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
Smart Rental: 7 Cheap Tech Upgrades to Boost Your Rents & ROI
Looking for a little extra pizzazz to make your empty rental stand out and rent for more? Consider making it a “smart home.” For a few hundred dollars, you can trick out your rental property with connected devices that make it easily programmable and controllable from...
Unstable Ground! 5 Real Estate Disruptions on the Horizon
What are the odds that artificial intelligence will render real estate agents obsolete in the near future? If you answered “nearly 100%” then you answered right. At least according to a recent Oxford study on artificial intelligence. Scary stuff? Maybe. But is...
Flooring Hacks to Save Thousands on Turnovers (Video)
In this Video: Why flooring costs are such a profit-killer in turnovers How to save money when installing carpets Why are excellent alternatives to carpets and hardwood floors How to protect hardwood floors As always, we could keep talking, or we could just let you...
Common Landlord Blunders & Legal Pitfalls
It’s so easy to be blown by the winds of your emotions instead of standing stiff to the letter of the law. But most states enforce rigorous landlord-tenant rules, and hold landlords to a higher standard than renters. Bad tenants can cost you thousands of...
Want Better Results from Your Rentals? Try the 10/4 Rule
Real estate investors love to talk about rules for some reason. The 2% Rule of rent-to-price ratio (which you should totally ignore), the 25X Rule of retirement assets (which is not fixed in stone, as we discuss), the 70% Rule of mandatory minimum equity (okay...
Unconventional Financing Part 5: Friends & Family
(This is the fifth and final article in our Unconventional Financing series. To start at the beginning of the series, see Part 1: Real Estate Investing with Retirement Accounts). You need $75,000 for a real estate deal. Your cousin happens to have $75,000, and wants...
The Goldilocks Equation: Assessing Rental Property Enhancements
As someone who has over-improved his fair share of rental properties, I’ve learned some expensive answers to that question. How do you calculate returns on improvements, when each neighborhood (and sometimes each block) is different? How do you draw a line when...
Unconventional Financing: Peer to Peer Lending & Crowdfunding
Need to borrow money for your next real estate deal? Probably. Last week we looked at retirement accounts as a source of real estate funds, in our series Unconventional Loans for Real Estate Investing. This week, we’ll look at a relatively new way to borrow money:...
6 Must-Have Traits for a Real Estate Investing Partner
Ever thought about partnering on a real estate deal? Cut your risk by 50%? Get twice as much experience working for you? Do twice as many deals? Real estate investing partnerships can be fantastic, helping investors do all of the above. Or they...
Should Sellers Ever Consider “Cash for Ugly Homes” Buyers?
A month ago, I sat at the kitchen table with a friend, sorting through her pile of bills. Illness and the loss of her job were making it hard to keep up with her mortgage payments. Suddenly those roadside signs touting “Cash for your home,” “We Buy Ugly Homes,” “Sell...
Want Proof You’re Special? Stats Show Real Estate Investors Far from Average
Who wants to be average? I don’t. If you’re a real estate investor and/or landlord, you probably don’t either. Even homeowners are so far ahead of renters’ wealth that it’s shocking. According to the last Federal Reserve survey (conducted every three years), the...
More Jurisdictions Requiring Landlords to Accept Section 8: Cue the Lawsuits
Last year, St. Louis, MO passed a law requiring landlords to accept Housing Choice Voucher (better known as Section 8) tenants. Now, the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council (EHOC) has filed its first lawsuit against local landlord M. Jaffe...
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.
