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
ROI on Real Estate: Historical Returns & Types of Returns on Property
The Big Picture On a Good Real Estate ROI: Investors can benefit from both cash flow through rental income and property value appreciation, balancing these for a steady or long-term investment approach. Strategies like BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) allow...
How to Buy a Foreclosure Home: Pros, Cons, & Process from Start to Finish
The Big Picture On Buying A Foreclosure Home: Buying a foreclosed home can provide significant savings compared to market prices, offering opportunities for both homebuyers and investors to purchase properties at a discount. Thorough research and due diligence is...
What Is a Real Estate Syndication and How Does It Works?
The Big Picture On Investing in Real Estate Syndications Real estate syndications are passive investments in which you buy fractional ownership in an apartment complex or other large property (or properties in a fund). As a financial investor, you don’t have to do any...
Real Estate vs. Stocks: Which Is Faster for FI & Early Retirement?
The Big Picture On Investing In Real Estate vs. Stocks: Real estate offers more control, predictability, and cash flow than stocks, especially for those looking to leverage assets. However, it demands more work, higher upfront costs, and lacks liquidity. Stocks are...
Turnkey Real Estate: Pros & Cons for Long-Distance Investing
The Big Picture On Turnkey Real Estate Investing: Turnkey real estate offers hands-off investing. Renovated properties are ready to rent and often pre-managed by third-party companies. Investors benefit from immediate cash flow, minimal renovation hassle, and easy...
What Happens If My Tenant Goes to Jail?
The Big Picture on What Happens If Your Tenant Goes To Jail: Include clauses in the lease agreement that allow eviction for criminal activity or felony convictions. While prevention is ideal, even the most careful landlords may face this situation. Confirm the...
Questions To Ask Before Buying a Rental Property
The Big Picture on Questions To Ask Before Buying Rental Property: Unlike stocks or REITs, selling real estate is time-consuming and costly, often taking several months and thousands of dollars. Successful rental property investors need to identify their competitive...
Real Estate Due Diligence: What Is It and How Do You Do It?
The Big Picture Due Diligence in Real Estate: Due diligence ensures real estate buyers thoroughly assess a property’s condition, neighborhood, financial potential, and risks, preventing costly surprises after purchase. This involves property inspections, title checks,...
Real Estate Investment Risks — And How to Protect Against Them
The Big Picture On The Risks of Real Estate Investment: Real estate investments carry risks such as rising interest rates, increased expenses, market stagnation, and capital loss. Sponsors often face challenges from tightening credit markets and delays in...
How to Transfer a Property to an LLC
The Big Picture On Transferring A Property To An LLC: Transferring a rental property to an LLC can protect personal assets from lawsuits, simplify ownership, and offer tax benefits through pass-through taxation. However, it may incur state tax fees and complicate...
How To Invest $1000 In Real Estate
The Big Picture On How You Can Invest $1000 In Real Estate: You can invest $1,000 in real estate through fractional ownership, REITs, crowdfunding, or other low-entry options like land investing or rental arbitrage, allowing you to start building wealth without a...
Passive vs. Active Investing in Real Estate: Pros & Cons of Rentals vs. Syndications
The Big Picture on Passive vs Active Real Estate Investing: Active real estate investing offers higher potential returns, but it comes with significant responsibilities such as property management, tenant issues, and market research. Investors need to be hands-on and...
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.
