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A Landlord Blog for the Passive Income Obsessed
Know the acronym “FIRE,” in personal finance circles?
It stands for Financial Independence/Retire Early.
Financial independence means that income from your investments (like, oh, I don’t know, rental properties) is enough to cover your living expenses. In other words, you’re no longer “dependent” on your job to pay your bills.
My name is Brian Davis, and I’m a landlord, real estate investor, personal finance writer, co-founder of SparkRental, and world traveler. I get to spend most of the year living abroad, largely because my rental income allows me to live anywhere.
Deni (my partner) and I have a simple goal: to help 5,000 people reach $5,000/month in passive income from rental properties. Actually our goal is to help as many people as possible reach financial independence from rental income, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it 😉
Want to retire early with rental properties? Stack up streams of passive income? Reach financial independence?
We created this landlord blog to help you do just that. Being a landlord is great, but ultimately rental properties are a means to a greater end: giving you the freedom to lead whatever life you want.
The Latest from the Landlord & Real Estate Investing Blog:
Minimum Down Payment for an Investment Property: How to Invest with Less
Investing in real estate is a smart strategy for diversifying your portfolio, generating instant passive income, and building equity over time. There’s just one teensy little issue: the tens of thousands of dollars you typically need as a down payment for an...
Building Equity: 10 Ways to Create Real Estate Equity Faster
Remember the story of The Little Red Hen? She wants to bake bread, and at every step asks her friends for their help, but they all find excuses to avoid helping. Eventually she gets it all done herself and when her friends want to help her eat the bread, she says no....
Home Improvements with the Best ROI: Which Renovations Add the Most Value?
Every real estate investor tackles home renovations sooner or later. Materials wear out, home styles change. Home updates are simply inevitable in the lifespan of a property, if you buy and hold real estate for the long term. As an investor, you naturally want to get...
When Should Landlords Charge a Holding Deposit for New Lease Agreements?
Guest article by Alex Tkachenko from RentBerry. When should you collect a holding deposit, as a landlord? And what laws govern them? Deposits, of both the security and holding variety, are regulated by state landlord-tenant laws in the US. Which doesn't mean...
Health Insurance for Early Retirees: 9 Options to Cover the Gap
One of the greatest challenges for people looking to retire early is health insurance coverage. It’s the fly in the ointment when pursuing financial independence and retiring early (FIRE). Health insurance has become so expensive in the US that Americans worry they...
How Much Can Landlords Charge for Rental Application Fees in Each State?
Remember when you had to meet prospective rental applicants at the property with a stack of paper rental applications and pens in hand? Your applicant completed each line and checked each box on the spot to hand back to you. Once they were done, you collected the...
How to Buy Your First Rental Property with No Money Down
Most people are surprised at the economics behind rental property returns versus stocks’ returns over the last 145 years. How can rental properties perform better than stocks, but have lower volatility and risk? Doesn’t high-return mean high risk? The answer is...
Renting to College Students 101: Pros, Cons, & What Landlords Need to Know
One of the most common questions among real estate investors is “Where should I purchase rental properties?” They typically mean the context of finding neighborhoods and the best cities for real estate investing. But before asking where, it often helps to decide who...
Buy and Hold Real Estate Strategy: Pros, Cons, and Maximizing Your Income
Looking for an investment strategy that helps you create ongoing passive income? Income streams that will keep coming in for the rest of your life? That’s the beauty of the buy-and-hold real estate strategy: you put in the work and money once, and give yourself the...
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Who Is This Blog For?
Well, sure, this is a real estate investing and landlord blog. We write about the nuts and bolts of investing in rental properties, tenant screening, leasing issues, collecting rent, managing difficult tenants, and so on.
But while the “how-tos” and “avoid these mistakes” are important, they’re only part of the picture.
The bigger picture? How rental properties and real estate investing fit into your larger strategy for building wealth and passive income.
Specifically: reaching financial independence to give you the freedom to retire young, if you so choose.
So who is this “landlord blog” for? It’s not just for landlords – it’s for anyone looking for creative ways to reach FIRE through real estate investing.
Real Estate Investing & Landlord Education
Our real estate investing blog includes hundreds of landlord 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 landlords and real estate investors. We offer several premium landlord courses. Our weekly newsletter keeps you abreast of rental industry trends, landlord tips, and the best of real estate investing blogs from around the web.
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’re going 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 landlord education at SparkRental. We want you to make as much passive income as possible, as fast as possible, on the fewest rental investments possible.
Beyond the Blog: More Landlord Resources
Had enough of us going on about the importance of landlord education?
“Cut to the goods already Brian! Gimme some free stuff!”
All right, all right. Here are some free landlord resources, to help you on your quest for financial independence from real estate:
Free Rental Application
Email our free rental application PDF to your prospects; they can type into it, e-sign it, and email it back to you. It even includes authorization for you to contact employers, prior landlords, and run tenant screening reports.
Tenant Screening Reports
Well, it’s free for the landlord. The applicant verifies their identity and releases their credit report, criminal background check, and eviction history tenant screening reports to you. No site inspection required!
State-Specific Lease Agreements
Our rental lease agreements are extremely landlord-protective, and deter any lawsuit-happy tenants. They’re editable, reusable, and include all state-specific lease clauses, disclosures, and addenda.
Free Rent Collection
Collect rent online, through either ACH (bank transfer), credit card, or debit card. Reduce late payments and rent defaults, and use one-click Schedule E tax statements and Income & Expense reports!
Want more free landlord resources? Check out our list of Free Landlord Tools.
Spark Rental Blog Guest Post Policy
This is our skeptical face. Persuade us you’re not another hack!
Yes, we do allow guest blog posts occasionally.
No, we don’t accept crappy posts from bad writers or people who aren’t real estate investing experts, landlords, or rental industry experts.
If you’re an outstanding writer, with something unique to write about, and you’re a rock star real estate investor, landlord, property manager, housing industry analyst, or FIRE and personal finance expert, we can talk. But I’ll warn you right now, we have extremely high standards, and we will probably send you a detailed set of instructions to follow.
We also only accept in-depth articles of 1,500-2,000+ words.
Still interested in contributing to our real estate investing blog?
Contact us using the form below, to pitch a few unique and relevant blog post ideas.
