global investment strategy | Finance & Investment

How Physicians Scale from Small Multifamily to Commercial Real Estate

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20 July 2026

How Physicians Scale from Small Multifamily to Commercial Real Estate

Most physician investors start the same way.

A duplex. A fourplex. Maybe a single-family rental in a good school district. It feels manageable, the numbers make sense, and honestly it’s kind of exciting to finally put some of that W2 income to work.

And for a while, it works really well.

Then at some point, something shifts. Capital gets tied up. Finding the next deal takes longer. Management starts taking more time than you expected. And the math, the whole reason you got into this, stops moving the needle fast enough to feel worth it.

This is the ceiling almost every physician investor hits at some point. And I want to be clear about something: hitting it isn’t a sign that you did anything wrong. It’s actually a sign that you’ve learned enough to do something bigger.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Any investment involves risk, and you should consult your financial advisor, attorney, or CPA before making any investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The author and associated entities disclaim any liability for loss incurred as a result of the use of this material or its content.

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Why Small Multifamily Has a Natural Ceiling

There’s nothing wrong with duplexes and fourplexes. They’re genuinely a great starting point. But they have structural limits that become obvious once you’ve been at it for a few years.

The first is a capital problem. Every property ties up a down payment. Once you’ve bought 10 or 12 units across several small properties, you often find yourself out of liquid capital with no clear path to the next deal. You’re not doing anything wrong. You’ve just hit the math ceiling of the strategy.

The second is a management problem. Small multifamily scales linearly. Each new property adds complexity: a new lease, new maintenance issues, new tenant relationships. You add rooftops, but you don’t really add systems. At a certain point you’re just adding to your own workload.

The third is a valuation problem. Small multifamily is priced like residential real estate. The value of what you own is driven by comparable sales in the neighborhood, not by how much income your property generates. That distinction matters a lot when you’re trying to actually build equity over time.

The physicians who break through this ceiling don’t do it by buying more duplexes. They change strategies entirely.

What Changes When You Go Commercial

Moving from 1 to 4 units into 5 units and above puts you in commercial real estate. The rules are different here, and some of those differences genuinely favor physicians.

The biggest shift is in how properties are valued and financed.

In commercial real estate, value is driven by income. Specifically by Net Operating Income, or NOI, which is just the property’s revenue minus its operating expenses. What this means practically is that you have real control over what your asset is worth. Improve the property, raise rents to market rate, reduce vacancy, and you’ve created equity. You’re not just waiting for the neighborhood to appreciate.

Financing works differently too. Commercial loans are underwritten primarily on the property’s income, not on your personal W2. For physicians with complex income situations, practice ownership, 1099 income, multiple income streams, this can actually work in your favor. The property carries more of the argument.

The honest trade-off is that commercial lending is relationship-based. There’s no standard product you fill out online. Lenders want to understand your track record, your plan, and how well you know your market. Building those relationships before you need them is one of the most valuable things you can do as an investor.

Three Ways Physicians Actually Make the Jump

The good news is that the transition doesn’t require starting over. There are three bridge strategies worth understanding.

1031 Exchanges

A 1031 exchange lets you sell a property and defer capital gains taxes by rolling the proceeds into a like-kind investment. For physicians who’ve held small multifamily for a few years and built up some equity, this is often the cleanest path to trading up. You keep your capital working instead of handing a chunk of it to the IRS.

The timing requirements are real: 45 days to identify a replacement property and 180 days to close. You need a qualified intermediary in place before you sell. But if you know your next market, this is one of the most tax-efficient tools available.

TIC Partnerships (Tenants in Common)

A TIC structure lets two or more investors co-own a property with clearly defined ownership percentages. It’s flexible, and it solves a problem a lot of physician investors face: you’ve found a good deal but don’t have enough liquid capital for the full down payment.

With the right partner, you can access deals that neither of you could reach alone. One partner brings capital. The other brings deal flow, market expertise, or operational capacity. The important thing is getting the partnership agreement right before closing. Expectations that aren’t written down tend to become problems later.

Physician-Specific Lending Products

Some banks and credit unions that specialize in physician lending offer business loan products that can be used for bridge capital or down payments on commercial deals. These are unsecured or practice-based loans that treat physician income differently than conventional lenders do.

The rates are typically higher than conventional financing, so this isn’t the right tool for every situation. But for physicians who’ve found a strong deal and need a capital bridge to get to the closing table, knowing these products exist is genuinely useful.

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What Actually Gets You There

Here’s something I think gets missed in a lot of conversations about scaling. Most people assume the jump to commercial is primarily a capital problem. Get enough money together and the deals follow.

In practice, two things matter more than the capital itself.

The first is knowing your market. Not generally knowing it. Knowing it well enough that your underwriting isn’t really a guess. What do rents actually support in this submarket right now? What are vacancy trends doing? What are buyers paying per door? Investors who scale consistently tend to have put in the repetitions on a specific market until the numbers feel second nature.

Conservative underwriting is where that knowledge gets applied. The investors who build durable portfolios almost always stress-test their assumptions: higher vacancy than the seller projects, lower rent growth, higher expense ratios. The goal is to structure a deal so that even in a difficult scenario, you’re still okay. A lot of your protection comes from how you buy, not from what happens after.

The second is lender relationships. This one surprises people. The terms available to a borrower with a real track record and an established relationship are genuinely different from what’s available to someone calling a lender for the first time. Showing up before you have a specific deal in hand, introducing yourself, understanding what a lender looks for, that’s not just networking. It’s infrastructure.

Knowing When You’re Ready

There’s no perfect moment to make this move. But there are some concrete signals worth paying attention to.

You’ve operated a few small multifamily properties long enough to know what the day-to-day actually looks like, not in theory but in practice.

You know a specific market well enough to underwrite a deal without leaning on the seller’s numbers.

You have at least one relationship with a commercial lender or broker who knows you’re a serious investor.

You have a clear picture of what you can fund on your own versus what a partnership or exchange could unlock.

If those things are in place, the move to commercial real estate is closer than it probably feels. The ceiling most investors hit in small multifamily is real, but it’s not the end of the road. For a lot of physicians, it’s just where the next chapter starts.

If you want to hear what this path looks like in practice, I recently sat down with Dr. Larry Daugherty, a radiation oncologist who scaled from his first fourplex to over 200 doors in Alaska. You can listen to that conversation here.

Were these helpful in any way? Make sure to sign up for the newsletter and join the Passive Income Docs Facebook Group for more physician-tailored content.

Peter Kim, MD is the founder of Passive Income MD, the creator of Passive Real Estate Academy, and offers weekly education through his Monday podcast, the Passive Income MD Podcast. Join our community at the Passive Income Doc Facebook Group.

Disclaimer: I am not a CPA, attorney, or financial advisor. The information in this post is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as tax, legal, or financial advice. Please consult a qualified professional about your specific situation before making any decisions.

Limited Economic Data Means the War Will Drive Mortgage Rates This Week

As noted, there’s not much on the economic calendar this week. We get jobless claims every week so that’s a given.

And there’s virtually nothing else until Friday, when we get the flash U.S. services PMI, which provides a snapshot of the economy and whether it’s expanding or contracting.

It’s known as an important report, but pales in comparison to things like CPI, PCE (the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge), and the monthly jobs report.

So that means we’ll be looking at geopolitical developments to determine the direction of mortgage rates this week.

They had a bit of a wild ride last week, with the 30-year fixed climbing to its 2026-high of 6.75% on Monday, before easing thanks to a series of cool inflation reports.

Mortgage rates ran the risk of hitting new-52 week highs, but fortunately both CPI and PPI came in below consensus.

That “saved” mortgage rates, though it only allowed them to ease back down to around 6.625% instead of perhaps climbing to 6.875% and beyond.

Can We Continue to Avoid 7% Mortgage Rates?

One thing I’ve been keeping a close eye on is a return to 7% mortgage rates.

Thus far, despite the surge in oil prices and the threat of even more escalations in the Middle East, mortgage rates have stayed below 7%.

The 30-year fixed has gotten close, but it seems to have a lid that has kept it from reaching those psychologically-challenging heights.

But there are reports that Houthi militants in Yemen have “declared a maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia, which is apparently effective immediately.

The Saudis have been moving their oil to an export terminal on the Red Sea to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Assuming this makes a real impact, it could choke off more oil supplies and lead to another increase in prices, putting more pressure on inflation again.

Bonds (and mortgage rates) suffer when inflation rises, so this will be the key story to watch this week and beyond.

As I said, mortgage rates have done a good job avoiding bigger losses in spite of what’s going on there.

Though on the other side of the coin, they are still up sizably since the Iranian conflict got underway around the end of February.

The 30-year fixed was priced just below 6% at that time, and today is closer to 6.625% to 6.75%.

That’s roughly 75 basis points higher, meaning you could argue a lot of it is baked in already, which is helping us steer clear of 7%.

However, if this conflict continues and/or worsens, it’s possible we go higher. And we aren’t too far from 7% in the grand scheme.

What’s keeping us from that seems to be a belief that negotiations could still be reached to end the conflict.

At which point we ideally get back on track to pre-war levels when rates were closer to 6% and below.

Read on: Try out my mortgage rate calculator that compares rates/payments by eighths of a percent.

Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to begin writing about mortgages 20 years ago to help prospective (and existing) home buyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on X for hot takes.

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How Real Is The Student Loan Tax Bomb? What The IRS Data Says

Investments

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20 July 2026

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How Real Is The Student Loan Tax Bomb? What The IRS Data Says

Key Points

IRS data shows the student loan tax bomb has historically been tiny: the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated it collected only about $6 million per year.
The tax bomb was paused from 2020 through 2025, but now student loan debt cancelled under income-driven repayment is taxable again.

The student loan tax bomb is back. Since the American Rescue Plan’s tax exemption for forgiven student debt expired on December 31, 2025, borrowers who reach forgiveness under income-driven repayment (IDR) plans once again face a potential federal income tax bill on the canceled balance.

But here’s the question almost nobody asks: how much did the tax bomb actually cost borrowers when it was the law before? And what can borrowers actually expect to pay moving forward?

The historical answer, buried in IRS data and congressional budget estimates, is surprisingly low. The harder question (how much it will cost going forward) is one nobody can honestly answer yet.

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What The IRS Data Actually Shows

Canceled debt is generally taxable income, reported to borrowers and the IRS on Form 1099-C. The IRS tracks how much canceled-debt income taxpayers actually report on their returns, and the numbers have been shrinking for years.

In tax year 2019, 518,174 returns reported $5.46 billion in cancellation-of-debt income (all debt types combined, not just student loans). That was down from 770,756 returns and $10 billion in 2013, when the housing crisis was still working through the system. Applying ordinary tax rates of 12% to 22% to the 2019 figure, Americans paid roughly $650 million to $1.2 billion in federal tax on all canceled debt that year, or about $1,300 to $2,300 per affected return.

Just as notable is who never paid. An estimated 5.5 million Forms 1099-C were filed for tax year 2012, yet only about 770,000 returns reported canceled-debt income that year.

The vast majority of canceled debt is not taxable, largely because of the insolvency exclusion. Insolvency is what happens if your debts exceed your assets when the debt is canceled, some or all of the forgiven amount isn’t taxed.

The Student Loan Slice Was Even Smaller

Within those canceled-debt totals, student loans were a a tiny fraction and the government’s own estimates prove it.

Before 2018, federal student loans discharged due to death or total and permanent disability were taxable. When Congress moved to eliminate the tax through the Stop Taxing Death and Disability Act, the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the change would reduce federal revenue by just $6 million in the first year and $69 million over a decade.

In other words, the Treasury was collecting single-digit millions per year from the most active version of the tax bomb because most affected borrowers were insolvent, low-income, or both.

Prior to 2020, idea of the student loan IDR tax bomb (a giant bill after 20 or 25 years of payments) was almost entirely theoretical. However, a big reason was failed loan forgiveness policies.

An NPR investigation found that as of 2021, 4.4 million borrowers had been in repayment for at least 20 years, but only 32 had ever received IDR forgiveness. You can’t pay a tax on forgiveness that never arrives.

Why The Future Is Different – And Unknown

History says the tax bomb barely detonated. But that many be changing in the future.

The American Rescue Plan’s exclusion has expired, making IDR forgiveness taxable again at the federal level. Public Service Loan Forgiveness remains tax-free, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act permanently excluded death and disability discharges.

What’s left exposed is exactly the population that used to be theoretical: long-term IDR borrowers.

Payment-count adjustments moved millions of borrowers years closer to forgiveness, the SAVE plan’s collapse is pushing borrowers into IBR and the new Repayment Assistance Plan, and RAP’s 30-year forgiveness currently has no tax exclusion at all.

The IRS Taxpayer Advocate has already flagged the change, and NASFAA notes that borrowers whose forgiveness was delayed by processing backlogs may avoid 1099-Cs for now.

Nobody knows how big the post-2026-era tax bomb will be, and it’s worth being honest about why.

We don’t know how many borrowers will actually reach forgiveness each year, how many will qualify for the insolvency exclusion, whether Congress will extend tax-free treatment again before large cohorts hit their milestones, or how aggressively states will tax forgiveness on their own.

The historical record (tiny collections, mass avoidance through insolvency, and repeated congressional intervention) suggests the aggregate impact may again be smaller than feared. But the number of borrowers approaching forgiveness is orders of magnitude larger than anything before.

What This Means For Student Loan Borrowers

The practical risk isn’t the national total, it’s whether you’re personally impacted. A borrower with $80,000 forgiven in the 22% bracket faces a potential $17,600 federal bill, before state taxes. Our student loan tax bomb calculator can estimate your exposure.

Three factors decide how real it is for your household.

1. Timing: forgiveness dated in 2025 was tax-free, while the same forgiveness dated in 2026 may not be.

2. Solvency: if your debts exceed your assets at discharge, Form 982 and the insolvency exclusion can wipe out some or all of the tax, and long-term IDR borrowers with negatively amortized balances are disproportionately likely to qualify.

3. Program: Which forgiveness path you’re on matters more than ever, since PSLF stays tax-free while standard IDR forgiveness does not.

If you think you’re going to face a tax bomb issue, it’s best to speak with a tax professional at least a year in advance to see if there’s any planning you can do. Not all tax professionals may be versed in insolvency either – so make sure you talk to a few and know your options.

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Student Loan Tax Bomb Calculator And Estimator

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Student Loan Tax Bomb Returning In 2026

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1099-C And Student Loan Forgiveness: 2026 And Beyond

Editor: Colin Graves

The post How Real Is The Student Loan Tax Bomb? What The IRS Data Says appeared first on The College Investor.

Chase Sapphire Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) Lounge Now Open

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20 July 2026

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The Chase Sapphire Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) Lounge is now open.

Located post-security in Terminal D by Gate D25
More than 18,000 square feet across levels
In person photos here
Access rules here

More lounge options are always a good thing even if you don’t have access as it helps with capacity at other lounges. This looks nice and it’s certainly big.

Spain’s Ferran Torres scored the World Cup winning goal—four years ago, he was in a ‘bottomless pit’

Finance

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20 July 2026

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Spain’s Ferran Torres scored the World Cup winning goal—four years ago, he was in a ‘bottomless pit’

Spain just won the FIFA World Cup following a grueling match against Argentina. And it was all thanks to Ferran Torres scoring in the 106th minute, capping off a dramatic extra-time thriller. Now, he’s being hailed as the hero of Spain‘s triumph—but just four years ago, he found himself in the biggest career rut of his life.

In 2022, the Spanish forward was grappling with a mental health crisis; the then-21-year-old had hit rock bottom after his €55 million ($62.8 million) move from Manchester City to La Liga club Barcelona. Torres was struggling to handle the pressure that came with his talent’s high price tag, just as he was recovering from a preseason leg injury and crushing Europa League loss to Eintracht Frankfurt.

“I found myself in a bottomless pit, and I could not see a way out,” Torres told reporters in 2023. “It had never happened to me before. That was the moment when I decided to work with a psychologist.

“I lost my confidence. Everything was affecting me,” he continued. “Seeing [a psychologist] will become increasingly normalised in football. There are weeks when I don’t go and others when I go three times. We don’t always talk about football, we also talk about my private life.”

Torres credits therapy as “one of the best experiences” and making him stronger as a person. And his story can resonate with many; behind the trophies and multimillion-dollar contracts, many sports stars are fighting battles that most fans never see. As many as 51% of elite athletes struggle with mental health problems at some point in their lives, according to a 2020 study. Most commonly, they’re up against struggles like depression and anxiety, and may put off seeking help due to social stigma.

But the 26-year-old’s multimillion-dollar sports career and World Cup title is proof that prioritizing mental health doesn’t derail greatness—it can help unlock it.

Now Torres is a World Cup champion earning millions every year

Torres’ rise has been a story of early ambition turned into global success, with the young forward quickly becoming one of soccer’s most recognizable stars.

Born in the small coastal town of Foios, Spain (right outside of Valencia), Torres was destined for the world stage from an early age. At just six years old, he joined Valencia CF’s academy and made his professional debut at 17. After gaining a reputation as one of Spain’s top emerging talents, he signed with Manchester City in 2020, winning both the Premier League and League Cup.

Barcelona then paid millions to the English team to bring him back to Spain in 2022, and his high-profile transfer was followed by injuries, intense pressure, and a crisis of confidence.

Torres eventually rediscovered his spark thanks to his therapist, becoming a key contributor for both Barcelona and Spain. He went on to win multiple domestic trophies, including La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Spanish Super Cup. And what is sure to be one of the highlights of his soccer career, Torres scored the winning goal for his country in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The Gen Z footballer has also been raking in million-dollar contracts since his twenties. In 2020, Torres signed a five-year, $12 million contract transferring from Valencia to Manchester City. He spent several years on the English team before then making his return to Spain in 2022, signing a five-year deal with Barcelona for an initial €55 million ($62.8 million), with another €10 million ($11.4 million) in add-ons.

Estimates put Torres’ current base salary between $6.3 million to $10 million per year—or around $120,700 to $192,000 every week. It’s also reported that his sizable paycheck comes with at least another €3 million ($3.4 million) in bonuses every year; and off the pitch, he’s landed brand deals and partnerships with Under Armour.

How AI Search Is Changing How Your Business Is Found Online

Business

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20 July 2026

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Key Takeaways

Google Search isn’t all people are using these days. Artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and others have become popular search engines — and the ways we optimize our online presence for AI are different from Google.While AI search continues to evolve,
AI search continues to evolve, and if you don’t want to get left behind, there are four signals your business needs to get right to stay at the top of the search results page.

Recently, a client came to me with a problem that turned out to be anything but small.

On paper, their business was thriving. Their clientele was loyal. The offer was polished, and the team was exceptional at what they did. Yet when people searched online for their business, particularly inside the newer AI tools, they were nowhere to be found.

This client did not need another generic marketing checklist. They needed a real strategy to be seen. They needed to appear where people actually search today, not where they searched a decade ago.

Today, people are not only typing business names into Google. They are asking ChatGPT. They are turning to Gemini. They are consulting Perplexity. They rely on AI to decide who to trust, where to go and which expert deserves their business.

So if your company is built only for old-school search, you are playing yesterday’s game.

I watch this every single day across all of my businesses. AI search keeps evolving and I have no intention of being left behind. More importantly, I refuse to let my clients be left behind either.

Search isn’t just ranking anymore — it’s your reputation

For a long time, search felt fairly predictable.

You chose smart keywords. You placed them across your site. You pursued a few backlinks. But that version of search is no longer the full picture.

The bigger question now is not simply, “Where do I rank?” A better question is, “Do new ways people search the internet trust my business enough to recommend me?”

That is an entirely different game. Now your business has to be more than findable. It has to be worth recommending.

I think of it this way: Old search was about landing on the list. Modern AI search is about earning the introduction.

Different search engines want different things

One of the most common missteps I see owners make is assuming every search platform behaves the same way. They do not. Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and the rest each have their own way of finding, reading and sharing information. They overlap, but they are far from identical.

Some lean heavily on indexed web content. Some look for trusted sources and citations. Some study reviews and reputation closely. Some want clear, structured details so they understand exactly what you offer.

Picture each platform as a different customer. One wants credentials. One wants social proof. One wants receipts. One wants to hear what your clients think. One simply wants everything explained plainly. Your task is to make certain they all leave satisfied.

I build genuine proof across the web: clear messaging, strong content, accurate business details, press signals, reviews and a consistent story. When that foundation is right, your visibility begins to travel.

The 4 signals I build for every business

Your customers look for four signals: trust, authority, relevance and reputation. Get those four things right, and you give every engine more reasons to notice you and recommend you. If they are weak, even a beautiful website can struggle.

1. Trust

Trust is the starting line. Before anything recommends you, it needs to feel certain you are real and consistent. Your name, address, phone, website and profiles should match everywhere. You would be amazed how many businesses have mismatched versions of themselves drifting around. To clients, that looks careless. To search tools, it looks risky.

2. Authority

Authority is when credible sources vouch for you. Press, interviews, podcasts, articles, partnerships and recognition all help. You can praise yourself all day, but when a respected source says it, that carries real weight. I would rather earn one strong mention in the right place than 50 weak ones nobody trusts.

3. Relevance

Relevance is clarity. Engines need to understand what you do, who you serve and where you operate. Vague phrases like “solutions for modern businesses” sound impressive but say nothing. Be clear in your messaging.

4. Reputation

Reputation is what people say when you are not in the room. Reviews, testimonials and social proof shape how you are perceived. You cannot fake it for long. You earn it by doing exceptional work, inviting delighted clients to share positive reviews about your business.

Why this is so important

Here is the part people do not love to hear: AI search is not a fix-it-once-and-forget-it affair. There is no finish line. Platforms change. Results change. Competitors improve. Reviews arrive. Signals shift.

So I treat visibility as an ongoing part of every business I touch. AI search evolves daily and I refuse to wake up six months from now to discover a competitor became the answer to their question while I ignored the question. I check. I test. I ask AI tools what they recommend. I watch who appears and why. It is like glancing at your dashboard. You do not stare at it all day, but you want to know the moment the warning light flips on.

What this means for you

If you own a business, the truth is simple: Your clients already use AI search, ready or not. They ask for recommendations and weigh their options. If the tools they trust never mention you, you may never get the chance to compete.

Start by seeing what is actually happening. Ask Google, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity about your industry and local market. Notice who appears. Then strengthen your foundation. Refine your information. Build real reviews. Create clear content. Earn credible mentions.

The winners in this new era will not be the loudest. They will be the clearest, the most trusted and the easiest to recommend. I am not chasing rankings like it is 2012. I am building trust across the entire web.

Key Takeaways

Google Search isn’t all people are using these days. Artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini and others have become popular search engines — and the ways we optimize our online presence for AI are different from Google.While AI search continues to evolve,
AI search continues to evolve, and if you don’t want to get left behind, there are four signals your business needs to get right to stay at the top of the search results page.

Recently, a client came to me with a problem that turned out to be anything but small.

On paper, their business was thriving. Their clientele was loyal. The offer was polished, and the team was exceptional at what they did. Yet when people searched online for their business, particularly inside the newer AI tools, they were nowhere to be found.

This client did not need another generic marketing checklist. They needed a real strategy to be seen. They needed to appear where people actually search today, not where they searched a decade ago.

Top 3 Best Crypto Trading Apps & Platforms in India 2026

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20 July 2026

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Top 3 Best Crypto Trading Apps & Platforms in India 2026

In this video we have provided details of 3 best cryptocurrency trading apps & platforms in India in 2026. These platforms can be used for both cryptocurrency derivatives trading and investment purpose.
#cryptotrading #cryptotradingindia #cryptoapps

source

The Housing Market Is Shifting. Here’s What Rookies Should Do. (Rookie Reply)

Investments

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20 July 2026

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The housing market looks very different than it did just a year or two ago. Home prices are softening, rates have eased slightly from the highs of 2023 and 2024, and sellers are more willing to negotiate than they’ve been in years. But rookie investors still want to know: Is 2026 actually the right time to buy?

Welcome back to another Rookie Reply! Today we’re answering three pressing questions from the BiggerPockets Forums. You just got your first rental property under contract–what’s the next step? Is out-of-state investing the answer to areas that don’t cash flow, and if so, how do you manage a property from afar? But perhaps most importantly, does it even make sense to invest in real estate in 2026?

Ashley and Tony break down the 2026 market, the contract-to-closing checklist every rookie investor needs, and the exact steps Tony took to build an investing team over 1,000 miles away!

Ashley Kehr:
The housing market in 2026 is starting to look different than it did 12 months ago. Prices are softening in some markets, rates have eased slightly and sellers are more willing to negotiate than they have been in years. The question is whether you are positioned to take advantage of it.

Tony Robinson:
And if you finally got a property under contract, c ongratulations, but the work is not done. We are going to walk you through exactly what needs to happen between now and closing day so nothing slips through the cracks.

Ashley Kehr:
This is The Real Estate Rokie Podcast. I’m Ashley Care.

Tony Robinson:
And I’m Tony D. Robinson. And with that, let’s get into our first question and our first question today comes from the BiggerPockets Forums. And it says, “I’ve been reading that 2026 could be a good year to buy because the housing market is starting to loosen up a little after a few tough years. Mortgage rates have come down slightly from 2023 and 2024 highs, and I’m seeing more price reductions in my market than I was a year ago. My question is, how do I actually read what is happening in a local market to know if conditions have genuinely improved? I do not want to convince myself the timing is right just because I want to buy. What data should I be looking at and how should a rookie be adjusting their strategy going into 2026 compared to what was working or not working in 2024 or 2025?” It’s a fantastic question.
I agree with a lot of what this person who asked this question has said, but I think there’s one caveat or maybe correction that I want to add. From pre – COVID, if you call it 2018, 2019, all the way through the peak of COVID 2020 to that moment afterward when things just were going crazy, super low interest rates, 2020, call it to maybe late 2022. And even through 2023 and 2024, we saw different versions of the real estate cycle. We saw incredible competitives coming out of COVID. We saw really, really low interest rates. Before COVID, it was a little bit more of a stable real estate market. But I share that to say that during all of those different versions of the real estate market, people were still buying. Investors were still investing. And I think if a rookie investor gets too caught up on answering the question of, is now a right time to buy?
They may inevitably talk themselves into the answer always being no and that they’re always waiting for maybe a better time to get started and better conditions and better interest rates and more willing sellers and whatever it may be. As someone who’s done a decent number of deals and had the good fortune of talking to people and way more successful than I am in the world of real estate investing, one thing holds true is that while maybe the volume and speed of your transactions may ebb and flow over time, the idea is that you’re continuing to look, you’re continuing to purchase. And what dictates whether or not you buy a deal is not necessarily what are interest rates today or how willing are sellers to sell something. The bigger question is, if I’ve underwritten this deal conservatively, does it work? And as long as you can say yes to that question, everything else kind of doesn’t matter.
So I just want to highlight that first just from a mindset perspective because I feel there’s a lot of rookies who are probably hearing this question thinking, “Man, I’ve been thinking the same thing,” when really the question should be slightly different.

Ashley Kehr:
Yeah. I really think that you can’t time the market, so you shouldn’t even be considering if right now is the good time have conditions genuinely improved because you should be basing it off the numbers of now. So if you’re going to wait for the perfect timing, you’re never going to know. You can have every expert tell you what they think is the perfect time to buy, but really any time can be good to buy if you find a good deal. And you’re looking at if you’re running the numbers based off of what the actual numbers are and the property still cash flows, then it is still a good deal even if you’re paying 8% interest rate. And all that means is that, especially, and I want to also clarify that this stays true for long-term buy and hold. So that could be a short-term rental, that can be a long-term rental, but a property that you intend to hold for a long period of time and have multiple options with so that you’re not going to have to sell this property in a couple years because that’s where you do get into trouble where you purchase the property and you did pay higher because the market was up, but now you need to sell it two years later and the market is down and you’re not going to be able to recap what you put into it, let alone get enough to pay off your mortgage.
But if you are going after a deal where you’re able to hold it for a long time, interest rates may come down, they may not, but your deal needs to work at whatever percentage you’re buying it at.
Down the road rates drop, you can refinance and that’s a bonus. You should never buy the deal based off of the fact that you can refinance later on and it will make money then. So don’t get caught up in what’s happening right now. If the market is bad in your area, there’s probably going to be good deals. If the market is hot in your area, it’s going to be harder to find good deals. So don’t get caught up too much on what’s actually happening as far as interest rates and things like that. Look at specifically the deal and do the numbers make sense? And yes, you want to take into all of the things for market consideration such as is there growth rate? Are there people coming to this area? Will you have renters and all of those things? But if you get caught up in timing the market, you’ll either never invest or when you do invest, it will surprisingly be the perfect time that you bought a property or it will not be, but there’s no way to actually time the market.
So I would not let that be the deciding factor whether you purchase a deal or not.

Tony Robinson:
All right guys, we’re going to take a quick break, but when we come back, we’re talking about what happens after you get a property under contract because this is where a lot of rookies make expensive mistakes and we want to make sure that you are not one of them. We’ll be right back after this.

Ashley Kehr:
Okay. Welcome back. Here’s our second question for today. I just got my first investment property under contract last week and I am equal parts excited and terrified. I did a lot of research before making an offer, but now that I am actually under contract, I am not sure what I am supposed to be doing. I know I need an inspection, but beyond that, I feel a little lost. What the full checklist of things I need to do between now and closing day? What are the most common mistakes rookies make during this period and what are the things that can kill a deal that I should be watching out for? Okay, well first of all, I want you to go to biggerpockets.com/resources, make sure it’s plural because they’ll also take you somewhere else. And this is where we have a whole rookie library of different checklists and templates for you.
So one of them is an actual acquisition checklist, so things that you should be doing when you’re under contract on a property. We have your first deal checklist. We have a property walkthrough checklist, what you’re going to be looking for when you do your due diligence. We also have another due diligence checklist. We have a property closing checklist. So all of those are free for pro members. Go to biggerpockets.com/resources, download them all and use them however you’d like. So really what these checklists do for when you’re under contract is they go over the things that you should be doing when you get your offer accepted. So like in New York State, you have an attorney, so you’re going to need to notify your attorney that you have a real estate deal that you’re doing. They get the contract and then they do an attorney aproval on it.
So if you’re not in New York State, you would just use the title company directly. It’s setting up your inspection. You need to call an inspector. Sometimes your agent will do this for you. Then you go ahead and do your due diligence on the property. We have the due diligence checklist that shows you everything you should be looking for in the property and it’s not just maintenance items too. After you’ve gone through the due diligence, if you’re doing financing, then it’s time to work with the lender, get them everything that they need to actually make this deal cross the finish line. Any utilities, set up accounts with the utility providers. If you’ve never had a gas account before, go ahead and set one up so that when it’s time to switch the utilities on closing day, you have that all set up. Then when it gets closer to closing, you’re going to get your insurance in place.
You’re going to have your utilities to start on that day that you take ownership. And then you’re going to set up any contractors to start right after closing that you need changing the locks on the property the day that you take ownership. So if you just go to biggerpockets.com/resources, have a ton of guides that you can just download that go through each of these steps that you need to take. And it makes it a lot easier than having to listen to me ramble on and read them off to you. So we’re going to take a short break, but when we come back, we’re going to be getting into the question that almost every investor in a high cost market eventually ask, “Can I make out – of-state investing work? And where do I even start?” We’ll be right back.

Tony Robinson:
All right guys, welcome back. The last question today, and this one is for anyone living in a high cost of living market who’s been staring at deals that just don’t make a ton of sense and they’re just wondering if there’s a different path forward. So the question says, “I live in Southern California and the numbers on any property I look at locally just do not work. A decent rental in my area costs 700,000 to $900,000 and it rents for maybe 3,000 to 3,500 per month. There is no realistic scenario where that cash flows. I’ve been researching out – of-state investing in the Midwest where prices are lower, but I’m nervous about managing a property from 2000 miles away, not knowing the market, not having a contractor and not being able to physically check in on things. How do other investors actually make this work? What do I need to have in place before I pull the triger on my first out – of-state deal and what market should a SoCal investor be considering in 2026?
Okay, all great questions. As someone who’s invested both closer to home and long distance also living in Southern California, I feel like I can speak to this from my own experience. I think there’s a few things I would say first is are you not investing in California simply because the numbers aren’t working or are you not investing in California because you can’t afford to buy there? If you can’t afford to buy in California, then maybe what I would challenge you to do is can you choose a different strategy aside from a traditional long-term rental? Can you short-term? Can you midterm? Can you do assisted living? Can you do a sober living facility? There are so many other ways that you can leverage real estate to still get an amazing return on your investment. Obviously I do short-term in California. We interviewed Han Stone who does assisted living facilities and he’s gotten the benefit of amazing appreciation and amazing cashflow.
We interviewed Devonna, I can’t remember what episode Devonna was on, but she did sober living facilities in Southern California and she gets great appreciation, great cashflow. So there are other strategies that might work better than a traditional long-term rental where you get both the upside of long-term appreciation and you get the upside of increased cashflow. Now, if you do want to go out of state, again, my very first deal, I live in California, I invested in Louisiana. Didn’t really know that market well at all, but I built a team out there that gave me the confidence to be able to execute. Like you mentioned, physically checking on things, and I hear that often from aspiring rookie investors. But my question is, are you going to be the person swinging the hammer? If a pipe burst, are you going to be the person fixing it? Probably not.
You’re going to pick up the phone and call a plumber anyway. So it doesn’t really matter if you’re there or if you’re remote because you’re going to pick up the phone and call someone regardless. So the first thing that I would do is if you want to get familiar with the market, go to the market, book a weekend trip, get there on Friday morning, leave late Sunday night, have an agent or multiple agents or property managers walk you around, show you the properties, give you the lay of the land. That way you get a better sense of what the city actually looks like. And then once you have your agent, have them start sending you deals that match your buy box and then ask your agent, “Hey, do you know a good contractor? Do you know a good HVAC person? Do you know a good plumber?
Do you know a good this? Do you know a good that? ” And if you’re connected with the right agent, oftentimes they can be your conduit to then get you connected with all the other folks in that market. So biggerpockets.com/agentfinder, best place to go find an agent and they can be your starting team member to help you build confidence and build your roster in that market. So there’s a quick two-minute crash course on how to be successful, either investing locally in a high cost of living area or going to another market where the prices are more reasonable.

Ashley Kehr:
Well, thank you guys so much for joining us today on Real Estate Rookie. If you have a question, make sure you head over to the BiggerPockets forums and it may be featured on our rookie reply episodes. I’m Ashley Heystony, and we’ll see you guys next time.

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Disclaimer: I am not a CPA, attorney, or financial advisor. The information in this post is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as tax, legal, or financial advice. Please consult a qualified professional about your specific situation before making any decisions.

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