As the old saying goes, your reputation precedes you. But how does word get around? Let's face it, coming from you, all talk of your positive attributes will ring a bit hollow. People need proof. And like or lump it, motivated sellers deciding whether to reach out to you or a half dozen other cash buyers they can find online, trust reviews on third party sites like Google, Yelp and the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Not only can reviews on these sites help motivated sellers decide to trust you, they can help these sellers find you online in the first place. Assuming you have a reasonably good website, of course. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and AI mentions result in some of the best inbound leads you'll ever get. At least that's my experience. And posting reviews from happy sellers creates a wonderful flywheel effect. The more you post, the more pre-sold leads you'll get. The more pre-sold leads you get, the more happy sellers you'll have posting 5-star reviews for you. What process(es) do you have in place to gather reviews, even if just a collection of screenshots at this point?

Multifamily properties as an asset class could produce some interesting opportunities over the next few years. However, I wouldn't approach investing in this type of property assuming that “people always need a place to live”. It just ain't that simple. That said, here are three key things I’d watch for: 1. Follow the debt not the headlines. A slew of properties got bought about five years ago, when financing was cheap. As their loans mature, the owners of those properties will be forced to refinance at much higher rates, or come to the closing table with cash to get a new loan. So yes, there will be distressed owners. Yet that doesn’t automatically generate a good deal. The numbers still need to work. And with tools like Crexi, Loopnet and others, you can filter for the type of loan rates and maturity dates that could precipitate a good deal. 2. Don't just assume affordable housing means a safer investment. Today there's a bona fide shortage of reasonably priced workforce multifamily housing. Yet much of the new supply has been at the luxury end. So you would think that automatically creates more demand for class C properties. However these properties can also be strapped financially with collection, problems, deferred maintenance, and major capital expenses. As an investor, you may be better off with a well-located class B property offering a better balance sheet and cash flow. But only if the buy price and terms support it. 3. Go narrow, get local. “Multi-family” is too broad of a category to master all at once. These assets can vary dramatically by city, neighborhood, property class and tenant profile. Savvy investors pick a lane and learn it thoroughly enough that they can recognize a good deal when they see it, without relying on a broker’s projections. Bottom line? Know your customer. Winning the multifamily game isn't about owning the fanciest or cheapest asset. It's won by owning the right housing with the right rental pricing, for a clearly definable and durable group of renters.

𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗻. For instance, a vacant land deal I closed at the end of last week: An 85-year-old landowner wanted to trim his holdings but had tried several times—and failed—to sell this particular parcel. I worked with him on the timing, eventually found the right buyer and secured a non-refundable deposit with roughly a $3,000 spread in the deal. Not exactly private-jet money. 😄 But it created: ✅ A relieved seller ✅ A happy new landowner ✅ Two five-star reviews ✅ A nice little cash infusion That’s a win in my book. Small, relatively quick, low-risk deals like this are exactly what my soon-to-be-published book, 𝘘𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘍𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘊𝘈𝘚𝘏, is all about. As a member of this community, don't miss out on your free "early bird" access: https://www.skool.com/realfreeco-3644/classroom/3aefd341?md=e7016ced8f4a40d6b392a41024c01eb4

Most investors searching for foreclosure deals are already late. They wait until a notice of default, trustee sale or other foreclosure filing becomes public. By then, the homeowner may be hearing from dozens, if not hundreds, of investors, agents and foreclosure “specialists.” The better window is often before public notice. At that earliest stage, perhaps only 5% of homeowners will be open to selling. But those who are may be far more likely to work with you because you’re not competing with the horde of investors calling, texting, emailing and sending letters and postcards to these homeowners . That’s how I found one of my best wholesale deals: a $91,000 assignment completed in three weeks way back when in 2008. Just please be aware, that was a rare deal. Definitely not typical or likely to be repeated. But the principle behind it still holds: The earlier you reach out to a motivated seller late on their mortgage payments and probably headed to foreclosure, the less competition you’re likely to face. This may be particularly timely now. According to ATTOM, 227,548 U.S. properties had foreclosure filings during the first half of 2026, up 21% from the same period last year. For a beginning investor with limited time and marketing capital, pursuing the smaller, harder-to-find pool of homeowners in the earliest stage may produce a much better return than chasing the same public lists as everyone else. Just take note: these are people under real financial pressure. Approach them respectfully, understand their situation and offer a purchase only when selling genuinely helps. Sometimes the best advice you can give is not to sell. If there’s enough interest, I’ll follow up with a post on how to identify these early-stage opportunities. And how to approach this group of homeowners without coming across like a vulture. Post YES in the comments if you feel that would be helpful.

I recently put a land parcel under contract for $11,000. Then we discovered that the neighboring property owner, Buck, had apparently been using a sizable chunk of its road frontage as his driveway for more than 20 years. There was no recorded easement. Buck thought the driveway was on his property. And at first, it appeared the encroachment might consume roughly 40 feet of the parcel’s 122 feet of frontage. That’s the kind of complication that can turn a promising deal into a lawsuit—or a worthless contract—in a hurry. So I brought in a “silent” negotiating partner: AI. Not to negotiate the deal for me. Not to tell me what to do. And certainly not to replace more than 40 years of real-world experience and judgment. I used it to help me strategize a win. We examined the problem from every angle: - What rights might Buck believe he had? - What facts were we assuming instead of confirming? - What risks could I be overlooking? - What did each person actually want? - How could we protect the deal without needlessly putting Buck on the defensive? - What win-win solutions might preserve the property’s value? - How should I word emails and conversations so they were firm, clear and tactful? AI helped me slow down, challenge my assumptions and see more of the chessboard before making the next move. But AI didn’t make the phone calls. It didn’t walk the property. It didn’t build trust. People still had to do that. The property owner, Vince, and Buck eventually met at the property and discovered that the actual encroachment was considerably smaller than we’d initially believed. Even better, they reached a meeting of the minds. Vince will put in a new driveway for Buck. Buck has verbally agreed to pay half the cost, and Vince and I will share the other half. Assuming everything continues moving forward, the local agent I'm working with believes the parcel should sell fairly quickly for somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000. He already has a couple of pocket buyers in mind.