as buying with good credit. Alan lists 4 options when it comes to buying real estate with bad credit. Lauren asks, why do you have bad credit? Have you fixed those behaviors? Alan’s first option is to use seller financing when they don’t check your credit. His next piece of advice is to find a complementary investment partner, look for someone who has good credit, and partner with them. Option three is to invest in commercial real estate, which will give you a hard time especially if you are a first-time investor who has bad credit. Lastly, use hard money or private money which is like a bank that doesn’t need deposits and is only in the business of lending money with high interest. Tom also used personal loans and hard money loans to buy properties in the past. He has also bought and sold with seller financing. In the end, while you can invest with low credit, you should also work on making it better to get on “easy mode.”

More on seller financing: https://www.housemoneymedia.com/blog/100-finding-seller-financed-property-and-off-market-homes

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Mortgage Minute: Jasmine answers the question: What are the differences between an Adjustable Rate Mortgage and a Fixed Rate Mortgage?

Sponsored by: Jasmine Mortgage Team https://www.jasminemortgageteam.com/

Real Estate Is Easy Interview

Lauren interviews a Residential General Contractor who is known as the “Home Service Guy.” He has specialized in renovations for 3 years now. He explains why he chose residential, and what licensing requirements are for residential contractors. He also shared some of his experience meeting general contractors who didn't have a solid background in construction. Lauren asked the “Home Service Guy” where to find good and experienced contractors. Although most contractors are well set up on their social media, most of the experienced ones aren’t actually active on the web, so when you find a good one, you better keep them, according to the “Home Service Guy.”  Then, the “Home Service Guy” tells us about pricing and contractors taking money away. Get a contract and official estimate for every job, especially early on in the relationship. Understand why the contractor is asking for deposits – are they ordering materials up front? They also talk about how to be a good partner with your general contractor. Pay your bills quickly! And have realistic expectations. The “Home Service Guy” was asked how he makes real estate easy, and Lauren didn’t like his answer!

Contact our Guest: https://twitter.com/homeservguy

Teatime with Tom

Tom’s segment is about a business insider article about a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit that’s happening around the multiple listing service, the National Association of Realtors, and real estate agent commissions. The hosts share some of their insights on the topic and give their own opinions about it, including their opinions on what makes a good agent vs. a bad one.

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Lauren:

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Alan:

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House Money Weekly

In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 116, is being a landlord unethical? We hear this a lot from people who want to buy a house but can’t for whatever reason. They want to blame someone, so they blame landlords. When landlords own single family homes, though, they aren’t typically competing with first time home buyers. They’re buying houses people don’t want (usually because they’re ugly or dated). Also, let’s remember that some people want to rent, and government housing isn’t the best to say the least. Alan owns about 350 units through apartment buildings, and he asks: who should own these? He’s not competing with home buyers.  He adds that the Not In My Backyard folks (NIMBYs) who are against ADUs and small or even large multi-families anywhere near them are contributing to the problem of affordable housing.

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Mortgage Minute: Jasmine answers the question: what’s the best way to avoid multiple dings on your credit score when shopping for a mortgage?

Sponsored by: Jasmine Mortgage Team https://www.jasminemortgageteam.com/

Real Estate Is Easy Interview

Lauren interviews Jordan Santiago, a wholesaler, teacher, fix and flipper, and landlord based in Queens, NY. They focus on wholesaling, which means getting a property under contract then assigning that contract to an investor for a fee. There is a market for wholesaling because some people are in distress (pre-foreclosure, behind on taxes) or just don’t want to work with real estate agents. Jordan says people who like making money and are willing to be consistent and put in effort will succeed in wholesaling.  He said he makes $17k-$18k per deal. Lauren had to ask about the ethical issues behind wholesaling. Jordan emphasizes helping people on both sides of the deal. The two also discuss risk, and some deals in which Jordan has lost money. The most important thing you can do is learn from podcast, courses, mentors, etc. Don’t just learn secondhand though! You’ll learn the most by doing. So, what is Jordan’s goal with his portfolio? He wants to own $1 billion in real estate. Of course, he answers the question of how to make real estate easy!

Contact our Guest:

https://www.instagram.com/thejordansantiago/

https://twitter.com/TheJSantiago

Teatime with Tom

Tom’s segment is about burritos. Just kidding. It’s about being fake. Tom emphasizes having real engagement on social media and being authentic. Lauren recommends having a niche on social media and sticking to that niche, in her case personal finance and real estate. She also recommends sending DMs. Alan gives tips on HOW to DM House Money Media. Alan says not to follow anyone in front of a private jet or lambo.

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House Money Weekly

In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 115 – what do look for in an inspection. Even though they cost $500-$800, inspections are very, very worth it. None of the hosts have had a clean report, though, so that’s to be expected. Alan thinks of inspections as an opportunity to ask for the price of problems found, plus a headache fee. Thus, you get the cost of your inspection back. Alan tells a recent story about the reason a client backed out after an inspection. Tom accuses Alan of being a slum lord. Alan also suggests running potential improvements by the inspector. The number one thing to look for in an inspection is water damage and intrusion.

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Mortgage Minute: Jasmine answers the question: how do you calculate property tax?

Sponsored by: Jasmine Mortgage Team https://www.jasminemortgageteam.com/

Real Estate Is Easy Interview

Lauren interviews Nita the inspector! She’s from Cleveland, and she got into this space from seeing a lot of bad inspections from her own properties and her clients. Nita talks about what it takes to become an inspector. She has many opinions about the future of the inspection space and changes that should be made too, which is interesting. Naturally, Lauren and Nita dive into what an inspection is, what they cost, what the reports are like, and what to look for. Nita had an interesting answer to the question, how do you make real estate easy? She simply decided not to quit.

Contact our Guest: https://www.instagram.com/househunter216/

https://twitter.com/HouseHunter216

https://www.inspectorflow.com/

Teatime with Tom

Tom’s segment is about being trendy – how do you update without being trendy? Specifically, we’re seeing a lot of white brick and black trim. Alan figures trends last 10 years, but he’s doing a lot of black and white tile to try to combat this effect. Sheet rock is fine, but it’s the wainscoting and shiplap that we’re seeing that’s going to be dated. What about brown paneling? Lauren says she might leave it if she bought a place with it now. Tom learned lessons early that putting in trendy things in rentals is less important than putting in finishes that will last. Alan is updating his primary and isn’t thinking about value, rather, he’s thinking about enjoyment. Tom feels the same.

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Lauren:

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Alan:

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House Money Weekly

In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 114, things learned when investing through the Great Financial Crisis. But only after discussing how old they were in 2008. Alan points out that in the GFC, there were more renters as people lost their homes. Both Tom and Alan’s properties cash flowed all the way through the GFC. Lauren was 18 in 2008 so she didn’t have any property. At House Money Media, we don’t really believe in timing the market. Lauren gives her thoughts on short-term rentals and what that space may be like during a recession. Then, Tom breaks down his STR numbers.

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Mortgage Minute: Jasmine answers the question: what does DTI stand for and, and why is that so important to know?

Sponsored by: Jasmine Mortgage Team https://www.jasminemortgageteam.com/

Real Estate Is Easy Interview

Lauren interviews Thomas Castelli, a CPA. He starts by explaining what CPA means, and what schooling and testing they must take. His answer about which real estate investors should have a CPA may surprise you (when you’re starting to scale). Lauren put Thomas on the spot by asking how much tax returns cost, anywhere from a few hundred to a couple thousand dollars. You definitely want to hire a CPA if you get audited no matter what, according to Thomas. Then, Thomas tells us what the tax benefits of investing in real estate are: depreciation and carrying losses forward. Lauren also asked what the difference is between an accountant/CPA and bookkeeper. The best thing to remember is that your emergency as a real estate investor is not your CPA’s emergency. And keeping good records is key as well. Thomas leans on people and systems to make real estate easy.

Contact our Guest: https://www.therealestatecpa.com/ & https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomascastelli/

Teatime with Tom

Tom’s segment is about a tweet (xeet) by our friend Chad Money Matters, which asked something along the lines of, do we have a spending issue or an income issue? The hosts debate this question and come to decide that Americans have a problem with both, but you can’t really outearn a spending problem.

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Lauren:

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Alan:

https://twitter.com/RealEstateMaxi

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House Money Weekly

In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 113, which covers analysis paralysis, which according to Investopedia is an inability to make a decision due to over-thinking a problem. What causes this? Perhaps it’s from having too flexible of a buy box. Alan suggests narrowing price point within $30k. Lauren reminds listeners to truly decide on your why and your strategy. Alan reminds listeners that you’re going to learn a lot when you take action, so you should act soon.

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Real Estate Is Easy Interview

Lauren interviews Julius, who has built a power washing company over the last 4 years in New York with his brother. They’ve washed hundreds of houses and generated hundreds of thousands in revenue. He starts by explaining what power washing and pressure washing is. It turns out, a lot of companies may be power washing when they should be soft washing (who knew?)! Why should investors wash their properties? Of course, it helps with curb appeal, but it also can contribute to the longevity of the building, like the roof. Julius suggests washing properties every few years. Reviews should tell you which properties are good, but you should check for insurance too. What should this cost? Most houses are $300-$500 ish. Adding the roof, you’d be at around $1000. And lastly, Julius tells us how he makes real estate easy.

Contact our Guest: https://twitter.com/jmventurelog

Mortgage Minute: Jasmine answers the question: what are closing costs?

Sponsored by: Jasmine Mortgage Team https://www.jasminemortgageteam.com/

Teatime with Tom

Tom’s segment is about how to make money without roommates on your rental. For example, Tom generates some additional cash from providing commercial laundry facilities. Other ways: renting out your garage, pet rent, and more. Alan charges for parking spots for his quad (he has 2 spots to offer). He’s also rented storage areas of his properties to tenants. Lauren is considering partnerships for her short-term rentals. Your real estate can have multiple income streams too.

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House Money Weekly

In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 111, about how to house hack without roommates. Lauren, Alan, and Tom have all had roommates in the past. Now, they’re all pretty much past that. But what if you never want to have roommates at all? The question is: what else can you rent out? Basement, yard, parking spot, flex space, pool…. there’s an app for that! And Alan goes over them all. Remember, house hacking is all about cutting your living expenses. Alan also lobbies for a “make me vacation” price on Airbnb and Vrbo, along the lines of the old Zillow “make me move” feature. Tom is open to doing this for the right price. In Atlanta, some people rent their primaries out to people in the film industry. Of course, Alan had to ask Lauren about “short shifting” between her short-term rental properties. It’s fun getting paid to pack and leave, but of course there are challenges, especially when it comes to locking everything up. To be clear, we at House Money Media we do believe roommates are a good way to start house hacking.

Mortgage Minute: Jasmine answers the question: what can investors do to make getting a loan easier?

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Sponsored by: Jasmine Mortgage Team https://www.jasminemortgageteam.com/

Real Estate Is Easy Interview

Lauren interviews Crystal Hammond, engineer, podcast host, and real estate investor. She started by buying a duplex on her childhood street, then she started picking up lots for $1. How exactly? She’s bought lots that she plans to develop from a city program. The rules were if you owned a property on the same block you can apply to buy a lot for $1. Importantly, the only reason Crystal learned about this program was because of networking and telling people what she was up to, what her portfolio consisted of. At the time of this recording, Crystal owns 4 lots on the block she grew up on, with one more in the works. Naturally, Crystal knows the best way to get into a new space is with help, so she’s working with others to help: lawyers, architects, and more. Crystal also talks about what it’s like investing in Chicago when she lives in DC. And guess what? Being an engineer helps her in real estate investing as well because she loves figuring out how things work. Crystal closes with the heartwarming story about how she bought the duplex she grew up in so that she could control her mom’s rent, who still lived there! This begs the question: if others are doing this, why not you?

Contact our Guest: https://twitter.com/CondoCrystal & https://www.instagram.com/condocrystal

Teatime with Tom

Tom’s segment is about collecting items and how much it weighs us down. Tom is imploring all of us to ask, is this necessary when buying items? Unnecessary spending adds up over time. Alan takes this question to rentals, telling us that he doesn’t allow renters access to the attic or basement. Both Lauren and Alan have moved a few times recently, which means they purge often. Lauren educated Alan on the definitions of different kinds of furniture.

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Lauren:

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Alan:

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