John,The question most often asked in real estate is how do I get started. I’ve shared several options for people with funds and without funds, using examples of successful investors. They all require getting yourself out there and talking with people. It is not like investing in stocks where you sit at your computer and read all about the company or timing your trades or taking the advice from the pros. Your real estate investing journey will simply fail if you aren’t talking with others. This is your first priority. Figure out how to meet people in the business and to talk to

John, This feels like 2010 to me. No one knows if we’re out of the woods, if economic signs are going to be pointing up, but the bad news with inflation and interest rates has been out for over a year. We just had bank failures and we might have more, and many are predicting a recession in H2 2023 or H1 2024. Another bank failure will not be welcome news and could set off alarm bells in world markets and a stock market retraction, but the Fed is resolved to contain it. They’ll pump liquidity into failing banks and

Protecting your Capital GainsA friend told me about someone they knew who had a capital gain of $1M after sale of a multifamily property. Big celebration, but unfortunately in these circumstances that person was not able to plan for deferring the taxes on that gain. Have you had a real estate gain you decided to just pay taxes on? We have a few hugely valuable options when selling properties to defer the capital gains, including 1031 exchanges, IRS 453 tax deferrals, and opportunity zone investing. But often they are not the right fit. First, I’m not an accountant. I utilize

John2 ,An economy like today’s reminds me why I favor multifamily real estate. Stocks down, then up, now heading down. Inflation untamed. Came down some but is stubbornly holding on. Fed rate bumps all done? Or wait, not all done. New expectations as of three weeks ago of three more hikes, to be 75 basis points higher in a year. And layoffs in the tens of thousands. Blood in the streets? But tenants are paying rent, not moving, and applications exceed vacant units. No one expects 10% rent increases but expectations are for rents to remain stable, high occupancy, and low delinquency. That’s a

Does email reach you? Here I am, sending emails out to everyone but I’ll be the first to acknowledge that not everyone prefers emails, or even reads them. My kids are in their 20’s and do read their emails but don’t usually use them for most communications like I do. In fact, they treat emails like a letter that says “Official Business”. If nothing else, I am all about watching, listening, and learning, and clearly different people have different communication preferences. So I am starting to use them more. LinkedIn is like the Grand Daddy of business communications, but younger

Real estate investors are excitable people. It’s hard for me to contain my excitement for upcoming opportunities in the market. I was for the most part an investor through the 2008 great recession, although I didn’t actually invest prior to that. I intended to, had partners lined up, and actively looked for multifamily properties, but didn’t pull the trigger on anything. That was just dumb luck. I didn’t have a crystal ball and saw the price declines coming, I just didn’t see any good opportunities. After the recession, trends were not suddenly all pointing higher. Many smart people said this tragedy was not