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Leaders, Consider Pausing Before Acting on Employee Feedback


Acting on employee feedback is a key means for leaders to grow and improve. Yet knowing what to do with this feedback can be complicated: Should you implement changes right away so that employees feel heard? Should you acknowledge these changes, or will that make you seem weak?



Simply Explaining Financial Questions EVERYONE Has



These are some of the most common financial questions I see people have, and I try to explain them as simply as possible. I hope you learn something and I hope you enjoy!

My complete 60+ page manipulation guide on how to spot and defend manipulation in everyday life:
👉

👜 Business Mail: everythingprofessor@gmail.com

Watch on Spotify:

—————————————————————————————

Timestamps:
0:00 Why is $1 ≠ £1 ≠ ¥1
1:40 Why Every Country Is in Debt & Who They Owe
3:14 Why Can’t We Just Print More Money
4:39 What Is Bitcoin?
6:11 What If Inflation Goes Negative
7:40 Who Really Pays the Tariffs
9:00 Why Nobody Can Afford a Home Anymore
10:34 Difference Between Trading and Investing
12:11 How Rich People Use Debt to Get Richer
13:34 How Money Laundering Works

source

Rakuten Offering 97% Cash Back or 97X Amex/Bilt Points for NordVPN Purchase


Rakuten Offer for NordVPN

🔃 Update: Rakuten now offering 97X for NordVPN.


If you often connect to unsecure W-Fi connections while traveling, then using virtual private network (VPN) software is a must so you can protect yourself. VPN masks your device’s IP address and encrypts your data by routing it through servers in other countries or states. This lets you securely browse the internet, or just get work done. VPN is also useful if you’re abroad and want to access streaming services such as ESPN+, Hulu etc. which might not be available in every country.

Rakuten is now offering 100% cash back or 100X Membership Rewards points for NordVPN, which makes it free and possibly even give you a small profit based on your valuation of Amex points.

Offer Details

Get 100X Membership Rewards points or 100% of your purchase back when you make a purchase at NordVPN. Looks like you can buy a 2 year plan and earn 8,343 points.

You can see the offer here. 

Important Terms

  • Cash Back is only available to new NordVPN customers.
  • Cash Back can only be earned on the initial sign-up.
  • Limited to one per member.
  • Cash Back is earned only on the NordVPN portion of a bundled subscription.
  • Cash Back is not available on NordPass, NordLocker, Incogni and Dedicated IP subscriptions, NordLayer, B2B orders or refunded orders.

Guru’s Wrap-up

This can be a good deal for those who are looking for a VPN service. I have never used NordVPN myself, so please let me know in the comments if you have any experience with it and how it compares to other VPNs.

If you don’t have a Rakuten account, you can sign up here.

Best Health Professional Student Loans And Rates


Key Points

  • Students looking for health profession school loans have two options: Federal Direct Loans and private student loans.
  • New caps on federal student loans may lead more students to private loans.
  • Private student loans can be a good choice for highly qualified borrowers.

If you’re going to graduate school to become a health professional, the borrowing landscape has changed. The reason is that most health-related graduate degrees are considered graduate school, not professional school. Professional school is limited to medicine, pharmacy, optometry, podiatry, clinical psychology, and chiropractic medicine.

Meanwhile, fields like nursing, physician assistants, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and audiology are health professional graduate fields.

The trouble with graduate health programs (and graduate school in general) is there are not a lot of “financial aid” options available beyond student loans. Before you dive into health professional student loans, make sure you do understand your options – both how you’re going to pay for school and what aid may be available.

You should also do a lot of research on what type of health you’re interested in and what salaries look like, so you understand whether getting a graduate degree is worth it. Because, sadly, only 63% of health science graduate degrees pay off financially.

The best degrees come in nursing, medical assistants, and clinical medical sciences. The worst include mental and social health services, public health, and dietetics and clinical nutrition. 

If you already know most of your options and are simply looking to find the best private student loans, check out Credible and compare your options in 2 minutes with no credit check. Try Credible here.

Let’s dive in.

The Order Of Operation To Pay For Health Professional School

There is a smart order of operations on how to pay for a graduate degree in health sciences, and it doesn’t start with student loans. Before you ever embark on a health program, you need to consider the ROI (return on investment) of your education.

The goal of an advanced degree should be to move your career (and earnings potential) forward. 

In that case, you need to asses how much you’d potentially pay out of pocket (hopefully next to nothing) given your salary.

When it comes to calculating the ROI of going to college, it’s all about how much you’re going to spend, and how much debt you’re going to take on. Follow this chart from best to worst to get an idea of how to pay for your graduate school program.

Scholarships and Grants

Direct Student Loans

Private Student Loans

It’s always important to analyze what you need for your own situation. But we suggest starting your research by going through different scholarships and grants which might be available through your state or college directly.

Scholarships and Grants

The first place to start when paying for graduate school is scholarships and grants to pay for college. Scholarships and grants work a little different on the graduate level.

There are no Pell grants or other federal student aid for graduate school (except for loans).

If you want to find scholarships and grants, you have to search for them. Some states are offering special programs and grants to help pay for some health science degrees if you commit to working in shortage areas.

If you don’t know where to start, talk to your graduate admissions counselor and your department to see what might be available.

Best Student Loans For Health Professional Graduate School

Once you get to looking at student loans, there’s another order of operations to follow. You should start with Direct Student Loans, then consider private loans.

Graduate Direct Student Loans

Graduate direct student loans are the best federal student loans a graduate borrower is going to get. To get a federal student loan, you need to apply for the FAFSA, which is the Free Application For Federal Student Aid. Once you complete the application, your school’s financial aid office will let you know about your Federal student loan options.

Health science students can borrow up to $20,500 per year, and $100,000 in aggregate. Health science programs are considered graduate school as part of the new OBBBA loan limits.

Note: It’s important to remember that many of these programs are only 2 year programs. That means your effective limit would be $41,000 – not $100,000. 

Interest will accrue on these loans while you’re in school and you’ll have to start making payments 6 months after graduation. That’s why after years of advising students and families on which loan is best for them, if you have questions while doing research, you can reach out to The College Investor if you want to get specific advice or read my guide on how to find the best student loans.

The great thing about federal loans is that they offer a wide range of benefits: income-driven repayment and loan forgiveness. Loan forgiveness for public service can be especially helpful if you work for the local, state, or federal government – which many health professionals do!

Private Graduate Student Loans

Sadly, many health professionals cannot solely rely on federal loans to pay for the cost of college because of the graduate loan limits.

Either they exhaust federal loan limits due to their school’s cost, they need more funds to cover living expenses while attending school, or they need more time to complete their education (which increases cost). 

Others may find more value in taking on private loans given their excellent credit and ability to repay. In this case, private student loans may be a cheaper alternative due to low interest rates and excellent borrower programs.

We recommend borrowers shop and compare the best private student loans. We love Credible for a few reasons. They allow you to see your options in minutes with no credit check. The compare most of the major lenders. And they make the process of getting a private loan super easy. 

Here are three other options to consider:

Abe Healthcare Professional Student Loans

Abe Student Loans offers private student loans to a undergraduate, graduate, and post-bachelor graduate certificate students, with flexible repayment options and no origination, late payment, or forbearance fees. Students can use the funds from an Abe student loan to cover the cost of expenses such as tuition, room and board, books and supplies, transportation, and other personal expenses during their time at school.

Read our full Abe Student Loans review here.

Abe℠ Student Loan Details

Product Name

Abe℠ Student Loans

Min Loan Amount

$1,000⁴

Max Loan Amount

Cost of Attendance⁴

Variable APR

3.53% – 15.91% APR¹ ²

Fixed APR

2.75% – 15.61% APR¹ ²

Loan Terms

5, 7, 10, 15, & 20 years⁵

Cosigner Required

No

Abe student loans logo

GET A QUOTE

Ascent Health Professional Student Loans

Ascent Student Loans is a solid choice as a private lender – as they offer great graduate student loans. They also offer a solid loan amount range from $2,001 – $400,000*, competitive rates, and easy repayment terms.

They offer loans starting at just $2,001* minimum, and they offer 48 month loan deferment while in school, and a grade period to postpone full principal and interest payments up to 36-months after graduation, up to 9-months after leaving the program, or otherwise dropping to less-than-half-time enrollment.

Read our full Ascent Student Loans review here.

Ascent Student Loans

Product Name

Ascent Health Professional Loan

Min Loan Amount

$2,001

Max Loan Amount

$400,000

Variable APR

4.42% -15.38% APR

Fixed APR

3.49% – 15.46% APR

Loan Terms

5, 7, 10, 12 15, or 20 years

Promotions

None

Ascent Student Loans For Grad School

GET A QUOTE

Sallie Mae Health Professional Student Loans

Sallie Mae is probably one of the most well-known lenders on this list. They are the nation’s largest private student loan lender by loan volume. As a result, they also offer some of the most competitive health professional loans out there.

You can take out Sallie Mae student loans starting at just $1,000 (which is one of the lowest) and can borrow up to the total cost of education². Sallie Mae has a variety of repayment plans to select from, they offer 48 months of deferment during your residency and fellowship⁴, and 12-months of interest-only payments after your grace period⁵.

Read our full Sallie Mae review here.

Sallie Mae Student Loans

Product Name

Sallie Mae Law School Loan

Min Loan Amount

$1,000

Max Loan Amount

Up to 100% of the school-certified expenses²

Variable APR

3.75% to 13.38% APR¹

Fixed APR

2.89%-14.99% APR¹

Loan Terms

10 or 15 years

Promotions

None

Sallie Mae

GET A QUOTE

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are several options to navigate when it comes to paying for a health professional graduate school programs. And you don’t need to totally rely on student loans (though it’s likely you will).

Sadly, many graduate health professionals do need to rely on both federal and private loans, simply due to the costs.

Just make sure that you really understand the ROI on your education before you borrow too much.

FAQs

What credit score is needed for private health professional graduate school loans?

Each lender has different standards for private health graduate school loans. However, most private student loans will require a minimum credit score of 680. The best rates will be offered to borrowers with credit scores above 780.

Can I pay interest while in school to reduce debt?

Yes! If you pay interest on your grdaute school loans while in school, it will help lower the long term costs of the loan. However, we don’t recommend it, especially if you’re going to pursue loan forgiveness.

Are student loan payments tax-deductible?

The interest portion of your student loan payments are tax deductible via the student loan interest deduction.

Are there state based graduate loan programs?

Yes, several states offer graduate loans via their state-based non-profit lenders.

Disclosures

Abe Student Loans
Before applying for a private student loan, DR Bank and Monogram LLC recommend exhausting all financial aid alternatives including grants, scholarships, and federal student loans.

The AbeSM student loan is made by DR Bank, Member FDIC (“Lender”). All loans are subject to individual approval and adherence to Lender’s underwriting guidelines. Program restrictions and other terms and conditions apply. LENDER AND MONOGRAM LLC EACH RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MODIFY OR DISCONTINUE PRODUCTS AND BENEFITS AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. TERMS, CONDITIONS AND RATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE.

* In order to estimate your available rates and loan options, with your authorization, DR Bank will initiate a soft credit inquiry. Soft credit inquiries do not affect your credit. Any rates and loan options offered to you are estimates only.

1Interest rates and APRs (Annual Percentage Rates): Interest rates and APRs (Annual Percentage Rates) depend upon (1) the student’s and cosigner’s (if applicable) credit histories, (2) the repayment option and repayment term selected, (3) the expected number of years in deferment, (4) the requested loan amount and (5) other information provided on the online loan application Rates and terms are effective as of 02/01/2026. The variable interest rate for each calendar month is calculated by adding the 30-Day Average Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) index plus a fixed margin assigned to each loan. The current SOFR index, published on the website of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is 3.75% as of 02/01/2026. The applicable index or margin for variable rate loans may change over time and result in a different APR than shown. The fixed rate assigned to a loan will never change except as required by law or if you request and qualify for an interest rate discount, or receive In-School Default Protection (see footnote 3). APRs displayed as a range: APRs assume a $10,000 loan with one disbursement. The low APRs assume a 7-year term, and the Interest-Only Repayment option with payments beginning 30-60 days after the disbursement via auto pay (see footnote 2). The high APRs assume a 5-year term with the Interest-Only Repayment option, a 31-month deferment period, and a six-month grace period before entering repayment.

2Autopay Discount: Earn a 0.25% interest rate reduction for making automatic payments from a bank account (“auto pay discount”) by completing the direct debit form accessible on the Servicer’s website. The auto pay discount is in addition to other discounts. The auto pay discount will be applied after the Servicer validates your bank account information. Automatic payments and the associated discount will be temporarily discontinued (1) if you elect to stop automatic deduction of payments and (2) during periods when you are not required to make payments. The discount will be permanently discontinued in the event three automatic deductions are returned by the financial institution for any reason.

3 In-school Default Protection: Interest Only or Flat Payment Repayment loans that reach at least 90 days delinquent during an in-school deferment period will automatically transition to the Full Deferment Repayment option. Under these circumstances, the interest rate on an original Interest Only loan will increase by one percentage point (1.00%) and the interest rate on an original Flat Payment Repayment loan will increase by one quarter of one percentage point (0.25%). Credit reporting prior to the transition of a loan to the Full Deferment Repayment option will remain on your record. Any unpaid accrued interest at the end of an in-school deferment period may be capitalized in accordance with the Credit Agreement.

4 Loan Amounts: The minimum loan amount is $1,000, except for (a) student applicants who are permanent residents of Iowa in which case the minimum loan amount is $1,001, and (b) student applicants or cosigners who are permanent residents of Massachusetts in which case the minimum loan amount is $6,001. The maximum loan amount to cover in-school expenses for each academic year is determined by the school’s cost of attendance, minus other financial aid, as certified by the school. The requested loan amount cannot cause an individual applicant’s aggregate maximum student loan debt (which includes federal and private student loans), to exceed $225,000. On a specialty graduate loan (Dental, Medical, Healthcare, Law and MBA) the loan amount cannot cause the aggregate maximum student loan debt to exceed $350,000.

5 Loan Terms: The 15- and 20- year term and Flat Payment Repayment option (paying $25 per month during in-school deferment) are only available for loan amounts of $5,000 or more. Making interest only or flat interest payments during deferment will not reduce the principal balance of the loan. Payment examples (all assume a 14-month deferment period, a six-month grace period before entering repayment, no auto pay discount, and the Interest Only Repayment option): 5-year term: $10,000 loan, one disbursement, with a 5-year repayment term (60 months) and a 9.30% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $209.04. 7-year term: $10,000 loan, one disbursement, with a 7-year repayment term (84 months) and a 6.50% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $148.49. 10-year term: $10,000 loan, one disbursement, with a 10-year repayment term (120 months) and a 6.35% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $112.76. 15-year term: $10,000 loan, one disbursement, with, a 15-year repayment term (180 months) and a 6.30% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $86.02. 20-year term: $10,000 loan, one disbursement, with, a 20-year repayment term (240 months) and an 8.38% APR would result in a monthly principal and interest payment of $86.02.

6 The student borrower has meet certain credit and other criteria, and 12 consecutive monthly principal and interest payments or lump sum payments equal to 12 monthly principal and interest payments must have been received by the Servicer during any 12-month period. While a loan is in a reduced repayment plan or while a request for a reduced payment plan is pending, borrowers are not eligible to apply for cosigner release.

7 The grace period is six months. The grace period begins on the earlier of the date (a) the student borrower graduates, (b) the student borrower ceases to be enrolled, or (c) that is 60 months from the first disbursement date, but in no case, earlier than six months after the first disbursement date. The immediate repayment option does not have a grace period.

Ascent Student Loans

*Ascent’s undergraduate and graduate student loans are funded by Bank of Lake Mills or DR Bank, each Member FDIC. Loan products may not be available in certain jurisdictions. Certain restrictions, limitations, terms and conditions may apply for Ascent’s Terms and Conditions please visit AscentFunding.com/Ts&Cs. 

Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) displayed are effective as of 2/1/2026 and reflect an Automatic Payment Discount (ACH). The ACH discount consists of 0.25% on credit-based college student loans submitted prior to 6/1/2025, a 0.5% discount for on credit-based college student loans submitted on or after 6/1/2025 and a 1.00% discount on outcomes-based loans when you enroll in automatic payments. Loans subject to individual approval, restrictions, and conditions apply. Loan features and information advertised are intended for college student loans and are subject to change at any time.

The final amount approved depends on the borrower’s credit history, verifiable cost of attendance as certified by an eligible school and is subject to credit approval and verification of application information. Lowest interest rates require full principal and interest (Immediate) payments, the shortest loan term, a cosigner, and are only available for our most creditworthy applicants and cosigners with the highest average credit scores. Actual APR offered may be higher or lower than the examples above, based on the amount of time you spend in school and any grace period you have before repayment begins. Variable rates may increase after consummation.1% Cash Back Graduation Reward subject to terms and conditions. For details on Ascent borrower benefits, visit AscentFunding.com/BorrowerBenefits. Ascent applicants and borrowers that agree to the AscentUP Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, as well as students associated with an Ascent parent loan application, have access to the AscentUP platform.

The following examples for a $10,000 loan show a 48-month in-school period plus 9 months of grace prior to a full repayment term for 60-months (variable rate), with examples of (i) Interest Only payments, (ii) $25 Minimum payments, (iii) Deferred repayment, and (iv) Immediate Repayment options.

Interest Only Repayment: 6.17% APR, with 57 payments of $51.42 while in-school/grace, 60 payments of $194.14 during the repayment term, and a total cost of $14,580.18.

$25 Minimum Payment: 6.76% APR, with 57 payments of $25.00 while in-school/grace, 60 payments of $238.17 during the repayment term, and a total cost of $15,715.33.

Deferred Repayment: 6.94%, with no payment while in-school/grace, 60 payments of $274.33 during the repayment term, and a total cost of $16,442.48.

Immediate Repayment: 4.17% APR, with 60 payments of $184.94, and a total cost of $11,096.48. 

The following examples for a $10,000 loan show a 48-month in-school period plus 9 months of grace prior to a full repayment term for 180-months (highest variable rate), with examples of (i) Interest Only payments, (ii) $25 Minimum payments, (iii) Deferred repayment, and (iv) Immediate Repayment options.

Interest Only Repayment: 14.58% APR, with 57 payments of $121.42 while in-school/grace, 180 payments of $137.06 during the repayment term, and a total cost of $31,592.42.

$25 Minimum Payment: 13.51% APR, with 57 payments of $25.00 while in-school/grace, 180 payments of $220.02 during the repayment term, and a total cost of $41,030.37.

Deferred Repayment: 14.34%, with no payment while in-school/grace, 180 payments of $266.71 during the repayment term, and a total cost of $47,302.81.

Immediate Repayment: 14.33% APR, with 60 payments of $135.38, and a total cost of $24,369.53.

Sallie Mae

¹Rates displayed are for graduate school student loans:

Lowest rates shown include the auto debit discount: Additional information regarding the auto debit discount: Advertised APRs for undergraduate students assume a $10,000 loan to a student who attends school for 4 years and has no prior Sallie Mae-serviced loans. Interest rates for variable rate loans may increase or decrease over the life of the loan based on changes to the 30-day Average Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) rounded up to the nearest one-eighth of one percent. Advertised variable rates are the starting range of rates and may vary outside of that range over the life of the loan. Interest is charged starting when funds are sent to the school. With the Fixed and Deferred Repayment Options, the interest rate is higher than with the Interest Repayment Option and Unpaid Interest is added to the loan’s Current Principal at the end of the grace/separation period. To receive a 0.25 percentage point interest rate discount, the borrower or cosigner must enroll in auto debit through Sallie Mae. The discount applies only during active repayment for as long as the Current Amount Due or Designated Amount is successfully withdrawn from the authorized bank account each month. It may be suspended during forbearance or deferment. *These rates will be effective 1/26/2026.

Terms:

Examples of typical costs for a $10,000 Smart Option Student Loan with the most common fixed rate, fixed repayment option, 6-month separation period, and two disbursements: For a borrower with no prior loans and a 4-year in-school period, it works out to a 10.28% fixed APR, 51 payments of $25.00, 119 payments of $182.67 and one payment of $121.71, for a Total Loan Cost of $23,134.44. For a borrower with $20,000 in prior loans and a 2-year in-school period, it works out to a 10.78% fixed APR, 27 payments of $25.00, 179 payments of $132.53 and one payment of $40.35 for a total loan cost of $24,438.22. Loans that are subject to a $50 minimum principal and interest payment amount may receive a loan term that is less than 10 years.

² For applications submitted directly to Sallie Mae, loan amount cannot exceed the cost of attendance less financial aid received, as certified by the school. Applications submitted to Sallie Mae through a partner website may be subjected to a lower maximum loan request amount. Miscellaneous personal expenses (such as a laptop) may be included in the cost of attendance for students enrolled at least half-time.

⁴ To apply for this deferment, customers and an official from the internship, clerkship, fellowship, or residency program must complete and submit a deferment form  to us for consideration. If approved, deferment periods are issued in up to 12-month increments. Customers can apply for and receive a maximum of four 12-month deferment periods. Interest is charged during the deferment period and Unpaid Interest may be added to the Current Principal at the end of each deferment period, which will increase the Total Loan Cost.

⁵ GRP allows interest-only payments for the initial 12-month period of repayment when the loan would normally begin requiring full principal and interest payments or during the 12-month period after GRP request is granted, whichever is later. At the time of GRP request, the loan must be current. The borrower may request GRP only during the six billing periods immediately preceding and the twelve billing periods immediately after the loan would normally begin requiring full principal and interest payments. GRP does not extend the loan term. If approved for GRP, the Current Amount Due that is required to be paid each month after the GRP ends will be higher than it otherwise would have been without GRP, and the total loan cost will increase.

Editor: Colin Graves

The post Best Health Professional Student Loans And Rates appeared first on The College Investor.

Competition Bureau expands real estate sector probe to include Vancouver board




The Competition Bureau says it has obtained a court order to expand its ongoing investigation into potential anti-competitive conduct in Canada’s real estate sector to include Greater Vancouver Realtors.

Four years after Russia invaded Ukraine, nearly 2 million soldiers are dead, wounded or missing



When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine surpassed 1,418 days last month, it officially exceeded a historic milestone — the same span of time it took Moscow to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II.

And unlike the Red Army that pushed all the way to Berlin eight decades ago in what it called the Great Patriotic War, Russia’s 4-year-old, all-out invasion of its neighbor is still struggling to fully capture Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland.

After Moscow failed to seize the capital of Kyiv and install a puppet government in February 2022, the conflict turned into trench warfare with tremendous cost. By some estimates, nearly 2 million soldiers are dead, wounded or missing on both sides in Europe’s most devastating conflict since World War II.

Russia has occupied about 20% of Ukrainian territory since illegally annexing Crimea in 2014, but its gains after the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion have been slow. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte this month likened Moscow’s advance to “the speed of a garden snail.”

Russian troops have moved only about 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) into the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine in the past two years in a grinding battle for control of a few strongholds.

Despite the slow pace and high cost, President Vladimir Putin has maintained his maximalist demands in U.S.-mediated peace talks, saying Kyiv must pull its forces from the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed but never fully captured. He has repeatedly brandished his nuclear arsenal to prevent the West from boosting military support for Kyiv.

A war of attrition

Initially involving quick movements of large numbers of troops and tanks in Russia’s opening blitz and Ukraine’s counteroffensive in fall 2022, the fighting morphed into bloody positional warfare along the 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) front line.

The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated Russian military casualties at 1.2 million, including 325,000 killed. It put Ukrainian troop casualties at up to 600,000, including up to 140,000 killed.

“Russia has suffered the highest casualty rate of any major power in any war since World War II, and its military has performed poorly, with historically slow rates of advance and little new territory to show for its efforts over the last two years,” it said, noting Russian troops were advancing an average of 70 meters (76 1/2 yards) a day in two years to capture the transport hub of Pokrovsk.

For the first time in military history, drones are playing a decisive role, making it effectively impossible for either side to covertly mass significant numbers of troops.

Since early in the conflict, Ukraine has relied on drones to offset Moscow’s edge in firepower and stem its advances, but Russia has drastically expanded drone operations and introduced longer-range optical fiber-tethered drones to avoid electronic jamming. They widened the kill zone to 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) from the front, leaving the terrain tangled in strands of filament.

The mixture of high-tech drones and World War I-style trench fighting has seen small groups of infantry — often just two or three soldiers — try to infiltrate enemy positions into towns flattened by Russian heavy artillery and glide bombs. Ferrying supplies and evacuating the wounded is a major challenge as drones target supply routes.

Long-range attacks

Ukrainian officials described this winter as the most challenging of the war. Russia exponentially increased its strikes on the country’s energy system, causing blackouts in Kyiv where power supplies to many were cut to a few hours a day amid bitter cold.

Russia also has increasingly targeted power lines aiming to halt energy transfers and split Ukraine’s power grid into isolated islands, increasing pressure on the grid.

Ukraine retaliated with long-range drone attacks on oil refineries and other energy facilities deep inside Russia, aiming to drain Moscow’s export revenues.

Its drones and missiles sank several Russian warships in the Black Sea, forcing Moscow to redeploy its fleet from Russia-occupied Crimea to Novorossiysk. And in an audacious attack code-named “Spiderweb,”Ukraine used drones from trucks to hit several air bases hosting long-range bombers across Russia in June, a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.

US pressure, conflicting demands

U.S. President Donald Trump, who once promised to end the war in a day, has pushed to end the fighting, but mediation efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands.

Putin wants Ukraine to pull its troops from the part of the Donetsk region it still controls, abandon its bid to join NATO, curb its military and grant official status to the Russian language, among other demands Ukraine has rejected.

Russia left the door open to Kyiv’s prospective European Union membership, but it firmly ruled out any European peacekeepers deployed to Ukraine as part of a settlement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants a ceasefire along the existing line of contact, but Putin rules out a truce, demanding a comprehensive peace agreement.

“The territorial issue is important to the Kremlin, but the war has a more ambitious goal: to create a Ukraine that would be entirely within Russia’s sphere of influence and not perceived by Moscow as ‘anti-Russia,’” observed Tatiana Stanovaya of Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.

Ukraine and its allies accuse Putin of dragging out talks while he seizes more territory. The Kremlin accuses Kyiv and its European supporters of trying to undermine a tentative agreement reached by Trump and Putin at their Alaska summit.

While sticking to their positions, Putin and Zelenskyy have praised U.S. mediation and tried to curry favor with Trump.

After a disastrous White House meeting a year ago, Zelenskyy has adopted a more practical negotiating stance, emphasizing Ukraine’s goodwill.

After Trump called for a presidential election in Ukraine, Zelenskyy signaled readiness for it even though it’s banned under martial law. The election could be coupled with a referendum on a peace deal, he said, but insisted the vote was only possible once a ceasefire is established and Ukraine gets security guarantees from the U.S. and other allies.

Elusive settlement

Zelenskyy said the White House has set a June deadline for the war’s end and will likely pressure both sides to meet it. But even as Trump appears eager for a peace deal before the U.S. midterm elections, challenges remain.

With Putin insisting on Ukraine’s pullback from Donetsk and Zelenskyy ruling it out, a quick deal appears unlikely. Zelenskyy also expressed skepticism about a compromise U.S. proposal to turn the eastern region into a free economic zone.

The Kremlin expects its attacks eventually will force Kyiv to accept Moscow’s terms. Ukraine hopes it can hold on until Trump loses patience and increases sanctions on Russia, forcing Putin to halt his aggression. But Trump often appears to be losing patience with Zelenskyy instead.

The war and Western sanctions have increasingly strained Russia’s economy. Growth has slowed to a near halt, due to persistent inflation and labor shortages. The latest U.S. sanctions on Russian oil exportshave added to the strain.

But even with the economic challenges, Russia’s defense plants have increased weapons output and its government has shielded key social groups like soldiers and industrial workers from hardship.

“Its economy is poorer, less efficient and less promising than it might otherwise have been,” wrote Richard Connolly of the Royal United Services Institute. “But it remains capable of sustaining the war. Its elites are more dependent on the regime, not less. Its political system is insulated from the transmission of economic discontent into pressure for regime change.”

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How to Buy Your First (or Next) Rental Property in 2026 (Step by Step)


Want to buy your first rental property in 2026? You’ve come to the right place! Whether you dream of becoming a “small and mighty” investor or building a large real estate portfolio, buying that first property is often the biggest hurdle. But today, we’re going to show you how to do just that, step by step!

Welcome back to the Real Estate Rookie podcast! Real estate investing might seem daunting, but in this episode, Ashley and Tony break the entire process down into manageable, rookie-friendly steps. We cover everything from setting goals and laying the right financial foundation to making offers and getting properties under contract. Along the way, you’ll learn how to choose your investing strategy, pick your market, analyze deals, and build out your very own investing team.

Even if you’re starting with zero knowledge or experience, it doesn’t need to take six months, a year, or longer to buy an investment property. With our rookie-friendly roadmap, you have all of the tips and tools you need to take down that first property in 90 days or less!

Ashley:
You’ve been learning about real estate but still haven’t done your first deal, this episode is for you.

Tony:
Yeah, because a lot of rookies aren’t stuck because they don’t know enough. They’re stuck because they don’t know what to do next.

Ashley:
So today we’re breaking down a simple 90 day roadmap to get your first investment property under contract week by week.

Tony:
And this is based on the framework from Real Estate Rookie 90 Days to Your First Investment, which is the lovely book written by my co-host, Ashley Kehr. And we’re turning it into a practical checklist you can actually follow.

Ashley:
This is the Real Estate Rookie podcast. And I’m Ashley Kehr.

Tony:
And I’m Tony j Robinson. And with that, let’s get into the very first step, which is laying your foundation. So Ash, what does it mean to lay your foundation as a rookie real estate investor?

Ashley:
Yeah, before you even think about analyzing a deal or finding a deal, you need to set your foundation and you need to understand why you’re investing in real estate. What is your goal? What do you want out of it? And you also need to build a personal finance foundation. So when I say that you need to be able to know where your capital is coming from. You need to understand finances because a lot of investing is finance, whether it’s stocks, whether it’s a real estate investment. So there’s all these things that you need to do ahead of time before you actually continue on your real estate journey. So let’s start with first, why do you want to get into real estate? Because that can really shape and tailor what strategy you’re going to do, how much time you’re going to put into it, what deal you’re going to find.
Then what are your goals? Do you want to acquire one property in the next year? Do you want to retire within five years from real estate? Then your personal finance foundation, you want to be able to manage your own money before you’re going to go and take on this business, this investment, and have to manage the money that this property is bringing in and the money that is going to go out from this property with the expenses. So I think those are really three things that you need to lock down and set a foundation for before we even continue on your journey to get a deal in 90 days.

Tony:
Yeah, and I think a big piece of laying that foundation too is just understanding what your motivations are because you can’t optimize for all things equally. And the biggest things that we have to look at when we talk about investing in real estate are like the biggest motivations are typically tax benefits, cashflow and appreciation. And it’s not common that you can find a deal that equally satisfies all three of those. So it’s important as you’re getting started to understand what is it that I’m trying to optimize for and what is it that I’m willing to maybe take a little bit of a less return on because I’m optimizing for this other thing. So if you really want cashflow, then maybe those markets that are great for cashflow aren’t as great for appreciation. But if you’re in a situation where you love your day job and you’re fine with what you do day to day and you’re really investing for retirement, well then that strategy looks a little bit different. So I think just having a really clear picture on not only what are your motivations, but how would you rank them from most important to least important.

Ashley:
And we’re going to give you a couple action items as we go week by week. And the first thing I want you guys to do is block time on your calendar right now, maybe two to three hours, and this is where you’re going to sit down and you’re going to answer all of these questions. You’re going to define your why. You’re going to understand your goals, you’re going to set the foundation. A really great dashboard that I use for my finances is monarch money. And so I can get a picture of my own finances and know where my money is coming in and out, but I think sitting down and actually thinking about this and putting it in writing, whether that’s typing it up on your computer, whether that’s writing it down in a notepad, a journal, but actually taking time to really put that vision together of what real estate is going to do for you and where you want it to take your finances in general.

Tony:
And I think the last piece that I would say is that you’ve got to identify what your strategy and your niche is. When I say niche, I mean what asset class or what type of real estate do you want to buy? Do you want to buy single family homes? Do you want to buy small multifamily? Do you want large multifamily? Do you want mobile homes? Do you want, man, we’ve had people flip and sell and buy all kinds of things, manufactured homes. We interviewed a guest who all she did was buy manufactured homes. So identifying what type of property you want to buy and then what’s your strategy that you’re going to layer on top of that specific niche. So I can go out and I can flip single family homes. I think that’s what most people associate flipping with, but we’ve also met people who go out and they flip nothing but condos, right? That’s a different process than flipping a single family home or at a larger scale. People who flip apartment complexes, they buy them, they renovate them, then they sell them 12 to 24 months later. So understanding not only what your niche is, but what strategy makes the most sense for you on top of that niche.

Ashley:
And after you decide what investing strategy you’re going to do in that niche, we actually have a buy box resource for you guys to help you build out even more detail as to what strategy, what type of property you actually want to purchase. And this, when you get further down the road into deal analysis will really help narrow down the type of properties that you analyze to really cut out the fluff, the properties that you know don’t want or don’t make sense anyways. So you can go to biggerpockets.com/resource and you can check out the resource hub there. We have beginner resources at tons of things, but you’ll find the buy box there among other things.

Tony:
So once we knock that out, Ash, when we’ve got the foundation laid, the next piece or the next big step is choosing the market to invest into. And I think I’ll open this point by saying that the biggest mistake that Ricks make when it comes to choosing a market is they fall victim to the Goldilocks syndrome where they’re looking for the city where everything is just right, everything’s perfect, but in reality, guys, there are 20,000 plus different cities across the United States. So chances are there’s not just one city that’s the best city for you to invest into. There were hundreds if not thousands of cities that would make sense for you to invest into. So the goal isn’t to necessarily identify the one city that is the absolute best for you. The goal is to identify multiple cities that align with your goals and support what you’re trying to do as an investor. So I think just switching that mindset from the beginning is a big change that most rookies need to make.

Ashley:
So as we’re identifying a market, we have a ton of resources also for that, you can once again go to the resource hub, but also on BiggerPockets, we have a find a market section. So you go to the top of the page, you can click on find a Market, and this will actually walk you through find a market that works for what you want and what you’re looking for and will give you the data and the statistics on that market. Another great resource is a neighborhood watch, a bright investor, and even chat GPT, just putting in a prompt as to, I’m looking to invest in this market. Can you please tell me this specific data about the market? So you’re going to be looking at job growth, average home prices, average rents, how do the property taxes compare to other states? How do the landlord tenant laws compare?
So you’re going to gather all of this information. The really hard part is if you have no idea where you’re going to invest, what market you’re going to invest in is just picking out of the millions of markets that are available out there. So I think a really great resource is to find top 10 lists to go into the BiggerPockets forums. Look, where are other investors getting deals? Where are they making it work on social media? But I say this with caution. Just because you’re going to go it works for somebody else in a market doesn’t mean that it’s going to work for you. These are just starting points somewhere for you to start to start looking at these markets. And then you’re going to go and you’re going to verify, and you’re going to do your own due diligence to make sure that market works for what you want to do. Tony Invest and Joshua Tree, I have long-term rentals. If I see Tony’s successful there, I’m going to go and look for a long-term rental. Tony, I’m probably not going to be successful buying a property there and listing as a long-term rental, correct?

Tony:
And same for me. If I tried to go into your neck of the woods and put a really crazy short-term rental next to the cow farm, actually maybe that would do well, that actually might do well. So that actually might be a really good idea. So ignore that point, but you guys get where I was trying to go with that.

Ashley:
You can open the windows in the morning, get a beautiful draft of manure. Actually that’s an upsell. And do you want fresh manure or liquid manure? There’s two different,

Tony:
I didn’t even know that liquid manure was a thing, so I just learned something new about it.

Ashley:
I can handle fresh manure, but liquid manure when they spray that field, that sounds

Tony:
Like something to make your

Ashley:
Skin

Tony:
Crawl. Oh my

Ashley:
Goodness. Okay. Now we need somebody to tell us in the comments if they are making it work with a high end, a luxury short-term rental next to a farm. So now that you’ve analyzed and looked at markets, once you’ve actually selected a market, or maybe you’ve selected two or three and you’re going to start looking at the listings, you want to look at least five to 10 active listings for this week. So we’re into week four at this point. Okay? And you want to even more than that will be better. And even though you could look at the listing and say, I already know this isn’t going to make sense, practice analyzing them. Look up what the rent would be for each property. Estimate the expenses, what would the insurance cost be? This right here, another great plug of why I love BiggerPockets because they actually have an insurance estimator on the website.
So I think it’s under Analyze deals section, and you can go and you can just put in the property information and it’ll give you an estimate of what the insurance would be. Also too, now that you can use the deal calculators from BiggerPockets, and if you don’t have a, I think you get like five free Tony, the calculators to use to analyze. If you need to use more than that, which I highly suggest, you can use Ashley or Tony, I think either one of our names will give you 20% off a pro membership. But you’re going to pull these listings and you’re going to practice analyzing these deals. And after looking at the deals, you’re going to get a really good kind of foundation as to what works in this market, what doesn’t work. Maybe a duplex is actually better than getting in a single family, or you know what? All of these don’t work at all or not even close. So being able to compare these properties, you could even go as far as every deal you analyze, take the calculator reports, start a spreadsheet, writing down what you notice, what worked, what didn’t work, and start writing down those patterns that you notice and that can actually help you really tighten up your buy box too.

Tony:
We’ve covered the first few steps you need to take to get your first deal in the next 90 days. We’re going to take a quick break and when we get back, we’re going to talk about the numbers associated with buying that first deal. So we’ll be right back afterward from today’s show sponsors.

Ashley:
When I bought my first rental, I thought collecting rent would be the hardest part. I was wrong. I didn’t expect to be playing an accountant, banker and debt collector on top of being an investor, but that’s what I was doing every weekend, flipping between a bunch of apps, bank statements and receipts, trying to sort it all out property and figure out who’s late on rent. Then I found Base Lane and it takes all of that off my plate. It’s BiggerPockets official platform that automatically sorts my transactions, matches receipts, and collects rent for every property. My tax prep is done and my weekends are mine again. Plus I’m saving a ton of money on banking fees and apps I don’t need anymore. Get a $100 bonus when you sign up [email protected] slash bp BiggerPockets Pro members also get a free upgrade to Base Lane Smart that’s packed with advanced automations and features to save you even more time.

Tony:
Alright, guys, we’re back. We talked about laying your foundation. We talked about finding the right market, but now once you know where to go, you’ve got to find the deals within that market to actually buy, and that’s where we get to our next step, and this will take you about two weeks, which is the actual analysis of deals in that market. Now, my strong recommendation to everyone is to challenge yourself to analyze a lot of deals in a very short period of time. You could do seven deals in seven days. I like the idea of 30 deals in 30 days, but the goal is that most people do not find deals simply because they’re not analyzing or underwriting enough. And if you can compress a lot of activity into a very short period of time, you increase the likelihood of you actually finding a deal.
So that’s my challenge to you. 30 deals in 30 days. Now, how do you actually build that skillset of analyzing deals? Well, we’ve got the calculators in the BiggerPockets website, which are great tools to show you what data needs to go into it, but in terms of finding the data, and it’ll vary from strategy to strategy. So I’ll hit on short-term rentals. I like to look at things like average daily rate and occupancy and overall revenue and expenses and cleaning fees, and we put all those together to try and understand what the revenue and the expenses and profitability might be. Ash, what about for you on the long-term rental side?

Ashley:
Yeah, well, the first thing I wanted to bring up, Tony, is with the real estate Robinsons, you did a 30 day deal analysis challenge before, didn’t you? And what was the result of that? How beneficial was that?

Tony:
Every time we do that, we find that someone is under contract on something without fail. When you can compress that much activity into a very short period of time, you’re almost guaranteeing that you’ll find something.

Ashley:
So on the long-term rental side, one thing that I’ve always struggled with when I first started out was missing expenses and not having them. So I think following the deal calculator is really beneficial because it literally tells you all of the expenses that are in there, but then also looking at, it’s not going to say snowplowing specifically because that’s very market dependent. So that’s where it pays to go into the BiggerPockets forums, to go into Facebook groups to ask in the market that you’re investing in, what are some other expenses that I’m not aware of? Another thing is to look at the property and understand where any other expenses could come up. So if you have a, okay, so you may need to pay for somebody to maintain the pool. Your insurance may be more because you have a pool looking at if there is some kind of water system in the property that needs to be up kept in or the furnace filters need to be changed, are you going to be paying for that or the tenant’s going to be paying that for that.
So there’s a lot of additional items that you may not think of for a long-term rental just because it’s, oh, I got my mortgage payment, the tenant is taking care of everything else, but make sure that is written into your lease agreement then, or if you’re inheriting tenants, make sure you understand from their lease agreement what they are and aren’t responsible for. Because if you find out they’re actually not replacing the furnace filters and you have to replace those every six months, if you find out they’re not buying salt for the sidewalk, all these other little things that need to be done to upkeep your property, we do have a recurring property maintenance guide in the resource hub also, and this guide goes through things like cleaning out gutters, when should you do it? The maintenance on your furnace, your hot water tank, all these little things that you probably do as a homeowner, but you may not think of as your rental property because somebody else is living there and it’s out of sight, out of mind.
Not that you mean to ignore the property, but you’re not living in it day to day to look and say like, oh man, that furnace filter is getting filled. I need to replace that. So those are some of the challenges that I have experienced when analyzing deals for long-term rentals is not thinking of all those little nuances that come along. So practice, practice, practice in your market and then going to your meetups, connecting with other investors and find somebody that will look over your deal analysis that’s in your market. Tony and I could sit here all day long and you could give us your calculator reports, your deal analysis, and we could look and point out at things, but there are going to be things that we don’t know about your market that somebody who is investing in that market will know way better and know more about and say these little nuances and things like that and be able to point them out to you.

Tony:
I think the last thing I’d add to the underwriting is that you have to understand that the first several deals that you analyze, it’s going to take you a pain thinkingly large amount of time to actually get through those deals, but as you do more the time it takes you to do one, it’s going to be this much. If you’re listening to this, my hands are very far apart right now, and by the time you get to deal number five, it gets a little bit smaller. By the time you get to deal number 10, it gets even smaller. By the time you get to deal number 20, you’re now flying through this because you’ve already analyzed 19 other three bedroom, two bath properties and your specific zip codes. You have a sense of what the revenue is, what the expenses look like. So now you’re kind of flying through it. So you’ve got to build that momentum, build that flywheel, really trudge through those first five or 10. But by the time you get to again, 15, 20 deals, analyze in a specific market with a specific buy box, you’ll be flying through it.

Ashley:
So then after that, we’re going to head on to building your team. So some of the important team members that you’ll need is if you’re going to do financing, you’re going to need a lender or a private money lender or wherever you’re getting money from to actually purchase the property. You need that person on your team. You could need a wholesaler or a real estate agent depending on how you are purchasing properties, even if you’re doing it off market, like if you’re in New York like me, you need to use an attorney to close. So you’ll need an attorney on your team. You could need a title company. So building your team, you can go to biggerpockets.com/team, and we have connections with these team members, accountants, bookkeepers, lenders, anything you can think of for real estate property managers that we can connect you with in your market.
You basically like a matchmaking service. So you can go and check that out if that’s something you are missing. Then another thing is asking for referrals, connecting with other investors in that market, in that area, putting it on your Facebook. You never know who you’re friends with on Facebook, that is also an investor. So then you start making those connections, reach out to a real estate agent, reach out to an insurance agent, reach out to a contractor and handyman, and I know this may be awkward as to you don’t even have a deal yet, but starting that process with a contractor or an insurance agent, but still an insurance agent, could be the person that you have for your home and auto insurance, and you already have an established relationship with them, a contractor handyman, just for getting an idea. Just call them, let them know what you’re trying to do and that you’re looking for a handyman to take care of a property once you get in under contract and see if that’s even something they’d be interested in.
What are the rates, things like that. Ask for start building a list. So Daryl’s super good at this. Whenever we see a truck or something that has Tony’s painting company, he’ll take a picture of it and it usually has the website or the phone number, and then he has a little spreadsheet that he updates, and then eventually I put it in monday.com because he likes his spreadsheet better. But we just have this whole list of contractors and huge majority of them we’ve never even used, but we have them there, and we just keep this database of contractors if we ever need them.

Tony:
Great minds think alike. I have an iPhone album where as I’m driving, I just snap photos and I save it to that specific album. And that’s how I had folks in my Rolodex. But also on the BiggerPockets website, you guys, we have the agent finder, the lender finder. There’s a place where you can find tax professionals, property managers, people to do 10 31 exchanges. So as you’re starting to look for these folks to build out your team, go into BiggerPockets first is one of the, probably a good first step.

Ashley:
So once you’ve got your team built, you’ve analyzing deals, now it’s time to actually take action and make the offers. Okay, now there’s a couple of things you need to get comfortable with to make your offers. You need to have some kind of trust with your agent if you’re doing on market deals, or you need to have somebody that actually understands a real estate contract, like an attorney that can help you if you are doing off market, because you’ll still need to have a formal contract together. And I do not suggest just finding one online or having chat GPT create a contract for you to put together. So once you have that, you can start making offers on properties and negotiating deals. One thing that I had struggled with for a while was I would be embarrassed to do low ball offers. I would feel like I was offending the person and now I have no problem at all.
The worst thing that has happened with making a low ball offer is that they just say no and that’s it. And maybe something like, no, that’s too low. That’s an insult to us. Okay, no big deal. And then I usually follow up, well, let us know if you change your mind. Sometimes they’ll negotiate back with me. I get a counter offer. Sometimes it’s accepted. So if you’re analyzing deals and it looks like no deals are working for you, try lowering the purchase price. That’s the easiest thing to manipulate, the easiest number to change. If you change any other numbers, you might make your deal not accurate because you’re manipulating the numbers. So decrease your purchase price until the deal works for you and start throwing out those offers.

Tony:
Yeah, Ash, I could not agree more. I think the biggest mistake that rookie investors make is that they take whatever the listing price is as the lowest acceptable price that a seller is willing to entertain, when in reality they might be overpricing. Just knowing that they’re going to get a lot of lower priced offers. So get the offers out based on where it makes the most sense for you. But just like how on the previous step, we talked about analyzing a lot of deals, the same thing is true for getting your offers out. When we were super, super heavy in acquisition mode, I would send my agent 10 to 15 properties with my listing price attached or with my offer price attached to each one, and majority of the time, all 15 would say no. But every once in a while I get one that says yes. And that’s how we built our portfolio specifically for the on-market deal. So don’t worry too much about what your offer price is, just get it out where it makes the most sense for you.

Ashley:
We have to take one more quick break, but we’ll be right back after this to talk about what happens when you get a deal under contract. Okay, welcome back. So the last part of this process is you got your offer accepted and now you have the property under. So you’ve submitted offers and you get one accepted, okay, like, yay, this is exciting. Let’s pop the champagne. But now the real work begins. You don’t get to celebrate right away. You have to do your inspection, which I highly, highly recommend doing in today’s market. And as a rookie investor, a couple of years ago, it was hard to make an offer and do an inspection and get it accepted because it was so competitive. But things have changed. I’m doing an inspection on every single offer that I’ve been putting out, and they’re getting accepted with the inspection.
So then you’re going to have to go through and line up your insurance on the property, start working on the financing details, work with the lender, get your commitment for your loan, things like that. So once you’re under contract, there’s a lot of things to do. If you do have tenants in place, you want to do an estoppel agreement. This is where you are getting information from the tenant. We also have this in the resource up for you in BiggerPockets, but it’s basically a letter. You’re sending the tenants with the seller’s permission, asking for information, basically what you’re putting on there. Do the lease agreements that the seller is telling you. Is that information the same as what the tenants saying? Are they verifying that information? Because you don’t want to buy a property, find out the seller said the tenants are actually paying a thousand dollars per month.
But then once you close, the tenant says, no, I pay $500. The landlord pays all utilities, things like that. So it’s always a great idea. And then just getting your utilities into your name or make sure they’re in the tenant name, if that’s how the lease is. Rent, finalize your loan. We do have a closing checklist too that you guys can check out in the resource hub. And if you’re going to use property management, start getting that set up. Start planning for that day that you close and take over. How are you going to notify the tenants? How are they going to contact you? If you are going to manage, if they need to get you need, get property management software in place, now is the time to set it up. All of these things you need to do while the property is actually under contract. And if you’re doing a rehab, now is the time to get the dumpster set up to get the demo guys ready to take that first step right when you close.

Tony:
The only thing I’ll add to that, Ashley, is don’t be afraid to walk away from the deal during this period either if things come up during your inspection, during your due diligence. That is the entire reason that we have a due diligence period in a contract, is to give you the ability to either renegotiate or walk away from the deal. So do not get so emotionally attached to the first offer that you’ve actually gotten accepted that you end up stepping into a deal that doesn’t make sense. So don’t be afraid to walk away if and when it’s needed.

Ashley:
And once you’ve closed down the property, it is time to celebrate. But once again, there’s still work that needs to be done. Now. You have to manage your tenants or manage your property if you’re doing a short-term rental and make sure you have your operations in place, and now maybe you’re furnishing the property. So this is where the fund begins, the real work begins, and you are now a real estate investor. Thank you guys so much for joining us today. I’m Ashley. He’s Tony. And we’ll see you guys on the next episode of Real Estate Rookie.

 

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