Turning To Clicks During The Pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as millions were confined to their homes, Jennings began posting on TikTok.
The video sharing app, featuring short SNL”-style sketches and Generation Zs dance trends, rose to mass prominence during the pandemics peak.
According to a June 2021 data report from market research company eMarketer, TikTok users between 35 and 54 years old jumped to 36% in 2021 up 10 percentage points from 2020, when the pandemic began.
At first, Jennings was skeptical of the video platform, which was dominated by a mainly younger audience before the pandemic. She started by posting silly day-in-the-life stories on the app, with no plan to target clients.
In her first TikTok post, Jennings placed pillows on her bed before fluffing and folding her comforter in a cheeky influencer-style mockumentary guide to making one’s bed. The caption: “making my bed in 15282927261 steps!”
Hundreds of likes followed, and as attention grew, the 23-year-old saw business opportunities in Iowa-based content about hometown pride and metro-area home sales.
I was still heavily relying on team leads or past client referrals, but once I started doing TikTok, I think I just have a knack for when I make content, and it kind of came easy for me, Jennings said about becoming an influencer during the pandemic. Im not sure at what point I realized that you can generate business through this platform.
The Power Of Leverage
With the exception of REITs, investing in real estate gives an investor one tool that is not available to stock market investors: leverage. Leverage means to use debt to finance a larger purchase than you have the available cash for. If you want to buy a stock, you have to pay the full value of the stock at the time you place the buy orderunless you are buying on . And even then, the percentage you can borrow is still much less than with real estate, thanks to that magical financing method, the mortgage.
Most conventional mortgages require a 20% down payment. However, depending on where you live, you might find a mortgage that requires as little as 5%. This means that you can control the whole property and the equity it holds by only paying a fraction of the total value. Of course, the size of your mortgage affects the amount of ownership you actually have in the property, but you control it the minute the papers are signed.
This is what emboldens real estate flippers and landlords alike. They can take out a second mortgage on their homes and put down payments on two or three other properties. Whether they rent these out so that tenants pay the mortgage, or they wait for an opportunity to sell for a profit, they control these assets, despite having only paid for a small part of the total value.
How Does Real Estate Investing Make Money
Investing in real estate is a tried and true method of making money, and you can make that money in various ways. The two main methods are value appreciation and rental income:
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Value Appreciation: Throughout history, property values have increased over time. We call this increase in value appreciation. Any expert would agree that location is the number one thing to base your investment upon. Property values go up along with the perceived desirability of a neighborhood. Have you ever heard the phrase, buy the worst-looking house in the best neighborhood? There is some truth to this. Its better to buy a house you can fix up in a great neighborhood than an okay house in a bad neighborhood. You can also look into investing in an up-and-coming area.
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Rental Income: Some real estate investors will rely solely on value appreciation. For example, perhaps they live in the property or invested in a vacation home. However, many real estate investors like to grow their wealth by generating rental income.
In an ideal situation, your renters would be paying for your mortgage and some profit to boot. However, be sure to factor repairs and maintenance into your budget.
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Sharing Love And Life With The World
Jennings’ blend of a real estate agents personal and professional life like sharing an inside look at ones marriage proposal on TikTok or a behind-the-scenes tour of an open house gives a next-gen lens to real estates future.
Her use of TikTok has the same effect as getting to know clients through introductory pamphlets, word-of-mouth recommendations or a website biography.
On her TikTok series Instagram-able Places in Iowa, the unofficial metro area tour guide gives followers a behind-the-scenes pass inside local businesses, such as Des Moines-based vineyard Jasper Winery and bouquet flower picking at The Vinery in Nevada.
Episode 1 of the digital series featured Boone-based Rail Explorers, the buzzy social media-friendly tourist attraction featuring railbikes on train tracks in the former mining town.
The post received more than 70,000 likes, 23,000 shares, 12,500 saves, and 1.4 million views while Jennings responded with safety recommendations, There are seatbelts, paired with a happy-faced emoji.
In one fall-themed post that generated 2,755 likes and nearly 21,000 views, Jennings toured picturesque Storybook Orchard in her hometown of Story City.
Its so charming this time of year with the fall colors, Jennings said while picking up a pumpkin in the TikTok video. But the thing I love the most about this family-owned orchard is that its quaint, quiet, and no admission fee.
How Upnest Can Help You
If you are looking for help on your real estate journey, UpNest, which is owned by parent company Realtor.com, is a no-cost service for home sellers and buyers to find the best real estate agents locally. The UpNest platform allows you to compare multiple agents in your area so you can compare reviews, commission rates, previous sales, and more.
Our network agents have been carefully vetted and often offer competitive, lower than average commission rates to UpNest customers. There is no obligation to sign up with one of our network Realtors, but when you can potentially save thousands on commission why wouldnt you? If youre ready to get started, just enter your zipcode below!
What are the 4 types of real estate?
There are five main categories of real estate: residential, commercial, industrial, raw land, and special use. You can learn about them all through reading books.
Is realtor a hard job?
Earning a living selling real estate is hard work. You have to be organized in order to keep track of legal documents, meetings, and all the tasks that go into multiple listings. You may go without a paycheck for periods of time because the work is often commission-based. If you dont sell, you dont earn anything.
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Advice For Old Dawgs Looking To Real Estate Investing For Help In Their Retirement Years
- Buy an investment property
- Dont buy a house or condominium!
- Buy a 2-4 unit property
- If you have a house, move out of it and rent it out
- Live in one of the units of your investment property
- Get FHA loan only 3% down and great rates
- Manage it while you live in it. Enjoy free rent as tenants pay youre your mortgage
- After a few years, sell your old house and take that money, through a 1031 exchange , and buy another investment property and generate MORE cash flow
- That may be enough to live a comfortable life in itself
Whats Ahead For Marty
- Hes been semi-retired for a while
- Comes in the office when he can
- Because of his finances, he can come and go as he pleases from the office
- He travels a lot with his wife
- Spends time with his kids and grandkids
- He and his wife do a lot of volunteer work
- His wife is a retired nurse and she and Marty volunteer lots for breast cancer research
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Early Goals In The World Cup Final Could Be More Of A Curse Than A Blessing
Although you can limit your risk with lease options, they can be tricky to close when you sell. After all, how do you sell a home you dont yet own? In order to sell the house, you may need to close on your option and take ownership, meaning you will need to come up with the money to get the deal done. There are ways to accomplish this without a loan, but in most cases, you will get a loan to purchase the home. If your buyer does not close with you, you could be stuck with the loan at a high interest rate.
Why Invest In Real Estate
Real estate can enhance the risk-and-return profile of an investors portfolio, offering competitive risk-adjusted returns. In general, the real estate market is one of low volatility, especially compared to equities and bonds.
Real estate is also attractive when compared with more traditional sources of income return. This asset class typically trades at a yield premium to U.S. Treasuries and is especially attractive in an environment where Treasury rates are low.
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Three Strategies For Real Estate Investors To Take Advantage Of Rising Rates
Kevin Amolsch is an investor and hard money fund manager who has participated in over 2,000 transactions. PineFinancialGroup.com.
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Mortgage rates have more than doubled in the last year. The last time rates increased this fast was in 1980 and 1981, and the starting point before that massive increase was already in the double digits. As seen in a graph from Freddie Mac, rates have never increased at this pace as a percentage of the starting point! That is scary when you think about it.
As savvy real estate investors, we can make money in any market. Because we are in a high mortgage rate environment, we need to focus on ways to make money with high and rising rates. Here are three ways investors can make money in todays environment.
Years To 7 Figure Wealth By Me
Ok, its a shameless plug, but I had to include this book in the list! If you want to check it out, its 100% free and you can download it right now. This book is a complete summary of my investment strategy and one avenue to earn a million dollars in real estate purchasing only five properties in seven years with almost no money.
What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know about Cash Flow And 36 Other Key Financial Measures by Frank Gallinelli. This book is about math, and making that math easy. If you dont understand the principles discussed in this book, you will never be successful in real estate or any business, period. If you want to understand it fully, devour this book and keep it on your shelf. This is definitely not a check out from the library sort of book.
Investing in Duplexes, Triplexes, and Quads: The Fastest and Safest Way to Real Estate Wealth by Larry Loftis. This book, as the title suggests, is my favorite book dealing with small multifamily properties. Being one of the first investment books I read, it really opened my eyes to what is possible out there, and caused me to buy my first duplex which still brings me almost $400 per month in cashflow. I owe that purchase and success to this book. If you are just starting out, I highly recommend this book.
***Update Check out the sequel to this post titled, Seven MORE Must Read Books for Real Estate Investors ***
What are your favorite real estate investing books? List them in the comments below!
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Ontario Real Estate Coach And Mentor
Looking for a great Ontario real estate coach and mentor? All great achievers have coaches. Nobody is “self made”. Behind every great real estate investor is a great real estate coach and mentor. But how do you find one that can help you to be successful in Ontario, CA? Ask yourself these 3 questions:
John T Reeds Review Of Spencer Strauss & Martin Stone’s Book The Unofficial Guide To Real Estate Investing
This book is written by two Realtors®: Spencer Strauss and Martin Stone. They are partners in Buckingham Real Estate Investments and Richmond Financial Services in El Segundo, CA. As you would expect from Realtors®, you get sweeping optimism, glib reassurances, and the Realtor® party line. They deviate somewhat from the Realtor® party line, but not much.
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A Life Story First Written In Story City
Jennings grew up on a sprawling farm in Story City, a rural town about 20 minutes north of Ames. Her parents, Bill, a farmer, and Traci built an Ames-based real estate team during her childhood.
As a child, Jennings participated in theater performances that planted the seeds of an outgoing online persona that emerged years later.
She watched as her parents attended open houses with hundreds of clients and carried “for sale” signs through front yards, but never dreamed of that career for herself.
In May 2017, Jennings graduated from Roland-Story High School and enrolled at Iowa State with plans to major in a male-dominated field: agribusiness.
I thought I was going to be a woman in ag sales because there arent a lot of women in ag sales, Jennings said.
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In spring 2018, her parents asked her to run an open house, and she found two clients from the showing. Instead of passing the pair of clients over to an agent, Jennings decided to keep the leads and immerse herself in central Iowa’s competitive real estate industry.
Why Is Real Estate Considered To Be An Inflation Hedge
Home prices tend to rise along with inflation. This is because homebuilders’ costs rise with inflation, which must be passed on to buyers of new homes. Existing homes, too, rise with inflation though. If you hold a fixed-rate mortgage, as inflation rises, your fixed monthly payments become effectively more affordable. Moreover, if you are a landlord, you can increase the rent to keep up with inflation.
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What Are The Key Fundamentals Newbie Investors Need To Know Before You Start Investing
- You need to know the basics of how investment properties operate
- How do you calculate cash flow?
- How do you analyze expenses?
- Know you returns when your tenants pay off your debts
- How do you calculate depreciation? And how does that affect you?
Expert Tips On How To Invest In Real Estate
Many aspiring investors look to reality TV to learn how to invest in real estate. While watching HGTV is certainly a great source of general information, it can also paint unrealistic portraits of the real estate investing profession. Instead, new investors should create a solid strategy.
The following list will outline some of the best real estate investing tips for beginners:
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The Four Hour Workweek By Tim Ferriss
While not about Real Estate at all, The Four Hour Workweek is still an excellent book on living outside the status quo of slave, save, retire, die. It transformed the way I look at the world, retirement, money, etc. I recommend this book to almost every person in any field.
might be turned off by Ferrisspersonality and bravado but I find the information and motivation invaluable. If you are feeling overwhelmed by life and the busyness of it, dont skip this one. I think youll like it.
Real Estate Mutual Funds
Real estate mutual funds invest primarily in REITs and real estate operating companies. They provide the ability to gain diversified exposure to real estate with a relatively small amount of capital. Depending on their strategy and diversification goals, they provide investors with much broader asset selection than can be achieved through buying individual REITs.
Like REITs, these funds are pretty liquid. Another significant advantage to retail investors is the analytical and research information provided by the fund. This can include details on acquired assets and managements perspective on the viability and performance of specific real estate investments and as an asset class. More speculative investors can invest in a family of real estate mutual funds, tactically overweighting certain property types or regions to maximize return.
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The Book On Rental Property Investing By Brandon Turner
Cash flow and wealth dont happen overnight. But if you are willing to work hard and invest smart, this book is designed to help you achieve your financial goals through the power of rental properties! This book will give you practical, real-world advice for those looking to build wealth and cash flow through rental properties! Youll learn:
Youll learn:
- Why Many Real Estate Investors Fail
- Numerous Easy-to-Follow Strategies
- Finding Deals, Financing Properties, Management, and More.
Draft A Real Estate Business Plan
A great place to start investing as a beginner is to draft a business plan. This will allow you to identify your why. For example, maybe you want to save for retirement or help your familys financial situation. The owner of Independent Property Group, Matthew Peden, gives this valuable advice: If you are new to real estate investing, the best advice I can give you is to make sure youre honest about your goals. As a new investor, you need to be honest about whether or not owning a home is just for living in or if its something that you see yourself being able to flip for profit. Make sure that even though you have better resources now than when you first started, the complexities of this type of investment are still manageable for you. No matter what your reason is, visualizing your why before getting started will be a crucial source of motivation. The next step to creating a business plan is to write out your specific business goals. It may seem foreign at first, but the purpose of a real estate business plan is to produce a roadmap for investors. It will help you identify and outline your goals, while also strategizing actionable steps to accomplish them. With proper planning, a real estate business plan can serve as a critical learning tool for real estate investing beginners.
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