Replace Your Salary with Rental Income
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 landlord, 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
How to Invest in Real Estate: 15 Strategies for Real Estate Investing
I love real estate investments as a source of income. Whether you’re looking to earn a quick return through wholesaling or flipping, or earn ongoing passive income from rental properties, there are dozens of strategies for real estate investing. Most real estate...
DSCR Loans: Requirements, Pros & Cons for Real Estate Investing
Heard of DSCR loan programs as a real estate investor, but not sure how they work (or what DSCR even means)? Many private portfolio lenders use DSCR (debt service coverage ratio) rather than borrower income to qualify loans. That keeps the underwriting about the...
Contingent vs. Pending: What Does Contingent in Real Estate Mean?
When you buy or sell an asset worth hundreds of thousands — or millions — of dollars, the legal contracts get complex. Quickly. And while “pending” and “contingent” may sound similar to laypeople, they mean slightly different things in real estate legalese. You need...
Interest Rates on Loans for Investment Properties: March 2023 Rates
Wondering what interest rates you can expect to pay on loans for investment properties? It depends on your credit score of course, and on your other risk factors as a borrower. But it also largely depends on what type of investment property loan you borrow. Here are...
Housing Bubble 2023: Are U.S. Housing Markets Crashing?
Remember the housing bubble, real estate market crash, and Great Recession in 2008? I do. It was an utter nightmare for me and millions of other property owners, representing the second-largest recession in American history, junior only to the Great Depression. Given...
Taxes on Passive Income: Types of Taxes & How to Minimize Them
Passive income is the key to reaching financial independence and retiring. With enough passive income, you can ditch your day job — or at least cover the gap between what your current job pays and your dream work pays. But as with most forms of income, Uncle Sam wants...
Passive Income Types: The Best Sources of Passive Income
Going to work every day and getting a paycheck every two weeks? That’s active income. Being self-employed? Freelance work and side gigs? All active income too. Active income is money that you have to work in order to earn, on an ongoing basis. It’s trading time for...
How to Earn “Infinite Returns” on Real Estate Investments
If you earn $1 on a $0 investment, what’s the rate of return? What about $100? $1,000? The answer’s the same: any return on a $0 investment is an “infinite return,” since you’re dividing into zero. You earn something on an investment of nothing. But how does that...
Lofty Review: Fractional Ownership of Rentals with Full Liquidity?
There’s a lot to like about the Lofty real estate crowdfunding platform. You can buy fractional shares in investment properties for just $50 apiece, collect daily rental income, and sell those shares whenever you want. But their secondary market for buying and selling...
Arrived Review: Fractional Ownership in Rental Properties for $100
As someone who teaches people how to invest in rental properties, should I be worried about how easy Arrived makes it to invest without any knowledge or skill? Arrived (formerly Arrived Homes) is a real estate crowdfunding platform that lets you buy fractional shares...
What Are 4-Point Inspections in Real Estate, and Why Do Them?
When buying a new property, it pays to know what four-point inspections are and why they’re important. A 4-point inspection is an assessment conducted by a qualified professional and it’s an integral part of the real estate process. This assessment looks at the four...
Fundrise Review 2023: An Easy Way to Diversify Your Portfolio?
Despite being a real estate investor and landlord myself, I love real estate crowdfunding platforms. You can take $10 and invest it in dozens of different properties, rather than investing $100,000 in one property. It comes with a cost, of course. You don’t get the...
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 for years, although they only 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, Stitcher, or wherever else you listen!
Recent Episodes
Ep. #131: Lauren Aumond from Adulting Is Easy on Reaching FI in Her Mid-30s
Lauren Keen Aumond is a real estate investor based in Tampa Bay, Florida. She and her husband will be retiring soon in their mid-30's with help from their 12 rentals and their index funds. How did they do it? Brian and Lauren talk vacation rentals, savings rates,...
Ep. #130: Can You 1031 Exchange a Property to a Real Estate Syndication?
This question comes up often when we discuss syndication investments. Brian and Deni how you can actually use a 1031 exchange to purchase syndication investments, and the limitations in place.Video Broadcast VersionAudio Podcast Version Also available on iTunes,...
Ep. #129: Boredom: The Silent Killer Risk For Smart People’s Finances
Investors get bored of dollar cost averaging, index funds, and robo-advisors — and then they start trying to beat the market by picking individual stocks or trying to time the market. Don't do that. Instead, try expanding into these options for real estate investing,...
Ep #128: Real Estate Side Hustles to Save Money Faster
Real estate investing take money. A lot of money. Fortunately, it also offers endless ways to make money. Deni breaks down some real estate side hustles to help you earn extra money while you save money to invest.Video Broadcast VersionAudio Podcast Version Also...
Ep. #127: What Are “Infinite Returns” on Real Estate & How Do Your Earn Them?
What's your return on investment if you invest $0 and then earn money on it? Mathematically, your returns are infinite. Brian breaks down exactly how to earn infinite returns in real estate, investing money in rental properties or real estate syndications and then...
Ep. #126: Should You “Buy the Dip” in Real Estate?
When real estate prices decline, should you "buy the dip"? While trying to time the market is an inherently bad idea, that doesn't mean there aren't more bargains available when housing markets cool. Brian and Deni talk through how to responsibly pick up more...
Who Is the Passive Investing 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. 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’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 Real Estate 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.
Online 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.
