Inspiring stories of active agents investing in real estate and building passive income. We'll dive into how they are delivering a high level of service to clients while spotting opportunities, negotiating with homeowners, signing deals, and building additional streams of income. You'll come away from each episode with practical tips, tactics, and action steps, while being inspired to open your eyes to the potential deals are all around you!
Episodes
Thursday Sep 21, 2023
Thursday Sep 21, 2023
The best investing deals aren’t found on the MLS - they aren’t even on the market at all. Any investor worth their salt has to know how to find discounted, off-market properties and have a tried and tested strategy to get in front of those homeowners.
Mail has always been my marketing strategy of choice, but because so many things go into it, getting started can be overwhelming. How much money do you need to run a solid mailing campaign? Who do you send the mailers to?
In this episode, I’ll share my strategy for mailers and the critical decisions you have to make if you want to succeed.
When it comes to someone selling their house at a discount, your mailer is not going to convince them to do anything, it’s just going to show up at the right time. -Tom Cafarella
Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
- Why we need to ditch the MLS for investing deals
Can we easily make the numbers work with traditional listings?
- How much money you need to invest into your mailing campaign
Blanketing entire neighborhoods with mails is expensive and wasteful, which homes and owners are the perfect candidates for mails?
- How to build your mailing list
What is the ideal frequency and cadence to get the opportunity to buy someone’s house?
Thursday Sep 14, 2023
Thursday Sep 14, 2023
As an investor, raising capital, finding and putting deals together is really only half of the business. If you’re flipping homes, buying rental properties and building apartments, construction and renovation is really where the rubber meets the road.
Now that you have the property, you actually have to make sure the projects get done on budget, on time and to a high quality.
What are the most common traps investors fall into? In this episode, Jim Cooke returns to share how to cut down on the biggest construction mistakes investors make.
In the beginning phase, one bad deal could knock you out of the business. -Tom Cafarella
Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
-Don’t build your dream home
How do we make sure we’re renovating for a profit, not according to our tastes and preferences?
-General contractors vs. subcontractors
Hiring and working with contractors is where most investors get tripped up. How do you hold them accountable and make sure they are delivering a great result?
-The key to a good site walk
Are photos and videos enough to hold contractors accountable?
-On time and to a high standard
What are acceptable reasons for a project to go over the timeline?
Guest Bio
Jim is a real estate investor and founder of Cooke Realty LLC. With 20 years of flipping experience under his belt, he has handled just about every type of home renovation. Connect with Jim over on LinkedIn. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/cookejim/)
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
Thursday Sep 07, 2023
For a few years, short-term rentals have been the hottest asset class in real estate. Owning a property in a hot destination, potentially earning more than traditional rentals, what’s not to like? Here’s the problem though: if we look past the allure of owning a vacation property, there’s a lot of risk and even diminishing returns.
For a multitude of reasons, this is probably the worst time to own a short-term rental. You’re going up against economic pressures and increasing regulations and this will most certainly cut into your returns.
Is there any way to own and operate short-term rentals successfully? In this episode, I share why I’m personally not a fan of short-term rentals as an investment strategy.
When you’re swimming with the tide and buying at the right time, you can be an average operator and still do well. When you buy at the wrong time, you have to be an exceptional operator to be profitable. -Tom Cafarella
Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
- Why people are obsessed with short-term rentals
Are people flocking to short-term rentals because they are a sound investment or just because they are cool to own?
- The crowd is typically wrong
By the time an investing strategy goes super mainstream, it’s usually too late to do it successfully. Why are short-term rentals a perfect example of this?
- What scares me most about short-term rentals
Short-term rentals are rife with regulation. Why is this such a huge threat to profitability?
Thursday Aug 31, 2023
Thursday Aug 31, 2023
Most real estate investors swear by tried and tested formulas to make a profit, but if we’re not careful, those formulas can burn us. Formulas are meant to be a guide, not the end-all-be-all decider for our deals.
Very often, what’s projected on paper doesn’t translate to reality, so going on the formula alone can get us into trouble.
How do some of the most common formulas fall short? What approach should we take when we go into deals?
In this episode, I share why relying on formulas alone can lead to us losing money.
In multifamily, consider how much the value can be increased so you can do a cash out refi later to buy your next property. -Tom Cafarella
Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
- Formulas are just the starting point
Losing money is probably the number 1 reason people don’t invest. How do some of the most common investing formulas lead to that undesirable outcome?
- Time heals all wounds, but not in fix and flips
How do the most common fix and flip formulas burn us?
- Make the profit when you buy
How do you set yourself up for success on day 1?
Thursday Aug 24, 2023
Thursday Aug 24, 2023
People invest in real estate to access wealth and passive income, but to get those privileges and enjoy them, it has to be done within a certain time frame.
From 50 years to 5 years, it’s possible to achieve our goals within the time horizon we desire, but it requires different strategies.
If we want to achieve our goals in less time, what do we change about how we invest? What’s the ultimate shortcut to growing a large portfolio?
In this episode, I share how you can build a portfolio that earns $10k - $40k of passive income every month in the time frame you want.
Investment real estate goes up in value over the course of time and at some point, you can pull your money out for a down payment on the property. -Tom Cafarella
Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
- The ultimate wealth-building shortcut
If we want to cut our investing time horizon in half, what skill do we have to build?
- How to find great deals
Why are off-market properties key to a faster time horizon?
- The BRRR method
How can one property turn into a sizable portfolio?
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
To have success in investing, our chosen strategy has to match with the market cycle we’re in.
We have to know how to make money now, not what worked multiple years ago. If we study the market cycles over the last 20 years, certain patterns begin to emerge, and we can use them to forecast what’s ahead and inform our decisions.
How do you invest with the market instead of against it? In this episode, I share how market cycles impact what we should be doing as investors, and how to avoid investing behind the curve.
Depending on what time period we’re in, how you invest needs to change, you need to adapt with the market. -Tom Cafarella
Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
- History doesn’t repeat, it rhymes
What can we glean from the market cycles of the last 20 years?
- The power of timing
Can you make more money by just being patient and taking your time with investing decisions?
- Winning in an investor saturated market
With low inventory and high investor activity, can we still make money in 2023?
Thursday Aug 10, 2023
Thursday Aug 10, 2023
In the investing game, there are so many ways we can shortcut our journey to success. One of them is learning from the experiences of other investors, especially the things they wish they did differently in the beginning phase.
There are things we can do in that initial stage that can fast track our results and avoid many headaches and pitfalls.
What are the things I’ve learned in my own journey? In this episode, I share valuable lessons from my own career that will set you up for success in your own.
The market rewards excellence. The better you can get at one specific narrow niche, the better the results you’re going to get. -Tom Cafarella
Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
- The importance of perfecting your craft
How do we identify a great mentor?
- Double down on your strengths, supplement your weaknesses
What’s better - trying to be good at everything or focusing on our strengths?
- There’s no free lunch when it comes to achieving a lot
Can passive income come about without a period of extraordinary hard work?
Thursday Aug 03, 2023
Thursday Aug 03, 2023
Multi-family might have its advantages, but it can also prove to be too difficult for many agent investors. Apartments are a worthy alternative too, or better yet, a better option than small multi family units. They are typically low maintenance and often become cash flow positive very early.
Why should we make the switch from multi-family over to apartments? What factors do we have to take into consideration when making the switch?
In this episode, I talk about the horror stories of multi-family real estate, why I personally switched to apartments and how it changed the trajectory of my real estate career.
As humans we want to work less, we want to have a relatively easy life and so we want to buy assets that don’t require maintenance. -Tom Cafarella
Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
- The challenge with multi family
Why doesn’t multi-family real estate work for everyone?
- Location matters
Where we geographically buy properties matters a lot. How do we make the right call with apartments?
- Passive or active
Does it make more sense to be completely passive?
Thursday Jul 27, 2023
Thursday Jul 27, 2023
Agents constantly come across investing deals that can significantly out-pace what they make selling homes. The problem is: with no funding or renovation experience, it’s hard to take action on it. What if you could spot a deal, make an extra $30k without worrying about the capital or construction?
We’ve rolled out an agent partnership program that allows you to take action on the deals you come across and build your net worth. How does this program work and what steps can you take to get started?
In this episode, I talk about our new agent partnership, and how you can get rewarded for the opportunities you come across in your day-to-day work as an agent.
If investing isn’t top of mind for you, you will oftentimes miss deals that are right in front of your face. -Tom Cafarella
Three Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
- The worst part about being an agent right now (and how investing solves that)
Many agents are leaving the business because they’re stuck on the income rollercoaster. How does investing, even passively, save you from this instability?
- How to spot great deals frequently
If you want to take a more active approach to finding deals, how do you make investing top of mind?
-You don’t need a real estate license to invest, but you should have one
Do you leave money on the table when you’re not an agent-investor?
Thursday Jul 20, 2023
Thursday Jul 20, 2023
The real estate brokerage you choose is a vehicle for achieving the life and income you want.
Most brokerages are focused on real estate sales and recruiting. At our brokerage, we’re passionate about helping Agents Achieve Financial Freedom Through Real Estate Sales and Investing.
What can you expect when you join us? Who is this brokerage right for? In this episode, I share how our brokerage works and the benefits we offer to agents.
Investing changed my life and that’s why I promote it. -Tom Cafarella
Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
- Sales will make you a living, investing will make you wealthy
Many brokerages discourage investing, why do we encourage it and help people do it?
- The disappearing cap
How do we reward the agents who are with us longer?
- Our culture
How do we make sure we maintain a great work environment?
- Why agents fail
How do we increase the success rate of our agents right from the beginning?