When is the best time to buy a house? As a real estate investor for over 20 years, I have bought houses through many cycles. I bought houses when interest rates were in the 7s in the early 2000s. I bought a house with a 2.3% interest rate. I bought houses before the 2008 housing…
This was originally written in Sept 2021, it has since been updated as we’ve learned and experienced more. The main thing we’ve learned as our kids have aged? The strategies in this post work. How do you stop a temper tantrum? This is so tough. We have 3 kids 4 and under 3 kids 6…
I’m a seasoned real estate veteran with over 20 years of experience and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Throughout my career, I’ve always found assumable mortgages intriguing, yet there was seldom a compelling reason to seek them out. Now, the tide has turned. After enjoying historically low rates for several years, we’re witnessing a sharp…
Real estate is a wonderful investment for many reasons. One of the best reasons is leverage and the ability to buy with no money down. You can buy as asset with other people’s money and have other people’s money pay for the loan. When I was first learning in the late 1990s I stumbled across…
Buying a house can be intimidating, especially if you need more money to make a down payment. But it doesn’t need to be that way. In my several decades as a landlord and real estate investor, I have purchased more than a dozen homes, with a total of $800 out of pocket. I bought my…
We love to read to our kids and teach them to read. (Admittedly, my wife does a much better job of it than I do, she’s great actually). There are several go-to books that I love to read them. Dr. Seuss’ “Oh The Places You’ll Go” is actually the first book I read to my…
So many people assume they need a real estate agent. But have you ever thought, “Do I need a real estate agent to buy a house?” The short answer to that question is “no.” While real estate agents can undoubtedly provide value and expertise, motivated buyers can handle this process themselves. The first few houses…
Should you hire a rental property management company to manage your rental house? No, in most cases you did not need to. When I started buying houses in my early 20s, I was adamant that my real estate business did not interfere with my day job or my social life. It sounds like a property…
As parents, we’ve all encountered the seemingly inexhaustible supply of toys, gadgets, and general kid stuff that seems to multiply in our homes. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably looked around your house and wondered how you ended up with so much…stuff. But here’s the thing: this clutter, while visually overwhelming, presents an unexpected…
You’re a new landlord, or thinking about becoming one. How do you maintain a rental property? Look, I am not handy. Even if I was handy, fixing things was not part of my business model. I was comfortable paying someone to do it right so I could worry about other things. But there were times…
At the ripe age of 42, I left my professional career and stepped into a life of Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE). Interestingly, when I started crafting my own financial independence plan as a teenager in the mid-1990s, the term “FIRE” wasn’t even on the radar. However, the dream of buying one’s way out of…
Welcome to Dad is Fire. Usually, the about me section of a blog is to tell you who I am and to talk about myself. This blog isn’t so much about who I am, as it is what I am. So what am I? I am someone who was raised by a dad who treated…
You’ve decided you want to be a landlord. Great! Now, how do you decide what rent to charge? Determine market value The easiest way to determine what rent to charge is to observe the market. Look at sites like zillow. Also, compare your house to other comparable houses on sites like Facebook, or calling landlords…
Please teach your kid personal finance. The school system barely does. I have not dissected anything since high school. I have not used calculus. Trigonometry and Geometry have added no value to anything in my life. But I have borrowed money, saved money, made money, spent money, and invested money. We all do these things…
There is a big fear that keeps people from being landlords. People are afraid that a tenant will destroy rental property. Yes. It happens. Every landlord has horror stories. The stories aren’t myths. Landlords exchange horror stories. You think you’ve done a great job screening tenants. But don’t worry about whether or not tenants will…
It’s hard to know how much house you can afford. Actually it’s easy to know how much house you can afford. It’s hard to know how much house you should afford. The McDonald’s Principal When I bought my first house, I developed The McDonald’s Principal. It was simple, clever, and powerful. It was my way…