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How Mortgage Rates Could Have a Winning Week


It’s been hard for mortgage rates to buy a bucket lately.

They’ve been creeping higher and higher all month with seemingly no letup in sight.

The worst part is they were at the lowest levels in over three years at the end of February.

Question is, what can stop the pain and deliver rates a rare W to end the month of March?

Well, if we’re honest, it’s going to take a combination of mutual restraint in the Middle East and more weak jobs data.

Mortgage Rates Need a Clear Message That Things Are Cooling Off in the Middle East

First and foremost, mortgage rates need a clear message that tensions in the Middle East are easing.

It seems every day we get mixed messages, today being no different.

On Truth Social, President Donald Trump said, “The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran.”

While that seemed to make markets happy, as evidenced in the 10-year bond yield chart above, he followed that statement by adding something that might provoke Iran.

“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately “Open for Business,” we will conclude our lovely “stay” in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!).”

So clearly we’re getting a little bit of dovishness and hawkishness, all rolled into one.

And it’s unclear if Iran will be amenable to that type of talk, which is basically a threat packaged as a peace deal.

Yesterday, he said Iran had agreed to “most of” the United States’ 15-point peace plan, though we continue to hear conflicting reports.

Long story short here, we need to see actual, positive dialogue between the two countries, something Pakistan is reportedly attempting to host.

If Iran and the U.S. can have constructive talks that lead to an end of the conflict, oil prices would settle down, bond yields would ease, and mortgage rates would get a win.

But it all hangs in the balance, as there’s simultaneous talk of boots on the ground, which would be a clear ratcheting up of the current situation.

Mortgage Rates Need Cool Economic Data to Offset Recent Inflation Fears

The second ingredient needed for a winning week is cool economic data, namely a soft jobs report on Friday.

Before that, we have job openings on Tuesday, retail sales and the ADP jobs report on Wednesday, and finally the big BLS Employment Situation to cap off the week.

If those reports point to cooler data, especially when it comes to the labor market, mortgage rates will benefit from additional downward pressure.

While inflation concerns are elevated because of the Middle East conflict, namely due to surging oil prices, weak labor has been the offset.

Sure, we don’t want to root for a flagging economy, but if jobs numbers are robust AND inflation is rearing its ugly head again, it’ll be bad news for mortgage rates.

So you kind of need a jobs report miss and weak data in these other reports if you want mortgage rates to go down this week.

It’s a tall task given the conflict in Iran is still very much taking center stage.

But if we somehow see easing tensions there and weak economic data here, mortgage rates can be the beneficiary.

Especially since they’ve increased so much in such a short period of time, rising from sub-6% levels to 6.625% in the span of less than a month.

As always, take advantage of small windows of opportunity if you’re deciding whether to lock or float your mortgage rate.

We’re currently in an uptrend so if and when a winning week presents itself, be ready to pounce.

Colin Robertson
Latest posts by Colin Robertson (see all)

Blake Foster appointed Head of Business Intelligence a HYBE America


HYBE America has appointed Blake Foster as Head of Business Intelligence, tasking the former Warner Music Group executive with overseeing data strategy and analytics across the company’s US operations.

In the newly created role, Foster will be responsible for developing HYBE America’s data infrastructure and building out its insights function, with a focus on harnessing the data generated by the company’s artists and IP.

Foster joins from Warner Music Group, where he most recently served as Senior Vice President of Business Intelligence.

In that role, he led the company’s analytics and insights division, overseeing a team of data specialists and contributing to enterprise-wide data strategy, including performance measurement and forecasting processes.

According to Monday’s (March 30) announcement, he also played a role in broader digital transformation initiatives, including efforts to prepare the organization for AI-driven workflows.

Prior to leading Business Intelligence, Foster served as SVP of Global Catalog Development & Marketing at WMG, where, according a press release, “he drove more than $7 million in incremental revenue and 2 billion incremental streams in just two years by defining and executing a global strategy for on-roster catalog” for artists like including Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Sia, Charlie Puth, and Wiz Khalifa.

Prior to WMG, Foster held senior marketing roles at Atlantic Records and served as General Manager of OWSLA, the electronic music label founded by Skrillex.

During his frontline career, he worked on campaigns for artists including Skrillex and Diplo, David Guetta, and Icona Pop, spanning the EDM/pop crossover wave of the 2010s.

These included releases such as Skrillex and Diplo’s collaborative project featuring Where Are Ü Now, which relaunched Justin Bieber’s career; David Guetta’s highest-charting album (Listen), which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200; and Icona Pop’s I Love It.

HYBE America said Foster will focus on aligning data, strategy, and creative execution as the company continues to scale its operations in the United States.

The hire arrives amid a broader period of executive expansion at HYBE America. The company recently rebranded its Nashville-based Big Machine Label Group as Blue Highway Records and appointed Jake Basden as CEO, shortly before the departure of longtime executive Scott Borchetta.

Elsewhere, HYBE America has made several senior leadership appointments in recent months, including Ethiopia Habtemariam as President of its music division, Gene Whitney as General Counsel, and Johanna Fuentes as Executive Vice President and Head of Communications and Public Relations.Music Business Worldwide

Staples No-Fee Mastercard Gift Card Deal Is Back!


Staples No-Fee Mastercard Gift Card Deal

Staples has another promotion for fee-free gift cards, this time for Mastercard gift cards. During the promotion period, you can buy $200 Mastercard gift cards at face value. That fee is normally $7.95 per card, so this is a considerable discount. It becomes a profitable deal if you also have a Chase Ink Business Cash card that earns 5X Ultimate Rewards on these purchases. Check out the full details below and a history of how often we see this offer.

Offer Details

Pay no purchase fee (a $7.95 value) when you buy a $200 Mastercard® Gift Card. You should see the promotion displayed at your local store, or in the Staple weekly ad here. There’s a new limit of 9 cards per customer per day.

Important Terms

  • Offer valid March 29, 2026 – April 4, 2026.
  • This card is issued by Pathward, N.A., Member FDIC.
  • Limit 9 per customer per day.
  • Staples DOES NOT sell more than $2000 of gift cards in any order due to Federal money laundering regulations.
  • Offer valid while supplies last.

Guru’s Wrap-Up

This deal for no-fee Mastercard gift cards is a good opportunity to increase your spending and earn rewards. But remember that this promotion only applies to $200 Mastercard gift cards, and not other denominations. With the new limit of 9, it is now easier to buy more of these gift cards at the same store.

Since these purchases fall under the office supply category, you can also earn 5X Ultimate Rewards with your Chase Ink Business Cash card. 

Let me know if you plan to take advantage of this deal, and if you have been able to find them in stock at your local Staples store.

HT: DoC

3 Brutally Honest Truths About Stocks, Rates and Real Estate Right Now


Like many investors, I have a lot of my retirement fund invested in stocks. And like many investors, I’ve been white-knuckling it for a month now as my portfolio plummets.

The war with Iran has trashed the stock market, now down for 5 consecutive weeks and entering correction territory, meaning down 10% or more.

Interest rates have risen radically and gas prices are crossing $4/gallon, up more than $1/gallon from pre-“excursion” levels.

When will all this end and when will stock prices recover?

I recently asked artificial intelligence (Gemini Pro, specifically) for input. Here’s the wording of the question I asked, otherwise known as a prompt:

You’re one of Wall Street’s leading experts on the economy, stocks and interest rates. Investors have watched their savings being butchered as higher interest rates and gas prices threaten to send inflation higher and stocks lower.

Investors are clamoring for advice and looking to you for answers. They want to know what’s going to happen in three specific areas: stocks, interest rates and the housing market. What will you tell them?

First, I’ll give you the answer AI provided, then I’ll offer my opinion from my over 40 years of stock market investing and advising.

Here’s the answer from AI

You’ve watched your savings get butchered, and you’re not alone. Between climbing gas prices and interest rates that have been creeping higher, inflation is threatening to send the stock market into a tailspin.

People are clamoring for answers. They want to know when the bleeding stops and what to do with their money right now.

According to Bloomberg, recent inflation data is proving much tougher to beat than experts originally predicted. That means the era of easy money is dead.

Here’s exactly what you need to do regarding stocks, interest rates and the housing market.

1. Stop waiting for the stock market to rescue you

The reality: Wall Street is throwing a tantrum because the days of falling rates are gone, at least in the near future. Higher gas prices eat directly into corporate profits and consumer wallets, which means stock prices are going to stay choppy.

The strategy: Stop trying to time the bottom. It’s a fool’s errand. Instead of panic-selling your entire portfolio into cash, you need to pivot your investments to quality. Look for companies that generate massive amounts of cash and pay consistent dividends.

When inflation runs hot, you want to own businesses that can pass their higher costs directly onto the consumer without losing a single sale, like drug companies. If you’re holding onto speculative, unprofitable tech stocks hoping they’ll magically rebound to their past highs, you’re going to get burned.

2. Milk the interest rate environment for guaranteed cash

The reality: Higher interest rates are a nightmare if you’re carrying credit card debt, but they’re a goldmine if you have cash sitting around.

The strategy: The Federal Reserve is keeping rates elevated to fight off inflation. That means you can get paid a highly respectable return without taking on any stock market risk. If you have money sitting in a traditional checking account earning zero point nothing, you’re literally losing money to inflation every single day.

Move your cash into a high-yield savings account, buy a short-term bond fund or lock in a certificate of deposit. You can easily find yields hovering around 4% or 5% right now.

Take the guaranteed money while it’s sitting right there on the table.

3. Face reality on the housing market

The reality: Buyers are exhausted. You’ve got high home prices colliding head-on with higher mortgage rates, creating the most unaffordable housing market we’ve seen in decades.

The strategy: You need to erase the idea of a 3% mortgage from your memory. It isn’t coming back anytime soon. If you’re sitting on the sidelines hoping for a housing crash that will let you swoop in and buy cheap, you’re going to be renting for a very long time.

If you find a house you love and you can easily afford the monthly payment today, buy it. If rates eventually drop down the road, you can always refinance. But if buying stretches your monthly budget to the limit, stay put and keep renting. Don’t let the fear of missing out force you into a 30-year financial prison.

Now, here’s my opinion

What’s happening with stocks, interest rates and housing these days is brutal, but it’s not complicated.

Trump’s “excursion” into Iran is fueling inflation and threatening the world economy as higher fuel prices and interest rates filter through the financial system.

Keep in mind that higher gas prices aren’t only something you feel when you fill up. They raise the price of everything that’s being transported, which is basically everything. And oil is also a key ingredient in many products, ranging from plastics to fertilizer.

Higher prices obviously goose inflation, but they also hurt the economy, as more of your disposable income goes to gas and less to other things.

As I’ve said before, the depth of damage to the world’s economy hinges on two things:

  • How long the war lasts
  • How long it takes to repair the damage

When the war ends, which will hopefully be soon, things won’t instantly go back to normal. Damaged Middle Eastern infrastructure will take months, even years, to rebuild. This will keep oil prices higher for longer, which in turn will keep interest rates higher for longer.

The danger is that higher rates and a slowing economy will result in a situation known as stagflation: a combination of increasing inflation and a lousy economy.

If it continues long enough, a recession can result.

What I’m doing now

Although I have a lot invested in the stock market, I’ve also been keeping a lot of cash on the sidelines. Even though I don’t expect a quick market turnaround, I’ve started periodically deploying a little of that cash into the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF.

With rates higher, I also want to add to various bond funds in my retirement accounts. But I’m going to wait a bit to see if they might get cheaper as inflation begins to bite and rates rise further.

In short, I’m doing some dollar-cost averaging into stocks and for now at least, waiting to add to fixed income investments.

Still stressed? Check out my recent article, “Freaking Out About the Stock Market? Read This.” And if you’re not already a member of this site, subscribe right now for more updates and free expert advice.

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The Basic, Starter Rentals That Cash Flow Me $120,000/Year


Six figures in cash flow per year from nine paid-off properties. That’s the definition of a small, powerful, profitable rental property portfolio. And today’s guest, Greg Roedersheimerdid it all within the last five years by buying the type of property every tenant truly wants.

Back in 2007, Greg’s agent told him it was time to buy. Little did he know that in just a year, he would be unable to sell that property and would be forced to become an accidental landlord. 13 years later, after having his pre-40s “midlife crisis,” Greg knew he needed a way out of corporate with cash flow to replace his salary. He settled back into real estate, but this time the market was very different.

Through smart partnerships, savvy saving, and targeting the exact type of property that has the most demand potential, Greg has built a small, financially freeing portfolio that has allowed him to regain his time with his kids, dedicate hours to his hobbies, and partner up to make win-win deals for him, his partner, and his tenants!

Henry:
Investor Greg Rodersheimer bought his first property in 2007. But wait, this isn’t going to be the story that you think it is. In his early 20s, Greg was sitting on a property worth less than he paid for just a year ago. So when he tried to move out, his only option was to become an accidental landlord. But he didn’t keep buying. Instead, Greg took a break from real estate for 14 years. Only coming back when the midlife crisis of working corporate until 65 started to kick in. Greg saw how real estate worked with his first home, so why not repeat the system? But this time he did something different. Greg targeted the exact home the optimal tenant would want. He partnered up when he didn’t have the cash and he bought more when his savings were replenished. Now, just five years later, Greg has nine paid off properties, cash flowing over $100,000 a year.
He didn’t buy during the crash. He always put at least 20% down, and he even self-managed his portfolio. A small portfolio with six figures of income, Greg did it starting in 2021, and he’s still buying deals today. What’s going on everybody? This is Henry Washington with the BiggerPockets Podcast, and today we have an investor story from investor Greg Rodersheimer, who bought his first property right before the crash and today has an amazing portfolio with a ton of cashflow. So let’s jump in and learn how he did it. Greg, welcome to the BiggerPockets Podcast.

Greg:
Henry, thanks for having me.

Henry:
Awesome, man. Well, let’s just jump into this. Tell us about where you were and what you were doing before you got in real estate.

Greg:
So straight out of college, I started working for a health insurance company in operations. High level from there, I started to go into Medicare, Medicaid, which was at the time a lot of the Obamacare stuff was being rolled out and implemented. So that’s where most of the opportunities were. Then I would bounce around from a lot of the different startups that were coming out, basically facilitating these types of programs. So a lot of technical requirements, a lot of compliance requirements, attention to detail, all of those kinds of things. Basically, I just kind of climbed the corporate ladder that way.

Henry:
That’s cool that you have that background. What year was it when you made the pivot into real estate?

Greg:
I bought my first residential home in 2007. Oh, wow. So you know what I’m going to start to say there, right? Ouch. Yeah, exactly. So I was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at the time and was there for three years. That’s where I met my now wife. And so we moved to where we live now, which is Richmond, Virginia. And so my house was worth less than what I bought it for. So I became an accidental landlord right out of the gate. Was able to sell that property when we bought our current residence. Didn’t really do anything with real estate up to that point, but leading me to my current real estate journey. I was a couple years from age 40 and a friend and work colleague of mine, we’re about in the same boat, so call it a midlife crisis, whatever you want to call it.
We were saying, do we really want to be in the office world from now until we’re 65? And I’ve always been very interested in financial independence. And my dad, for example, retired when he was 52. So that was my model. And so we settled on real estate. So I bought my first condo with this partner in 2021, so about five years ago.

Henry:
Can you give us a little more background about that deal? What did you pay for it? Did it need work? Was it a flip, a rental?

Greg:
My partner and I figured we would just dip our toe in the water to start. So it was turnkey. In fact, it’s only about 10 minutes from my residence. So even upkeep, anything that we were going to have to do with it is not far away. We bought it for 172,500. It also was already being used as a rental. So we had a tenant there.

Henry:
Paying market rents or did you have to raise rents?

Greg:
No, we did raise the rent. She’d been there 10 years. So she was paying around 1,100. So we upped it to 1,500 and she was willing to stay. Since it was a partnership, we had to get a commercial loan rather than just if I was buying it individually. So our rate was still good, especially for 2021. And of course we had to put a little bit more down. We had to put down about 50,000, so 25 a piece between the two of us to maintain the fifty fifty partnership. So we didn’t have to advertise or anything out of the gate since we did already have a tenant. So not much, I guess, in the way of lesson learned other than HOAs and that eating into your overall budget. But each month we were to the good about $500. And that’s not including other expenses that might come up, but we were already on the right side of the ledger line with that purchase.

Henry:
Do you feel like you got what you wanted out of that? You were learning how to be a landlord, or was it not quite the experience you were looking for?

Greg:
It was the experience that I was looking for and something that probably is worth mentioning up to that point when I was, dare I say, finishing up my W2 career, I started doing consulting. I was consulting for some former employers of mine, and that expanded a little bit in the years from 2021 till about 2023 in gaining other clients. And so the good thing there is that our household, we were able to basically function off of just my wife’s income. So we were able to confirm that that was possible. And to some extent, as I was doing both consulting and in my W2, viewed the consulting money as-

Henry:
Play money. Yeah.

Greg:
Exactly. So it took a little bit of the edge off from a risk standpoint. I

Henry:
See.

Greg:
And it also helped my wife sort of say out of the middle of it or feel like it was sort of part of our overall personal income. And so from those standpoints, it took the edge off a little bit for me to see if I liked it and it kind of rolled into the consulting business that I was already doing.

Henry:
So it sounds like you bought that first deal and then was it shortly after that that you started picking up some of the consulting and you were doing the consulting and your day job for a while?

Greg:
I was doing the consulting and day job actually about a year even before I picked up that property. So my portion of that 50,000, the 25,000 all had been made in consulting on the side.

Henry:
So you really picked up a side hustle with the consulting. You used that to help fund your down payment. You bought that first one that started producing some cashflow and the side gig of the consulting plus the positive cashflow from the rental property gave your wife some confidence in like, “Hey, if I want to do more of this real estate thing, we can live off of your salary and we could potentially do this. ”

Greg:
Exactly.

Henry:
Okay. And did you make that shift prior to doing your next deal or did you do another deal first?

Greg:
I still had some money left over in the consulting side of things. So we ended up buying another condo in the exact same place, almost the exact same deal. It was a little bit smaller. They were both two bedroom, two bath, but it was for 173,000. But yeah, with those first couple, it was all the money that I had made up to that point from consulting.

Henry:
Were these just listed on the MLS or how were you finding out about these opportunities?

Greg:
Just through the MLS. I had not really expanded into any off-market opportunities yet. I have since then, but at that point was just keeping it straight on the MLS.

Henry:
When you decided to kind of jump back in and buy that first one, did you have some goals in mind or was it just like, “Hey, let’s give this a shot and see how it works out.

Greg:
” Really just give it a shot and see what works out. And when my partner and I were deciding that real estate was where we were going to go, we were comparing that to buying a business or starting our own business. So we were saying to ourselves, “We’re going to have to scale up pretty quickly if we want this to be a business that would eventually replace what we’re doing as our day job.”

Henry:
Takes a few doors at $100 a pop for you.

Greg:
Exactly. So without doing a whole lot of math at that point, we were just saying, “We know we have to scale up a lot, so let’s keep looking for deals that make sense for us and keep on scaling.”

Henry:
That’s cool. I like hearing you say that. That first deal, you kind of need to have some more realistic expectations. Your first deal’s probably not going to be a home run. It’s probably going to be a base hit. You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to under budget your rehab or you’re going to underbudget your timeline. You may not be able to get the rents you think you’re going to get because you’ve never done it before. You’ve never had to pick a tenant. There’s just so many variables that may not work out exactly as perfect as you underwrite them to perform, but that first deal, the goal is to learn all of those things in a way that’s going to protect you financially, especially in your situation. Worst case scenario, you buy this condo, you don’t get the rent you want. It’s in already decent shape.
You don’t have to rehab it. Well, your worst case scenario is you break even or you have to pay into it a little bit of money every month, but you learn so much through that process that helps you be better for the next deal. It’s okay to learn on your first deal so that you become a better investor. And it sounds like you were able to get paid to learn on your first deal, and then you went back for more, you went back for seconds in the same complex, so it must have been all right. What shifted from buying condos in the same complex? You said you wanted to scale. Were you able to do that? What was the next step?

Greg:
So the next step really was noticing that small starter homes that are on a decent size lot weren’t being built, at least not here in Richmond. And I gather that it’s very similar nationally. So any new homes that are being built that could be considered starter homes are either right on top of each other or they’re costing a lot more than most people would be able to pay for it to be a starter home. And then also just from the dollars and cents standpoint, I was at the point where I could go and purchase my next property. My partner was not quite in that same position. So just from that standpoint, I started to look to see what my next purchase could be whenever he was ready to partner on another deal. So it was really just those couple of basic things. And then frankly, the other thing that I was interested in was being able to get a 30-year mortgage that I couldn’t necessarily get under a partnership.
The numbers made a lot more sense and meant I could go after a property that was a little more expensive than what those condos were. Well,

Henry:
That’s cool. It’s an interesting story hearing your evolution as an investor. And I absolutely have questions about this single family deal, more so around what gave you the vision to know that your market needed this kind of an asset. And I’ll dive into those questions when we come back from our break. As a host, the last thing I want to do or have time for is to play accountant and banker. 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 by property and figure out if I was actually making any money. Then I found Baseline and it takes all of that off my plate. It’s BiggerPockets official banking platform that automatically sorts my transactions, matches receipts, and shows me my actual cashflow for every property. My tax prep is done, 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 today at baselane.com/bp. BiggerPockets Pro members also get a free upgrade to Baselane Smart. That’s packed with advanced automations and features to save you even more time.
All right, everyone. We are back with investor Greg Rodersheimer, and we are talking about scaling his investment portfolio. Greg, so now you’re focused on looking for, it sounds like a single family home, and it really sounds like you’re targeting kind of that first time home buyer or maybe the tenant that wants a single family home. And you said that you didn’t see a lot of that product around. Were you purposefully looking at what your market was missing or how did you come to the determination that this is an asset that is in demand?

Greg:
As simple as it sounds, even driving around town was part of it. There are a lot of apartment and condo complexes being built, but any single family homes were either significantly more expensive or just didn’t have the land. And so when I was comparing the numbers for those condos and what I could afford having to put down 25% to 30% as compared to the single family homes where I can do 20 or 25%, depending on the numbers and the banks that I was dealing with, I was able to spend a little bit more money to get to those properties. And frankly, from my perspective, if I were at the age where I had kids, I know that I really wouldn’t want to share walls if I could help it. And so that was kind of my premise, admittedly, maybe a little bit not proved until I actually bought my first deal.

Henry:
But this is like the essence of real estate investing. This is exactly what you should be doing as an investor. Leveraging the things you see, feel, taste, touch every single day. If you’re a backyard investor and you drive through your neighborhoods, what are you seeing? What’s being built? Who’s living there? And these are just some questions you can stop and ask yourself right now. You already have the data in your head, you see it every day. And so to be able to take that information and make some educated guesses. Now, I’m not saying go out and buy an asset based on some unproven theory, but I am saying use the information that you have, that’s your competitive advantage. And then go take your theory to a property manager or a real estate investor who has some actual data for you to compare it to. And then you can find yourself having some sort of competitive advantage by providing a product or a service that your community needs.
Real estate is a business. And as any good business, your job is to provide a product or a service that’s in demand. I love that you took a look around to say, okay, what does my community need and then how do I provide that? So I guess that’s my next question for you is how did you provide that?

Greg:
So the home that I settled on is a rancher.

Henry:
By ranch, you’re saying all one level.

Greg:
All one level.

Henry:
Yep.

Greg:
I think a good thing to target are ranchers so that if you have older folks that have trouble with stairs, things like that, from a accessibility standpoint, you have that ready to go. And so the first one that I bought is for 245,000. So had to put 50,000 down on that. I was able to rent it within two weeks of purchase. It was still relatively turnkey, not brand new anything, but everything was well maintained enough. Most of the properties that I’ve bought have been built in the either late 70s all the way up through the early 90s. Love it. The carrying costs are about $1,200 on that, and it rented for 1,600 out of the gate. In fact, this property, I just filled a vacancy and it’s now renting for 2,200 in the span of four years.

Henry:
Gosh, so it’s gone from 1,600 a month to 2,200 a month in rental demand there. Yes. Is it because they’re still not building a ton of single family homes?

Greg:
Yes. The amount of inquiries that I’ve gotten on my vacancies, and I’ve only had three vacancies coming up on five years. So I have tenants that are staying for quite a long time. And even when there is a vacancy, they get filled very quickly. In fact, the next property that I bought was the exact same profile. I’ve probably spent an hour inside of it because it’s rented so quickly and I’ve had the same tenants for that long of a period of time.

Henry:
Were these both MLS deals as well?

Greg:
Yes.

Henry:
That’s cool. You’re finding ways to make deals on the market work. You’re not doing heavy renovations. It’s what Dave and I call just good old-fashioned boring real estate. Find a property, get a loan, put your 20 to 25% down, rent it out, maintain the property. Buy the best asset you can given your financial situation. You’re not buying anything super old. This is just tried and true old boring real estate, but old boring real estate has been making people wealthy for generations. And one of the things you mentioned was that you are managing these, so you are finding the tenants and it sounds like it’s not been a ton of work because you’re buying such great assets. Talk to us a little bit about being your own property manager and how that’s either helped or hindered your business.

Greg:
I’ve heard this advice and would definitely second based on my experience that self-managing, at least for some period of time, whether it’s a financial consideration or not, is really going to help you understand your workflow and how to make a deal work for you, even if you want to use a property manager at some point. I think it’s certainly worth having some background in self-management so you know how to manage the property manager. But from my standpoint, I’m handy enough that I can take care of most issues that come up and all of my properties are within a 20 to 25 minute drive to me. That’s cool. So it’s really not a huge deal to get to those properties. And actually, I’ve been able to lean on contractor, partners of mine, as well as even just other colleagues of mine when I go on vacation that they’re willing to at least field a phone call for me.
That’s kind of, I feel like the nightmare scenario that something goes really wrong if you’re out of the country or anything like that. But I’ve had really good colleagues and friends that have helped. So that’s all been really good for me. And if I admit, I’m a little bit of a control freak. So

Henry:
If I

Greg:
Would hand off too much of the control and the power from day to day, I think that would drive me just about as nuts as anything else.

Henry:
Getting the experience of doing it yourself will help you be a better manager of property managers when you go to hand it off, because you don’t just give up managing your assets. When you hire a property manager, you just pick up a new job of managing your manager.

Greg:
One thing I would add that from my perspective is unique why I had 10 properties as my goal and also from the timing standpoint is my kids are getting just about to the age where I can start to employ them. And so that- There’s

Henry:
Tax benefits there.

Greg:
And specifically, so it makes sense for me to manage from that perspective.

Henry:
Do you pay them $12,500 a year?

Greg:
That’s a real good guess, but that’s something I couldn’t necessarily do if I didn’t have this type of business. I can’t do that through my stock portfolio, for example. So at that number, the financial numbers make sense that I can start to bring them into the fold.

Henry:
Well, Greg, you hinted a little bit earlier that you’ve employed some different deal finding methods later in your investing career. So that leads me to believe that A, you continued to scale, but also B, you weren’t just buying on the MLS anymore. So kind of what did the next phase of investing look like for you? What were you focused on and how were you finding those deals? Tell us maybe about one of them and what they look like.

Greg:
And as far as from the time standpoint, this was getting into about 2023. So gone were those three and a half percent rates that I was able to get with those first deals.

Henry:
Yep.

Greg:
We’re

Henry:
All sad about that still, but you know.

Greg:
So I really started to look to see how I could pay cash. And so when I started to be in a position to pay cash, that meant that I could start to engage wholesalers and then also even look on the MLS for as is properties that needed some work. I was really trying to stay within that $250,000 purchase price. And at that timeframe, at that purchase price, it was going to be a house that needed some work.

Henry:
There usually is, buddy. When you start looking off market, now you turn it into a value add investor. This is the stuff I like. Let’s go. Let’s

Greg:
Go. Tell me about it. So I bought one wholesale property that really didn’t need a lot of work, just needed to rip the deck off and replace that really paint patching and just a little bit of update to the bathroom. So it was not that bad.

Henry:
About how much worth of work there?

Greg:
Well, it was about 40,000. So not too, too bad. And frankly, I could have done more of that work myself if I wanted, but I did find a contractor through a friend of a friend. He did a fine job and it worked out okay.

Henry:
Give us the quick rundown. What’d you pay for that one? You put 40 in it and then tell us what either rent or sold for.

Greg:
Yep. So I paid 240 for it. And then with the 40 in, it was 280 all in. It rents for 1900 and the current value is about 320.

Henry:
Okay. So what was the next one like?

Greg:
So the next one was MLS, but it was as is. I paid 255 and it had significant floor issues that I could see. Turns out that there had been some joists that were cut. There was definitely subflooring that had significant issues. I did the bad thing, went on nextdoor.com, tried to find a handyman that could do the basic part of the work, and then I thought I would do the rest. He was awful. It cost me about 6,000 and he didn’t really finish anything. I got really lucky that a neighbor of mine referred me to a contractor he had used. He came in and fixed everything for a really reasonable price. And so I was at 255 purchase price. It was at 290 once it was completed and it rented for a similar 1975 once it was ready to go. And in fact, I actually just refied that property to have money for this most recent purchase.
So that’s my first, I guess we would call that the slow burr.

Henry:
The first slow burr. Awesome. So you bought a wholesale deal and an MLS deal. You paid cash, so it’s obviously producing cash flow. You had to pay the cash to get there, but it’s a great place to put your money. Have you ended up doing any real value add, like real off market?

Greg:
While we were finishing up that MLS deal, there was another wholesale deal that was, it was 180,000 and-

Henry:
Yeah. Yeah. Now we’re cooking with gas. All right, 180K. That sounds more like what I would get. All right, 180K.

Greg:
So this contractor, while I was working on the house and he was working on the house, turns out he wanted to get into the world of real estate investing and flipping. So he said, “What do you think? Do you want to go ahead and purchase this? ” And so we did. It was a very small house, three, one, not even a thousand square feet. So we purchased it, assuming we would flip it and have us split it at the end. It took more like nine months, what we thought was going to be six months to get it completed. All in, it ended up costing about a hundred thousand to get everything done. And I agreed to flip because I just didn’t think I’d have enough cash to have multiple properties going at a time, especially if we flipped it in six months. But since it started to take more like nine months and it was in my buy box for every other metric, I ended up keeping it.
So I just, once we settled on a purchase price, I bought him out.

Henry:
How did you structure it? It sounds like you paid for the deal and he did the renovation. So you didn’t have to pay for the renovation at all. That was his contribution? Correct. And so you were fifty fifty partners?

Greg:
Correct. Yes.

Henry:
Okay. Did you guys do any other deals together or was this a one and done kind of a thing?

Greg:
We are still partners and so we have bought the last two, both have been through the same wholesaler as a matter of fact. They didn’t need the same amount of work. We were able to get those completed in a three to four month timeframe, again, in the same area of Richmond.

Henry:
Well, this is cool, Greg. I really like the concept of partnering with a contractor. I just believe that if you’re going to partner, then you both need to bring something to the table that the other doesn’t bring, especially if you’re going to be splitting it fifty fifty. And I’ve got a few questions about this because I’m sure there are some people listening who want to consider an option like this, and I’d love to ask you those right after the break. All right, we are back with investor Greg, and we’re now talking about how he partnered with his contractor to help build up his portfolio. This is something that I’ve considered doing before and something that I’ve heard other investors doing, but partnerships can be a little bit shaky sometimes. And so I’d love for you to kind of share with the audience, Greg, maybe some lessons you’ve learned or best practices you have for working with a partner.

Greg:
First off, I would compare that initial partnership that I was mentioning for my first couple of deals to the now partnership with a contractor. I would certainly encourage people to partner with somebody that you don’t have overlapping skillsets. For that first partnership, we basically were bringing the exact same skills to the table so we weren’t really able to work off of each other and let each person deal with their area of expertise. And so with the contractor that I now partner with, obviously he does all of the heavy lifting for the renovations, the estimates, anything like that related to what needs to be done to get the house to where it needs to go. The other thing that we say out loud, I think to each other is we are the key, so to speak, for each of us being able to get into these off-market wholesale deals, i.e., I don’t have the skillset to buy one of these and then do those renovations on my own.
And he doesn’t necessarily have the capital to go ahead and make sure that we can get these cash so that he can get in and do these types of renovations. So I think from an appreciation standpoint, we both recognize what we’re bringing to the table so that we can get into these kinds of deals. There is definitely a healthy tension as far as how often we’re purchasing a property, what might need to be done with it. And flipping has been one of the constant negotiations, i.e., I am definitely more on the buy and hold side, and I think he’s looking more into the flipping side, and that just has to do, I think, with what our financial goals are. For me, buy and hold means that I can hold off on paying capital gains in the short term versus long term, which is something that I definitely am looking to do.
However, now that I’m right at the edge of getting this 10th property completed, I do appreciate what he’s brought to the table. So we are going to start looking at flipping a little more aggressively so that he can start to build his portfolio a little bit more on his side. So it’s been real positive from that aspect.

Henry:
In a situation like yours where the financial goals may be a little different, one thing that I did with an early business partner of mine was we just had kind of like a decision matrix document where we kind of predetermined how we were going to make some of the decisions about whether we flip a house or whether we keep a house. And that was based on the buy box, like where that property is, right? Cash we had in the business at the time, like in the LLC. And then we essentially put it into a document. We had it notarized, we signed it, and we amended it to our LLC documentation. And the amount of times that that saved us from having a knockdown drag out fight about, should we keep this one or should we sell this one, we would just say, “All right, well, let’s go look at the document.” And then we’d look at the document and it saved so much trouble.
So my advice to anybody who’s considering a partnership of any kind, not just with a contractor, is to think about it with the end in mind. Every partnership will end at some point. It may be in a year, it may be in 25 years, but at some point in end. So what’s the end look like and how do you get out amicably? And to just document everything you can upfront so that there’s less argument during the process because you will butt heads. You absolutely will. It’s like a marriage, guys, and anybody that’s been married for any substantial period of time knows you and your spouse are going to butt heads. And trust me, partnership woes weigh on you, man. It’s heavy sometimes. So just write it down, get it on paper, and it will save you a ton of headache. So where’s your portfolio at today?
About how many properties do you have and do you have goals of expanding it?

Greg:
I have nine properties today, the two condos and seven single family homes.

Henry:
Oh, you ain’t sold nothing.

Greg:
I have not. No, I’ve kept them all, and knock on wood, Richmond has been good to me as far as continued rent growth and not a whole lot of issues with the properties that have caused enough of a headache for me to sell anything just yet.

Henry:
And Greg, if you don’t mind, could you share with us an overall cashflow number? I know you’ve paid cash for a lot of your properties, so I’m guessing it’s a pretty healthy number.

Greg:
Yeah, overall cash flow, it’s right around 120,000 because we’ve been able to make cash for all of these properties.

Henry:
And the next question I have for you is, has real estate been able to help you accomplish the things that you set out to accomplish? Just give us a sense of what life’s been like for you because of real estate.

Greg:
It definitely has. I know I haven’t mentioned this earlier, but flexibility is a really big thing for me, especially for the age of my kids who are 11 and nine. And so I’m able to help with the Little League team. I started to teach guitar lessons, which I haven’t done since I first got out of college. We travel a lot. So it’s definitely given me the flexibility and the amount of time that I’ve really been looking for, as well as that financial independence, which was sort of generically the first goal that I was setting out for.

Henry:
Guitar lessons, man, that’s cool. Do you have a list of illegal rifts you don’t allow your students to play?

Greg:
Well, of course, Stairway to Heaven is the big one. However, I started out by saying that midlife crisis, it’s really depressing how many of my middle school and high school students don’t even know who Led Zeppelin is.

Henry:
Oh, bummer.

Greg:
But for all of my female students out there, I have learned more Taylor Swift songs than I would like to admit.

Henry:
There’s probably some young listeners you’re right, have no idea what we’re

Greg:
Talking

Henry:
About. And finally, before we get out of here, there’s probably a lot of investors who are listening to your story and are inspired and are wanting to do something similar. Maybe they’ve got cash put away and they’re trying to decide, is it better for me to buy something turnkey and pay cash or should I put my money in the stock market? There’s a lot of options for people. Do you have any advice for those who are maybe just a little intimidated by real estate right now, but want to follow a similar path to you?

Greg:
I am not very risk tolerant. And so for people that aren’t, you can still actually get into real estate and it’s really just trying to find a deal that you’re not trying to hit a home run. Just make sure it’s at least cashflow neutral, if at all possible. And trust your gut as far as what you’re seeing in your particular area and what you think the need of the community is and the type of property that you see that there’s more of a need for and go for it from there.

Henry:
I like that. I think there’s two really important keys to your story that I think other investors should pay attention to. One is that you really took the time to try to figure out what your buy bucks should be based on what your market needs. The second thing is you bought the best assets you could given that buy box. I think a lot of investors get in trouble when they go and they try to buy the cheapest asset they can buy because it sounds nice to be able to get a house for under a hundred grand, but under a hundred grand house has got under a hundred grand problems sometimes. And you can really lose some money by getting yourself in over your head. So Greg, thank you so much for coming on and sharing the story. It’s really inspiring. And I’m sure that there are lots of people listening who are glad that they tuned in today.
And thank you everyone else for tuning in and listening to the BiggerPockets Podcast. If you enjoy Greg’s story, then I recommend you check out BiggerPockets Podcast episode 1231. That’s from January 26th with investor Neil Whitney. Neil’s another inspiring example of how basic, affordable real estate investing can change your entire financial future in just a few years. Thank you everybody for listening. We’ll see you on the next episode.

 

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Will This All-Weather ETF Live Up to Its Name?


With many exchange-traded funds, it’s easy to predict how they’ll perform. If you have an S&P 500 index ETF, for instance, all you have to do is look at the S&P’s closing value to get a sense of how your fund did. Even if you own a less transparent ETF like a sector-tracking fund, you might be able to get a solid sense of your performance on any given day by looking at representative stocks in that sector to see how they did.

But for ETF investors looking for a single fund that can withstand any market environment, it’s not always easy to see what’s going on in real time. For instance, the State Street Bridgewater All Weather ETF (ALLW +1.57%) invests in multiple assets, including stocks, bonds, and commodities such as gold. As you learned in the first article of this three-part series for the Voyager Portfolio, the Bridgewater strategy has historically helped to balance changing conditions for economic growth and inflationary pressures. With the fund being just a year old, it’s too early to know for sure how it will perform in the long run, but we’re already getting some hints about what to expect.

Image source: Getty Images.

A solid start in 2025

State Street Bridgewater All Weather ETF posted good numbers last year. Total returns between its inception date of March 5 and the end of the year amounted to 15.1%. That lagged the global stock index the fund tracks by nearly five percentage points, but the ETF’s bond exposure explains much of the shortfall.

In its fourth-quarter commentary , the ETF’s managers discussed the factors that helped the All Weather ETF produce gains of 3.6% over the final three months of 2025. Commodities played a key role, as gold prices soared above $4,500 per ounce by year-end. Stocks also contributed to performance, as excitement about capital expenditures on artificial intelligence rippled outward from the technology sector to encompass a broader swath of the global economy.

On the bond front, though, worries about high debt issuance from both sovereign governments and corporate issuers weighed on returns. Moreover, with central banks in Europe, Japan, and the U.K. seeking to tighten their monetary policies to fight persistent inflationary pressures, bond prices didn’t rise, and investors began to doubt whether the Federal Reserve would be particularly accommodating in 2026.

Turbulence in 2026

This year, though, things have been less favorable for the markets in general. The All Weather ETF has done a good job, though, posting a modest gain of just under 2% year to date even as major market indexes have been falling. The return is particularly notable given the pressure that parts of the bond market have seen, and even gold has lost some of its luster after briefly popping above the $5,000 mark early in the year.

For some, the fact that the All Weather ETF has fallen nearly 6% in March might raise questions about whether the fund can achieve its objective. Remember, though, that in market environments with just about every asset class experiencing declines, nearly every strategy will face challenges. That’s been a big part of the All Weather ETF’s recent experience, particularly because inflation-indexed bonds have followed stocks lower this month.

SPDR Bridgewater All Weather ETF Stock Quote

SPDR Bridgewater All Weather ETF

Today’s Change

(1.57%) $0.44

Current Price

$28.41

Can State Street Bridgewater All Weather ETF carry its weight?

Perhaps the toughest thing to understand about the State Street Bridgewater All Weather ETF is that the fund isn’t necessarily looking to outperform the stock market every year. Instead, its goal is to make portfolios more resilient in the face of geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges. As such, investors who are willing to give up some absolute return in exchange for a smoother ride might prefer the All Weather ETF to traditional index funds. The third and final article in this series on the All Weather ETF will look more at these philosophical points and how they might influence a decision to invest in the fund.

3 Ways to Supercharge Your Company’s Sales Organization


When there is uncertainty in markets and pressure on growth, executives often push the sales organization to do more, believing that if sales activity metrics rise, results will follow. In the current environment, that pressure is greater. Growth is harder to generate, costs remain elevated, and performance expectations remain demanding. Yet leaders are still being asked to deliver strong results without much help from the market.



U.S. stocks drop, Nasdaq 100 falls into correction as oil climbs




U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday, taking the Nasdaq 100 Index into correction territory as the escalating war in Iran boosted oil prices. 

NASA Federal Credit Union $300 Checking Bonus


Update 3/29/26: Deal is back until 4/30/26. Seems like you might need to be an existing member and might need elite checking again. YMMV Hat tip to reader WG

Update 11/19/25: Apparently bonus only applies to the elite checking account that has a $10 monthly fee that cannot be waived.

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: $300
  • Availability: Nationwide
  • Direct deposit required: $500+ per month, optional see below
  • Additional requirements: 3 bill pays per month + eStatements, optional see below.
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft
  • Credit card funding: Up to $500
  • Monthly fees: $8, avoidable 
  • Early account termination fee: None
  • Household limit: None 
  • Expiration date: None listed

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Open a new premier eChecking account with NASA Federal Credit Union and receive a sign up bonus of $300 when you do the following:
    • establishing a $500 minimum monthly recurring direct deposit for 3 consecutive months and
    • making at least 15 debit card purchases (pin or signature) for 3 consecutive months, all within 120 days of account opening

The Fine Print

  • $300 checking offer requires establishing a $500 minimum monthly recurring direct deposit for 3 consecutive months and making at least 15 debit card purchases (pin or signature) for 3 consecutive months, all within 120 days of account opening.
  • A qualifying direct deposit is a deposit of $500 or more by Automated Clearing House (ACH) from an employer, payroll provider, gig economy payer, or benefits payer.
  • In order to receive a bonus, account must be in good standing.
  • Only one bonus will be paid per member, per year and offer is non-transferable.
  • $300 will be credited to the primary applicant’s savings account on file, 150 days from account opening.
  • Recipient is solely responsible for any personal tax liability arising out of this incentive. Membership savings account with $5 opening balance is required.
  • NASA Federal Credit Union reserves the right to amend the promotion duration and terms at any time with or without prior notice. Annual Percentage Yield is 1.00% as of November 1, 2025. Rate is subject to change at any time. To view current annual percentage yield/dividend rates, visit Checking Rates.
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

Everyday checking has a $8 monthly fee. Waived with a monthly $500 direct deposit or $200 average daily balance

Early Account Termination Fee

I wasn’t able to find any early account termination fee in their fee schedule.

Our Verdict

Same deal as last time, but they now define what a direct deposit is so it’s possible that this will be more tightly enforced now. 

Hat tip to reader ShawntheShawn

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:

  • A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
  • Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
  • PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
  • Introduction To ChexSystems
  • Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
  • What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
  • How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
  • Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
  • How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
  • Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
  • Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
  • Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
  • Bank Bonus Posting Times