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Kansas City is Quite Pretty in the Snow

10/29/2020

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Well it's only October and yet we're already getting snow in Kansas City. (Midwest weather can be kind of awful sometimes.)

Luckily, it isn't freezing cold yet and it only got a light dusting, which is actually quite beautiful:
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They really lit the downtown and Crossroads area up. It's quite hipsterish (yet still very pretty). And then there's the T-Rex that is in front of Union Station for some reason, now with a very 2020 look:
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Go Chiefs of course!

And then there's the good old-Western Auto Lofts building with a now-operational sign:
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I've grown to very much like this city, despite the weather sometimes.
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New BiggerPockets Article: Do You Need a Property Manager?

10/28/2020

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My newest article for BiggerPockets has just been published: "Do You Need a Property Manager-Or Can You Go It Alone?"

The article describes what the advantages to managing yourself versus hiring a third-party manager are and which makes more sense for various types of investors. As I note,
Of course, there is no “right answer” to this question. A lot of it depends on what your goals are. Are you looking to grow a large company and be a full-time real estate investor? In that case, it probably makes more sense to manage yourself.

Do you want to invest passively and grow a nest egg while doing another job? Then it would make sense to hire a manager.

Do you like getting your hands dirty and doing the rehab and maintenance yourself? In that case, I would lean toward managing yourself.
​
Do you dread the challenging interactions and occasional hostility that can come from tenant interactions? It likely makes more sense to hire a third-party manager.
It also has our latest YouTube video on the same subject embedded, which you can see here:
Please read the rest of the article here and subscribe to our YouTube channel as well. 
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Maintenance = Customer Service (video)

10/27/2020

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Maintenance is simultaneously boring and frightening. "Oh God, what do I do if an angry tenant calls?"

Luckily, there are ways to prepare for it, no matter how you plan to approach. But the big thing to keep in mind is that Maintenance = Customer Service. Maintenance is how you get tenants to renew their lease. Higher tenant retention = less turnover = less expenses = higher profits. And the way to do that is through

Quality PECS.

Quality
P: Professionalism
E: Expectations
C: Communication
S: Speed

In this video, my brother Phillip and I dive into your options and how to do it right to keep your residents happy:
Previous Episodes
- Interview with Jay Papasan on Scaling
- How to Screen Prospective Tenants
- How to Manage Collections and Delinquency
- A Guide to Due Diligence for Buying Houses
- How to Find Banks for Your Investment Properties
​- A Crash Course on Building a Buy and Hold Real Estate Business
- Is the Economy on the Edge of a Cliff??? How Should Real Estate Investors Respond?
- An Introduction Into Buying Portfolios
​-Why Buy and Hold is So Powerful
- In-House or Outhouse Management

And don't forget to subscribe to our Youtube channel!
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New BiggerPockets Article: The Economic Impact of COVID-1: A Visual Guide

10/26/2020

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My new article for BiggerPockets is up and this one describes the devastation of the Covid-19 recession (on everything but real estate that is... at least for now). Here's a brief recap:
  • - The unemployment rate peaked at 14.7% in April and is still at a very high level of 7.9% in September.
  • - The Consumer Confidence Index sits at 98.5, just above this year’s trough in May, which was the second lowest rating it’s ever had in the last 50 years.
  • - Household debt hit a record $14.3 trillion in March 2020 just before the pandemic hit—and is surely higher now.
  • - Over 400,000 small businesses have already permanently closed and another million or so are at risk.
  • - The government has spent $5.63 trillion and only brought in $2.82 trillion through the first 10-months of fiscal 2020 for a mind-numbing deficit of $2.81 trillion. In other words, the deficit is nearly equal to the total tax receipts of the federal government.
  • - The federal debt is expected to reach 102% of GDP, the highest level since World War II.
And it has all sorts of cool charts like this one in it too:
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So please check it out!
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New BiggerPockets Article: Why Buy and Hold is So Powerful

10/23/2020

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My newest article for BiggerPockets is now up (and has placed 2nd on BP's most popular articles section). The article is why buy and hold is such a powerful investment strategy; "the best way for someone of modest means to become independently wealthy."

That being said, in this market, you need to be careful. As I start the piece,
As I’ve noted before, the current market is not a particularly good one for newbies or for big moves by seasoned investors. But that doesn't mean one should abandon the idea of buy-and-hold real estate investment
The article outlines why buy and hold is the "IDEAL" investment:

I: Income
D: Depreciation
E: Equity Build-Up
A: Appreciation
L: Leverage

The piece goes into much more detail so check it out! Also, it has our previous video on the same subject which is worth watching as well:
And please subscribe to our channel as well for more content such as that.
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In-House or Outhouse Management, That is the Question?

10/21/2020

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OK, so we are a bit biased when it comes to hiring a third-party property management company. Sure, there are times to do it, but usually, we think it's best to do it yourself or build your own management company.

In this video, we lay out the advantages and disadvantages to each as well as which makes the most sense for the different situations you might be in:
Previous Videos
- How to Positively Resolve Tenant Disputes
- Interview with Jay Papasan on Scaling
- How to Screen Prospective Tenants
- How to Manage Collections and Delinquency
- A Guide to Due Diligence for Buying Houses
- How to Find Banks for Your Investment Properties
​- A Crash Course on Building a Buy and Hold Real Estate Business
- Is the Economy on the Edge of a Cliff??? How Should Real Estate Investors Respond?
- An Introduction Into Buying Portfolios
​-Why Buy and Hold is So Powerful

And don't forget to subscribe to our Youtube channel!
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New BiggerPockets Article: Housing Inventory Sparse Compared to This Time Last Year

10/20/2020

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My latest article for BiggerPockets has been posted on how housing inventory is quite sparse compared to this time last year. (Which, if you were wondering, is why real estate prices are going up despite being in a deep recession.)

As I write in the article,
And a new report from Realtor.com really puts this into perspective: “Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic in March, nearly 400,000 fewer homes have been listed compared to last year, leaving a gaping hole in the U.S. housing inventory.”

As should be no surprise, sellers are hesitant to list in such a volatile and unpredictable environment. According to Realtor.com’s Director of Economic Research Javier Vivas,
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"Sellers are more reluctant to list their home given the uncertainty over the economy and the pandemic environment. Buyers on the other hand, especially hungry first timers, remain largely unfazed by the challenges, and are motivated by low mortgage rates and the fear of missing out on the right home."
I think you'll find the rest quite interesting, so please give it a read.
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Stolen Election or Color Revolution? The Healthy State of American Democracy

10/19/2020

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As we approach the 2020 election, it is becoming more and more obvious that the state of American democracy is perilous. From the Left, many are convinced that Trump plans to steal the election through voter suppression or just stay in office. 

Of course, Trump hasn't helped this perception by refusing to say whether he'll commit to a "peaceful transfer of power" if he loses. But then, I can understand why I would not want to answer "what if" questions about losing if I were running for reelection. 

Then there was that whole UPS fiasco which was wildly overblown (although, with Trump's own words helping to make it so.

Trump's own words cause endless problems. Indeed, his complaining about election fraud this time around sounds like when he was complaining about it in 2016. And while some studies showed there may have been a large number of illegal immigrants who voted (or one that showed 5.7 million registered in 2008!). I mean, California elected two illegal immigrants to city commissioners for crying out loud!  

Even still, Trump never proved this was widespread (and it probably happens mostly in heavily liberal states that don't affect the Electoral College) so his own administration dropped it. So it rings hollow now. 

And while Trump's jokes about staying in office for decades and unwillingness to commit to a "peaceful transfer of power" are concerning, it should be noted that Al Gore didn't accept a "peaceful transfer of power" right away in 2000. He sued. So likely that's what Trump is thinking. Furthermore, Trump and the Republicans accepted the 2018 Congressional losses with nary a whimper. I think he will leave if he loses.

The other side concerns me a bit more to be honest. 

Yes, I think Biden will win. He's leading in all the polls and while the polls were wrong in 2016, they were only a little wrong. Trump's margin of victory was at the edge of the margin of error and came down to winning key states (he lost the popular vote). But if Biden doesn't win. If this "October Surprise" regarding Hunter Biden really blows up, then what?

While everyone is talking about The New York Post article on Hunter Biden and whether it was legitimate, a previous article is more concerning. It regards an anonymous insider talking about ho whe committed voter fraud on a massive scale easily. Now I'm no fan of anonymous sources, but still, this was troubling,
He would have his operatives fan out, going house to house, convincing voters to let them mail completed ballots on their behalf as a public service. The fraudster and his minions would then take the sealed envelopes home and hold them over boiling water.
​
“You have to steam it to loosen the glue,” said the insider.

He then would remove the real ballot, place the counterfeit ballot inside the signed certificate, and reseal the envelope.

“Five minutes per ballot tops,” said the insider.
Or why not just destroy ballots from people who are likely to vote against your guy?
The tipster said sometimes postal employees are in on the scam.
​
“You have a postman who is a rabid anti-Trump guy and he’s working in Bedminster or some Republican stronghold … He can take those [filled-out] ballots, and knowing 95% are going to a Republican, he can just throw those in the garbage.”
When you read this and then look at The Heritage Foundation's database of 1285 cases of known mail fraud or just unintentional messes like the 84,000 mail-in ballots that were disqualified in the New York primary this year, it makes it hard to believe the constant statements that mail-in voting is completely secure. I mean, Twitter fact checked Trump's tweets, so it must be so!

Still, if that happens it will probably be mostly in very liberal states. Maybe the Electoral College exists for a reason.

But lastly, there is the term "color revolution" which various conservatives are throwing around. These were basically anti-authoritarian revolutions in Eastern Europe that were funded by Western governments and NGOs (such as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and Rose Revolution in Georgia). Most recently was the "Revolution of Dignity" in Ukraine in 2014 (really an American-backed coup). The film Ukraine on Fire gives a pretty good overview of those events in my opinion.

Anyways, are these tactics coming to the United States? Civil unrest is a big part of them. A weird combo of establishment liberals like George Soros and NeverTrump Neocons like Bill Kristol have established the Transition Integrity Project, which foresees trouble.
A landslide for Joe Biden resulted in a relatively orderly transfer of power. Every other scenario we looked at involved street-level violence and political crisis.
The thing is... that kind of sounds like a threat.

And it shouldn't be a surprise that some in the government would not accept a Trump victory as they did not accept a Yanukovich in Ukraine in 2004. The conservative site Revolver has an interesting take on this possibility.

I think this is a long shot and likely, Biden will win and Trump will step down. But that's by no means for sure. Given that both sides seem convinced the other will cheat and is, effectively illegitimate, it's hard to believe the United States' democracy is in anything other than a dire condition.

Indeed, one poll found that 61 percent of Americans think another civil war is imminent!

We really should take Michael Malice's advise and look to break up the country before such a war comes to pass.
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New BiggerPockets Article: Buying Portfolios

10/18/2020

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My latest article is up on BiggerPockets and this one dives into buying portfolios of houses or small multis (which we have done quite a few times at Stewardship Investments, see here, here, here and here).

Indeed, buying portfolios of houses has similiarities both with buying apartments and individual houses. As I note in the article,
As you’ll notice, this is not a particularly entrepreneurial way to evaluate a property. I always analyze portfolios based both on their cash flow and actual value. I evaluate the cash flow by on evaluating the previous 12 months of operating history and creating a pro forma. I want to make sure the portfolio will cash flow at a 1.2 debt service coverage ratio and bring in at least $100 (and preferably $200) a month per house.
The article also links to our video on the subject from our Youtube channel:
Check it out!
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So About that Tech Censorship...

10/16/2020

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Now Big Tech is censoring The New York Post... because the information was hacked or stolen... ummm, that didn't stop you from letting Trump's leaked tax returns or that phone call of Melania's spread across social media. 

But both Facebook and Twitter suspended The New York Post... definitely not some small, alternative news outlet that pushes "fake news." Well, maybe a bit, but it's the mainstream press so...

Anyways, here was my warning to liberals on Facebook which I think they should pay attention to:

"This is utterly absurd. This particular overstep will actually probably help Trump unlike other tech censorship/bias. Regardless, liberals should also be very wary of tech companies doing this kind of thing. Big tech has accumulated a massive amount of power over the flow of information and while, Silicon Valley is very liberal, the owners are very establishment. They could turn on you in a heartbeat. So much control over the flow of information through such consolidated choke points is very dangerous."

Oh, and Hunter Biden appears to be pretty corrupt.
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    Andrew Syrios

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