One of the conversations I’m consistently having week over week with first time investors is the conversation of whether to passively invest, or actively invest.

What’s the difference?

Well, as a passive investor, you’re typically investing anywhere between $25,000 - $50,000 (or MORE!) in someone else’s deal - typically as a limited partner.

While, as an active investor, you’re purchasing the property yourself - which means coming up with the capital, managing the asset, and taking on all the risk.

Let's dive into some of the pros and cons of each, so that YOU can better determine which makes the most sense for yourself.

First, passive investing!

The biggest benefit in passive investing is that it’s exactly that, it’s PASSIVE!…

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An eight-unit apartment on the corner of 27th and Garfield—very close to our four-unit and six-unit apartments.

The property may not be much to look at right now—our debt partner even said the property looked like a shoe box—but in just a few months, this property is going to be TOTALLY transformed!

Emily and I take great pride and care in the finish level for our renovated apartments, and the building’s exterior and common spaces are no exception. Offering a well-marketed, managed and maintained building are a few of our value propositions to prospective residents. Stay tuned over the coming months to see this building take on a whole new identity!

This purchase will bring our unit count to 20 units in less than two years since getting started.…

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I was having a conversation with another realtor the other day, and they said something that truly haunted me.

It made my skin crawl…

I started to feel a bead of cold sweat running down my temple…

And I had the distinct urge to throw my hands up to the sky and curse the gods!

What was the topic of conversation, you ask?

TAXES!

This 1099 employee of a real estate brokerage was going to have to pay $75,000 in taxes from commission garnered in 2021! That is INSANE!

As a licensed realtor, and a 1099 employee of our brokerages, we’re required to personally save a chunk of each commission check and then when tax season comes around the corner, depending on which tax bracket we fall into, we’ll have to pay a portion of these checks to…

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One of the major components of the recent mayoral elections in the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis was a vote for or against rent control. In this article, I’m going to break down what you need to know about rent control broken down by each city, how it could affect the rental real estate market, and opportunities in the investment space given the vote’s outcome.

First, it’s extremely important to note that TWO votes occurred - one for the city of St. Paul and one for the city of Minneapolis. The outcomes of each are similar - in that the rent control vote “passed” - but the outcomes that we’ll see from this vote are very different. Let’s break this out by city, and then discuss the outcome of the vote, the potential short term effects, and…

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The last few months of selling multi-family apartments throughout the Twin Cities has been crazy! In just the past two months, I’ve sold close to $10M in real estate, which consists exclusively of multi-family apartments located in South Minneapolis. But right now, I’m running into a challenge I haven’t experienced before: finding well-qualified buyers for these multi-family apartments.

I’m of the belief that those who succeed in investing often have a contrarian viewpoint to the rest of the general public. When people are buying, YOU are selling. When people are selling, YOU are buying. And right now, in the Twin Cities market, people are selling. Does that mean that you should be buying? Well, that depends. Below I’m going to highlight three…

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So, what the heck is house hacking? House hacking is a real estate investment strategy in which you own a multi-unit property (such as a duplex, triplex or fourplex) and live in one of the units as your primary residence. The occupants of the other units pay your mortgage and living expenses through the rent they pay you. You can also house hack a single-family home by renting out a bedroom, basement or outbuilding. The strategy is simple, and the rewards can be great. For the smart strategist, house hacking can be a gateway to a long and successful future in real estate investing.

Here are some of the benefits of house hacking:


Financial Stability

The most obvious benefit of house hacking is the financial reward of living rent- or…

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I’m a big believer that where there’s a will, there’s a way! 

Emily and I put it out to the universe at the beginning of 2021 to purchase TWENTY-FIVE apartment units by the end of the year. Crazy goal…? Oh hell, yes!

When we put this goal out there we most certainly did not have the money to acquire $4 million dollars worth of real estate (roughly the value of 25 units here in Minneapolis) and we most certainly did not have a plan to get there.

Regardless, we put it out to the universe! And we wholeheartedly believed, “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

This brings us to April of 2021 - four months into our quest of reaching 25 units. 

We’re proud and excited to announce that with the acquisition of 3029 Garfield we’ve brought…

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I’ve come to believe that if you want to progress towards your goals and dreams it takes letting go of first establishing the “perfect plan.” It takes dedication, perseverance and an unwavering commitment towards the journey - but it doesn’t take a 100% ironed out, bullet proof plan. The right plan will show itself through consistent, daily action.


Within the first few months of dating Emily back in 2019 I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with her. We immediately began having conversations about what we wanted our life to look like, together. We chatted about family, business, real estate, financial freedom, and everything in between. Very quickly we realized we wanted to create a life of financial freedom through real estate.…

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I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” First off, that’s the most messed up saying ever! Who the heck is out there skinning cats?!?! That’s just wrong!


But when it comes to real estate financing, it’s true - there really is more than one way to skin a cat.


In this article, I’m going to outline a few of the different ways to finance a real estate investment. If you’re looking to make your first purchase, this article will be even MORE impactful. Because,  low key, you DON’T need a crazy amount of money to purchase your first investment property. Emily and I bought our first investment property - a value add four-plex in South Minneapolis - with less than $10,000 in the bank! And we did a $150,000…

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I was listening to a Bigger Pockets podcast over the weekend and Brandon Turner, the host, presented a unique question to the guest. He asked, “If you could give five pieces of advice to your twenty year old self what would they be…?” This really got me thinking.


I thought to myself, “What pieces of advice would I give MY former self as it relates to real estate investing?” This may seem funny given I’m only twenty-eight years old but within the next twelve months Emily and I will reach financial freedom through our real estate investments. As in, our positive cash flow from our rental properties will exceed our monthly expenses - if we chose to retire, we’d have the monthly income to do so.


So again, I thought to myself, “If I was JUST…

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