BiggerPockets Daily

You never know when you might change your business for good.One day at breakfast, I met with a builder with almost $100MM on the street. He had incredible development ideas, with joint venture potentials that promised amazing opportunities for my business. Then, I hopped on a phone call with my partner on developing our client strategies for investors in the United States and internationally.And just before noon, I ate lunch with an entrepreneur who created, built, grew, and sold his business it to a multi-national company in the hundreds of millions. He is now finding ways to connect people with ideas all over to help change the world.Talk about the meeting of the minds. There were enough ideas talked about just that day to create a gazillion new businesses, rabbit holes, and crazy plans. I was able to connect, learn, and find ways that we could both help each other and take action at the same time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Setting great goals is hard. Achieving them is even harder. How many times have you made a New Year’s resolution (aka goal) and abandoned it by February?Maybe you intended to do one of the following: Lose 30 pounds Start eating healthy Spend more time with family Buy your first investment property But all too often I see newbie—heck, even seasoned!—investors set less-than-stellar real estate investing goals. They might be something like: My goal is to buy 10 homes this year (meh…) My goal is to buy 10 $100-$150K homes this year (better!) My goal is to buy 10 $100-$150K homes in Kansas City / Indianapolis / Birmingham that each yield $200/monthly in cash flow after all expenses (good… but still lacking) I’ll tell you a secret. If you’re failing to achieve your goals, it’s probably because you didn’t set the goal correctly in the first place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When did we stop growing like we used to when we were kids? Remember being young and absorbing knowledge like a sponge? Growing both mentally and physically like anything is possible—believing the future was limitless.This growth doesn’t have to stop. Our future can still be limitless.The truth is: we all limit ourselves by our own imagination to some extent. Luckily, there’s a way to break this bad habit!By setting goals and focusing on them day after day, you’d be surprised how much you can progress year after year.Here is how to set proper goals in order to achieve your dreams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Of all the rental properties I’ve ever owned, there is one utility bill I’ve always gotten stuck paying out-of-pocket.The water bill.There are a few reasons why the water bill always ends up being my problem. In my area, unpaid water bills go as liens on a property (instead of collections to tenants), so if my tenants ever stop paying—it hurts me, not them. Water bills in my city are read quarterly (not monthly like gas and electric), which makes it very difficult to track which tenants should be paying which portions of the bill when one moves out and another one moves in. Most cities don’t have the infrastructure to deal with “landlord situations” very well. Frequent tenant transfers, notifying landlords if water is shut off, transferring to landlords when a tenant move out—it’s a hassle to make tenants pay this bill directly. A lot of multifamily landlords have to deal with this issue. Water is one of those ever-present utilities that is always needed, no matter who your tenants are, what time of year it is, or what region of the country you’re in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October is the perfect time for snack-size candy, questionable costumes, and entertaining your own worst fears. And for those of you (my mother) who love a good horror story, Airbnb news may definitely feed those fears (more on that later).But for those of you curious about Airbnb-ing—but aren’t sure—who would like to hear about all the stuff that doesn’t make the news (but could potentially be a nightmare), we’ve listed our personal worst Airbnb stories below. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It all started when a nice gentleman called my office and asked me if the long-term rental advertised on Craigslist was legitimate or not. I explained to the gentleman I had no idea what he was talking about and that my company did not advertise anything on Craigslist. He went on to tell me what the ad said and even showed me where I could view it for myself.When I went on Craigslist, I was shocked to find that a rental house my wife and I owned was being advertised on Craigslist. A scam artist was offering the house for $1,000 a month (we rent the house out for $2,800 a month). He wrote in the article that he received a really nice promotion at work, and he was not going to be back in Orlando for a couple years. He wanted his good fortune of landing such a good promotion to help another family out… what a joke. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am a member of the National Association of Realtors. My local association offers classes to help keep us up to date on all the latest real estate happenings. When a class about real estate scams was listed, I jumped at the chance to sign up.This particular class was sponsored and taught by Heritage Title Company, so the stories are coming from the title company point of view. They also illustrate why title insurance is so important and how an owner’s policy in addition to a lender’s policy can help protect you and your investment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a dozen years in the real estate investing business, one thing I have learned is that mistakes will be made. I made some pretty good ones when I first started out, and I am still making and learning from them today. Mistakes are a part of life and are something we all have to learn to deal with. Looking back over the years, I see that many of these mistakes were actually good things, as they taught valuable lessons and offered even more valuable experience.Newbies to this business are unfortunately more prone to making mistakes simply because of their lack of experience. These mistakes can cost them a lot of money and put a bad taste in their mouths for real estate investing. I have seen more than one person make a serious mistake that they really are never able (or want) to recover from. Hopefully this post can save some of the newbies out there from making a serious mistake that kills their dreams of being a successful real estate investor. There are many types of mistakes that can be made, but in thinking about it, they seem to fall into six general categories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Behind housing and transportation, food is an American’s third largest expense at 12 percent of overall spending. In other words, a person who makes about $50,000 per year will spend approximately $6,000 on food.This number will vary based on the amount of people you are supporting. But for the average, single American, let’s assume $6,000 per year, or $500 per month.This article is going to show you a way to slash that in half. Yes, $3,000 per year, $250 per month, $8 per day, or $2.67 per meal—all while eating healthy!Although this article has been crafted with the 20-something-year-old American in mind, I believe that anyone in pursuit of financial independence, regardless of their familial status, can benefit from a few of the tips in this post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are literally thousands of real estate books on the market today, and trying to separate the best from those that can easily be passed on can be tough. To help, BiggerPockets has compiled a list of our top books in the real estate genre, based on popularity from our members throughout the BiggerPockets Forums, Blog, the BiggerPockets Facebook page, and more.Many of these books have changed lives (and many have even changed mine)—and we hope they will do the same for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices