Real Estate Investing
Practical guides to rental property investing, the BRRRR strategy, deal analysis, and real estate financing — covering every step from finding your first deal to scaling a portfolio.
Guides in This Section
Rental Property Investing: How to Build Real Passive Income
How to find, evaluate, and manage rental properties that generate consistent monthly cash flow — including what the numbers need to look like before a deal makes financial sense, how to screen tenants properly, and when to hire a property manager.
Read the full guideThe BRRRR Strategy: Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat
The method that lets investors recycle the same capital across multiple deals to build a growing rental portfolio. What it actually takes to execute, what the refinance math needs to look like, and the failure points most BRRRR content skips over.
Read the full guideReal Estate Funding & Financing: Every Option Explained
Conventional mortgages, hard money loans, DSCR loans, private money, seller financing, and creative strategies — what each one costs, who qualifies, and when each option makes the most sense for your deal.
Read the full guideCash Flow & ROI: How to Analyze a Rental Property Deal
Cap rate, cash-on-cash return, net operating income, the 1% rule, and the 50% rule — the metrics that tell you whether a property is actually worth buying, calculated correctly with realistic expense assumptions.
Read the full guideFrequently Asked Questions
How much money do I need to start investing in real estate?
For a conventional investment property loan, plan on 15–25% down plus 2–5% closing costs and 3–6 months of cash reserves. On a $200,000 property, that might be $40,000–$60,000 out of pocket. If you house hack — buying a 2–4 unit multifamily with an FHA loan and living in one unit — you can get started with 3.5% down. DSCR loans and hard money loans have different requirements. The amount needed varies significantly based on strategy and market.
Is real estate investing worth it in 2026?
Real estate investing continues to produce strong risk-adjusted returns for investors who buy in the right markets at the right prices. Higher interest rates have compressed cash flow margins compared to 2020–2021, which means underwriting discipline is more important than ever. Markets with strong employment growth, limited housing supply, and rising rents continue to support good returns. Markets with weak population trends and stagnant rents require stronger cash flow to be worth holding.
What is the BRRRR method in real estate?
BRRRR stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. You buy a distressed property below market value, renovate it to improve its appraised value, rent it out to establish cash flow, then do a cash-out refinance based on the new appraised value to pull your original investment back out — then repeat the process with the same capital. When it works, you end up with a performing rental and most of your money returned. When it doesn't work — usually because of overpaying or a low appraisal — you're stuck with less capital than you started with.
What is a good cap rate for investment property?
Cap rates vary significantly by market. In gateway cities like New York, LA, and San Francisco, cap rates of 3–5% reflect expectations of strong appreciation. In secondary and Midwestern markets, cap rates of 6–10% are more common and appropriate for cash flow-focused investors. A 'good' cap rate is relative to comparable properties in the same area — evaluate cap rate locally, not as an absolute standard.
What type of loan is best for an investment property?
For long-term rental holds, a conventional 30-year fixed-rate loan offers the lowest long-term cost if you can qualify — steady payment, longest amortization, best rates. DSCR loans are the next best choice for investors who can't qualify conventionally because the property's rental income, not your personal income, is the primary qualification factor. Hard money works for short-term situations like fix-and-flip or BRRRR where speed matters and you plan to pay off the loan quickly.