Hi, friends! Welcome back to another episode! This week we’re answering another question we hear a lot and that question is ‘do I need an LLC to invest in real estate?’. While there really isn’t a cut and dry answer, we are going to share with you our personal thoughts on the subject, as well as our own experiences.Just a reminder, we are not attorneys and while we love sharing words of wisdom, we always recommend consulting with your attorney to find out what will best suit your specific business and personal legal needs.In this episode we’re diving into:What is an LLC and what does it doThings to understand about an LLCProsConsBenefitsTax details First, what is an LLC?An LLC, in its simplest form, is what separates your business liabilities from you personally, for asset protection. This means that a tenant cannot come after you personally, should something go awry at one of your properties. The long and the short of it:If having (or not having) an LLC is what is keeping you up at night, and keeping you from getting started in real estate, STOP! Put it aside and revisit it later because this is where so many people find themselves stuck, and never even get started. That’s all we have for you this week but if you have a question you’d like us to chat about on an upcoming episode please feel free to email us! Also, if you haven’t done so we would LOVE it if you could leave us a review wherever you listen to your podcasts to help other listeners like you find us! We will catch you in the next episode! Resources:Leave us a review on Apple PodcastsLeave us a review on SpotifyJoin our private WIIRE Facebook CommunityConnect with us on Instagram

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Women Invest In Real Estate podcast. We are so excited because, in this episode, we're going to talk about a creative finance deal that Grace just did and is probably one of the best creative finance deals she has done lately. We have both been so busy doing our own thing and keeping our businesses in line that Grace has not even shared these deets with Amelia so it’s going to be a good conversation! Let’s get started!But first, you haven’t already (especially if you’re new to creative financing), we highly recommend listening to the episodes in our Creative Financing mini-series with Jenn & Joe Delle Fave. Find them all here:Ep 35Ep 36Ep 37Ep 38 How She Found The DealThis particular house/deal was found through one of our favorite sourcing methods, referrals! A friend of Grace’s told her about this person who was looking to sell their home only a few years after they originally purchased it due to some major life changes. She reached out to the seller and the seller was super responsive to her offer, and they had already built that know, like, and trust factor in play here which immediately set them up for a successful deal, especially since it needed to move quickly.Grace bought the house via a wrap mortgage, taking over the owner's debt, buying the house, and owing what the house was worth. She really did not have any equity, basically owing what the house was worth (about $77,000 owed on the house). Grace offered the seller $91k, less the newly surfaced issues from the sewer repairs, which were estimated to cost roughly $12k bringing it to about $79k. The seller jumped at the offer and it was a done deal.  Here is an approximate breakdown of what Grace paid for the deal:$270 at closing$10k sewer repair$1k referral fee$1k attorney fees Some of the most common questions Grace will answer in this episode are:How do you make her mortgage payment?What about insurance?Did you buy the house in a trust?What are the risks of creative financing?Where did you learn everything you know about creative financing? Thank you for tuning in, friends! We hope you’ll join us on May 17 & 18 for our Virtual Summit where we’re bringing together top real estate investors from across the country to share their insights, strategies, and success stories!We’ll catch you in the next episode! Resources:Listen to the Creative Finance series: Ep 35, Ep 36, Ep 37, Ep 38Grab your tickets to join us at our Virtual Summit May 17 & 18Use the code WIIRE to get $250 off the Creative Financing PlaybookLeave us a review on Apple PodcastsLeave us a review on SpotifyJoin our private WIIRE Facebook CommunityConnect with us on Instagram

Hi, friends! We hope you are ready for some of the best tips and strategies we have for managing and ‘training’ your tenants. This week, we’re diving into red flags to watch out for when it comes to new/potential tenants (and inherited tenants!), and sharing with you some of the ways we have ‘trained’ our tenants to shift them onto our property management software and follow basic rental procedures. Let’s dive in! Red FlagsSob story tenantsWants to  pay multiple months of rent at a time/upfrontCarries ‘cash in hand’ the day they tour the unit to rent ASAPHas no rental historyBad credit score (medical bills excluded)Someone that just seems ‘off’ on FacebookWhile some of these may be case by case, you need to learn to use your best judgement and truly go with your gut. Some of those sob stories may be completely true and someone may have simply had a run of bad luck, but in our experience this is rarely the case in those instances. (Bonus! If you have a tenant who needs to better their credit store, TenantCloud offers rent recording to help bump credit and this offers both owners and tenants win-win!) Managing & Training Your TenantsTraining isn’t just for your property management and staff - but can also be used to get tenants all on the same page as well! Here are some of the situations where you can manage and train your tenants:Paying rent in person; instead transition them to online payments on TenantCloud or directly deposit to your bankSetting tenant communication boundariesCreating expectations for maintenance requestsOutline rules and regulations in your lease (+ enforcing them!)Enforce late fees/rent payment due dates (TenantCloud makes this one super easy by automatically applying them to late payments!)Once an eviction notice has been posted any and all communication should be in writingStick to your eviction notice policy!Our final piece of advice this week is to treat your business like a business by creating and sticking to your boundaries! We will catch you in the next episode! Resources:Use TenantCloud for your REI businessGrab your Early Bird tickets to join us at our WIIRE Virtual Summit May 17 & 18Leave us a review on Apple PodcastsLeave us a review on SpotifyJoin our private Facebook CommunityConnect with us on Instagram

Hi friends! Welcome back to another podcast episode! This week we’re joined by Mark Dehaan, CEO of TenantCloud, and were chatting all things PM software, from how TenantCloud got started to what is in the works for them now, plus why we both love using this software every day in our businesses! Let’s dive in.Mark is a father of four, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He loves family activities and all things outdoors and first got his start as the co-founder of Rentler. Rentler is a brand within TenantCloud focusing on listings, with TenantCloud being the property management software tool. Mark's parents have a background in real estate and investing and having done some real estate investing himself, he understood the need for not just a good tool, but a great tool. He partnered up with a friend to launch Rentler and down the road they merged with TenantCloud. TenantCloud, as you all know, is near and dear to our hearts. Grace has been a long-time Tenant Cloud user and recently converted Amelia over to using it in her business. TenantCloud has grown immensely and has built a team all over the world supporting landlords, property owners, investors, tenants, and more with their unique and highly innovative software tool.TenantCloud has so many amazing features and we’re still discovering more and more of them constantly because they are constantly coming up with new features for all of their users.  Some of the features that make TenantCloud stand out against its competition are:Offers tenant, property manager, landlord, and owner portalsAllows you to sign leases, collect rent, handle maintenance requests, and communicate with tenants - in a simplified user experienceYou can push your listings out across multiple platformsAccounting features such as expense tracking + other tax features to make it easy to hand off your financial records to your CPATenantCloud offers the lowest barrier to entry for tenants Some of our favorite TenantCloud features are:Offers an amazing amount of power on a highly user-friendly interfaceEasy to bring your team onto your portal (tenants, maintenance team, etc)Ability to grow your business without constant price increases for adding more units to your portfolioProperty Board for messaging multiple tenants in one multi-unit propertyExcellent customer service, resources, and FAQsIf you are just starting to look for a property management software tool, here are the bare bones of what you should be looking for in a tool:Rent collectionLease signingMaintenance requestsTenant messagingTenantCloud also has some amazing features coming down the pipeline and Mark gave us a sneak peek! A few things you can watch for are:Accounting/reconciliation features for tax seasonCustomizable application screen by adding income verificationOpt-in for credit reporting for tenants to help them boost their credit score (amazing!)A major focus of TenantCloud’s business model is to do the heavy lifting, for you. They want to see your business grow and are there to help you do exactly that. That’s all for this week, friends! We’ll catch you in the next WIIRE episode!  Resources:Use TenantCloud for your REI businessGrab your Early Bird tickets to join us at our Virtual Summit May 17 & 18Leave us a review on Apple PodcastsLeave us a review on SpotifyJoin our private Facebook CommunityConnect with us on Instagram

Hi, friends welcome back to another podcast episode. This week we're going to talk about the five things that you should do right away when setting up your REI business. This episode is near and dear to us as we're both guilty of missing a few steps along the way when we were getting started! Even if you've already established an REI business, putting these five things into practice will make a massive difference in your business in the long run. #1 BookkeepingWhether you're choosing to outsource your bookkeeping or do it yourself, make sure you set yourself up for success by starting your bookkeeping processes early. We highly recommend using QuickBooks, but there are so many options on the market if it’s not in your budget. When it comes to setting up your QuickBooks or bookkeeping software, we also recommend that you hire a professional to set it up, that way you could choose to self-manage it and do the updating, categorizations, etc. as you go, to give you a hands-on look your finances on a regular basis. Along with hiring a bookkeeper, we also recommend finding a CPA who is well-versed in real estate tax processes. #2 Open A Business Bank Account & Credit CardWe both prefer Capital One because you can generally get approved even without a business credit history and their app is very user-friendly, allowing you to easily see all of your finances in one place. Ideally, we recommend having one account per business entity. #3 Create Business ProfilesOne of the first things you absolutely need is an email address. We also recommend getting a Google Voice number to keep your personal number, personal. You also might consider setting up a PO Box so you don't have to give out your personal address if you don't have an office space, and bonus points if you set up your business social media accounts! #4 Get Setup On A Property Management SoftwareThis is another one of those things we recommend starting early because it will make your life so much easier in the long run. Using a property management tool will allow you to house all of your tenant communication, collect rent, get leases signed, and so much more, and keep everything organized and in one place. Tenantcloud has an excellent free version we recommend checking out. One of the biggest perks of property management tools is that late fees are automatically applied to rent, so you don't even have to think about applying them when rent is past due. #5 Create Your SOPsStart out by creating a checklist of everything you're doing; what happens and when. Document all of your processes: everything you do in your business day to day, month to month, week to week, year to year.  These checklists become your SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and what allows you to do things like train future employees, hire a property manager, or just keep yourself accountable. It should contain the ins and outs of how you run your business and can be as simple as a Google doc. Having SOPs in place helps to decrease decision-making and make sure that things don't slip through the cracks. As we say: learn from our mistakes. don't do what we did but heed our advice and put these into practice now;  you'll thank us later.That's all we have for you this week. We appreciate each of you tuning in every week and if you haven't we would really appreciate it if you would leave us a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Reading each review brings us so much joy and really helps us get to know our audience a little bit better. We will catch you in the next episode!  Resources:Use TenantCloud for your REI bizLeave us a review on Apple PodcastsLeave us a review on SpotifyJoin our private WIIRE Facebook CommunityConnect with us on Instagram

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Women Invest In Real Estate podcast! We're so happy you're here. This week, we're bringing you another midterm rental episode, and this time we’re talking about alternative ways to rent your midterm rentals. We're super excited about this because both of us are realizing that we need to be more active in targeting a wider group of traveling professionals, other than simply focusing on travel nurses. Let's get started! ContractorsAmelia actually also loves to rent to travel contractors! Already having two travel contractors lined up to rent an MTR from her this summer, this profession is becoming much more common and it's definitely worth having in your arsenal. These tenants will be renting an MTR from her for about 5 months over the summer months, which is when construction really starts to pick up in Iowa. She is also leaving the units vacant for a bit longer than she normally would because she knows she's going to have this longer booking which makes it worth her while to have a longer vacancy. For these tenants, their company is actually paying the bill directly. The individual is on the lease, but the accountants from the companies are the ones paying the rent. Also, if you haven't caught on, Amelia prefers to rent to male tenants since they tend to cause fewer issues and do things like small repairs themselves versus calling her to take care of them.Grace had a lead for a contractor who came in the month of December and wanted a year-long lease for an MTR property. She wanted to start with 4 months and ultimately wanted to be able to extend to a year but she also wanted a unit with a garage and unfortunately Grace didn't have one available at the time. She did not score that tenant but looking back she realizes she should have done everything she could to get that year-long lease. Additionally, Grace's uncle also is in real estate and tends to rent his unfurnished properties to a lot of gutter crews who come in from out of state. For the most part, these crews are there to eat and sleep and typically pay top dollar for the units. They bring their own air mattresses and live the simple life during their stay just because they can't or don't want to pay $100+ dollars a night for a hotel. Corporate ClientsNext to travel nurses, corporate professionals are another big market to tap into. Grace knew that corporate professionals could be a great target market after working in the corporate world for a time. There are lots of employees, clients, interns, etc., who travel for a few months at a time for their company. In many cases, the company/business actually rent the unit and houses whoever they need to during the course of the lease. With corporate clients, you also want to keep in mind that for the most part, they are looking for higher-end properties that have a bit more polish. If you have a property in a great area with a spacious yard, garage, or even a really nice loft or apartment building, this could be a great market to look into targeting. Lastly, corporate leases also won't just fall into your lap you'll need to do some leg work and go on the offense to find these contracts. Insurance CompaniesInsurance companies, in our opinion, are probably the most high effort but likely offers the higher reward on the list. While we may have gotten close, we simply have not rented to this particular market yet. The idea is that you hook yourself up with insurance companies and when they have a family or individual whose home is uninhabitable due to a fire, storm, etc., they put them into your property at their expense. Typically they get a stipend or monthly allowance so this is another market where you can charge quite a bit more for rent. You basically become a short-term, midterm, or possibly even a long-term housing provider, while their home is being renovated.One of the more challenging aspects of targeting insurance companies is that there is less often a need for this type of housing so you really need to have availability when the company calls on you. This is best suited if you have multiple properties in the area, for availability purposes, but not out of the realm of possibilities if you only have one. Lastly, if you’ve been tuning in and haven’t left us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you tune in from, we would love it if you could take 1-2 minutes and leave us a review! Those reviews mean the absolute world to us and helps us so much!Thank you so much for listening and we'll catch you next time!  Resources:Get TenantCloud for your REI businessCheck out Jesse Vasquez on the BiggerPockets podcastJoin our private WIIRE Facebook GroupConnect with us on Instagram

Welcome back to the fourth and final episode in our creative finance mini-series with Jenn and Joe Delle Fave. In this episode, we’re going to talk about using Facebook to source creative finance deals, because Jenn and Joe do a fantastic job of using this free resource to find tons of leads.Check out the first three episodes of this miniseries:Episode 35Episode 36Episode 37As you know, Jenn and Joe have been doing this full-time since March 2020, but they began their real estate journey back in 2017 and that is when they really started diving into using Facebook and social media to spread the word about their business. In 2017 Jenn surprised Joe by telling him that they were about to go live on Facebook to show off the Rehab on a house that they were going to be doing. Joe had no idea what Jenn was even talking about because going live on social media really wasn't a big thing yet. Like a deer in headlights, Jenn started the camera rolling on Joe, and it grew from there. Jenn's thought process behind it was that if people could sell things on social media like vitamins, jewelry, and Beachbody workouts, why couldn't they sell (or rent) real estate? It quickly escalated and Jenn and Joe realized that if they could find buyers for properties they could likely find sellers as well. Having a personal Facebook page is one thing, but starting a business Facebook page is much different and gives you a much more professional presence on social media. Jenn and Joe's early social media presence was minimal and mostly from the buying side. They occasionally would list properties they had for sale and they realized that the more involved they were with the post, the more traction the posts got. They gained the most traction by going live on their page. After using local Facebook groups to gain more traction, they eventually graduated to doing sponsored ads, but they still love live videos. They are also proponents of referral offers; these typically tend to be great leads. Bonus points if you share a photo or video of the referral on your social channels!Maybe you’re ready to grow your Facebook presence but don’t have deals under your belt yet. Use photos you find online of what you're looking for. When you share what you're looking for on social media people can come to you with what they have or what they find when they're out and about. Post a photo of a fixer-upper with the caption “I buy houses just like this, do you know anyone selling a property like this one?” No one knows (or needs to know) that it’s not actually your house from a previous deal, it's simply what you're looking to buy. People want to see you, and buy into you; they want to see what you are up to in your business.While it does take time to set up your Facebook account the right way, it doesn’t cost a thing. It doesn’t need to be glamorous, it just needs to be about you and your business. Posts and content that include a human face perform better than those that don’t. This is an excellent way to build that ‘know, like, and trust’ factor, without actually meeting someone in person.Thanks for listening friends! We’ll catch you in the next episode!  Resources:Book a Consultation Call with Jenn & Joe and mention WIIRE to receive $2,500 off their programs!Visit Jenn’s websiteConnect with Jenn & Joe on InstagramCheck out Jenn & Joe on YouTubeJoin our private Facebook CommunityConnect with us on Instagram

Welcome back to the Women Invest In Real Estate podcast! This is episode three is our four-part mini-series with Jenn and Joe Delle Fave and we are so excited to dive into today's topic: rent to own. Rent to own has a very specific creative financing strategy that Jenn and Joe are well-versed in.But, before we get started if you haven't listened to the first two episodes in this mini-series follow these links to check them out:Episode 35Episode 36Jenn and Joe began implementing the rent-to-own strategy in 2017. They had a handful of single-family homes rentals at the time and the thought of being a landlord became overwhelming and simply put, daunting. They were self-managing all of their rentals when they stumbled upon this new process and they decided to take it head-on. The summer of 2017 was a crazy summer for Jenn and Joe. all of their leases were coming due so they decided to give their tenants first right if they wanted to purchase the homes, which none of them did. They all moved out and Jenn and Joe converted all of the single-family homes into rent-to-own properties. The reason why they love this strategy so much is that they get to help their renters turn themselves into homeowners; what many would call the American dream. While they’re technically losing doors if tenants buy the property but that's okay because they can always get more doors. Their goal is to work with tenant-buyers and collect a large non-refundable option deposit upfront before they move in.The tenants then continue to pay monthly rent and Jenn and Joe make cash flow each month. also with rent to own the tenant-buyer is responsible for items such as maintenance, any repairs to the property, and all utilities. Also, the tenant is more likely to keep up with all of the repairs and home maintenance when they're planning to purchase the home in the long run and they've already paid the non-refundable option deposit. Those tenants are treating the home like their very own, decorating landscaping and making it theirs and that is a really cool thing to be able to do for someone who might not otherwise have the opportunity to purchase a home.Some of their favorite ways to advertise their rent-to-own properties are:Facebook groups and/or marketplace (surprise, our favorite too!)CraigslistZillowRoad signs…Any…way…possible!With all of these methods, you can typically expect a huge influx of interest, but the key to filtering through all of them is to look specifically for the people who have that non-refundable option deposit, in hand.That concludes episode three of our four-part creative financing series with Jenn and Joe, make sure you tune in next week for the fourth and final episode! We’ll catch you next week, friends!  Resources:Book a Consultation Call with Jenn & Joe and mention WIIRE to receive $2,500 off their programs!Listen to WIIRE Episode 35Listen to WIIRE Episode 36Visit Jenn’s websiteConnect with Jenn & Joe on InstagramCheck out Jenn & Joe on YouTubeJoin our private Facebook CommunityConnect with us on Instagram

Welcome back to the Women Invest In Real Estate podcast, friends! This episode is part 2 of our 4-episode mini-series with investors and creative finance specialists, Jenn & Joe Delle Fave. This week, we’re diving into how to find creative finance deals and what to say to a seller to get the conversation started, plus we’re walking through how to put together and negotiate a creative finance deal from start to finish. Let’s get started!If you haven’t already, go back and listen to episode 35, where Jenn & Joe broke down the most common creative financing methods. “If you don’t have leads, you don’t have a business.”How do you find creative financing leads?One of Jenn & Joe’s favorite ways to find leads is actually by connecting with people on social media, specifically Facebook (also one of our favorites as well). Believe it or not, Facebook is one of the largest platforms that people go to list properties they’re trying to sell. But, they’re not looking in real estate groups. They look at local buy, sell, trade pages, and also local garage sale pages to find leads as well.  What do you say to the seller when you want to propose a creative finance deal?One of the best parts of Jenn & Joe’s Creative Finance Playbook (keep reading!) is the script they give you to use in this exact scenario. It’s all about asking the right questions to keep the conversation moving forward. The most important piece of this is to make sure you find out why they are selling so you can pinpoint how you can best help them reach their goals and stay in alignment with your own.  How do you fill out a creative financing purchase agreement?While each deal can differ based on terms, the basics remain the same. Jenn & Joe use a standard purchase sellers agreement for their county that outlines:Who is the buyerWho is the sellerBoth parties informationPayment terms (including: purchase price, monthly payment, term length, money down, or any other comments/notes)Any addendums or other required informationAll of this information will be forwarded to your attorney who will put together the final agreement. Thanks for listening friends, make sure you tune in again next week for part 3! We’ll catch you in the next episode!  Resources:Listen to Episode 35, part 1 of the 4-episode mini-seriesBook a Consultation Call with Jenn & Joe and mention WIIRE to receive $2,500 off their programs!Visit Jenn’s websiteConnect with Jenn & Joe on InstagramCheck out Jenn & Joe on YouTubeJoin our private Facebook CommunityConnect with us on Instagram

Hi everyone, welcome back to the WIIRE podcast! This week we are excited to welcome our dear friends, and Grace’s mentors, Jenn & Joe Delle Fave. You’ll remember Jenn, who joined us recently in episode 33, and this week her husband Joe is joining us for a jam-packed episode about creative financing. This episode is going to be full of awesome information, plus they’re sharing a special offer for their Creative Finance Playbook just for our listeners. We’re so excited, so let’s dive in!Joe has been buying houses as a REI for just over 20 years now. He and Jenn met about 15 years ago, they got married, and started a family together, all with regular 9-5 jobs. Joe was a finance manager at a car dealership and Jenn was a teacher. They began doing real estate on the side together and had a vision of doing it full-time and eventually turned that dream into reality in March of 2020.Hear more about their story in episode 33 here. Before they even knew what BRRR meant, they were buying houses, fixing them up, then refinancing and pulling cash out of their deals. While they weren’t the first to do it, they knew their process was highly unique and they could do something different. From there, they learned how to creatively finance buying and selling properties to place themselves in this niche market. They weren’t just buying houses, they had a strategy behind their buys and a strategy behind selling properties as well.“Creative Financing, in its simplest form is the ability to buy real estate without having to go through the traditional process.”In this episode, we're breaking down these 4 creative financing strategies:Seller FinancingSub ToWrap MortgageLease SandwichMake sure you tune in to episodes 36, 37, and 38 to hear more about creative financing (and so much more!) from Jenn and Joe Delle Fave!Thank you so much for joining us this week, we’ll catch you in the next episode!  Resources:Book a Consultation Call with Jenn & Joe and mention WIIRE to receive $2,500 off their programs!Visit Jenn’s websiteConnect with Jenn & Joe on InstagramCheck out Jenn & Joe on YouTubeJoin our private Facebook CommunityConnect with us on Instagram