Build Passive Income with Real Estate

Who says you need to work until you’re 65?

A Passive Income Blog for the Obsessed

Denise Supplee & Brian DavisWant to work forever?

We certainly don’t. Which is why we’re so obsessed with passive income. And while we love stocks, our true passion is passive real estate investing.

My name is Brian Davis, and I’m a passive real estate investor, personal finance writer, co-founder of SparkRental, and world traveler. I get to spend most of the year living abroad hiking, scuba diving, wine tasting, and breaking toes trying to learn how to surf.

Deni (my partner) and I have a simple goal: to help 5,000 people reach $5,000/month in passive real estate income. Want to be one of them? To start stacking up streams of passive income? To reach financial independence and retire early with rental properties or real estate syndications?

We created this real estate investing blog to help you stop relying so heavily on your 9-5 salary and start living more intentionally. Welcome!

The Latest from Our Real Estate Investing Blog

Fractional Ownership in Real Estate: How It Works

Fractional Ownership in Real Estate: How It Works

The Big Picture On Fractional Ownership In Real Estate: Fractional real estate ownership allows investors to buy small shares of properties, enabling participation in rental income and capital gains without the hassle of managing properties directly. Investment...

The Best Short-Term Investments: Real Estate & More

The Best Short-Term Investments: Real Estate & More

The Big Picture On The Best Short-Term Investments: Options like high-yield savings accounts offer safety but minimal returns. At the same time, Treasury bills and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) provide slightly higher yields with government-backed...

How to Earn “Infinite Returns” on Real Estate Investments

How to Earn “Infinite Returns” on Real Estate Investments

The Big Picture On Infinite Returns Through Real Estate Investment: Infinite returns mean pulling out your initial investment to reinvest elsewhere while still earning on the property. Focus on properties you can renovate and refinance to start building equity fast....

Refinance Rental Property: Should Landlords Do It?

Refinance Rental Property: Should Landlords Do It?

The Big Picture on If And When to Refinance Rental Property: Refinancing is most advantageous when interest rates drop significantly compared to your current mortgage, allowing you to reduce monthly payments and improve cash flow. Landlords can leverage cash-out...

Does Rent Go Down In A Recession: Rents & Home Values

Does Rent Go Down In A Recession: Rents & Home Values

The Big Picture On Whether Rent Goes Down In A Recession: During recessions, home values often decline due to decreased demand, while rents tend to remain stable or even increase, as more people opt to rent instead of buy. Recession's impact on rents varies by...

Best Passive Real Estate Investments: The Lazy Investor’s Guide

Best Passive Real Estate Investments: The Lazy Investor’s Guide

The Big Picture On The Best Passive Real Estate Investments: Passive real estate investing allows you to earn returns without the hassle of managing properties—options include REITs, crowdfunding platforms, private notes, and syndications. While public REITs offer...

Rental Applications In California: A Guide For Landlords

Rental Applications In California: A Guide For Landlords

The Big Picture On Rental Applications In California Screen tenants thoroughly with rental applications that follow laws to avoid issues with problematic renters down the road. California law permits landlords to charge a maximum of $62.02 for a screening fee and pass...

Wholesale Real Estate: How It Works, Example, and Strategies

Wholesale Real Estate: How It Works, Example, and Strategies

The Big Picture on Wholesaling in Real Estate: Real estate wholesalers act as middlemen by putting properties under contract at a low price and assigning the contracts to buyers for a fee, without ever owning the properties. This requires minimal upfront cash but...

How to Get Investment Property Loans with Bad Credit

How to Get Investment Property Loans with Bad Credit

The Big Picture On Getting Investment Property Loans With Bad Credit: Despite bad credit scores, people interested in getting investment property loans have several options available to them. Options to get investment property loans even with bad credit scores range...

Investing In Real Estate Private Equity: How It Works

Investing In Real Estate Private Equity: How It Works

The Big Picture On Private Equity Real Estate Investing: Real estate private equity involves pooling investments to buy properties, offering high returns (15-30%) with minimal management responsibilities but typically requires high upfront capital and long-term...

ROI on Real Estate: Historical Returns & Types of Returns on Property

ROI on Real Estate: Historical Returns & Types of Returns on Property

The Big Picture On a Good Real Estate ROI: Investors can benefit from both cash flow through rental income and property value appreciation, balancing these for a steady or long-term investment approach. Strategies like BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) allow...

The “Live Off Rents” Podcast

Prefer to watch or listen to your real estate investing and FIRE tips & tricks? No sweat.

Deni and Brian have been broadcasting live every week to the SparkRental-sponsored Facebook groups since 2017, and started releasing the content via podcast in 2020. Each episode is quick, 15-20 minutes, but jam-packed with actionable content.

No fluff, just advice you can put to work immediately to build passive income from real estate.

If you enjoy the episodes, share them, and please rate and review on iTunes or wherever else you listen!

 

Recent Episodes

Who Is this Real Estate Investing Blog For?

Well, sure, it’s for aspiring and active investors and landlords. We write about the nuts and bolts of investing passively in real estate syndications or actively in rental properties. We cover topics ranging from real estate crowdfunding to tax benefits, tenant screening to collecting rents, single-family to multifamily to self-storage and beyond.

But while the “how-tos” and “avoid these mistakes” are important, they’re only part of the picture.

The bigger picture? How real estate investing fits into your larger strategy for building wealth and passive income.

Specifically: reaching financial independence to give you the freedom to retire early, if you so choose. Or to supplement your current lifestyle so you can live better or switch to your dream work.

So who is this “real estate investing blog” for? It’s not just for passive real estate investors or active landlords — it’s for anyone looking for creative ways to reach FIRE through real estate investing.

 

Beyond Education: Group Real Estate Investments Club

Learning is wonderful, and we offer nearly endless free education content for real estate investors and landlords. But nothing beats getting in the trenches and actually investing to earn real returns.

At your request, we created a real estate investment club that lets you “earn while you learn” with a club full of other investors. Every month, we propose a new passive real estate investment. These group real estate investments — also known as real estate syndications — let you buy fractional ownership in an apartment complex, self-storage facility, retail or other large property. You get all the benefits of real estate investing, from cash flow to appreciation to tax benefits, without the headaches of buying properties yourself.

Best of all, you can invest with a lot less money. Rather than the $50-100K needed for a typical real estate syndication or rental property down payment, you can invest with $5,000 per deal.

Oh, and non-accredited investors are welcome on all deals. We intentionally propose inclusive deals open to all investors.

 

Real Estate Investing & Landlord Education

Our real estate investing blog includes hundreds of articles personal finance articles, property management tips, and detailed real estate investing advice. Browse it, search it, use it as a free resource.

But our landlord education doesn’t end with the blog.

We offer a range of free webinars and online masterclasses for real estate investors. We offer a premium course called FIRE from Real Estate, to help you reach financial independence and retire early in years rather than decades. Our weekly newsletter keeps you abreast of rental industry trends, landlord tips, and the best of real estate investing blogs from around the web. And every week, Deni & Brian hop on live video on Facebook for a 15-minute live vlog and answer questions.

What for? Why do real estate investors and landlords need continuing education, anyway?

Because investing in rental properties is not like throwing money in an index fund.

Buying real estate investment properties takes skill (at least if you want to make money). Managing rental properties takes skill.

Your returns on rental investment properties are directly proportionate to your knowledge and skill, both as an investor and as a landlord. If you want to reach financial independence from real estate, you’re going to need to know what you’re doing.

That’s why we’re obsessed with ongoing real estate education at SparkRental. We want you to make as much passive income as possible, as fast as possible, on the fewest real estate investments possible.

 

Beyond the Real Estate Blog: More Resources for Investors

Had enough of us going on about the importance of real estate investing education?

“Cut to the goods already Brian! Gimme some free stuff!”

All right, all right. Here are some free real estate investing resources, to help you on your quest for financial independence from real estate:

Property Depreciation Calculator

Real Estate Investing Calculators

Real estate investing involves math. But it doesn’t have to be hard math. Use our free rental income calculator, house hacking calculator, property depreciation calculator and more to get ahead in the game of life.

real estate investing maps

Interactive Real Estate Maps

It’s a big country, with thousands of towns you could invest in. Where should you invest? Why? Check out our interactive maps of the hottest housing markets, cooling real estate markets, best cities for real estate investing by price/rent ratio, and more.

Real Estate Crowdfunding Comparison

Wondered whether real estate crowdfunding investments are worth considering? The answer: some are, others aren’t. But which are worth it? Check out our comparison of real estate crowdfunding platforms — and which we invest in ourselves.

Tenant Screening Reports

Landlord Software & Mobile App

Use our free landlord software to screen tenants, collect rent online, and automate your rental accounting. Sync your bank account, automatically label income and expenses, and use one-click Schedule E tax statements.

Want more free landlord resources? Check out our list of Free Real Estate Investing Tools.

Cheat Sheet Inbound!

 

Not only do you get the free Security Deposit Cheat Sheet, but we'll also send you our free passive income mini-course. How's that sound?

You're in! Click here to download the security deposit cheat sheet

Real Estate FIRE Escape: What It Takes to Retire in 5 Years with Rentals

 

Want a plan to retire in 5 years? We won't tell you it's easy... but we will tell you how to do it.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Never File Eviction Again: 3 Secrets to Getting Renters to Respect the Rules

 

Evictions are ROI-killers! We'll show you how to whip your renters into shape and prevent future evictions.

You're in! Click here to download our free rental application

Real Estate FIRE Escape: What It Takes to Retire in 5 Years with Rentals

 

Want a plan to retire in 5 years? We won't tell you it's easy... but we will tell you how to do it.

You're in!

Real Estate FIRE Escape: What It Takes to Retire in 5 Years with Rentals

 

Want a plan to retire in 5 years? We won't tell you it's easy... but we will tell you how to do it.

You're in!

Rental Application Inbound!

 

Not only do you get our free rental application, but we'll also send you our free passive income mini-course. How's that sound?

Awesome! Check your email to confirm to download :-)

Ready to Build Passive Income?

Ready to Build Passive Income?

 

We'll email you the course videos over the next week, so enter your best email!

You're in! Check your email to confirm.

Ditch Your Day Job: Free 8-Video Course

 

Our brand new course on how to reach financial independence and retire early (FIRE) with rental properties is open for one week from Oct. 23-30!

You're in! Check your email for the link, or click here for the 1st video!