By Vena Jones-Cox

I was today years old when it dawned on me that there’s no such thing as a “normal” real estate market. I was brought up on the same generalizations that you were… Real estate appreciates at some average rate every year. Net rents rise slightly faster than inflation. Values always go up over…

By Vena Jones-Cox

Does it seem to anybody else like the easy availability of financing has gotten sticky, especially at the person-to-person lending level, but even with some more conventional lenders?

I don’t necessarily mean that there’s less money out there—though maybe there is, because I know more investors right now with truly failed deals than I’ve seen in over a decade. I mean that the same money is staying tied up in deals longer, creating a domino effect.

By Vena Jones-Cox

Instead, he died owning two houses with a combined value of less than $200,000, with almost no cash in the bank, and living mostly off Social Security. Dad was a sort of real estate pioneer. He was smart, a millionaire back when a million dollars was real money, one of the founders…

By Vena Jones-Cox

Ok, so this is me making the craziest-sounding post I’ve ever made here, but here goes.I’ve talked to a lot of people now who’ve both been in real estate for decades AND who’ve done a lot of different kinds of deals, and so far, they all agree that we eventually develop what…

By Vena Jones-Cox

If you don’t do subject to, this probably isn’t going to interest you a lot, but if you do, here’s a weaponized autism evaluation of the new FHA modification rules for ya:

I just talked to about the fifth FHA-insured loan holder in three months who re-defaulted after a loan modification in which both the interest rate AND the payment went UP.

By Vena Jones-Cox

The time to do big cosmetic renovations on your rentals is when property values and rents are climbing, and incomes are keeping up with rents. In those scenarios, it’s easy to BRRRR your way out of $20k in new kitchens and bathrooms, and it’s easy to justify the cost of the improvements, because…