A Real Estate Investor’s Guide To Profitability

Making your real estate investments work for you, and not the other way around.

Chris McAllister has helped hundreds of owners and investors make their real estate investments really work for them. And every week, we’ll be bringing you fresh highlights from the book.

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Week 1: Meet the Author (5/21/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Chris McAllister is a real estate investor, broker, manager and consultant based in Springfield, Ohio - Midway between Columbus and Dayton. He’s helped hundreds of clients create sustainable, recession-resistant real estate investment portfolios. And his story is pretty compelling. Chris and a partner wrote a book titled: We Lost $1,000,000 in Real Estate in Less than Five Years and… …
Week 2: Origin Story (5/29/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Week 2 - Origin Story Between 2003 and 2005, Chris and a partner bought over $5,000,000 worth of real estate. Home values were inflated by easy money, and they paid too much without understanding what makes an investment property cash flow. The houses performed fairly well, but his share of the profits just wasn’t enough to keep his portfolio… …
Week 3: Crash to Boom (6/5/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - The Crash of 2008 & Our own kind of Boom In 2008, Springfield, Ohio had crashed. It is important to understand how Chris and his real estate company got to this point. Chris calls Springfield, Ohio the rusty buckle of America’s declining Rust Belt. The real estate downturn in Ohio was not as severe as Florida or Nevada -… …
Week 4: Launching ROOST Real Estate Co. (6/11/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Week 4 Launching ROOST Real Estate Co. Chris had been a successful agent, a franchise broker and a team leader, and in 2012, he began researching new opportunities, including other franchises. When the market began to stabilize, and opportunities returned, Chris new what a real estate company should look like, but he couldn’t find it anywhere. And not one… …
Week 5: What Makes Chris and ROOST Different (6/18/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Week 5 - What Makes Chris and ROOST Different Chris decided to break away from the conventional brokerage model by embracing both traditional real estate sales and property management. So today, property management accounts for about 25% of ROOST’s income, but long-term, positive tenant relationships drive even more of the revenue when current tenants refer other tenants, or become homebuyers… …
Week 6: Chris’s Unique Ability (6/25/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Week 6: Chris’s Unique Ability As an entrepreneur, the goal should be to spend as much time as possible focused on the one or two things you are better at than anyone else, and build a team around yourself that complements your strengths so everyone can focus on what they do best. After 17 years in the business, Chris knows… …
Week 7: My Kind of Investor – Goals, Objectives, and Attitudes (7/10/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to week 7: Goals, Objectives, and Attitudes for success Chris’s real estate investment philosophy is simple: buy for cash flow, and count any appreciation as a bonus. The goal is to make money in any market, so Chris advises his clients to position themselves for a profitable sale, and only sell when the price is enough to justify giving… …
Week 8: Chris’s Property Management Experience (7/16/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 8 - Where we discuss Chris’s Experience as a Property Manager Chris first assembled a team to manage properties for himself and a partner in 2003. As they acquired more units, they failed to anticipate expenses, and were overly optimistic about their ability to raise rents. It was a disaster. “If you’re not earning, you’re learning.” And… …
Week 9: Does Investing in Real Estate Make Sense for You? (7/23/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 9 - in which we ask the critical question: Does Investing in Real Estate Make Sense for You? If you are already investing in real estate, this first segment may not apply to you. If you’re new, or interested in ways to supplement your income over time, diversify your investment portfolio, and potentially enjoy some tax benefits,… …
Week 10: Our Most & Least Successful Clients (7/30/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 10: Common Traits of Our Most & Least Successful Clients This is a special episode! Over the years, Chris has noted certain traits common among his most successful clients. Take a look at the list, and see if you find yourself described. What traits do you possess? What are areas where you’d like to improve? In our… …
Week 11: What is Your Focus? (8/8/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 11: What is Your Focus? There are many ways to make money in real estate. Chris talks about the three most common methods: Buy, Fix, Rent, and Hold – segmented by market. Buy, Fix, and Flip – for short term gain. Buy, Fix and Sell via Land Contract or Owner Financing – A hybrid of the two.… …
Week 12: Chris’s approach to Acquiring Properties (8/13/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 12 - Today, we look into Chris’s approach to Acquiring Properties Some industry “gurus” with questionable ethics teach ways to buy houses with little or no money down, but these tactics have no place in Chris’s book - or his portfolio. Buying real estate requires some cash. Bank financing is as hard as ever, and requires significant… …
Week 13 : The Landlord Advantage (8/20/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 13 : The Landlord Advantage Chris understands that it is an incredible time to invest in residential real estate. Being a landlord has never been more lucrative, and with the right tools and team around you, it has never been easier to succeed. Demographics, societal norms, individual expectations, and just plain necessity have come together to create… …
Week 14: More Reasons for Investing in Rental Real Estate (8/28/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 14 - More Reasons for Investing in Rental Real Estate First, Current Demographic Trends strongly Favor Real Estate Investing The Great Recession changed the American Dream. The loss of equity, and the need for career mobility pulled homeownership off of many bucket lists. Populations are declining in rust belt states and increasing in the south, including Florida.… …
Week 15: Chris’s Personal Philosophy (9/11/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 15 - Chris’s Personal Philosophy George Bailey summed up Chris’s personal philosophy It’s A Wonderful Life, when he told off Mr. Potter, in defense of the working man’s access to a decent home. “What'd you say just a minute ago? They had to wait and save their money before they even thought of a decent home.… …
Week 16: The Benefits of working with a Licensed Property Manager (9/17/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 16 - in which I share the Benefits of working with a Licensed Property Manager - but first, I’m going to tell you a Horror Story... (spooky horror sound effects!) It was a dark and stormy night… An out of town investor stumbled onto some of the cheapest homes in the nation - in Springfield, Ohio! Seduced… …
Week 17: The ROOST Landlord Advantage™ (9/24/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Thank you for joining us for Week 17 - in which we learn about The ROOST Landlord Advantage™ The unique experience we offer our tenant clients is something we call The ROOST Way™. We make very clear what our prospective tenants can expect from us, as well as what we expect from them. Our team—and our owners—need our tenants to… …
Week 18: Owner Profitability is Job #1 (10/1/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 18 - this week, let’s discover why Chris says Owner Profitability is Job #1 Buying and renting for the long term is Chris’s kind of real estate investing. Flipping houses is actually a construction business. Buy low, improve, and then sell for a profit. It’s is more risky than buying and renting - but selling a property… …
Week 19: Relationships are Key to Success in Your Market (10/8/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 19 - in which Chris explains why Relationships are Key to Success in Your Market You must be crystal clear on the specifics of the market in which you’re operating. If you can identify your target customers and service them profitably, you will be successful. It is vital to have a thorough understanding of what your tenant… …
Week 20: Our Love/Hate Relationship with Zillow, Etc. (10/15/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 20: Our Love / Hate Relationship with Zillow and the Rest Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, and a few others are the greatest sources of real estate information imaginable. There is no better way for a real estate professional to advertise real property. The technology they use has made locating and viewing property as easy as opening a smart… …
Week 21:The Lead Generation Machine (10/22/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Agent's Guide to the Good Life, A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 21:The Lead Generation Machine! We pride our offices on being Lead Generation Machines. Agents in our offices enjoy referrals from past clients, current clients, people we meet through our websites, open houses, tenants, and the investors we manage for. Referrals are the best kind of leads because they are qualified leads. Qualified leads come from people who… …
Week 24: The Three Kinds of Brokerages (10/29/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Agent's Guide to the Good Life, A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life, Uncategorized - Welcome to Week 24: The Three Kinds of Brokerages At ROOST we see three kind of real estate brokerages in the world. The first are what we call Transaction Based Brokerages, the second are Legacy Brokerages, and the third are Referral Based Brokerages. Spoiler alert! – We are partial to number three. Transaction Based Brokerages are the ultra-low cost offices… …
Week 25: We Are the Alternative in the Market (11/1/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 25: We Are the Alternative in the Market The market of today is the perfect environment for ROOST Real Estate Co. and for all of our agents and associates to thrive. A real estate professional that can bring order, a plan, a sense of control, and spirit of collaboration to the process of buying and selling real… …
Week 26: The Quick Start Game Plan (11/2/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 26: The Quick Start Game Plan Making a move to a new brokerage is a big decision. A move that is not handled well can cost an agent a lot of money. With the ROOST™ Quick Start Game Plan an agent can expect to see an immediate bump in activity and incoming referrals. In a perfect world,… …
Week 27: Working The 4th of July? (11/3/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 27: Working The 4th of July Don't do it. Your clients are taking the weekend off as well. See you next week, when we discuss What You Should Expect from Your Broker! - Shayna For a free copy of the full book, A Real Estate Agents Guide to the Good Life, email FreeBook@ROOSTRealEstateCo.com and we will send you… …
Week 28: What Should You Expect from Your Broker? (11/4/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 28: What Should You Expect from Your Broker? First of all, you should expect a company, an office, a culture, and a leadership team that is committed to supporting you so that you can support your clients. You should expect to receive the tools, training, coaching, and support that will keep you focused on what you do… …
Week 29: The Mid-Year Recovery (11/5/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Agent's Guide to the Good Life, A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome To Week 29: The Mid-Year Recovery You have reached the end of marathon season and it is time to step back for a moment and take stock of your year. You have done incredibly good work but the reality is our busiest time, what we call The All-In Season, is behind us. This does not mean there is not… …
Week 30: Technology and Promoting our Brand (11/6/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome To Week 30: Technology and Promoting our Brand At ROOST Real Estate Co. we make extensive use of technology that supports our marketing & advertising Initiatives. We use the internet, not only advertise our listings, but also to build brand awareness and to make an emotional connection with the public. Our company website at www.ROOSTRealEstateCo.com offers detailed information about our… …
Week 31: Technology that Supports Working by Referral (11/7/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 31: Technology that Supports Working by Referral We close transactions – a lot of transactions – but the relationships we build along the way keep our business growing and flourishing. We provide each agent a free subscription to Referral Maker CRM (Client Relationship Manager). This desktop and mobile platform is offered by Buffini and Company, our training… …
Week 32: Technology that Supports Individual Productivity (11/8/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 32: Technology that Supports Individual Productivity Think of your business like a stage play. There are the front stage activities that include the performance, and the backstage activities that support the performance, and you the performer. As a real estate professional your front stage activities involve interacting with clients and customers. Listing appointments, buyer meetings, showing properties,… …
Week 33: The Agent Business Manager (11/9/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 33: The Agent Business Manager - Making Sure It All Works The productivity and success of our agents is central to everything we do. And the efforts of our Agent Business Managers are the key to that success. The Agent Business Manager (ABM) is a key member of each office staff. The ABM manages all of the… …
Week 34: Traits of a Successful ROOST™ Associate (11/10/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 34: Traits of a Successful ROOST™ Associate Our Associates Display an Ownership Attitude When there is a problem, own it. Step up and take responsibility. We are all here to help. When you do have to report a problem make sure you bring a possible solution or two along for the ride. Create Value Continuously look for… …
Week 35: The Hardest Thing About Making a Change (11/11/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 35: The Hardest Thing About Making a Change The biggest concern we hear from agents who want to join our brokerage is the feeling of anxiety and the emotional turmoil involved with telling their current broker or manager that they are leaving. There is nothing harder than telling someone you are moving on - regardless of how… …
Week 36: Off for Labor Day (11/12/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 36:Off Week – Labor Day! We're impressed that you're here, reading this blog - but unless this is how you relax, we want to strongly encourage you to stop it. Shut down the laptop. Click off the phone. Pick up a good book, or a family member—and head down to your local coffee shop for a little… …
Week 37: Set Your Goals High (11/13/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 37: Set Your Goals High We will always be a company that aspires to greatness. The bar will always be raised, and we aim to be the ones raising it. We aspire to be heroes to our clients on a daily basis, and while we strive to follow through on that promise—and more often than not we… …
Week 38: Our Training and Development Commitment / Buffini and Company (11/19/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 38: Our Training and Development Commitment / Buffini and Company Aside from technology and tools, agents express time and time again in survey after survey, that they want more training from their broker. Training at ROOST Real Estate Company is a core value that we never waiver on. Our training and development partners are a company out… …
Week 39: The ‘On the Business’ Season (11/25/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 39: The ‘On the Business’ Season The most successful agents know there are times to work in their businesses, and there are times to work on their businesses. We all know what being in the business feels like. We are on the go, showing houses, writing offers, attending closings, and doing anything else necessary to earn a living. Working… …
Week 40: Your Pay Your Way™ (12/2/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 40: Your Pay Your Way™ Whether you are new to the business, an experienced professional, or a team leader looking to expand your business with, ROOST Real Estate Co. has a compensation plan and fee structure that grows with you as your business grows. Your Pay Your Way™ is designed to be transparent, easy to understand, and most of… …
Week 41: Our Financial Goal for All of our Agents (12/9/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 41: Our Financial Goal for All of our Agents According to the National Association of Realtors, the median gross income of Realtors was $39,200 in 2015, down from $45,800 in 2014. The median means that half of all Realtors earned more than $39,200 in gross commissions in 2015 and the other half earned less than $39,200 that year. Gross… …
Week 42: New Agents, Experienced Agents, Power Agents, and Teams (12/16/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 42: New Agents, Experienced Agents, Power Agents, and Teams We have worked with agents from seasoned veterans to brand new beginners, and helped them achieve success at every stage of their career growth. New Agents Real Estate is an exciting and rewarding way to earn a living. If you are ready for a new career, welcome aboard! Getting a new… …
Week 43: Our Offices – A Guided Tour (12/23/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 43: Our Offices One of the biggest ways technology has changed the real estate business is that an agent’s office is wherever they are. Laptops, tablets, cell phones and document management technology like Dropbox and DotLoop mean you can set up shop at Starbucks and your clients will be none the wiser. Some agents have desk space or entire offices… …
Week 44: The Gratitude Season (12/30/2018) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 44: The Gratitude Season The Holiday Season is the most important time of the year for agents who work by referral. The holiday season in the USA starts with Halloween and spills like a hangover into the first week of January. It happens this way every year. When it comes to working by referral, the holidays are the most important… …
Week 45: Four More Reasons to Career with ROOST™ (1/6/2019) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 45: Four More Reasons to Career with ROOST™ Still need a reason to Career with ROOST™? Here are four that we think you'll resonate with: ROOST Real Estate Co. is the place for agents who commit every day to making the real estate dreams of their clients come true. ROOST Real Estate Co. is the place for… …
Week 46: The Refer Your Broker Plan (1/13/2019) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 46: The Refer Your Broker Plan So you have been following my weekly blog posts this year and you are intrigued. Maybe you think that you and your office would benefit from the culture, attitude, environment and opportunity that a ROOST Real Estate Co. affiliation offers. Why not think about referring your current broker to us? We are always… …
Week 47: Happy Thanksgiving! (1/20/2019) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 47: Happy Thanksgiving! We're well into what we call The Season of Gratitude! And no, we're not blogging this week. Thank you for stopping by, and we'll see you next week! - Shayna For a free copy of the full book, A Real Estate Agents Guide to the Good Life, email FreeBook@ROOSTRealEstateCo.com and we will send you… …
Week 48: Our Way in the Industry (1/27/2019) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 48: Our Way in the Industry (A Re-Blog of Week 9) I see our company as a beacon of light in an industry that is becoming increasingly dark and complex. Yes, I said that out loud. It’s a little dramatic but I mean it. Let’s face it, most of us are getting hit from all sides every… …
Week 49: Why Working by Referral Matters (2/4/2019) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 49: Why Working by Referral Matters (Week 19, Re-Blogged) Working by referral is the essence of our business. Chris McAllister, the founder of ROOST Real Estate Co., realized early in his career that working by referral was his path to success in real estate. Chris also saw very quickly that it was going to be much easier—and less… …
Week 50: The Real Estate Brand Year End Review (2/11/2019) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 50: The year is nearly over! This week, I’m delighted to share with you Chris’s year-end recap of 2017! Greetings ~ It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone. As I have each of the last four years, I want to take a moment to update you on our progress at ROOST Real Estate Company. More importantly,… …
Week 51: The Year-End Recovery and Celebration (2/18/2019) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 51: The Year-End Recovery and Celebration And so it is Christmas. Wow – this year went fast! Congratulations on the tremendous work you have done. You’ve pushed hard, learned much, helped a lot of people, and built a steady stream of referrals. Your business is primed and you are ready to take your life and work to the… …
Week 52: Happy Christmas! (2/25/2019) From the book: A Real Estate Investor's Guide to the Good Life - Welcome to Week 52: In Which We Wish You A very merry Christmas! - Shayna For a free copy of the full book, A Real Estate Agents Guide to the Good Life, email FreeBook@ROOSTRealEstateCo.com and we will send you one. Or download a free e-book version here: www.CareerWithROOST.com …