My favorite real estate investment strategy is to buy a property and hold it long-term. I prefer this strategy because it’s a great way to build long-term wealth. 

Some people prefer flipping properties, but that means you end up paying thousands of dollars in capital gains taxes. Long term buying and holding requires fewer taxes on your capital gains due to monthly depreciation. 

When you look for investment properties, look for positive cash flow. Positive cash flow is the difference between your monthly expenses and what you receive in rent. For example, let’s say you spend $1,500 in monthly expenses on a property and you collect $2,000 in rent. That means you have a positive cash flow of $500 each month. 

Even if a property is in a bad area, if it has positive cash flow, I would take it. There might be a property in a better area available, but I wouldn’t take that property if it just means breaking even or spending more cash out of pocket on a monthly basis. 

Investing in real estate is a good way to play a game that I like to call, “Getting Out of the Rat Race.” I learned this philosophy from Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. The whole purpose of the game is to have your monthly residual positive cash flow on all of your properties exceed your monthly liabilities. 

Let’s say you have $1,500 in assets but $4,000 in liabilities. That’s a difference of -$2,500. The purpose of the game is to increase your assets to the point where they equal or exceed your monthly liability. In this case, you would have to own eight properties with a positive cash flow of $500 a month in order to match your liabilities. 

Once they match, Kiyosaki says you are out of the rat race because even if you stopped working, all of your liabilities would be paid for on a monthly basis. Take a look and see what your monthly residual income is and start working to get out of the rat race. 

If you have any questions about investing in real estate, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

This morning I had an interesting conversation with my little sister, who’s been considering entering the real estate business. Lately she’s been shadowing my assistant to learn the administrative side of the job, and she kept telling me how great my assistant is at what she does. Of course I didn’t disagree with her, but it started to seem like she was comparing herself to my assistant.

At that point I felt compelled to remind her that my assistant didn’t get to where she was overnight. It’s a process that takes time and practice. Many of my mentors have told me over the years that if you want to get good at something, you have to practice every single day at it. For myself in real estate, this meant practicing what I had to say and how I had to say it until my presentation was perfect.

If you want to get paid like a professional, you have to practice like a professional.

That was my message to her, and that’s my message for you today. You receive in public what you invest in private. If you invest the necessary time and effort, the rewards will come. It all comes down to the grind - putting in the time, putting in the energy, and practicing. 

If you or anybody you know is looking to buy or sell real estate in Ventura County, send them my way. Just give me a call or send me an email, and I’ll help you get what you want.

I started selling real estate six years ago, and just like anyone opening up a new business, I automatically expected people to start contacting me. For the first six months, I did no transactions and was basically sitting around waiting for family, friends, and neighbors to contact me. Then I ran into a mentor of mine by the name of Mike Ferry. Mike coaches a lot of agents here in the marketplace, and he told me that there are three ways to grow any type of business.

The first way is to pay for it yourself. This means marketing yourself as the expert of whatever you’re selling. Unfortunately when I was starting my business, I didn’t have the resources to invest in marketing myself. The second way is to sit back and wait for it. This is the most common way for people just starting out - they assume everyone will come to them. This is more or less what I expected in real estate. The third way is to go out and earn it. This means picking up the phone and building relationships with people.

After hearing this, I built a list of names and phone numbers of everyone I knew and started contacting them on a quarterly basis. Gradually, these original contacts started referring new customers to me. After that, I began searching for influencers (important people within the community) and adding them to my database.  

How does this apply to you? It means if you want to build your business, reach out to your contacts and offer your services. I’ve continued to grow my business by continually prospecting every single day and looking for new ways to reach out to people and help them with their real estate needs. If you’re just starting out as I once was, focus on how to generate new business. You can have the greatest service out there, but if nobody knows about it, what good does that do?

If you have any questions, or you know anyone who needs a good real estate agent, please reach out to us. We’d be happy to help.

I just got done having lunch with one of my first real estate mentors, Vicente. It took me back to how we first met, the opportunity he offered me, and how I’ve fared since.

I didn’t close any transactions in my first six months working in real estate. I worked hard but didn’t see any results. I was lost. That’s when I met Vicente. He offered me a mentorship, he wanted to teach me everything he knew about the business.

At first, I was hesitant. He wanted something like 50% of my commission while he was mentoring me, and that was a lot to give up. The way he put it was this: “50% of something is better than 50% of nothing, right?” He was right. In the next six months of my career under the guide of Vicente, I closed nine transactions.

It’s unbelievable the impact someone like that had on my career and my life. It was costing me money, yes, but I was able to learn and absorb all 15 years of experience Vicente had in a short two years. What ended up happening was that I would have conversations with clients who asked about my experience, and were shocked to know that I had only been doing this for two years.

No matter what stage my business is in, I look for mentors to help me make it better. I currently have a mentor in Florida who I have a call with every Monday. He is able to help and guide me in almost every issue I run into because he has already experienced it himself. I am learning from his mistakes before I even make them.

No matter what you’re trying to do, having a mentor is a powerful thing. It means having someone out there looking out for you and guiding you on the path to success.

Vicente has passed his knowledge onto me, and now I’m passing it on to others as well. It’s a cycle that keeps on going. If you’d like to be a part of it, or if you just have any questions for me about my business or my career, give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you..

Yesterday, I was on a mastermind with people across the country in the real estate business. We meet to share ideas and help each other grow. This time, we were going over our business plan and evaluating what changes we need to make for the second half of the year. 

During the call, one of my mentors said that he has 101 closed and pending transactions so far this year. Everyone on the call thought it was amazing! Last year, he had done 70 deals at this point, and we were all very impressed. 

His mentor, however, said, “Is that good for you? Is 101 deals good for you? Look, you’re doing a great job. You’re doing a lot better than last year. Here’s my best piece of advice for you: Get over it. It’s gone, it’s done.” 

I thought that was really interesting! It made me think of my situation. I was number one for RE/MAX during the month of June and that was great. Still, that is in the past and it’s time to get over it. Instead, I need to focus on what changes I need to make in order to continue producing at high levels for the rest of the year. 

When you are working toward success, you don’t want to just surround yourself with people who will congratulate you all the time. I need people in my life to push me, motivate me, and question me in order to take my business to the next level. That’s why I keep surrounding myself with people who are doing more business than I am. You make the same income of the five people closest to you, so you need to hang out with people at that next level so you don’t get complacent. 

If you have any questions for me, please give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Let’s say you’ve listed your house with another agent and you haven’t received an offer for more than three months, and suddenly, you receive what we call a lowball offer. How do you respond?

Hopefully this never happens to you, but if it does, the first thing to do is talk it over with your agent. Take a step back and analyze the whole situation - what’s been selling in my neighborhood? What’s my competition? What’s active in my community? What’s been selling in my price range in my city? Have any buyers that have seen my property made offers on others that sold recently? What’s the average days on market? What’s the market like?

Next, really put yourself in the buyer’s shoes to see what they’re trying to accomplish. Obviously the buyer and their agent are going to try to get your property at the best price. Many times a lowball offer is a strategy to try and get you to meet them in the middle. Say you’re listed at $500,000 and they make an offer of $450,000. Their strategy is to meet you in the middle, or somewhere close to $475,000. If it makes sense to you financially, try to come very close, slightly above that middle ground, so they can counter back at $475,000.

Remember to analyze the situation to determine what’s best. Think about the time your home has been on the market and ask yourself if it makes more sense to continue to market the home in hopes of receiving a higher offer. 

If you have any questions about offers, or about real estate in general, please feel free to send me an email or give me a call. I’d love to work with you!

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I’ve been getting this same question from a lot of different clients recently, so I wanted to answer it for all of you out there in case you had the same question as well. The question is this: “Can I sell a rental property with the lease still in place? Even if it doesn’t end for another six months or a year?”

The short answer is yes! You actually have a few different options on how to go about it. The first option is selling the home to an investor and having them take over the lease. The investor would assume the lease when buying the property and continue renting the property to the tenant until the lease is over. 

The other option you have is to negotiate with the tenant and offer them a credit for releasing you from the lease. You could offer them a month’s worth of rent, or a few thousand dollars. With this option, you don’t have to worry about a buyer or investor having objections to taking over a lease. You can get the tenant out of your property, opening up the sale of your home to many more buyers. It’s definitely an option if you’re considering selling and don’t want to wait for the lease to end in order to sell.

I’m here to help but more importantly, I’m here to get the job done. If you have any questions for me, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. Talk to you soon!

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Buying a Ventura County Home? Search all homes for sale

A topic that a couple of clients have asked me about recently is evictions. We’ve had a few clients that have tenants who stopped paying rent, and they want to know what their options are. In California, there are really three options available to you.

1. Begin the eviction process yourself.

We don’t recommend this. There are some really savvy tenants in California that understand the law and that the eviction process can be prolonged considerably. By doing this yourself, you may end up having the process take a lot longer than it needs to.

2. Hire an attorney.

If you choose this option, hire one that specializes in unlawful detainers and has a track record of evicting tenants who aren’t paying rent. 

3. Offer the tenant “cash for keys.”

In this situation, you would offer the tenant some sort of monetary compensation for leaving your property quickly. Why would you pay somebody money if they’re not paying you? The truth is, the eviction process could drag on for months. If you pay somebody once, to leave right away, you can get back to fixing that property up and getting it ready for the next tenant. It’s a quick, easy option. 

If you are going through a situation like this and have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to help out in any way we can.

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Buying a Ventura County Home? Search all homes for sale 

I wanted to let you in on some information about some big tax implications of selling a rental property in Ventura County that many sellers don’t know about. There are benefits to selling a rental property that was previously a primary residence and has been a rental for fewer than three years. 

A benefit of selling a rental property that was owner-occupied for at least two of the last five years and was a primary residence is a home sales tax exclusion law. Some homeowners aren't aware of this, but legally you’re allowed to sell the property and pay no capital gains taxes for an individual up to $250,000 and for a married couple, up to $500,000.

However, if you continue to rent the property and you didn’t occupy the property for two of the last five years and did decide to sell the property in the future, at that point, you may be subject to capital gains taxes. 

Depending on your situation, talk to your tax advisor and have them talk you through a few scenarios. What would you pay in taxes now if you decided to sell? What would you pay in taxes if you decided to sell in 2-4 years? Then you can decide what the best decision is for you and your family. 

Selling your Ventura County Home? Get a free home value report
Buying a Ventura County Home? Search all homes for sale 

I can help save you money before you list your home. It’s best to invite me over, so I can get a feel for your individual property. Then, I’ll conduct a walkthrough and analyze which repairs are absolutely necessary to fix. Some repairs are so minor and minuscule, you don’t need to address them right away or at all. Often, I find many sellers invest in repairs that don’t necessarily add value to the listing.  

 I use a preferred list of vendors for repairs. Let’s pull a preferred, trusted client to address the fixes you need inside your home. This list includes plumbers, electricians, and other private contractors. They can offer you a bid on your property. My vendors frequently provide their services for a lower rate -- just because you were referred by me!

 Once a home goes into escrow, often I see buyers requesting too much from sellers after the inspection period. For instance, they want a credit to address repairs inside the home. However, allow me to use negotiation tactics. I’m a professional! I can help fight for your best interests and ultimately, save your money.

If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home in Ventura County anytime soon, give me a call or send me an email! I am happy to help serve your real estate needs and save you money.