Learn the secrets of asset protection for Chicago real estate investors. This class is Module 9 of 46 in a series called Real Estate Investing Secrets. Topics covered in this module include: My top 10 asset protection tips for real estate investors that you’d be a fool to ignore. The importance of getting bespoke legal advice and why you should nev…

Learn the secrets to hiring and managing a property manager in Chicago. This class is Module 8 of 46 in a series called Real Estate Investing Secrets. Topics covered in this module include: A small tweak to your mindset around renting your property that will change all aspects of your property management... for the better... to make it easier, to l…

Learn how to overcome tenant challenges in Chicago. This class is Module 7 of 46 in a series called Real Estate Investing Secrets. What do you do when you experience the inevitable tenant challenges like: Tenant not paying rent Tenant’s check returned for non-sufficient funds Tenant makes late payment Tenant breaks lease Tenant provides partial pay…

Learn the secrets to buy and hold real estate investing in Chicago. This class is Module 6 of 46 in a series called Real Estate Investing Secrets. Topics covered in this module include: What are the different variations of the buy and hold real estate investing strategy? Variations based on down payments? Variations based on property types purchase…

Learning how to correctly manage properties is a critical skill for landlords. This class is Module 5 of 46 in a series called Real Estate Investing Secrets. Topics covered in this module include: What should you be doing to document the condition of the property before the next tenant takes possession? The one free thing that few landlords do that…

Tenant screeing... an important, but often overlooked skill. If you're going to manage properties yourself in Chicago, you're going to need to know how to screen tenants. This class is Module 4 of 46 in a series called Real Estate Investing Secrets. Topics covered in this module include: What are the 5 steps in the property management process? What…

If you're going to manage properties yourself in Chicago, you're going to need to know how to do the marketing to find tenants. This class is Module 3 of 46 in a series called Real Estate Investing Secrets. Topics covered in this module include: The 6 “Property Management Mastery” modules included with this course. How to change your thinking about…

Having a solid understanding of historical market stats is important for investing in real estate in Chicago. This class is Module 2 of 46 in a series called Real Estate Investing Secrets. Topics covered in this module include: Should you try to “time the market” using data to increase profitability? How much are properties selling for? Do property…

Having a deep understanding of the 7 key real estate investing strategies is critically important for your success as a real estate investor in Chicago. This class is Module 1 of 46 in a series called Real Estate Investing Secrets. Topics covered in this module include: The 7 ways to invest in real estate… plus 2 more bonus strategies that we don’t…

There's a risk to just about everything in life... including investing in real estate. One risk that some real estate investors fear is the risk of buying a property having missed important, expensive issues with the property during the inspection period. In this class, James will discuss the risk of investing in real estate and specficially the ri…

If you're going to put less than 20% down when buying a property, the lender is likely to require that you pay private mortgage insurance (PMI) to protect them in case you default on the loan. This usually applies to Nomads™, house hackers, and investors putting 15% down to acquire non-owner-occupant properties. There are 3 ways to pay PMI: Monthly…

There's a risk to just about everything in life... including investing in real estate. One risk that some real estate investors fear is that rising mortgage interest rates will: Increase their mortgage payment and therefore hurt cash flow, or The rising mortgage interest rates will lower affordability and demand for properties, and therefore the va…

In this special class about the dangers, risks and warnings of investing in real estate: The #1 fear that keeps potential landlords and new real estate investors up at night! Expert insights on why this fear is more common among inexperienced landlords and investors in challenging real estate markets. Real-life horror stories of tenants causing sig…

Interested in learning how to analyze deals using The World's Greatest Real Estate Deal Analysis Spreadsheet™? Specifically, do you need to know how to analyze a deal purchased with an interest-only loan? In this special deal analysis, you will: Discover the secret strategy for analyzing the purchase of a rental property with an interest-only loan …

Life has risks. Investing adds new risks. Investing in real estate adds new risks specific to real estate investing. One risk that is unique to real estate investing is the risk of buying a stigmatized property or having a property become stigmatized while you own it. In this class, James will: Uncover hidden gems in the real estate market and turn…

Real Estate Investing Through Massive Foreclosure Periods Join us for an exclusive episode of the REFP podcast, focusing on "Real Estate Investing Through Massive Foreclosure Periods." In this enlightening episode, you'll dive into the following insights: Discover the secret to making money during economic downturns, a strategy that can set you apa…

Deal Alchemy™ - Debt Paydown to Cash Flow Join us for an exciting and enlightening class with James Orr as he delves into the fascinating world of Deal Alchemy™. In this class, listeners will discover a surprisingly powerful strategy that has the potential to drastically improve cash flow on rental properties. Whether you're considering buying a ne…

Tax Deductibility of PMI Payments Are you an owner-occupant puzzled by the ever-changing rules around PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) deductibility? Or perhaps an ambitious real estate investor, hungry to maximize your deductions and supercharge your profits? Then this class is your golden ticket to the world of tax wisdom! Join us for an exhilara…

Functional Obsolescence Unveiled: The Silent Value Killer in Real Estate Investments—and How to Defeat It! There's a often overlooked risk of investing in reale state: obsolescence. Whether we're focused on properties that are or will become functionally obsolete or drift directly into economic or physical obsolescence... these are real-world risks…

How to Analyze an All-Cash Rental Property Purchase Deal analysis is important. Learning how to analyze deals is a critical skill for all real estate investors, whether you're financing 100% of the purchase or buying a property without a loan at all and paying all cash. In this class, we will look at how deal analysis changes when you plan to buy a…

How Return on Investment Changes Based on Credit Score With PMI Does your credit score really matter when you're buying rental properties? Sure, your credit score impacts the mortgage interest rate you can get with traditional mortgages. And yes, your credit score affects how much private mortgage insurance (PMI) will cost. Your credit score can al…

So, are you stressing out over higher mortgage interest rates and properties not cash flowing as well as they used to, or in some markets, not having positive cash flow at all... even with 25% down? What's a real estate investor seeking financial independence to do? In this class, we will compare two strategies. In both strategies, you first buy an…

So, you're considering Nomading™. Excellent! But as you dig into the details, you may wonder what the impact would be if you chose to buy a more desirable, higher quality, but maybe less optimal property at full price (without a discount), versus focusing on finding a slightly less desirable, slightly lower quality, but slightly more optimized rent…

Deal Alchemy™ - Black Box Cash Flow Deal Alchemy™ is all about manipulating returns to get the returns you desire most. One variation of Deal Alchemy™ has you think about your rental property investment as a black box. You put money into the black box, some magical things happen over the next few years and out pops profit which you can spend like c…

Warning - Risks of Rental Demand Declining When Investing in Real Estate Risk, risk, risk... Life is full of risks. To a limited degree, we get to choose which risks we voluntarily take on. For example, if you choose to invest in real estate, you choose to take on some additional risks that you might not—directly—face if you opt to invest in someth…

Private Mortgage Insurance Myths Reputation can be a challenging thing. I have found, through many conversations with clients over the years, that Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) has a questionable reputation with home buyers in general and investors in particular. However, much of its reputation is based on half-truths, bad information, lies, and…

Warning - Risks of Neighborhood Decline When Investing in Real Estate Everything in life has risks. Not investing adds certain types of risks, while investing adds other risks. One risk that some real estate investors face is the possibility that the neighborhood they're investing in will decline, causing values and/or rents to drop. So, how do we …

How to Analyze a Duplex Some real estate investors are sensitive to their ability to get ten 30-year fixed rate financing loans and would prefer to fill those loan spots with larger purchases than just single family rental homes. One way to do that is to buy more expensive properties like duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes. In this class, James will…

How to Calculate PMI If you're a house hacker, Nomad™, investor buying properties with less than 20% down, or buying creatively where the seller has PMI, you'll want to make sure you know how to analyze deals that have Private Mortgage Insurance. In this mini-class, James will cover how to analyze deals that have PMI, with an emphasis on doing it u…

In many cases—not all, but many cases—real estate investors can speed up the time it takes to become financially independent by choosing to pay off the mortgages on their properties early. Sometimes it makes sense to take every extra dollar beyond a healthy amount of reserves and aggressively pay off properties as quickly as possible. Other times, …

Deal Alchemy™ - Residential vs Commercial Property Deal Alchemy™ is all about manipulating the returns you're earning on your investments. Often, this is done through the choices we make when selecting the investment property and the strategies we choose to implement. For example, you could choose to invest in residential properties where your tena…

Warning - Risks of Loan Called Due When Investing in Real Estate Investing in real estate adds some risk to an already risk-filled life. However, certain activities and strategies when investing in real estate create additional risks that other strategies and activities do not have. For example, choosing to utilize strategies where the lender has t…

How to Analyze Buying a Rental Property at a Discount in Chicago Some real estate investors insist on only buying properties where they can purchase them at a significant discount. While not mutually exclusive, other investors insist on buying quality properties at a fair price as long as it gets them their desired returns and will stand the test o…

How to Calculate PMI If you're planning to buy a property and put less than 20% down, you're likely to be required to pay Private Mortgage Insurance. Lenders prefer that you put at least 20% down, but if you insist on putting less than 20% down, they may still make the loan. However, they will usually do so at a slightly higher mortgage interest ra…

There are a large number of investing strategies you could pursue as a real estate investor: Nomad™, house hacking, fix and flip, buying 20% down rentals, buying 25% down rentals, saving up to buy free and clear rentals and many, many more options. Which is the best? Which gets you to financial independence fastest? Which gives you the highest net …

Deal Alchemy™ - Increasing Down Payment There are four primary returns from investing in rental properties: appreciation, cash flow, debt paydown, and the tax benefits of depreciation. Additionally, there is a secondary return in the form of the interest earned on the reserves required to make the investment in the first place. Many real estate inv…

Warning - Risks of Rental Property Expenses When Investing in Real Estate Risk is all around us. When we choose to invest in anything, we’re choosing to take on the additional risk characteristics of that investment. For example, when we choose to invest in real estate, we choose to take on the risk characteristics of the specific real estate inves…

How to Analyze a New Construction Single-Family Home Property in Chicago Your ability to analyze deals is arguably the most important skill as a real estate investor. It allows you to make smart investment decisions and helps you avoid making career-ending bad decisions, such as buying cash-flowing-sucking vampire properties. In this class, James w…

The 3 Strategies to Pay Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) Whether they're putting 15% down and buying a non-owner-occupied property or utilizing an owner-occupied loan with 0%, 3%, 3.5%, or 5% down for Nomading™ or house hacking, some real estate investors will choose to put less than 20% down. With the decision to put less than 20% down comes the c…

Investing in real estate is full of truthy-sounding falsehoods: it is always better to do X than Y. However, if you were crazy enough to sit down and do the math, you'd find the truth to be much more nuanced. For example, should you take all your extra cash flow and savings and apply it to your mortgages each month to pay off rental properties fast…

Deal Alchemy™ - Cash Flow to Debt Paydown There are four primary returns from investing in rental properties: appreciation, cash flow, debt paydown, and the tax benefits of depreciation. Additionally, there is a secondary return in the form of the interest earned on the reserves required to make the investment in the first place. Many real estate i…

Warning - The Risk of Down Payment Size When Investing in Real Estate Life is full of risks. When we choose to invest, we choose to take on additional risks. If we invest in stocks, we choose to take on certain risks. When we choose to invest in bonds, we take on different risks. When we choose to invest in real estate, we choose to take on additio…

How to Analyze a 5% Down Single-Family Nomad™ Property in Chicago Using the latest version of The World's Greatest Real Estate Deal Analysis Spreadsheet™, we will walk through how to analyze a single-family home Nomad™ property with a 5% down payment. Learn how to analyze deals correctly and avoid buying cash flow vampires. Only buy the best deals …

What Affects Your PMI Rate Lenders prefer that you put at least 20% down, but if you push hard enough, many will allow you to put less than 20% down if you're willing to purchase insurance to protect them in case you default. This insurance is called Private Mortgage Insurance. The cost of this insurance depends on several factors. Some are primary…

You're a real estate investor looking to acquire properties by saving up and putting 25% down. Should you buy an owner-occupied property first? What if that's more expensive than renting? Should you still do it? What if it means you'll be saving less for acquiring rentals by buying an owner-occupied property first? In this comparison class, we will…

Deal Alchemy™ - Lease-Options Different real estate investors desire, prefer, and prioritize different returns. For example, many real estate investors have a strong preference for the cash flow part of their return. With Deal Alchemy™, we can manipulate returns and move them from one area to another. Or, we can move them from one or more areas to …

Warning - Insurable Risks When Investing in Real Estate Life has risks. Real estate investing in Chicago adds some additional risks. Some of these risks can be shifted from your responsibility to the responsibility of a third party for a fee. This is often described as insurance. You choose to pay someone else to take on a risk you don't want to ta…

How to Analyze a 20% Down Single-Family Home Rental Using the latest version of The World's Greatest Real Estate Deal Analysis Spreadsheet™, we will walk through how to analyze a single-family home rental property with a 20% down payment. Learn how to analyze deals correctly and avoid buying cash flow vampires. Only buy the best deals that make sen…

What is PMI And How to Avoid It You want to work with a lender so that you don't need to purchase a property with all cash. The lender is willing to lend you money, charging you interest to make a profit, and ensuring there is a safety buffer of equity in case you default and they need to foreclose to recover their funds. Your goal is to minimize t…

Should you use the Nomad™ strategy to acquire properties with a minimal 5% down payment as quickly as possible? Or is it better to be a little more patient and save up for full 25% down payments and buy rentals without moving into each? By saving up for a 25% down payment, the properties will cash flow better. That may allow you to save up faster f…