Real Estate Spidey Senses

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...

New FHA Modification Rules

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.

Should we be fully renovating rentals?

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...

Don’t take financial advice from AI

By Vena Jones-Cox Ya’ll. PLEASE stop asking general-purpose AI for financial and real estate advice. Or…go ahead and ask it. But don’t automatically do what it says. I’m not saying AI isn’t useful. I use it every day. And there are people building specialized GPTs and AI agents that are trained on particular kinds of...

The Side Benefits of Using a Land Trust

by Mr. Land Trust® There are few (if any) benefits to owning investment real estate in your own name. There are many reasons NOT to own investment real estate in your personal name. Here is a real-life case in point.