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
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...
9 Ways to Cover the Health Insurance Gap in Early Retirement
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...
Buy and Hold Real Estate Strategy: Complete Guide
The Big Picture On How To Buy And Hold Real Estate: Investing for the future focuses on building wealth and passive income over time through real estate, highlighting benefits like steady rental earnings, tax breaks, and the natural increase in property values. It is...
Cats vs. Dogs: Should I Allow Pets in My Rental Property? (Infographic)
Pet lover? So are we! There are some great reasons to allow pets in your rental property… and some risks. What are the pros and cons of allowing pets in your rental? Is renting to tenants with cats better than allowing dogs? What are the risks of each? Most...
Real Estate Investing in 2020: The Best Cities by 8 Metrics
What are the best cities for real estate investing in the US? Sure, it’s subjective. And yes, it depends on what kind of investing you’re doing. But that doesn’t mean that some cities don’t have better fundamentals for rental investing. In our hunt for the best cities...
How One Single Mom Went from 0 to 6 Rentals in One Year
It’s hard being a single parent. You’re constantly triaging all the demands on your time. You have a full-time job, full-time parenting responsibilities, and of course you have to manage a household entirely on your own. And that’s before you even think about...
Should Landlords Rent to Illegal Immigrants? Unbiased Pros & Cons
*Note on Terminology: Conservatives and liberals can’t even agree on terminology, with conservatives using the pejorative “illegal aliens” and liberals using the cuddly “undocumented immigrants.” We’ll split the difference here and use the term “illegal immigrants,”...
How to Finance Rental Properties When You’re Self-Employed
Yes, getting a mortgage for a rental property can be tricky for the self-employed. But as a self-employed entrepreneur, you do harder things every day. If you want passive income and financial freedom sooner rather than later, leveraging other people's money is the...
How One Couple Moved Abroad & Retired by 30 with Rentals
I met Ashley Thompson in a Facebook group of Mustachians. No, she doesn’t have a mustache. She, like tens of thousands of people around the world, has embraced the financial discipline and minimalism preached by Mr. Money Mustache. (His blog remains one of the best...
11 Pros Reveal What They Wish They Knew About Investing
Real estate investments are expensive, even if you finance them. That means mistakes are expensive. I already shared some of the real estate investing lessons I wish I’d known when I was just starting out. So I figured I’d open it up to other professional real estate...
20 Questions to Ask Before Starting the Rental Application Process
Time is worth more than money. You can always earn more money, but your remaining time on this earth is limited – and more so every minute of every day. Which is probably why you became a landlord in the first place: to build passive income. And if you’ve been around...
How to Calculate Rental Property Cash Flow: Know Your ROI Before Investing
I cringe every time I hear a new rental investor say “Well the mortgage payment is only $1,000, and the rent is $1,300, so that’s a $300/month cash flow!” Sound the air raid siren, because that investor’s dreams are going to end in flames. How to calculate rental...
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.
