Have you ever considered investing in mobile homes as rental properties? For many of us, it’s an interesting and intriguing idea, but one we’re not very familiar with. Mobile homes are an asset class within real estate investing that for many people is loaded with stereotypes, generalizations and even stigma. In this episode, Jeff interviews mobile home investing expert and author of “How to Buy Mobile Homes,” Adrian Smude from Lifestyle REI. Adrian and Jeff have a wide-ranging conversation, discussing everything from the 3 different ways to invest in mobile homes, to seller financing for mobile homes, to relationship-based negotiation with the Seller, and more.

As Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneurs, we have a core thesis about how we do business. It’s our strongest belief and the guiding principle for how we go about building wealth through real estate. It says, “Designing your entire acquisition and finance strategy around relationship development directly with Sellers creates better outcomes for BOTH them and you.” In this episode, Jeff breaks down this thesis statement into its many parts and explains the importance of each one. Check out this episode and you’ll find yourself even more excited and committed to growing your rental portfolio as Thoughtful Real Estate Entrepreneur.

When it comes to working directly with sellers—especially with seller financing or other creative financing—creating the right deal structures can admittedly seem a little complicated. But ultimately, every deal simply comes down to three simple things: 1) what are you giving me? 2) what am I giving you? 3) what form does the things we are giving each other take? In this episode, Jeff breaks down this simple framework in detail and provides examples of how to answer each of these three questions.

Most people will tell you that real estate investing is all about the brain—looking at numbers and making purely rational decisions. These same people will tell you that they love any property that makes them money. That may be one type of “love,” but there’s another type of love as well: truly loving the properties you own themselves. In this episode, Jeff discusses that there is great value and benefit in building a portfolio of properties you truly love.

It’s often said that real estate investing is a great way to get rich slowly—we completely agree! And when you consistently work hard to grow a portfolio over the course of many years, those efforts compound and ultimately result in a large, fantastic real estate portfolio. In this episode, Jeff interviews Matt Hawkins, also known online as The Lumberjack Landlord, who is the perfect example of this. In this interview, Jeff and Matt discuss a wide variety of topics, from the value of local investing, smaller communities, managing more than 100 units, how to work successfully with banks, how to get started building a large portfolio and much more.

Let’s face it, real estate is a complex topic. From numbers to forms and documents, to terminology, there’s a lot that has to be discussed between Buyer and Seller. In the world of sales and marketing, it’s often said that “a confused mind always says no.” The same is true for Sellers. You can have the best offer or proposal in the world, but if the Seller feels at all confused by any or all of it, their default response will be to say ‘no.’ In this episode, Jeff discusses the importance of not only making a great proposal, but presenting that proposal in a way that the Seller can follow and understands well.