Articles

I love Disney’s animated Phineas & Ferb show. * The oddly shaped heads of the characters. * The very sophisticated, yet clean, humor. * The super cool superhero Perry the Platypus. * And the oddly loveable “villain” Dr Heinz Doofenshmirtz. So what on earth does this have to do with real estate investing? Simple. Phineas & Ferb want to make…

Don’t let yourself be trapped by trying to do exactly what a book tells you to do. Life doesn’t follow a script. (If only it did!) And your real estate investing business certainly doesn’t either. You have to know how to roll with the punches, not be stuck into a corner with no way out. That’s the problem with teachers…

I let my older son see me do business. I bring him to houses I rehab, to our rentals during inspection, and to wholesale deal settlements because I want him to see that people can be — and need to be — productive. And then I show him what that productivity allows us to do: * Fun stuff. * Adventures.…

I always see people give advice to set BIG goals and then go after them. But I disagree. I’ve done much better having scaled my goals back. The smaller targets are actually achievable. And therefore you actually get more done. Much more. So rather than have “world domination” as your big goal and then wondering why you didn’t achieve it…

Everyone needs a solid attorney behind them. * Walter White had Saul Goodman as his attorney. * Michael Corleone had Tom Hagen as his consigliere. * Donald Trump (the real estate developer) had George Ross. * Now as President he has the Justice Department. Fictional or real. Good guy or bad guy. They all need solid legal consul to do…

LLC’s Have Great Money-Saving Benefits, but most are Worthless? Before telling you why, first the “Potential” Power of LLC’s for real estate… Limited Liability Companies (LLC’s) are powerful entities because they have all of the legal benefits of a corporation; yet all of the excellent tax advantages of a general partnership, and avoid the legal disadvantages of a general partnership…

Looking at one of my rental properties, I take almost a $23,000 deduction on it each year due to a “loss”. Do I really lose that much each year? Heck no! But the IRS allows me to take that degree of loss based on how much the property depreciates each year. This is what’s called a “phantom expense”. You don’t…

(Bonus info below) Along with Halloween ghosts & ghouls… Taxes have been on everyone’s mind. Especially as the end of the year approaches. Think about… 1. How did you do this time around? 2. Was this year a good year for you? Will Uncle Sam be taking a huge bite out of Your Money again? Snatching away your profits? *…

Let’s have some fun since it’s Halloween… (See the photo above. This year we made homemade costumes and they stole the show at the school party.) Let’s talk about the 6 types of real estate business monsters that lurk out there in the dark and dreary corners of the investing world. When you encounter any of these 6 nefarious creatures,…

My sons are both super excited for Halloween, so it’s time for a Halloween horror story… Imagine you’ve had your job for a number of years. You’re good at what you do. You are respected by your boss and colleagues. But one day, things change. Things that are beyond your control. The company starts to lose customers. Legislative shifts occur…