Build Passive Income with Real Estate
Who says you need to work until you’re 65?
A Passive Income Blog for the Obsessed
Want 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
Do “Unsexy” Investments Perform Best? Mobile Home Parks with Jordan Moorhead
The Big Picture on Boring, "Unsexy" Investments: With fewer than 50,000 parks and growing development restrictions, mobile home parks gain value over time and presents a ripe investment opportunity. Tenants in mobile homes rarely move due to high relocation costs,...
Does Asset Protection Work? How to Cover Your Ass(ets)
The Big Picture on Asset Protection: Never hold investment properties in your personal name. Use land trusts for anonymity and LLCs or holding companies for liability protection—especially in states like Wyoming or Delaware. Create a separate property management...
Budgeting Is Dead (Do This Instead)
The Big Picture on How Budgeting Works Today: Traditional budgeting often leads to burnout. Instead, focus on building a mindful relationship with money and spending aligned with your values. Whitney Elkins-Hutton categorizes spending into destructive, protective,...
Are Self-Directed IRAs Worth the Fees?
The Big Picture on Self-Directed IRAs: A self-directed IRA lets you invest in non-traditional assets like real estate, private businesses, and cryptocurrency—offering broader diversification than a standard IRA. While SDIRAs offer flexibility, they come with strict...
Landlording Sucks & Rental Income Isn’t Passive — Do This Instead
The Big (And Real) Picture on Being A Landlord: Despite popular belief, owning rental properties requires significant time and effort. Michael Raki, with over $300 million in real estate transactions, highlights that landlording involves deal sourcing, financing,...
Buy Back Your Time with Real Estate
The Big Picture on Buying Back Your Time With Real Estate Investing: Nick Sicilian’s journey into real estate began with the realization that time, not money, is the ultimate asset. Despite earning over $200,000 annually as an offshore engineer, the extended periods...
“I Get Paid to Have Adventures”: Building a Business Around Your Passions
The Big Picture on How To Build A Business Around Your Passion: Sarah Weaver turned her love of travel and real estate into a business by solving a real problem: helping introverted investors network meaningfully through small, immersive retreats. Investor Adventures...
More Money Won’t Fix Your Problems — This Will
The Big Picture on Why Higher Income Doesn't Mean A Better Life : Most people experience a disconnect between what they say matters (like family and health) and where their time actually goes. Kathy Fettke encourages aligning your daily actions with your true values...
0% Down on Investment Properties? Creative Financing with Bishoy Habib
The Big Picture on Creative Financing For Real Estate Investments: Strategies like seller financing and “subject to” transactions offer investors ways to acquire properties with little to no down payment—especially valuable in today’s high-interest-rate environment....
Can You Live at an All-Inclusive Resort for Less than a Middle-Class Lifestyle?
The Big Picture on Living at an All-Inclusive Resort vs A Middle-Class Lifestyle: The average American middle-class lifestyle costs over $4,000/month, driven by housing, transportation, food, and other recurring expenses. Resorts like Viva Tangerine in the Dominican...
“Lifestyle Assets”: Can You Mix Business & Pleasure with Second Homes?
The Big Picture on Lifestyle Assets Investment: Lifestyle asset investing lets you buy vacation rentals in favorite destinations, but success hinges on realistic income expectations and market data. Falling in love with a property can lead to financial losses. Always...
Debt Arbitrage – Earn Interest on Other People’s Money
The Big Picture on Debt Arbitrage: Debt arbitrage enables investors to buy assets using borrowed money, profiting from the spread between borrowing and lending interest rates. Brent Bowers purchased discounted land with a loan and resold it with seller financing,...
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:
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.
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.
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.
