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
NOI in Real Estate Investing: Net Operating Income Explained
Key Takeaways: Net operating income (NOI) shows a rental property's profitability after deducting operating expenses. It reveals how much cash flow an investment property can generate. The NOI formula is simple: Take gross operating income and subtract operating...
10 Ways to Find Distressed Properties as an Investor
Key Takeaways: Distressed properties, neglected or abandoned due to financial struggles, provide investment opportunities for buyers to acquire, renovate, and profit from renting or selling. Categories such as Foreclosure, REO, Short Sales, Auctions, Bankruptcy Sales,...
How to Hedge Against Inflation with Real Estate Investments
Summary: Real estate tends to appreciate at the same rate or faster than inflation over time. Property values and rental income often rise as prices increase, making it the best hedge against inflation. Unlike stocks or bonds, real estate provides tangible assets that...
Mortgage and Rental Income: How to Finance Rental Properties When You’re Self-Employed
Financing real estate investments can be tricky when you're self-employed. Lenders look for consistent income, which is harder to show without a W-2. But getting a mortgage is very doable with the proper documentation verifying your earnings, plus preparation and...
Housing Bubble 2024: 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...
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...
Mortgage, Financing, and Property Loan: How to Get a Loan for a Rental Property
One of the significant advantages of investing in real estate is leverage: the ability to buy your assets with other people’s money. The property appreciates even as your loan balance shrinks. Your rents go up every year while your debt payments stay fixed. That makes...
Common Craigslist Rental Scams… Renters Beware!
The Big Picture on Common Craigslist Rental Scams: Craigslist rental scams are more common than you think. Scammers often lure victims with low prices to attract attention. Scammers found on Craigslist may pose as landlords, show rental properties, and sign multiple...
A 3%-Down Rental Property Loan? How to Use Fannie & Freddie Loans for Investing
A few years back, Fannie Mae and its brother lender Freddie Mac launched loan programs called HomeReady and Home Possible, respectively. Their purpose? To compete with the 3.5% down FHA loan program and help low- to moderate-income borrowers buy a home without much...
Concreit Review 2024: Short-Term Real Estate Fund & Fractional Shares
The Big Picture on Our Concreit Review: Concreit allows investors to start with as little as $1 for its pooled fund and $100 for fractional property shares. It offers exceptional liquidity, enabling investors to withdraw funds at any time without penalties on the...
Where Does Real Estate Fit in Modern Portfolio Theory?
Even as every other “sacred cow” of investing comes under question, investors keep standing by the classic 60/40 stocks/bonds portfolio. Famed for its simplicity and historical resilience, this approach has guided generations of investors in balancing growth and risk....
How to Pay for College with Real Estate Investments
The average cost of tuition for the 2023-2024 school year was $42,162 for private colleges. Ouch. Public tuition in-state universities clocked in at $10,662, and out-of-state at $23,630. Multiply that by four years (or five, if your kid's on the "super senior" track)....
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
Beyond Education: Group Real Estate Investment Club
Learning is wonderful, and we offer nearly endless free education content for real estate investors. 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 of other investors. Every month, we meet on a video call to vet a new passive real estate investment. These group real estate investments range from private parnetships to private notes to real estate syndications and funds for 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 $50,000 – $100,000 needed for a typical private equity real estate investment 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.
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.
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.
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.
