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
Renting to Roommates: 6 Sanity and Profitability Tips
Being a mum of five should have made it much easier to deal with the disagreements of roommate-renters, right? Absolutely not! When you sign a lease agreement with more than one adult renter, things can get complicated quickly. What happens if one roommate moves out,...
A Study on Rental Properties: The Best Investment in 145 Years
Cats or dogs? Coffee or tea? Real estate or stocks?Age old questions. And while I’m a firm believer in both, sometimes you have to make a judgment call based on limited cash available to invest.What performs the best over the long term? For that matter, where do...
Expansion vs. Consolidation Cycles: When to Invest & When to Tackle Debt
\“Should I pay down my mortgage(s) or invest in new rental properties?” Nor does that question end with mortgages and new investment properties. When should you pay down student loan debt, and when should you invest in equities? When should you pay down credit card...
Renters Have Changed Drastically, But Have Landlords Kept Up?
What did renters look like 20 years ago? Form an image in your mind of the stereotypical renter from the late ‘90s. Got it? Perhaps you thought of people like the cast of Friends: young, single, not earning a whole lot. And you would be right… for 20 years ago....
Landlord Credit Requirements Across the Country
This is a guest post from Diana Bolboaca, featuring recent credit and leasing data from RENTCafé. As a landlord, you know that tenant credit reports are one of the most crucial factors in the tenant screening and approval process. Nowadays, rental...
Sequence Risk, Retirement & How Rentals Save the Day (Again)
Thought 1: “I think I could retire on what I have invested right now! Woohoo!” Which is quickly followed by Thought 2: “But what if the market crashes the day after I quit my job?” My mother and step-father are in the midst of this conversation right now. That...
Marginal Gains: The Path to Real Estate Superstardom
How bright is each of those Chinese lanterns above, by its lonesome? Not very bright. Around what a second-rate pulp novelist might describe as "a dull glow." But standing in that crowd, with a thousand lanterns in the air above you? I bet you could see just...
Maximizing Profits: Understanding Tenant Turnovers & Costs
What's the #1 profit killer for landlords? You guessed it - tenant turnovers. Between repairs and property upgrades (new paint, new carpeting, etc.), vacancy costs, advertising costs, time spent showing the property, and of course fixing any...
Top Cities for Investors: Economic Data Reveals Best Picks
Last week, WalletHub released an outstanding set of data ranking hundreds of U.S. cities based on 15 economic indicators. As a real estate investor and writer, that perked my ears right up. What cities are seeing a surge in demand? Where are jobs sprouting up, incomes...
Are Rents Collapsing in Major Cities?
As a real estate investor, you’ve probably wondered “What happens if housing markets collapse?” It’s one of the biggest fears and questions we hear from our passive income students. One answer is that it’s uncommon for real estate values to go down – it happens...
What’s More Important, ROI or Savings Rate?
What has a greater impact on your wealth, your savings rate or the returns you earn on your investments? A recent analysis by Pension Partners offers some decisive proof that savings rate trumps ROI, demonstrating that discipline matters more than clever...
Landlord Survey: What’s Changing for Property Owners Nationwide? (Infographic)
It's been a good few years for property owners. And it looks like it's only getting better. We're partnered with credit bureau Transunion so we can provide full credit reports, criminal background checks and eviction reports for our landlords and property managers....
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.
