Tucker Pinyan is a 25-yearold real estate investor and entrepreneur based in Nebraska. He and his wife started their real estate journey in 2021, and since then they’ve grown their portfolio to more than 130 rental units, along with multiple realestate-focused businesses. Tucker dropped out of college during the COVID-19 era to pursue this dream full-time. Through a heavy focus on creative finance, they’ve been able to scale rapidly without using investor capital. His passion today is helping people become homeowners through innovative deal structures and teaching others how to buy real estate creatively. He is an active member of the Omaha REIA.
Please tell us a little about who you are and what you did
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6. The Quiet Win: How Self-Storage Builds Durable Passive Income
10. AI for Real Estate Bookkeepers: What Rental Owners and Syndicators Should Know Now
14. Strategy Over Speculation in 2026
Cycles and Seasons
By Jeffrey S. Watson
The beginning of the year is always a time for looking ahead, but it’s a time for reflection as well. I was recently reminded of a very important moment in my life that happened while sitting in a Marriott hotel near the Denver airport. At that time, I was considered to be one of the nation’s leading authorities on short-sale transactions. What I heard in that room over three days, however, completely changed my perspective on short sales.
The short-sale cycle was winding down, things were changing in the market, complexity was rising, regulatory burdens were increasing, and people were struggling to successfully
complete short sales. It was time to cycle away from that. With the help of my good friend Eddie Speed, I discovered something far better than short sales – buying defaulted promissory notes. Instead of being the orphan asking for a little more gruel in his tin cup, I was now the person in charge of the deal working in the best interests of all parties involved.
I’m assuming we all agree that in 2026, we are not in the same real estate market as we were a few years ago. Unemployment, inflation, and interest rates look radically different, which means the landscape for real-estate investors has changed dramatically. We are in a season where management,
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Are You Operating with Blinders On?
By M. Jane Garvey
You analyzed the property’s income and expenses. You checked out the market to make sure there is a diverse and healthy employment environment. The neighborhood is attractive and well-kept. The current residents are well-qualified and paying rent. Crime statistics show it is a safe neighborhood. It is not in a flood zone. Insurers are willing to provide insurance at an affordable rate. The lender is happy with the debt-coverage ratio. All is good to go. But is it?
The elephant in the room these days is the legislative environment. Throughout the country we are finding states, counties, and communities that are taking on property rights and micromanaging investor-owned properties. Legislation is also coming at us from the federal level. If you aren’t paying atten-
tion, you are missing one of the most important parts of your purchase decision, as well as your operations.
Many years ago, in the early 1980s, we started our investing career buying properties in Chicago. In those days the leases were simple, and both parties were expected to live up to them. I know, you are tired of hearing a seasoned investor longing for the old days. But this is important, so please “hear” me out.
Just as I am asking you to do today, back in the 1980s we were paying attention, and it caused a sea-change in our plans. We had intended to build a rental portfolio in Chicago. We had a few rentals there already, although much of our focus was on suburban rehabs at that time.
In 1986, the Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance was passed in Chicago. This ordinance changed the whole business. It placed restrictions on landlords and gave rights to tenants,
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The Harder Path—and Why Waiting Nearly Cost Me Everything
By Rebecca McLean Executive Director of National REIA
Last year, I got the ultimate wake-up call. I didn’t begin a health- and weight-loss journey casually. I didn’t wake up one day and decide I just wanted to feel a little better or fit into different clothes. I began this journey because I almost died.
I suffered a pulmonary embolism—a life-threatening event that forced me to confront something many of us prefer not to think about. Sometimes you don’t get a warning. Sometimes you don’t get a gradual wake-up call. And sometimes, waiting until it’s “the right time” simply isn’t an option.
That experience changed how I think about health, decisions, and risk—including how I think about real estate investing.
Over the past year, as a result of that wake-up call, I’ve lost a lot of weight. Not through shortcuts or gimmicks, but through disciplined, sometimes frustrating choices made day after day. I read every food label. I removed all added sugar. I moved more—even when I didn’t feel like it. I chose the harder option repeatedly, when no one was watching.
And that experience has reinforced a truth I’ve long believed, but now understand at a much deeper level: Results are the compound outcome of daily choices.
In The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy explains that everything in your life—your health, your finances, your relationships, your success—is rooted in one factor: your choices.
Like it or not, your accumulated choices have created your current waistline, your business outcomes, your relationship strength, and your bank balance.
That realization can be uncomfortable because it means we also own the responsibility for changing course.
If you’re disappointed in any area of your life or business, it’s not because you haven’t tried hard enough— it’s because whatever choices you’ve been making aren’t working.
And that applies just as much to real estate investing as it does to health.
Most of us know what the right choices are. The real challenge is whether we’re willing to make them consistently—especially when they’re inconvenient, uncomfortable, or unpopular.
Over the past year, I’ve learned a simple rule that works across every area of life:
When in doubt, choose the harder path.
The option with the most resistance is usually the right one.
In health, the low-resistance choices look like:
• Not reading the label
• Rationalizing “just this once”
• Starting Monday instead of today
• Skipping movement because you’re tired The high-resistance choices?
• Tracking what you eat when you don’t want to
• Ordering the grass-fed plain meat when you want the big plate of pasta and bread
• Saying no when everyone else says yes
• Doing the work even when progress feels slow
Real estate investing follows the exact same pattern. Low resistance in investing often looks like:
• Avoiding your numbers
• Ignoring expense creep
• Putting off rent increases to keep the peace
• Saying yes to a deal because it’s available, not because it’s sound
• Hoping appreciation will compensate for weak fundamentals
High resistance?
• Reviewing financials monthly—even when they’re uncomfortable
• Stress-testing assumptions before you buy
• Enforcing policies consistently and fairly
• Passing on deals that don’t meet your criteria
• Having the hard conversations early
There’s a reason this is difficult. You—and your brain—are creatures of habit. Like a river pulling you downstream, unconscious routines guide your behavior unless you deliberately fight them. Changing outcomes requires swimming upstream—against comfort, convenience, and old patterns.
We all know the definition of insanity:
Doing the same things you’ve always done and expecting different results.
What nearly cost me my life—and what costs many investors their peace of mind or portfolios—is waiting until a crisis forces action.
In health, I waited until my body issued an ultimatum.
In real estate, many investors wait until:
• Cash flow tightens
• A lender forces a restructure
• A vacancy exposes weak systems
• A market shift reveals thin margins
The crisis doesn’t create the problem.
It reveals it.
What I’ve learned—personally and professionally—is this:
Proactive discomfort is always cheaper than reactive pain.
The disciplined, sometimes annoying choices I make now—about food, movement, and habits—are far easier than being forced into change by another emergency.
The same is true in investing.
You can choose the discomfort of tightening systems, raising standards, and addressing risks now—or you can wait until circumstances make those decisions for you, under pressure, with fewer options and higher stakes.
Independent real estate investors don’t have corporate safety nets. We don’t have departments to absorb our mistakes. Our outcomes—good and bad—are more directly tied to our daily decisions than almost any other group of business owners.
That’s both the risk and the opportunity.
The investors who succeed long-term aren’t the ones chasing the easiest path. They’re the ones willing to take the harder road early—so life, and their portfolio,
gets easier later.
So, here’s my challenge to you:
Make a list of the things you avoid.
The conversations you postpone.
The tasks you know you should do—but keep putting off.
Then do them.
Don’t wait for a wake-up call.
Don’t wait for a crisis.
And don’t wait until “someday.”
Declare it—and take action.
What three things do you NOT want to do today… but will commit to doing anyway?
Those choices—stacked over time—will change everything.
Rebecca McLean is the Executive Director of National Real Estate Investors Association.
NREIA Legislative Update
One Door Closes, Another Opens (Maybe)
With a slim Republican majority in the United States House and a majority of less than 60 members (the number needed to pass most legislation) in the United States Senate, President Donald Trump’s prospects of passing any pieces of his legislative agenda are slim to none. That’s because midterm elections will be held later this year. With moderates and members in swing districts facing reelection or defeat in November, the unity Republicans need in both chambers to act on the Trump agenda is crumbling.
Whether it is granting the President tariff authority, requiring voter ID and proof of citizenship to register to vote, or any other featured initiative of the White House, Republican leaders on the Hill are having a hard time rounding up the votes. Democrats show few cracks in their “wall of no.”
That means that most of the congressional action we will see over the remainder of the year will be on bipartisan legislation, driven by coalitions of members working across the aisle. That opens a door of opportunity for real estate investors. One such bipartisan effort directly addresses the need to build more housing in the United States.
For months, members in both the House and Senate have been cobbling together their respective housing bills. These bills are made up of dozens of single-issue bills introduced by members over the years. In the Senate it is S. 2651, known as the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act. It is sponsored by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the top Republican and top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. In the House, it is H.R. 6644, known as the Housing for the 21st Century Act, sponsored by Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) who chairs the House Financial Services Committee. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the panel’s ranking Democrat, is lead co-sponsor.
Though there are slight differences between the two bills, generally speaking they do the following:
• Expand rental assistance
• Prioritize applicants for HUD development or preservation grants that are located in opportunity zones
• Direct HUD to publish a best-practices frame-
work for state and local zoning and land-use policies
• Create a HUD pilot program to support state and local whole-home repair programs, which provide grants and forgivable loans to eligible homeowners and landlords for home repairs and modifications
• Create a carrot-and-stick approach for Community Development Block Grants to localities based on their housing production
• Ease environmental restrictions and enhance grant programs for certain housing developments near centers of economic activity
• Create a pilot program to issue grants for the conversion of vacant commercial or industrial buildings to residential
• Eliminate the permanent chassis requirement for manufactured homes and otherwise expand opportunities for use of manufactured homes
• Streamline the HUD inspection process
Both chambers have passed their respective bills out of committee and talks are underway between the House and Senate to try to harmonize them into a final measure. For real estate investors, there are two pressing issues that may factor in this process.
First is a proposed ban on “large institutional investors” from single-family home ownership. President Trump has issued an executive order to that effect and is calling on Congress to codify the ban in its final housing bill. The key question is what defines “large investor.” Individual members of Congress have, in the past, introduced bills banning investors from owning more than 50 homes. More recently, chatter has centered around 100 as the limit. That would affect plenty of National REIA members and mom-and-pop landlords. National REIA is working to ensure that if a ban is enacted, the limit is set to a significant number of properties.
The second issue that could finally see action in the comprehensive housing process is seller finance. Once again, Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) has introduced H.R.6511, the bipartisan Affordable Homeowner Access Act. This bill provides another access point to home buying by providing relief to individuals and small businesses so that they can sell their homes directly to a buy-
er without the fees associated with being a mortgage originator. Seller finance is a useful tool for investors whether they are buying or selling properties. Seller financing is also a powerful tool to transition renters into homeowners. We are working to get H.R. 6511 passed out of its subcommittee and onto the desk of House and Senate negotiators on the broader housing bills. This represents our best hope of getting the Affordable Homeowner Access Act passed into law this year.
Mamdani Mania Continues — and It’s Spreading!
Supporters of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani might be feeling some buyer’s remorse right now. Mamdani—who campaigned promising free public transport, low-cost grocery stores, rent freezes, and government-owned housing—has come to the realization he can’t pay for it all. But rather than back away from these misguided policies, he is doubling down, saying that he will fund his programs through a combination of public safety cuts, raided public retirement funds and rainy-day accounts, and increased taxes. In fact, Mamdani is proposing a staggering $127 billion city budget, which will include expensive programs like child care for illegal immigrants. That’s $5 billion more than the previous NYC budget and more than the budget of the state of Florida, which has 15 million more people.
The new mayor’s request to the state legislature for permission to establish a wealth tax has fallen on largely deaf ears. So Mamdani now is threatening to raise a tax the city is able to hike on its own. His proposed $9.5 billion property tax would hit 3 million residential properties and 100,000 commercial buildings. Far from being a tax on the wealthy, Mamdani’s property tax hike would increase housing costs of working-class New Yorkers, including renters. The median income of those affected is $122,000—not much in New York City. In short Mamdani would abandon his affordability agenda and make housing more expensive to pay for his pipe dreams.
Bad ideas are contagious. Other regions of the country are susceptible to destructive housing policies as
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Published quarterly for chapters, associated real estate investor associations, their members and guests.
Editor
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RE Journal is published by Rental Housing Journal, LLC, publishers of Rental Housing Journal www.rentalhousingjournal.com
Are You Operating with Blinders On? ...
continued from Page 1
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Editor Linda Wienandt linda@rentalhousingjournal.com
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all of which superseded the agreements the parties made in their leases. Leases needed to be changed to comply with this new law. The penalties were painful and mandated by the ordinance. Many landlord-tenant attorneys who practiced in the eviction space changed sides to go after landlords who were not in compliance. And the game began of tweaking the ordinance regularly to make sure that compliance was difficult. Investing in Chicago became riskier, a risk level we were unwilling to tolerate.
For the past 40 years, tenants’ rights organizations have continued to push their agenda. It has spread to other areas and is now heavily infecting the state of Illinois. The business is being micromanaged by legislators that have no idea how to manage a rental. Throughout this period, I have tracked legislation, advocated for owners, informed owners of changes in the rules and the need to pay attention. Many who have been paying attention have decided to take their investments elsewhere, believing the risks have become intolerable.
Are you paying attention to the government entities that regulate housing investments where you invest? I have long felt like many in our business act like ostriches. They don’t want to know. It takes too much time. It is depressing. Someone else will take care of it. They think that as a small investor, they are flying under the radar.
If you think you can outsource your responsibility on this, you may want to think again. The penalties are huge. Small investors are the perfect target, as they often don’t have adequate funding to fight a fair-housing suit, or many of the other claims that arise from not dotting the right i’s or crossing the right t’s. I have heard many experienced investors who think they are safe. They take care of their residents, charge submarket rents, make repairs rapidly, and are all-around good people. They are doing what their brother-in-law told them to do 15 years ago when he told them they should buy rentals. Some of them will survive and come out unscathed. Many others will not. If you are one of these people, wake up. They are coming for you.
The other group of people I worry about are the young couples who rent out their first home as they buy a new home that can accommodate their fam-
Legislative
ily. Many are equipped with office-supply-store leases, or generic online leases. They often have no idea about the pile of required disclosures, the requirements for screening residents, the restrictions about handling security deposits, and the multitude of other requirements to operate within the law. Those that start out in compliance because they engaged a knowledgeable agent to handle the first rental often miss the changes that happen regularly to the laws covering the business of operating rentals.
In my area, there are restrictions at every level of government. If you are rehabbing property, operating a vacation rental, wholesaling property, buying foreclosures at auction, or using any of the other myriad of strategies to purchase, finance, rehab, rent or even sell property, there are requirements that need to be met.
Illinois is not alone in this. We are one of the crazier states, but the tenant’s rights groups are well-funded and spreading. The “do-gooders” who think you have too much and that someone else should get some of what you have worked for are out there; dare I say everywhere.
One last thought on this subject. Much of this micromanagement is done to supposedly help tenants. In my opinion, it adds to the cost of operations, thus driving up rents. It also discour-
Update ... continued from Page 3
well. In Cincinnati, the city council is considering a property reparations program. Citing the transgressions of the 1920s-era Cincinnati Real Estate Board, the redlining of communities in the 1930s, and the alleged racial exclusion of the GI Bill in the 1940s and ’50s, the city is seeking to spend taxpayer dollars on reparations to help low-to-moderate income residents in largely black neighborhoods own homes. This would be achieved by paying out reparations to buy and/or maintain residential or commercial real estate, assist with down payments, and to help pay delinquent property taxes and emergency repairs. Socialism under the guise of racial justice.
Massachusetts voters are likely to see a statewide rent-control measure on the ballot this fall. Cambridge, Mass., implemented rent control in 1970, adopting one of the most stringent policies in Massachusetts. A statewide vote repealed the policy in 1994, banning rent control across the commonwealth. The proposed ballot initiative would cap annual rent increases for most residential units at the rate of inflation or 5 percent, whichever is lower. State lawmakers will vote by May whether to implement the measure themselves or allow it to go on the November ballot.
Santa Barbara, Calif., has joined the list of 35 Golden State localities that have capped rent. Santa Barbara’s city coun-
ages responsible owners from investing in heavily regulated areas, thus making any problems that exist, worse. It discourages investment by builders as well, resulting in less housing. The pendulum has swung so far that owners and most residents should be on the same side in resisting more regulation. If we all wake up, speak up, and start enlisting the help of our residents, maybe we can turn the tide. I still hold out hope.
Jane Garvey is president of the Chicago Creative Investors Association.
cil enacted a temporary freeze for 2026. Exempted from the freeze are many types of rental units, including Section 8 housing, housing built after 1995, single-family homes, some condominiums and government housing. For now. The council will vote in July on whether to implement a permanent ban.
A Welcome Freeze for Landlords: Credit
By Scot Aubrey
With winter still in full swing in parts of the country, many of us are all too familiar with freezing temperatures. While this can make it tough to be a landlord, there’s a freeze that each of us should be familiar with, and taking advantage of, beginning immediately. I’m talking about a credit freeze. It’s not just something that consumers need to worry about; for landlords, it can be one of the smartest (and easiest) defenses you can put in place.
As an investor and someone who relies on their rental business, your personal credit is often inseparable from your ability to operate. Financing, insurance rates, even your ability to expand your portfolio, all rely on your credit. In today’s environment—where identity theft, data breaches, and sophisticated fraud are increasingly common—placing a credit freeze should be viewed as a business continuity step, not just a personal precaution.
Landlords Are Prime Targets
As a landlord you manage high-value assets and frequently share sensitive information across multiple services: mortgage lenders, banks, tenant-screening platforms, maintenance vendors, online-payment portals, and property management software. Each interaction creates another potential point of exposure. Even if you have a small portfolio, your data circulates far beyond what you realize. And because most landlords have stable credit histories, you are especially attractive to fraudsters who want to exploit your good credit to open new accounts, take out loans, or rack up debt in your name.
You Must be Operational
It’s easy to assume that identity theft is just a nuisance, but for you as a landlord, the consequences can be far more damaging and disruptive. A fraudulent loan or credit line can damage your credit score and trigger higher interest rates or reduced borrowing power right when you need it - such as refinancing a property, funding repairs, or purchasing another unit. Worse yet, you might not discover the fraud until applying for financ-
ing, at which point the timing can be catastrophic.
A credit freeze blocks lenders from pulling your credit file unless you temporarily lift the freeze. This translates to criminals being unable to open new lines of credit in your name, even if they have your Social Security number and other details. You’ll still be able to use existing credit cards and accounts normally, but you’ll reduce the risk of new account fraud, which is the most damaging kind.
Freezing Your Credit is Free, Fast, and Reversible
A major reason that landlords haven’t adopted credit freezes more widely is outdated assumptions. Many people still believe credit freezes are expensive, complicated, or hard to undo. In reality, U.S. law requires the credit bureaus to offer them for free, and most freezes can be placed online in minutes. If you need to apply for a mortgage, open a new credit card, or finance a renovation, you can temporarily lift the freeze for a set time window and then re-freeze it once the transaction is complete.
As an investor, I suggest that you do these THREE things immediately:
1. Put a freeze on your credit. Experian has made it easy to freeze and unfreeze. Create your freeze today at: https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
2. Use an online rent-payment system to manage
your rental payments. These systems allow rent to be paid from bank account to bank account, without giving out your personal bank account numbers to your tenants. This will protect you from one more person having your personal information.
3. Watch what you post online. When you search for your name, what do you see? I personally write many articles, do podcasts, record videos, and have my information everywhere, so people know me. Your social media is also the perfect medium for people to grab pictures or personal information. If you find yourself with a growing online presence or increased exposure, go back to No. 1 above and make sure you freeze your credit. You don’t want to be one of those 6,000 daily reports of fraud going to the FTC.
Professional Level Protection
Landlords often invest in security systems, smoke detectors, liability insurance, and legal protections for leases. Freezing your credit belongs in that same category: a foundational safeguard. It’s not about paranoia - it’s about recognizing that your identity is an asset, and like any asset, it deserves protection. Taking 15 minutes today to freeze your credit can save you months of headaches later—and help ensure your rental business remains stable, scalable, and secure.
Scot Aubrey is vice president of Rent Perfect, a private investigator, and fellow landlord who manages shortterm rentals. Subscribe to the weekly Rent Perfect Podcast (available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts) to stay up to date on the latest industry news and for expert tips on how to manage your properties.
By Tony Youngs
When I first got into real estate, I chose to start with pre-foreclosures. I learned that banks and lending institutions would auction houses off to the highest bidder at the courthouse steps in the county where the property was located. I also learned that you could buy these houses directly from the homeowner before the auction date, and thus help the homeowner have dignity, recoup some of their equity and keep a foreclosure off their credit report. Due to the fact that these homes usually need repairs and were less than perfect, I figured I could buy these properties at a discount and create a win-win solution for the owner. I attended my local REIA meetings to learn various techniques to finance the purchase. This all sounded great to me so I obtained a copy of the local legal notices to get a list of all the foreclosures in my area.
Next, I would send a letter to all the homeowners listed in the paper asking if they would be interested in selling their house before the auction date. I soon found out that because foreclosures are public, a homeowner in foreclosure receives many letters from folks that want to buy their homes. So, I decided to become a door knocker and visit them in person and ask them directly, face to face, if they would like to sell. I was able to have success but soon found out that this is a numbers game. Interestingly, I discovered that many of these homeowners didn’t want to sell but were just looking for solutions that would allow them to keep their homes. It worked out that I would have to knock on 10 doors to find one owner that wanted to sell. Ac-
cepting that fact, I continued knocking until I got past all the no’s and found a yes.
There were many times I would knock on a door and a homeowner would say they don’t need to sell because they were going to file for bankruptcy protection. If they file bankruptcy, that will instantly stop the house from going to auction. A typical homeowner also gets letters from law firms explaining that if they file, it will stop the foreclosure. If a homeowner chose to file bankruptcy, I would simply mark them off my list. However, since I always attended foreclosure auctions, sometimes I would later see some of those very houses get auctioned off, and recall talking to those very owners three months prior. I soon discovered that a home can still go to auction even if the owner files bankruptcy. This meant that those owners now have a foreclosure and a bankruptcy on their credit and they still lost their home. I didn’t understand how this could happen, but it certainly taught me that I needed to learn about bankruptcy. I went to my local REIA meeting and requested that they get a bankruptcy expert to teach us about how it works and why some owners still lose their homes. I learned everything there is to know about the subject and it has helped tremendously. Therefore, the business will teach you what you need to learn.
As I continued to talk to homeowners in foreclosure and write offers, I would ask the owners if they had any other liens besides the mortgage. Usually, they would say they didn’t know. I would hire an attorney to do a title search and they would usually charge me a couple hundred dollars. A few days later they might inform me that the house has federal tax liens, hospital liens,
Members of National REIA can take advantage of special pricing from Rent Perfect; the solution for rental property owners and managers for screening & managing tenants.
Let the Business Teach You
mechanics liens, or judgments that made it impossible to buy the house. But I still had to pay the two hundred bucks for the house that I didn’t buy. The business was teaching me that I needed to learn how to do my own title search before making offers. Guess what I did next? I went to my local REIA, but they did not know anyone who taught it. So, I went to the courthouse and learned how to do it. It took some time but it has saved me thousands and thousands of dollars as well as a lot of precious time. When I get asked to be a presenter at REIA meetings, I always teach how to perform a title search. In many states, it can even be done without going to the courthouse.
Another aspect the business has taught me, as I go deal hunting, is that there are thousands of vacant houses in our great nation. I used to have trouble finding the owners of these treasures. The business taught me that I needed to learn how to find vacated owners. Thanks to modern technology, I learned how to find them – and it has greatly increased my success rate.
These are just a few examples of how to “let the business teach you.” I could write a book on the hundreds of things the business has taught me simply because I got out there and took action. Oh wait, I already did.
Tony Youngs is a national speaker, trainer, and active real estate investor who takes you by the hand in your own backyard to teach you how to be good at finding good deals. He can be reached through his website at www.tonyyoungs.com
The Quiet Win: How Self-Storage Builds Durable Passive Income
By Carl Fischer
Self-storage is not the most talked-about realestate asset class, but its long-term performance has made it increasingly difficult for investors to ignore. While other sectors often rely on market timing, leverage, or aggressive growth assumptions, self-storage has quietly built a reputation for consistency, resilience, and operational control.
In a recent educational webinar hosted by CamaPlan, commercial real estate investors Christy Brock and Margot Kennedy walked through why self-storage continues to attract long-term capital and how investors can evaluate opportunities in this space more effectively. Their discussion highlighted three core reasons self-storage has remained durable across multiple economic cycles.
1. Demand is driven by life events, not market conditions
“Self-storage isn’t just a passing trend,” says Brock. “It’s an asset class that thrives because life happens—no matter the economic climate. The key reasons people need storage—divorce, death, downsizing, dislocation, disaster, disease—happen in any market.”
When people experience these transitions, they often need temporary space for their belongings. Downsizing from a larger home, relocating for work, managing an estate, or rebuilding after a loss frequently leads to storage use. Importantly, these needs are not discretionary and do not depend on consumer confidence.
Key demand characteristics discussed in the webinar include:
• Approximately 11 to 12 percent of U.S. households currently use self-storage
• Increasing adoption by businesses for inventory, records, and equipment
• Expanded use following the COVID-19 pandemic as remote work reduced available space in homes and offices
This demand profile has helped self-storage maintain relatively stable occupancy even during periods of economic stress. When households downsize during downturns, belongings are often stored rather than sold. When conditions improve, those items often remain in storage longer than initially planned. This behavior has historically supported consistent usage across cycles.
2. Operations are simpler and more controllable
One of the defining advantages of self-storage is operational simplicity compared to other real-estate asset types. Unlike residential or multifamily properties, storage facilities do not house tenants and have minimal interior buildout.
Operational characteristics highlighted in the webinar include:
• No residents living onsite
• Limited plumbing and utility exposure
• Durable block-and-steel construction
• Minimal wear-and-tear inside units
• Fast and low-cost unit turnover
Unit turnover in self-storage is often completed in a short period of time and does not require extensive renovation. In many cases, a unit can be cleared and prepared for re-rental within an hour. This contrasts with residential turnovers, which may require weeks of downtime and significant capital.
Staffing and payroll are also more controllable. Many facilities now operate using hybrid or remote management models supported by call centers and automation. Customers can lease units, make payments, and receive assistance without requiring full-time onsite staff. This reduces one of the largest operating expenses for most real-estate assets.
Utilities tend to be lower as well. Storage units typically do not require water or sewer services, and many facilities use motion-activated lighting to control electricity costs. These factors contribute to more predictable operating expenses and fewer unexpected maintenance issues.
3. Value is created through net operating income
As with most commercial real estate, self-storage property values are driven by net operating income rather than comparable sales. This allows investors to create value through operational improvements rather than relying solely on market appreciation.
During the webinar, Brock and Kennedy emphasized that even modest improvements in income or expense efficiency can materially impact long-term value.
Common value drivers include:
• Bringing rents closer to market levels while maintaining occupancy
• Reducing expenses through automation and operational efficiencies
• Adding tenant-protection programs
• Introducing ancillary revenue such as unit monitoring or specialty parking
• Improving marketing, signage, and online visibility
Because self-storage is often a fragmented market, many facilities are still owned by small, independent operators who have not optimized pricing, technology, or management practices. Over 70 percent of facilities remain in this category. This fragmentation creates ongoing opportunities for professional operators to improve performance without relying on aggressive growth assumptions.
In the case study discussed during the webinar, a fa-
cility acquired from long-term owners had below-market rents, limited marketing, and outdated operations. Through operational improvements and expense controls, the projected net operating income was expected to double over the hold period, significantly increasing the property’s value.
A steady asset class worth understanding
Says Kennedy, “Self-storage stands out as a durable, long-term investment—offering consistent income and solid returns for those with a patient outlook.” Its performance is tied to life events, operational efficiency, and income fundamentals. That combination has allowed it to perform consistently through multiple economic cycles.
For investors using self-directed retirement accounts, understanding how value is created in self-storage can be particularly important. Evaluating demand drivers, expense control, and net operating income provides a framework for assessing opportunities in this space. While self-storage may not be the most visible real estate asset class, its long-term fundamentals have made it a quiet but durable option for investors seeking consistency and risk-aware growth.
Carl Fischer is one of the founders and principals of CAMA Self-Directed IRA, LLC. (dba CamaPlan). CamaPlan is a national, self-directed tax advantaged plan administrator company headquartered in Ambler, Pa.
This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult qualified tax and financial professionals before making investment decisions.
Watch the webinar “The Quiet Win: How Self-Storage Builds Passive Income” to learn how self-storage can boost your passive income at:
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"CamaPlan has helped me increase my ROI and opened my eyes to different diversification strategies so much that I recommend them to both of my National REIA Chapters at every meeting! National REIA education with CamaPlan provides a way to have more cash in the local individual REIA to do deals and provide tax-free income for life." Pete Youngs
Member Spotlight — Tucker Pinyan
before getting into real-estate investing:
Before real estate, I was your typical college student — but I quickly realized college wasn’t for me. I’ve never been good at sitting still, and I get bored easily, so I wanted to get into something fast-paced and handson. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I started mowing lawns around age 12 just to earn extra money. That desire to build something of my own eventually led me into real-estate investing.
Where is your current market and what is your focus or area of expertise?
I invest primarily across Nebraska, including Lincoln, Columbus, and surrounding areas. My specialty is creative finance—structuring deals with seller fi-
nancing, subject-to, wraps, and other nontraditional methods. Because of these strategies, we’ve been able to build our entire portfolio without any outside investor capital and structure debt in a way that allows us to own 100% of the assets ourselves.
How did you get started?
I got started by sending yellow letters to find off-market deals. In the beginning I was a pure hustler—taking calls at all hours, and doing whatever it took to generate deal flow. Shortly after that, I started learning creative finance strategies, which changed everything for me and allowed me to scale fast even without money.
Describe a typical work week for you as a
real estate investor:
My superpower is getting up early. I wake up around 3 a.m. every day — that quiet time in the morning allows me to think clearly, plan, and get ahead before distractions hit.
A typical week includes:
• Reviewing deals and structuring creative offers
• Meeting with sellers and tenant-buyers
• Overseeing renovations
• Managing my teams across our businesses
• Working on long-term strategy, systems, and growth
No two days look alike, but the early mornings give me the anchor I need.
How long have you been investing in real estate?
A little over four years—and in that time I’ve completed more than 150 acquisitions.
Tell us about your first deal:
My first deal was a wholetail during the hot market. I bought a property for $50,000 using hard money, cleaned it out, did a deep-clean, and listed it. I received a $75,000 cash offer almost immediately. That was my proof of concept and it showed me I could make this business work.
How do you fund your investments?
In the beginning, I financed everything with hard money. I didn’t have any capital, and although the interest was high, it allowed me to fund 100% of both the purchase price and the rehab. It was better than sitting on the sidelines.
Today I use a combination of:
• Bank financing for purchases and improvements
• DSCR lenders for single-family homes
• Local commercial banks for multifamily
• And whenever possible, seller financing, which is always ideal
Tucker and his wife Diana in front of their 24-unit apartment complex bought on Seller Finance
Tucker speaking at an Omaha REIA event: The Fix and Flip Mastery Series
Member Spotlight — Tucker Pinyan ...
Do you have a real estate license?
No—I operate strictly as an investor.
What projects are you currently working on?
Right now, I’m working on purchasing a package of eight townhomes where the seller is carrying back the down payment. It’s a $2 million deal that I’ll be able to walk into with zero down, thanks to creative structuring. They’re newer townhomes—all built within the last 10 years—solid long-term assets.
I’m also continuing to grow our tenant-buyer, owner-finance brand, Casa by Owner.
How much time do you put into your real estate education?
I study constantly. Even now, I’m always learning more about creative finance, deal structuring, operations, and business. This industry changes quickly, and staying sharp is key.
Has coaching or mentoring played a part in your success?
Absolutely. When I first started, I spent about six
months spinning my wheels. Then I hired a mentor— and within two weeks, I closed my first deal. Coaching fast-tracked everything for me.
What are your current and future goals?
Currently, my goals are to expand our owner-finance portfolio, grow our creative finance brand, and double down on scalable, long-term assets. Future goals include building a large note portfolio, continuing to scale across Nebraska, and teaching creative finance at a high level.
What has been your top struggle in this business?
Balancing growth with operations. When deal volume increases, everything gets tested—systems, staffing, cash flow, communication. Learning to build teams and delegate has been one of the biggest challenges but also one of the most important lessons.
What do you like most about what you do?
I love the freedom that real estate gives me. I get to wake up when I want, structure my days the way I choose, and I don’t have to answer to anyone. Beyond that, I love creating win-win deals, helping families become homeowners, and using creativity to solve problems in ways traditional real estate can’t. The combination of freedom, flexibility, and impact is what keeps me excited every day.
Do you have a tip or advice that you would pass along to other investors?
Knowledge is everything—but no formal education is required. Everything I’ve learned has been self-taught or gained through relationships. You don’t need money, degrees, or a perfect starting point. Take action, talk to sellers, and keep learning.
How important is joining a local REIA to a new investor?
It’s extremely important. A REIA gives you access to real investors in your market, real deals, and real mentorship. Networking inside a REIA has changed my business more than any book or course.
What is your favorite self-help or business book?
The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. That book helped shape my mindset during the earliest stages of my journey.
Do you have any interesting hobbies or
something unique that you like to do?
I love spending time with my family and working on business ideas. Building businesses, thinking creatively, and solving problems is a passion of mine.
Does your business have a website?
• thehomeheroes.com—Off-market single-family acquisitions and investment properties
• mycasabyowner.com—Our tenant-buyer / owner-finance home-buying program
• stagemicasita.com—Our staging and design company
• rocketrolloffs.com—Our dumpster and roll-off rental company
Social media accounts? (that you’re willing to share)
• Twitter/X—@tuckerpinyan
• Instagram—@tuckerpinyan
• Facebook—tucker.pinyan.7
Inspecting electric meters at the apartment building
Tucker coordinating contractors at a recent rehab project
Tucker and Diana at their home on 20 acres outside of Lincoln, NE
By Gita Faust
AAI for Real Estate Bookkeepers
What Rental Owners and Syndicators Should Know Now
I is popping up everywhere in accounting, bookkeeping software, bank feeds, invoice tools, and reporting dashboards. For real estate investors, this sparks a fair question: Is AI truly helpful for my books, or just another shiny distraction?
Short answer: AI shines in bookkeeping when paired with human judgment.
That’s crucial in real estate, where rentals and syndications involve entities, properties, capital calls, distributions, reserves, loans, repairs, improvements, and investor reports. One miscoded transaction can skew your numbers fast.
Don’t let AI “run the books.” Instead, use it to make your team faster, more consistent, and focused on high-value work.
What AI Does Well in Real Estate Bookkeeping
AI excels at repetitive tasks and pattern recognition, speeding up:
• Suggesting transaction categories
• Matching bank feeds
• Reading receipts and invoices
• Flagging duplicates or anomalies
• Drafting month-end notes
• Accelerating report prep
This frees bookkeepers to focus on what investors value: reviewing numbers, spotting errors, explaining variances, and ensuring property-level reports make sense.
AI accelerates the grind; humans tell the real story.
Why Rentals Demand Caution
Rentals seem straightforward: rent in, bills out. But savvy owners know better. Portfolios juggle:
• Multiple properties
• Varied loan terms
• Repairs vs. capital improvements
• Security deposits
• Owner draws/contributions
• Reserves
• Management fees
• Inter-account transfers
AI categorizes quickly but often misses nuances, like repair vs. capital (affecting depreciation), transfer vs. contribution, or reimbursement vs. personal spend. Wrong codes make profitable properties look cashstrapped or vice versa. AI supports; it doesn’t replace your bookkeeper’s review.
With National REIAU, we have made learning from some of the best fast, easy and inexpensive. National REIAU delivers great lowcost, high-quality investor training on exactly the subject you want, exactly when you want it.
good stewardship, and knowing your numbers will be important. We no longer have a market that will just carry you along to profitability. This is a market in which being out of step can beat you up. If you are a real estate investor, you are looking for cash flow and what you can develop and obtain from it.
When cash flow evaporates, what do you do? That was a challenge thrown at me, and I had to make some serious decisions. On January 2, 2026, I closed on a real-estate transaction in which I sold a rental property that I had owned for 32 years. At one time, I had the property free and clear, but I took some of the equity out of that property to buy other properties, and then did a second refinance to acquire more properties. That refinance was with an institutional lender and triggered a valuation by the county, which caused the real estate taxes to go up significantly.
While this was occurring, the city of Cleveland was becoming increasingly more anti-landlord. Rents weren’t increasing despite the increased cost of taxes and insurance. In December 2025, it became apparent that this property was no longer cash-flowing. The entire month’s rent from both units was now needed to satisfy the principal and interest payment and the money needed to rebuild the escrow account the lender required for taxes and insurance. With the assistance of a good real estate agent, I was able to sell the property quickly in a tax-strategic manner, and my negative cash-flow headache was gone.
Was I sad about it? Yes, just ask some of my friends. However, I recognized the black-and-white reality and needed to keep the red ink from spilling into my life.
We are in a cycle where rents have plateaued and consumers are tapped out. Inflation may have settled down, but real-estate taxes are out of control. Couple that with an environment where you have multiple regulatory influences, licensures and expenses and a semi-hostile housing court, and it’s time to reposition. Much like the game of “Simon Says,” the “cycle says” it may be time to move on.
So, what am I moving on to with the profit I made from selling that property?
If I look at the net proceeds that I made from selling the property and calculate what my net cash flow was a year ago, before the taxes went up and the payment increased, I was making less than a 4% rate of return on my money. Let me explain my calculations.
I didn’t just assume that if the property was worth $250,000 and I owed $145,000, I had $105,000 in equity. That doesn’t math. I had to figure in what it would cost for me to sell the property and pay off the liens. That would then be my pre-tax equity.
While we are talking about numbers, let’s talk about the 50% rule. People used to say that if the monthly rent was greater than 1% of the purchase price, then the property would be a great investment. That’s before they realized that the 50% rule is now more like the 55-
60% rule. The cost of taxes, insurance, maintenance and repairs, and reserves is now taking between 55-60% of every month’s rent. And that’s before you get to the payment if you borrowed money to acquire the property.
If you want to be cynical, you can look at it as landlords managing properties for the benefit of banks and the county tax collectors. I’m not sure I want to work that hard for people who don’t send me a Christmas card.
As I mentioned earlier, much like the game of “Simon Says,” the “cycle says” it’s time to increase cash flow and decrease liability and risk, which I believe we can all agree is a good thing. How do we do that, though? Here are some things to think about.
First, let me ask you a question. If there is a rental property in which a tenant falls on a stairway, do they sue the bank that holds the first-position lien on the property, or do they sue the landlord and property management company? When the HVAC goes out, does the tenant complain to the bank that holds the mortgage on the property, or do they complain to the landlord and property management company? Do you catch my drift?
In the markets where I invest, landlords are realizing that rents are not going to continue to escalate despite what the gurus have been saying on social media the last couple of years. They flippantly say things like, “Oh, the tenant will pay for it.” That’s not true. Tenants can only pay what they can afford. They are getting squeezed in other areas as well, so landlords must remember that.
Does this mean I’m selling everything and putting everything into the rollercoaster stock market? Absolutely not. Instead, I’m repositioning assets into something that increases my cash flow, decreases my risk and liability, and gives me the opportunity to once again, when the “cycle says,” reposition back into real estate.
If you are able to do it before you finish this article, open an amortization calculator so you can enter these numbers: a $300,000 loan at 7% interest for 360 months. Once you see the amortization schedule that comes up, look at how little principal was reduced in the first 5 years, 7 years, 10 years. When you see how much was paid in interest, you know why banks have the biggest buildings in most downtown skylines.
Well-drafted notes secured by good real estate that are made with people you have carefully underwritten are highly valuable and can easily be traded for other things such as cash or other real estate. Couple that with what you saw from the amortization schedule, and you can begin to see the opportunity I’m pursuing.
For years, I’ve kept paper inside my self-directed IRA, and I’ve owned real estate outside of my self-directed IRA. I’m going to continue to keep paper inside my IRA, but I’m now going to have paper outside of my IRA as well. I’m going to take what this market is giving me and put myself in a position when the cycle shifts again to get back into residential real estate. In the meantime, cash flow will continue, and the risks and liabilities will go down.
Will I still buy real estate? Yes, but it
will have to make sense, and I haven’t seen anything that makes sense for me in a long time. Since the market is currently giving those of us who want to do seller financing a huge opportunity to help solve the home-affordability crisis, and because of what the coming technology changes are doing in the marketplace, seller financing of properties that have little to no cash flow is the way to go.
Does this mean I’m selling everything I’ve got? Of course not. It just means I’m trying to be a good steward of what I have by evaluating my assets to determine if what I’m currently doing is the best way to manage them.
If you want to know more about my journey as I move toward better cash flow and lower risk and liability, let me know through my website WatsonInvested.com, and I’ll share some additional information with you.
Jeffery S. Watson is an attorney who has had an active trial and hearing practice for more than 25 years. As a contingent fee trial lawyer, he has a unique perspective on investing and wealth protection. He has tried more than 20 civil jury trials and has handled thousands of contested hearings. Jeff has changed the law in Ohio four times via litigation. Read more of his viewpoints at WatsonInvested.com
Strategy Over Speculation in 2026
By Jason K. Powers
The investors who made money in 2021 will not necessarily be the ones who win in 2026.
That may sound controversial. The last expansion cycle rewarded boldness. Cheap money, rapidly rising rents, aggressive appreciation, and bidding wars created an environment where almost any leveraged deal looked smart.
If you bought, you likely gained equity. If you refinanced, you locked in historically low rates. If you held, the market did much of the heavy lifting. But that environment has shifted, and the data coming out of early 2026 makes that clear.
According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales fell 8.4 percent in January 2026 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.91 million units.
For investors, that is not just a headline about homeowners. It signals slower transaction velocity, fewer impulse buyers, and a market where exit strategies require more patience and sharper pricing.
At the same time, supply is improving. Realtor.com reported that active listings were up approximately 10 percent year-over-year in January 2026. More inventory means buyers have options. For investors, that creates negotiation leverage on acquisitions but also signals that resale pricing power may be softening. The days of assuming multiple offers are automatic are fading.
Mortgage rates are stabilizing but not retreating to old lows. Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed the average 30-year fixed rate dipping below 6% in late February 2026 for the first time since 2022. Even so, forecasts from Fannie Mae and other analysts expect rates to remain between 6% and 6.4% for most
of the year. That range directly affects investor math. It affects refinance viability, buyer affordability at exit, and the spread between debt service and rental income.
Home price growth is moderating as well. Zillow’s latest housing forecast projects modest appreciation in 2026 compared to the rapid gains of prior years. Slower appreciation does not eliminate opportunity, but it removes the cushion many investors relied upon to offset thin margins.
Taken together, these data points describe something very specific: a housing market that is stabilizing, not accelerating. For investors, that means the margin for error is shrinking.
This is not a crash. It is not a boom. It is a market that rewards discipline.
Continued on Page 15
Strategy Over Speculation
In 2021, appreciation masked mistakes. A thin deal could be rescued by rising values. An over-leveraged property could be refinanced into better terms. Rent growth often covered underwriting optimism. Many investors became accustomed to an environment where momentum did the work.
In 2026, forgiveness is no longer built into the system. Inventory is expanding. Sales are steady but not accelerating. Rent growth in many markets has moderated into low single digits after years of exceptional gains. Affordability remains stretched in some regions even as wages rise gradually.
For real estate investors, this creates a different challenge. Upside still exists, but it is incremental. Margins are thinner. Cash flow must stand on its own. Capital must be deployed thoughtfully rather than aggressively.
The next group of winners will not simply chase appreciation. They will build structure.
They will ask harder questions. What happens if rent growth slows further? How resilient is this asset if refinancing options tighten? If credit conditions change, how quickly can I access capital for an opportunity or a surprise expense?
In a slower-growth environment, liquidity becomes more important than leverage. Speed becomes more important than speculation. Control becomes more valuable than chasing the lowest quoted rate.
Many investors are beginning to recognize that their true constraint is not opportunity. It is capital positioning. Traditional financing still matters, and banks remain central to real estate. But reliance on outside lenders alone creates vulnerability. Underwriting standards shift. Credit appetites tighten. Markets move faster than approval timelines. When opportunity appears, the investor who can act without waiting holds the advantage.
This is why conversations about private capital systems are gaining traction among experienced investors. Instead of viewing liquidity as something that lives solely in a savings account or a revolving line of credit, some investors are building structured capital reservoirs designed to grow in the background while remaining accessible. These systems are often built using carefully structured life insurance contracts from mutual companies, but the emphasis is not on the insurance itself. The emphasis is on control and uninter-
rupted growth.
When designed intentionally, these policies accumulate cash value year after year in a steady and contractual manner. More importantly, that value can be accessed through policy loans without triggering traditional underwriting or freezing the internal growth of the policy.
That distinction is critical. With many financial tools, using your money means interrupting its compounding. Selling an asset halts its growth. Pulling funds from an account reduces its earning base. Even refinancing resets amortization and changes the long-term trajectory of a property.
With a properly structured private capital system, you borrow against the value rather than withdrawing it. The underlying cash value continues to grow as though it were untouched. This creates a form of uninterrupted compounding that many investors have never experienced.
In a market like 2026, where price growth is modest and transaction volume remains measured, uninterrupted growth matters. While properties generate steady but not explosive returns, your capital base can continue compounding quietly in the background.
For a real-estate investor, that changes the equation. Imagine funding a down payment, renovation, or partner buyout from a capital source that continues to grow while it is in use. Imagine having access to liquidity without submitting tax returns, waiting on committees, or wondering whether lending standards have tightened this quarter.
In a stabilizing housing market, that kind of flexibility becomes an edge. The difference between the 2021 investor and the 2026 investor is subtle but significant. The 2021 investor relied on momentum. The 2026 investor relies on structure.
Momentum is powerful but temporary. Structure endures.
The current environment is not weak. It is healthier in many ways. Price growth is sustainable rather than speculative. Inventory expansion gives buyers breathing room. Mortgage rates have stabilized rather than spiked unpredictably. According to Freddie Mac and NAR data, the market is transitioning toward balance rather than volatility. But balance exposes weaknesses.
Over-leveraged investors feel pressure sooner. Those
AI for Real Estate Bookkeepers
Why Syndications Raise the Stakes
For syndicators, books aren’t just internal; they build credibility. Investors want transparency, partners demand clean data, CPAs need organization, and lenders require timely financials.
AI speeds transaction processing and document organization, but syndications need judgment AI can’t match:
• Investor capital vs. operating income?
• Acquisition cost, op-ex, or asset improvement?
• Reserves, debt service, or partner reimbursement?
• Distributions across entities/periods?
These impact reporting, taxes, and trust. Speed helps, but accuracy rules.
The Pros for Investors’ Bookkeepers
1. Faster Closes: AI cuts repetitive time, delivering reports sooner. Spot cash crunches early, tweak reserves, catch performance dips before they snowball.
2. Coding Consistency: Pattern-trained AI prevents “Repairs” drifting to “Misc.” Consistent codes yield reliable reports like tracking a vendor’s shift from maintenance to upgrades.
3. Time for Analysis: Shift from data entry to insights: property reviews, cash flow forecasts, variance explanations, and spend leak detection. Hire bookkeepers for vision, not typing.
... continued from Page 10
The Risks to Watch
1. Confident Errors: AI suggests plausibly wrong codes—a transfer as income, a loan split amiss, cap-ex as repairs. Unreviewed, books seem “done” but distort reality.
2. Garbage In, Garbage Out: Messy charts of accounts, blended entities, or sloppy feeds? AI amplifies chaos. Prioritize clean setup: structured CoA, entity separation, and naming rules.
3. Missing Context: AI reads transactions, not intent—like owner intent on a wire, turn costs vs. renos, or allocation needs. Bookkeepers probe; AI assumes.
4. Trust Is Human: Investors trust explanations and professionalism, not software boasts. AI aids output; people build confidence.
Action Steps for Investors
Skip AI expertise. Grill your bookkeeper:
• What process uses AI? What stays human-reviewed?
• How do you rule on repairs vs. improvements?
• How do you segregate property/entity/owner activity?
• How do you snag errors pre-report?
These reveal process strength over tool hype.
Final Thought
AI isn’t bookkeeping’s foe; it’s an accelerator for
without reserves feel vacancies more acutely. Those who relied primarily on appreciation must now rely on operational discipline.
The next cycle will belong to investors who treat capital as a system, not merely a funding source. They will not obsess over whether rates drop another quarter point. They will focus on whether their financial foundation allows them to move decisively. They will measure success not just by how many properties they own, but by how efficiently their capital compounds and how quickly it can be deployed.
In every real-estate cycle, there is a shift from speculation to strategy. Early 2026 is that shift. The investors who thrived in 2021 were often the fastest and most aggressive. The investors who will thrive in 2026 will be the most prepared.
Jason K Powers is a multi-business owner, real-estate investor and financial strategist. Partnering with the National Real Estate Investor Association, he works with investors nationwide to build stronger capital strategies and long-term financial control. Learn more at 1024Wealth.com/NREIA.
speed and consistency. But in rentals and syndications, humans deliver: judgment, structure, review, clarity. AI handles clicks; great bookkeepers safeguard cash flow. In real estate, that averts small glitches from pricey headaches.
Gita Faust is the founder & CEO of HammerZen, which helps businesses save time & money by keeping track of The Home Depot purchases and efficiently importing receipts and statements into QuickBooks. She brings together real-world rental property experience and accounting expertise to help investors and property managers build stronger financial systems. National REIA members receive discounts on QuickBooks services and software. Learn more by visiting www.hammerzen. com/nreia.
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