Category Real Estate

Learn the 6 top reasons real estate builds wealth. Pick your top 3 to stay focused.

It doesn’t take a brain surgeon or nuclear scientist to know that real estate has made more millionaires than any other endeavor. In fact, among the real estate millionaires in the world, there are probably a few surgeons and scientists in the mix. If that’s true – and I’m betting it is – real estate wealth is better than brain surgeon wealth.

If you’re part of the “wealth is wealth” crowd, let me refocus you. Making $1 million digging ditches is nowhere near as fun as making $1 million in real estate – if done the right way. And what’s that right way? Well, it ain’t landlording I’l tell you that.

But before we get into why landlording isn’t a walk in the park, let’s talk about the primary advantages of real estate investing. After that, I’m going to ask you to rate your top three advantages or “whys.”

1. Leverage: Real estate allows you to leverage other people’s resources (aka money) to build your own wealth. You can put a small amount down and finance the rest, controlling a larger asset for a smaller investment.

2. Passive income: A stream of passive income can provide you with financial security and, if that isn’t enough, it’s exempt from self-employment tax.

3. Tax benefits: What can you deduct from your taxes based on your real estate investing activities? Take a look at this laundry list: mortgage interest, property insurance, management fees, maintenance and repairs, property taxes and other qualified business expenses.

4. Depreciation: Depreciation, the gradual loss of a property’s value over time due to wear and tear, reduces tax liability and taxable income. However, income from rental properties isn’t classified as earned income. (See passive income above.)

5. Appreciation: Given enough time, real estate tends to appreciate in value. Or, if you are a member of my Wealth Mastermind Network™ (WMN) and know the Potentializer principles, you may not need all that much time! Appreciation can be helped along by buying in the “right” areas or making improvements to increase the property’s value. Plus, you’ll also build equity that will increase in value over time.

6. Cash flow: When you subtract your outgo from your income, cash flow is the remainder you have in hand each month. That’s after paying your expenses, including your mortgage, property taxes, insurance and more. That positive cash flow can be used to reinvest in other properties or other areas.

So, what’s your why?

From leverage to cash flow, the advantages of real estate investing are hard to ignore. Take a moment to reflect on which three benefits matter most to you—and let that guide your next move. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to grow, having a clear “why” keeps you focused, motivated, and on the right path to building real wealth. More insights coming soon—stay tuned!

Peter Arianas

Small Apartments Lead to Politics?

One of my favorite stories to tell is that of my client and friend, Peter Arianas.   It’s a great story of adversity and triumph in entrepreneurship, and life, with Peter as the victor.   Peter started out in small apartments with no experience, no money, and NO ONE in his corner at home (other than his mother).   Yet he had a vision for more in his life for he and his young family.

I first met Peter when he flew to Houston from New York just to see me speak at my FREE two-hour event.  In fact, Peter had to borrow the $500 from his mother for air tickets.    That’s when I first learned of the depth of Peter’s persistence.

Peter was committed to getting started.  He rallied the funds together to join my small apartments training, which led to his first real estate transaction of any kind:  he wholesaled a 44-unit building in Ohio and made $66,000!  Here’s a picture of me and Peter celebrating his success a few years ago. 

The story is extra special because of the extraordinary and unusual challenges Peter had to face to get this usually straightforward transaction done.   For example, at one point when the deal was in jeopardy heading into closing, Peter – a simple window installer – got the Bank President on the phone to tell him his bank was messing up their client’s own deal.

And the President stepped in to make it happen!  That’s Peter.  Never, never, ever give up.  Not surprising from a man of Greek heritage who is a descended from one of the 7000 Greek soldiers in the Battle of Thermopylae who held off 150,000 (probably more) invading Persians for seven days.

Now, interestingly, Peter is running for the US Congress for my home state of Florida.  Lord knows we need the help in Washington.  Persistence and a never-say-die attitude, combined with conservative common sense… that sounds like a powerful combination for Washington (and entrepreneurship) to me.  Go get’em Peter!

To learn more about Peter, visit https://arianastocongress.com/

To learn more about how to take control of your money like Peter did, visit www.LanceEdwards.com

Are you prepared?

Inflation Surging.  Are you prepared?

Inflation surged again in December.  Are you prepared?  Or is your cash parked under the proverbial mattress (aka non-producing CD’s or self-directed IRA’s)?    If so, just realize that that safe-haven means your cash is worth less now than it was 30 days ago, and even less than 60 days ago.  So what’s the answer?

Income-producing real estate.   And my favorite of course, for getting started, is small apartments.   Rents and property values increase with inflation keeping your cash investment in apartments growing.   And thanks to a phenomenon called forced appreciation, your cash seed planted in small apartments grows faster than inflation, much faster.

Then in a couple to three years, you can harvest your expanded cash (tax free) via refinancing or 1031 Exchange and scale up to even larger apartments.  Even better, combine your cash with other people’s cash stuck under other mattresses and expand your limited cash even faster, and help others out too.  That’s your answer to inflation.   So start planting.

Wanna learn how to take control of your money in inflation?  Visit www.LanceEdwards.com.

Read about inflation in the news. https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/december-inflation-consumer-price-index.amp

We get this question a lot.

Is Lance Edwards a scam?

In some ways, it’s a compliment, right? If something seems too good to be true, it usually is. That said, we think this question reveals more about the rest of the real estate business than it does about us.

In fact, you’ve been misled by people in the real estate business your whole life. You don’t have to be wealthy to invest in real estate, in fact, in most cases, you can start today. It’s about shifting your mindset. It can be hard to believe, but it’s true — often you don’t even have to make a down payment on your first apartment.

Why am I so sure? Because that’s exactly what I did. I purchased my first apartment in March of 2003 with exactly NO money down. Over the next two years, I purchased 50 units while doing this on a part-time basis (and still working my corporate job). Two years later, I was able to retire from my corporate career and focus full-time on my real estate business. Did I make mistakes? Absolutely. That’s why I created the Small Apartment School, so the next person starting out could do what I did, but without the steep learning curve.

Check out these testimonials and stories from other people who have attended Small Apartment School

Simply put, there’s no better resource for someone just starting out in the real estate business. Sign up today and begin your new path to a new life in real estate. It’s that simple.

I understand how hard it is to try something new. Its even harder when your time or your money is at stake.

How can you be sure that things will work out? Let’s alleviate some of those fears by talking about two problem areas that most real estate beginners tend to worry about: property and tenants.

Fear #1: You’ll buy a money-pit

This is a big one for us. People usually think that they have to start with a small, single-family home for their first rental. That can be a huge expense, especially if the home needs work right off the bat (it will). When you have one unit, and it’s under construction you can’t rent it out, and have zero income from the property.

Fear #2: Dealing with bad tenants.

Good tenants are ones that pay on time. But sometimes life happens and you have renters that don’t (or can’t) pay their rent on time. This is a big problem if you’re relying on one tenant to cover the whole mortgage.

What we love about starting with small apartments is that you mitigate your risk in both of these areas. If one or two units need work, you can rent out the others and generate income right away. If you have a couple of bad tenants, you still have other good tenants who pay on time. So instead of risking 100% of your possible revenue when things don’t go exactly as planned, you’re risking a fraction of that.

Small apartments are a great place to start for people new to real estate, but we don’t want you to go in unprepared, that’s why we created Small Apartment School to give you the knowledge and tools you need to be successful.

I’ve taught hundreds of people how to get started in small apartments, but there is one thing that still drives me nuts every time I see it: people learn all of the right things, but they never put it into practice.

There’s one reason why: mindset.

The hard part isn’t being approved for a loan, or knowing how to manage an apartment building. We can teach you how to get funding and how to hire a good property manager, but it’s your job to face your fears. Here are the biggest deterrents to success:

• Fear of embarrassment
• Fear of failure
• Fear of success
• Fear of losing money
• Fear of making a mistake

The small apartment system I’ve developed works. We have lots of testimonials on our website of people who have gone through the program and made hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It’s important to recognize the fears inside of you. The good news is that when you have a solid plan to follow, and you’ve seen other people succeed by following that plan, it’s easier to overcome those fears.