The Big Picture on Non-Qualifying or Non-QM Loans: Non-QM loans provide flexible financing options for real estate investors who do not qualify for traditional mortgages. Non-QM loans allow investors to secure financing for unique property types like fix-and-flips,...
Jim Cirigliano
NACA Loans: Can You House Hack with 0% Down Using the NACA Program?
The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) is a nonprofit organization aimed at making homeownership affordable to underserved borrowers in lower-income communities. Its programs provide great perks like no down payments, closing costs, private mortgage...
The Landlord’s Guide to Pet Deposits vs. Pet Rent vs. Pet Fees
I love animals. I have almost always had at least one pet in my home. Pets enrich our lives and provide unmatched companionship and unconditional love. Except for my cat, whose affection seems to depend on my filling his bowl—and, even then, often includes the use of...
Umbrella Insurance for Rental Properties: What Landlords Need to Know
I have a theory that nobody likes insurance. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important and often required by law or by lenders. But insurance is just so psychologically unsatisfying. I don’t know anyone who’s really excited to get their sweet new coverage. At best it gives...
6 Ways to Find Expired Real Estate Listings
In hot real estate markets, many properties listed for sale receive offers within hours or days of listing. When my wife and I were house hunting in 2022, we constantly watched for new listings on Zillow and scheduled tours as quickly as we could, only to see most of...
Are There Free Skip Tracing Tools for Real Estate? Free & Paid Tools Compared
What is a skip tracer? It sounds like some kind of cool, futuristic sci-fi job — like a cyberpunk private eye who tracks people down through a network of intergalactic wormholes. And in a way, that’s exactly what it is, minus the cyberpunk theme and the part about...
Can You Use a Business Loan to Buy Rental Properties?
When you need financing to buy a home, you look for a home loan. When you need financing for a small business, you might look for a business loan. But what if you’re in the business of buying rental property—like, say, a real estate investor? Of course you can...
How to Transfer a Rental Property to an LLC
If you’re new to real estate investing—and especially as you grow your portfolio of rental properties—sooner or later you’ll be faced with a choice about how to structure your business. As an individual you can own a rental property and operate the real estate...
Rent Incentives on the Rise: 9 Ideas That Won’t Break the Bank
It’s hard to make sense of the real estate market right now. The rising interest rates that began in 2022 have made mortgages more expensive. And yet home prices in most markets continued to rise, and rents along with them, as demand for homes remained strong into...
Cost Segregation Study: How to Take Accelerated Depreciation on Rental Properties
News flash for property owners: things break. That new roof you’re putting on your rental property? It might keep the elements out now, but give it a couple decades and you’ll need a new one. That’s why real estate investors can deduct depreciation — the decrease in...