Shows
Adulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 211: 8 Money CatalystsLeisa grew up without a lot of money, so naturally she assumed that if she had money, she wouldn’t have problems! While this isn’t true, of course, she went down the path to understanding money and teaching others how to come into confidence around money. Her book is a parable about money catalysts because catalysts speed things up. Lauren dives into the 8 money catalysts: Awaken to Possibility, Begin Within, Unearth the Abundant World, Nurture Your Inner Wealth, Define Your Own Abundance, Amplify Your Finances, Navigate Decisions, and Take Inspired Action. They close by discussing what it means to g...
2025-07-2235 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 210: Investment Mistakes to AvoidFred started out as a computer engineer, working at tech startups during the dot com boom. Of course, what followed was the dot com crash and 9/11. He realized that relying on a single paycheck for income was risky, and he set about diversifying his income streams. Fred has seen young people go about tax planning the wrong way when trying to create other income streams, like day trading. Lauren has noticed that people are always trying to predict bubbles. Fred says that bubbles only matter if you’re selling right now. When it comes to real estate, it’s impo...
2025-07-0830 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 209: Win-Win Real Estate: Creative Deals That Help Everyone WinChris for into real estate 34 years ago, and Lauren dives right in. It started by being exposed to his dad’s commercial real estate buildings when he was younger. In the 90s, they built over 100 homes, profiting on each. When the 2008 crash came, though, things weren’t good. He had A LOT of homes in his name. To get back in the game, and make good on what he owed, Chris bought a list and started calling. Now, Chris is focused on doing deals with his community members using what he’s learned since the crash. Some of the commun...
2025-06-2533 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 207: From Illiteracy to Empowerment: A Money ConversationFinancial literacy has two parts 1) knowing your numbers and 2) knowing the terms people use in the industry. Michelle has always been passionate about numbers, especially business numbers once she became a business owner. Later, when she got her personal finance knowledge and certifications, though, she became OBSESSED. You don’t have to be as passionate as Michelle or Lauren, but you should at least start talking about personal finance and learning. And it’s easier to learn now more than ever. No longer are “they” able to gatekeep finance knowledge from you. Michelle then opens up and shares her story of...
2025-05-2732 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 206: How to Become First-Generation WealthyWealth is defined as the people Greg works with as having enough money to do what they want and need to do. They live in a “post-budget world.” The first-generationwealthy are building their wealth in non-sexy ways, like consistent investing over time. This might be in their own companies or retirement accounts, for example. Most millionaires don’t inherit money. They build wealth themselves slowly and consistently over time. All this talk about first-generation wealth begs the question about the second generation. How do you manufacture the hunger?The reasons for financial failure are 1) lack of purpose, 2) lack of a plan...
2025-05-1335 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 205: Avoiding the Mistakes of the Man Who Did Everything WrongWe are exposed to a lot of information about the economy and markets. Much of it is useless. It’s also very short-term focused. Mick’s goal has been to cut through the noise and mellow people out as it relates to their money. In his book, Chapter 4 is about the man who did everything wrong and one who did everything right. The key to remember as you’re reading this chapter (or listening to this conversation about it) is that we all have the psychological potential within us to be either person. Mr. Wrong initially chose an advisor who wa...
2025-04-2938 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 204: Definition of Courage: Act in Spite of FearLauren kicks off by asking who Sabrina asks for advice. She leans on supportive individuals and does not ask those that are not supportive of real estate investing and risk. Sabrina’sfirst job out of college was selling mattresses, and so she figured selling big ticket items like houses would mean making bigger money than selling mattresses. Lauren, whose career was in sales, points out that increasing yourincome is a key part of personal finance. Speaking of personal finance, Lauren asks how Sabrina bought her first investment properties. Her first home appreciated enough to buy an investment property when sh...
2025-04-1523 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 201: Childfree and Charitable: Dying With ZeroMore people are choosing to be child free. Is there a difference between being childless and child free? Lauren thinks so, but it’s a gray area. When coming to Bri for financial planning, her clients are not telling them why they’ve chosen not to have children. Presumably, there are financial implications. Lauren asks if there is a moral obligation to have children. They also touch on whether it’s selfish to have or not have kids, and there are arguments on both sides. Whatever the case, once you choose not to have kids, this opens up a lot of...
2025-03-0422 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 200: Adulting Is Easy: Interview with LaurenAbout this week’s interviewer (not guest!), Clint Murphy:
Clint Murphy runs both The Growth Guide podcast and newsletter: become better, achieve more, and reach financial freedom. During the day, he and his partners run a real estate development firm, which they’re working on scaling. Clint’s vision is to become more passive over time, while spending half his time in Vancouver and half abroad.
If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episodes 71 and 72, where Lauren was interviewed by Chris of Heavy Metal Money. Also, check out, episode 134, when Lauren interviewed Clint for his 100th episode.
Clint ki...
2025-02-181h 24Adulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 197: Success Leaves Clues FOLLOW THEMNOTE: This episode fell through the cracks in Sep 2024 *sorry about that* but you're getting it now!
Interestingly, Kris’s journey started with him wanting to be a surgeon. But he ended up becoming a teacher and becoming bored with the repetitive nature. Wanting a challenge and more money, he became a consultant and went to business school. Kris’s real estate investing journey began while he was still working full time. Lauren shares some personal stories she hasn’t shared before related to Kris’s journey. They talk about how each step in your car...
2025-01-0728 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 195: Life Style Design: The 5 FreedomsBrian and Lauren discuss college degrees, and whetherthey’re valuable or not, given Brian isn’t happy with his degrees. Spoiler, there’s inherent value in getting a degree. Lauren asks Brian to dive into what it was like to be in real estate during the bubble and leading up to the 2008 real estate crash. While he lost his job with a hard money lender, he was able to get another job in the real estate space, and that led to his current company, Spark Rental. Soon, the conversation transitions to lifestyle design. Brian and his family have lived outsid...
2024-12-1039 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 194: Real Estate vs BitcoinWhich is the better investment – real estate or bitcoin? Is bitcoin even an investment? Or is it currency? A commodity? Lauren challenges her friend Rajat about bitcoin and he challenges her about real estate. The result is a rich debate about two different investment options that have minted millionaires. Naturally, real estate (and the stock market) have been around quite a bit longer and thus have a bigger track record to fall back on. Lauren educates Rajat about real estate, and he educates her about bitcoin. Let us know which you think is better when you’re done listening!
2024-12-0953 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 193: Credit Cards are Like FireworksBrett opens up by defining what credit cards are, then he gets into the pros and cons of credit cards. The main pros are travel insurance, consumer protection, and rewards. The main con is the high interest rate and propensity for people to spend money they don’t have, the “poison” of personal finance, if you will. Both Brett and Lauren are using 0% credit cards right now to carry balances, but they arenusing these responsibly and will pay them off before the interest hits. Credit cards are like fireworks. If you play with them responsibly, you’ll get a beautifu...
2024-12-0933 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 192: Paying Your Home Off is An InvestmentLauren kicks off by asking who should even buy a home. Homeownership is not necessarily always better than renting. You should consider your lifestyle and how long you want to live there. Dale believes your primary residence is an asset AND ALSO THAT YOU SHOULD PAY OFF YOUR HOUSE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. It’s an emotional investment then, not a financial one. Lauren asks what Dale’s thoughts are about investment properties. They both agree that “primary hacking,” buying a home, living in it for a short time, then buying and moving into a new home, then renting the firs...
2024-12-0933 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 191: The Government Has Your Estate Plan if You Don'tEstate planning is probably the least sexy topic in personal finance, but we need to talk about it. Death comes for all of us. David opens by telling us about the estate issues after his parents passed away, which made him passionate about this topic. Estate planning involves more than just wills, and it’s not just for rich people. The goal is to leave a legacy, not a mess. Professionals you need in your corner: accountant, lawyer, and financial planner. The professionals are there to help the executor settle your estate. Then, the conversation transitions from general ideas to...
2024-12-0941 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 190: How Retiring at 44 Changed My LifeAs the son of an immigrant, Lauren asks about how that shaped his life. Like many of us, Tony was under the impression that if you got to school and if you get a good job, you will be successful. That illusion was shattered when he was laid off. Even with a good job, it’s hard to pay even regular bills and also save money. The rules of the game have changed, and for the first time ever the upcoming generation is not better off than the one before it. Over half of young people 18-29 live with th...
2024-12-0936 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 189: Fight All Day and Make a Lot of MoneyChrissy opens up by telling us about her new book, Ladyshark, which is all about becoming a millionaire in your 30s. Why would you want to become a millionaire in your 30s? Freedom! But does being a millionaire mean you’re successful? Not necessarily. Chrissy talks about how her father, an immigrant, shaped how she perceives the world. The two touch on networking and its difficulty and importance. In keeping on the immigrant track, Lauren wonders if immigrants actually work harder or if that’s a stereotype. Chrissy thinks it’s about the parenting style more than anything, and she’s...
2024-09-0324 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 188: Budgeting for Dummies (AIE 131 Replay)Hey everyone! Lauren has been having quite the summer, and with a couple of trips, buying/renovating a new primary, and a move we're doing a replay this week. Fear not, though, this is our most popular episode of the last couple of years so if you haven't listened yet, you'll love it. If you have listened, you may just love it again.
Show notes:
Athena got into the personal finance content creation world to help the Latina community (and everyone) learn along with her. She’s passionate about helping her community be...
2024-08-2028 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money58) Buy a Small Multi Already & Also House HackHouse Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan together with Mandy discuss blog 152 - What Do A, B, And C Asset Classes Mean in Real Estate? Alan finds that understanding the classes you're investing in helps you communicate with other real estate investors. Alan clarifies that an asset class does not reflect the tenant base. Second, it is simply a quick scorecard based on the property's location and condition. During their conversation, Lauren asks Alan and Mandy if they have ever been surprised when they inspected a property and found it di...
2024-07-2550 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 186: Generating Side Income: Are You Buying Dividend Stocks?Gary graduated with a degree that didn’t allow him to make the kind of money he wanted, so he got into nursing to make more money. And then, he made more doing travel nursing. Now, he’s growing his income again by becoming a nurse practitioner. Making more money at work is great, but he learned during COVID to make more money on the side as well, when his 403b (like a 401k) match was paused while at the same time he was working harder than ever. Lauren and Gary discussed the tax deferred benefits of 401k’s and wh...
2024-07-2327 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money56) Hard Money & Airbnb Rule ChangesHouse Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan together with guest host Bryce discuss blog 153 - What do I do if my town changes its STR rules? Lauren and Bryce both specialize in short-term rentals (STRs) for their real estate investments. Bryce owns properties in Austin, where a recent rule change now allows property owners to list their homes as STRs without needing to establish them as homesteads first. Option #1 suggests selling your Airbnb if new STR rules prevent you from renting it as an STR. Alan noted that some listings ad...
2024-07-1149 min
Real Estate Investing with House MoneyANNOUNCEMENT & Happy 4th of JulyHappy Independence Day (July 4th) to our American listeners! Alan and Lauren are taking this week off and stop by with a quick message for you all. In short, they're going to take a break soon (July 25 - Aug 29). They give some updates on their lives and briefly give some rental updates. Lauren is also busy with a move and vacations, and Alan's real estate realtor business is picking up. So, you can look forward to 3 more original episodes this month, then they're going to be taking a month off of the podcast and blog.
2024-07-0407 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money55) Riches Are in the Niches & Airbnb SquattersHouse Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan discuss blog 157 - Boost STR Returns with These Airbnb Alternatives. When it comes to Short-Term Rentals, it is hard to stand out especially if you're new to Airbnb because of the intense competition. The 1st alternative is Hopper which is ideal for last-minute bookings. If you need to purchase a plane ticket or visit a specific city on short notice, this app allows you to make bookings quickly. You can list your property on Hopper, making it available for immediate bookings when cancellations oc...
2024-06-2749 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 184: Small Expenses That Add Up Over TimeLauren invited her sister Jenny back from a mid-year
episode. Lauren created a list of small expenses that add up over time. Take a look at your budget or spending and see if you can cut any of these low hanging fruit:
Subscriptions
Delivery memberships (Prime,
Instacart)
Bank fees
Data storage
Physical storage
Insurance and warranties
Pricey gyms
Cigarettes and other vices
Eating out or takeout
Coffee
Shopping online (Amazon)
Apps
Lottery tickets
2024-06-2538 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money54) Adulting Is Easy: A Million Bucks by 30In this week’s House Money Podcast episode, we have for you Adulting Is Easy Podcast episode 148 by Lauren Keen Aumond where she talks to Alan Corey and discusses his book “A Million Bucks By 30.” Alan grew up with parents who were public school teachers, so he knew about money but didn't have much himself. He decided he wanted to make a million dollars by the time he turned 30 and write a book about how he did it. He started right after college, when he was 21 years old. Alan's plan was to save a lot of his earnings by sendin...
2024-06-2027 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 183: Net Worth: What, How, and WhyThey kick off by defining what net worth is and talk about why it matters. But they’re sure to point out that net worth isn’t self-worth. It’s just a part of your wealth. Since net worth is the value of your assets, less the value of your debts, they discuss some examples of assets and debts. They all agree that your primary home is an asset. Understanding and tracking your net worth helps you make financial decisions. Adam and Emily track their net worth and income statement monthly, and Lauren wonders if that’s cumbersome. They outline...
2024-06-1838 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 182: Equity Exchange: Selling Stocks to Buy a HomeBefore we talk about selling stock to buy a house, we must understand what a stock is, and how you can buy and own them, so that’s where Lauren and Landon start. They also go over what a brokerage account is, versus your retirement accounts. Sometimes, even for long term investors, short-term needs and wants start to outweigh long-term needs and wants. For example, it may become more important to you to buy a home than hold your stocks. Also, interest rates mean that putting more down pay be a good way to go to keep your payment do...
2024-06-1127 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money52) Other People's Money & Are You a Slumlord?House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest, Matt. They discuss blog 148, 3 red flags you might be a slumlord. Alan bought 50 single family homes with an average price of $30,000 and he wrote this blog because when he tells people that he’s a landlord, people will tell him he is a slumlord. Alan wants to clarify that the price of the home does not determine whether you are a slumlord. Red flag No. 1 that you are a slum lord is when your property is unsafe for...
2024-06-0644 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 181: Car Wash Cash Flow: Small Business Financial TipsLauren and Rocky open up the conversation talking about what success means in business. Most business comes down to math, and simple math at that. If you sit down before starting a business and do the math, you should have an idea about whether the business can be successful. The conversation takes a turn towards cash washes, which Lauren welcomes. Is this really becoming as oversaturated as it seems? Lauren then asks Rocky to demystify and differentiate “money” in business: revenue, profit, cash. A huge key to understand here is that you can have a profitable business that runs out...
2024-06-0425 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money51) Backup Plan for Airbnbs & Is this market bottom?House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest Matthew Teifke. They discuss blog 147, the five most important things about your short-term rental business. Alan wrote this blog with Lauren’s help, obviously. One important thing to remember is that short-term rentals are more than just real estate investing. You are a host - not just a property manager. You have guests - not tenants. You must provide an experience for your guests. Lauren shares that she spends 20 minutes a day for her 9 short-term rentals. Matthew’s opin...
2024-05-3041 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 180: The Landlord Who RentsFirst, Lauren needs to know why people call him Rock/Rawk. Then, she asks about the “accidental landlord” thing. It turns out, what happened to Rawk and his wife is a tale as old as time: they bought a house thinking they’d stay a while, but then a job offer took them elsewhere. Lauren and Rawk dive into the numbers of that “deal”: purchase price, interest rate, and rent. Then, the conversation transitions to overall personal finance, like saving vs investing and budgeting. Interestingly, Rawk and his wife are long-distance landlords, but they rent in Atlanta! How did Rawk get i...
2024-05-2834 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 179: Don't Read Think and Grow Rich (AIE 61)Lauren needed a vacation, so we're replaying one of her favorite episodes in which she and her friend Kurtis absolutely destroy the beloved self help book Think and Grow Rich. Note that the sound wasn't as good back then, but it's still very easy to listen to. The original episode was posted October 12, 2021.
The book Think and Grow Rich was written by Napoleon Hill and published in 1937. It is a famous personal finance book recommended by many. On this episode of Adulting Is Easy, Lauren and Kurtis discuss what they liked and what they...
2024-05-211h 08Adulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 178: Bitcoin: Have Fun Staying PoorYou can’t talk about Bitcoin without starting with defining cryptocurrency. When you think about it, even the US dollar is somewhat digital. What makes cryptocurrency different is that it’s decentralized. Bitcoin started as a cryptocurrency, but it’s morphed over time to a store of value and hedge against inflation. Andy emphasizes that Bitcoin is very much in its infancy. He goes on to explain mining, the global ledger, blockchain, and how it all fits together. Andy explains how Bitcoin is inflating, and how the supply of Bitcoin is pre-programmed. Lauren wonders who created this interesting new space...
2024-05-1435 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 177: Wedding Venue Business BreakdownLauren kicks the interview off asking about how Alex and his wife got into the wedding venue space. Their interest in the wedding space started when they were planning their own wedding over 5 years ago. It was important to them that they go away from the barn look that so many venues have now. They have both a groom and bridal suite. And they wanted it to be close to the airport. They do offer some additional amenities, like games, fire pit, water feature, and putting green. And they offer everything they feasibly can as part of their packages...
2024-05-0729 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money47) How to Get More Airbnb Bookings & Your Realtor is Interviewing You!House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest Austin realtor Danielle Fountain. They discuss blog 145, 7 Things Hosts Can Do to Get More Airbnb Bookings. This article ties to Lauren’s expertise because she is mostly known for having short-term rentals. Alan, Lauren and Danielle share some rules in their states (Texas, Georgia, and Florida) about short-term rentals. Alan doesn’t go through all 7, but they cover a handful. The first is rotating photos for the upcoming season. Often, hosts take one set of photos, and they ju...
2024-05-0248 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 176: Millions Locked in Retirement Accounts… What to Do?Lauren throws Andy a curveball right at the beginning by asking WHY he paid his house off. This is a very controversial topic in the personal finance world. Turns out, he had an OK reason, but the interest rate was pretty low…. Next, she asks how much money people need for retirement. Andy has a different take than she’s heard before. There’s a difference between wanting to retire after 59.5 and wanting to retire early. The planning is different, but a margin for error is important. Then, Andy and Lauren transition to discussing real estate, which Andy got into a...
2024-04-3035 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 175: Are Student Loans a Scam? How To Pay for CollegeAllie is so passionate about young professionals succeeding. She kicks off by telling us about how she started a PR firm and ended up hiring a lot of young professionals. Allie started teaching them things they didn’t learn in school, like how to request PTO or set a meeting, for example. Eventually, she built a company around this passion, teaching and training young people. Not long after that, Ascend acquired that company, Ampersand. Lauren asks more about the young folks she was hiring at the PR firm. Interestingly, when Allie was hiring, she didn’t care what college they...
2024-04-2337 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money45) Self Storage, Stupid Questions & SupplyHouse Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest Nick Hooyman. They discuss blog 143, 3 Wrong Questions Real Estate Investors Ask at an Open House. Alan recently did an open house for duplex in Atlanta and wrote this blog based on that experience. The first wrong question to ask is: can I add a driveway? The investor said he would want a driveway if they lived there. Take your emotions out of it and understand what you're buying. Nick also did something very similar to this on hi...
2024-04-1850 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 173: Passive Income with Andrew from The Personal Finance PodcastLauren opens by asking Andrew why he started The Personal Finance Podcast. He started it in 2020 to share his passion with others. He loves hearing about people’s “lightbulb moments” when they unlock an ability to build wealth and therefore unlock some time freedom. Then, Lauren and Andrew transition to discussing ways to grow your income passively. There’s a spectrum of income from active to passive, and they two discuss items along that spectrum: dividend investing, stocks, bonds, REITs being the most passive and digital products being less passive, but still more passive than a job. Real estate can be p...
2024-04-0924 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 172: Hack Your Way to Wealth (Even on Minimum Wage)Lauren opens by askingBrian how he came to the conclusion to change paths from the business path to the missionary one. He truly felt God was leading him in that direction. That was the best way for him to have a positive impact on the world. Then, they dive into how people can invest on low incomes. Don’t wait until you make more! And remember, wealthy people buy luxuries last.
Then, they dive into the HACKER(RRR) method:
Hack your lifestyle, for example, with house hacking; pay attention to your transportation too
Al...
2024-04-0231 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money42) Buying RV Parks & AI Uses in Real Estate House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest Jojo. They discuss blog 140, 3 Red Flags You Need a Sewer Scope ASAP. Sewer Scope is like a little snake with a camera on it that if you put it down, you can tell if there's cracks or leaks. Red flag #1 is foundation issues. When you see cracks, it's tilting, or it's wobbly could be caused by water. Alan always tells everyone that water is the number 1 enemy of any home, it can be rainwater or plumbing related. Lau...
2024-03-2842 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 171: Taking Over Dad's Real Estate BusinessLauren starts by asking why Vanessa dropped out of college. It turns out, she’d be considering it for a year, but she felt she wasn’t learning anything she couldn’t learn in the real world. Vanessa’s father had asked her to join his real estate business, and she’d finally made the decision to follow in his footsteps. Vanessa then shares her father’s story, who invested in real estate on the side while he was a police officer. Eventually, he took that side business full time. Vanessa shares more about what the GW companies do. They buy apa...
2024-03-2631 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money41) Stop with the Keys Already & Rent ControlHouse Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest, Dion. They discuss blog 139, 3 Outdated Property Management Things You Can Stop Doing. Number 1 is putting out a physical rent sign. These are the signs that you can buy at Home Depot or Lowe's that say For Rent with a handwritten phone number on it. These signs attract tire kickers, other investors (driving for dollars), and realtors, but NOT prospective tenants. Lauren confirms this by sharing her recent experience on one of her properties where she put a Fo...
2024-03-2152 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 170: All About Roofs & Don't Ever Skip Inspections (HMP 26)BOY DO WE HAVE A TREAT FOR YOU THIS WEEK! Lauren puts out 2 weekly podcasts, one of course being Adulting Is Easy. The second is called the House Money Podcast. Here's episode 26!
House Money Weekly
In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan have a special guest, Chris Luger from Heavy Metal
Money where they discuss blog 125, which is about the 3 essential skills every real estate investor should have. The 1st essential skill is being optimistic. Alan experiences people telling him they want to invest in real estate and wh...
2024-03-1949 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money40) Your Insurer Is Not Your Friend & Outdoor HospitalityHouse Money Weekly In this week’s episode, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest, Matt, the RV Park Guy. For the House Money Weekly segment, they discuss blog 138, 3 Must Haves for Every Investor Buy Box. Whenever Alan buys a property, he likes to narrow the scope. The more narrow the scope then the more you have a very clear buy box. The 1st must-have is a growing population. You want people moving into the area because you have more demand for rental properties. Lauren shares that for short-term rentals, especially for one of them, pe...
2024-03-1443 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 169: Real Money is Made During Downturns - Get ReadyWhat makes Chris the self-proclaimed Gas Biz Guy? Chris shares his origin story. It turns out his family was “in the business.” The name comes from his uncle’s plate from his Corvette. Lauren wonders what “gas biz” really means, and Chris breaks down all of the businesses in that sphere, many of which he has personal experience in. In short, Chris was born an entrepreneur. Then, the 2 transition to discussing the personal finance reality of business owners. What follows is a gut-wrenching story about him being too broke to even file bankruptcy. His wife’s credit card was declined. Hi...
2024-03-1242 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 168: Keep Finance Personal: Get Your Time, Energy & Financials RightLauren and Cody kick off the interview by talking about what a CFP® is, and how someone becomes one. The curriculum covers a wide range of financial information. Cody describes financial planning as a bridge between your financial ecosystem and your family’s goals and values. Cody argues that financial planners get a bad rap because of some financial advisors trying to take over management of your investments and sell you insurance on top of it. Some people even call themselves financial planners who don’t do any financial planning. Lauren just has to ask about why he is so pr...
2024-03-0527 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money38) Airbnbs Have So Many Rules & Are Doomers Right About Housing?House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest, Michael Zuber, the author of the book “One Rental at a Time.” They discuss blog 136, 7 House Rules That Every Airbnb Host Should Have. Lauren reminds us that having house rules and putting them front and center acts as a contract with the guest on Airbnb. If there are issues with the guest, you need to fall back on your house rules when communicating with Airbnb. The first house rule is the camera disclosure. It’s importan...
2024-02-2959 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 167: Wealth Blueprint: Using Your 9-5 to Buy Assets and Retire EarlyLauren comes out of the gate hot, asking exactly how Lindsay accumulated her $100k of debt. Basically, when she started making money, Lindsay blew through it, and ended up with all of her income going towards payments. Most people think of personal finance through payments. Lindsay didn’t know what she should be doing. How did she eventually get on track? This is gut wrenching. Lindsay and her family were at the Route 91 shooting in Las Vegas, and she realized life is too short to spend your life doing things you don’t like, for example, working a job you...
2024-02-2727 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 166: When You House Hack a House HackBrendan defines house hacking as making income off of a residence you live in. He took his first house hacking step around the age of 22. He started by playing defense with his finances. Then, he bought a duplex in a college town near where he grew up. Brendan and his buddy bought the place for $110k, then put a bit of sweat equity into it. They rented the top unit to students and also got 2 roommates for the unit they were in. With that first success under their belt, they moved onto another house hack in Cleveland. Who’s ma...
2024-02-2027 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money36) Adding Pickleball to Your Airbnb & How to Know When You've Got a DealHouse Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest, Andrew Giancola, the host of The Personal Finance Podcast. They discuss blog 134, How do you know if you found a good real estate deal? Some investors don’t recognize a certain property as a good deal, and they just pass on it. A friend of Lauren’s sent her a deal and it’s a single-family home and it’s easy for her to say no because that is not her buy box. But that means it still coul...
2024-02-1553 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 165: Personal Finance Questions to Ask Your SweetheartHappy almost Valentine's Day! This week, Lauren brings her husband Aric back to discuss an apropos topic. Using an Equifax article for inspiration, the two go back and forth asking each other financial questions. The topics range from income, credit, expenses, debt, goals, kids, and retirement. This episode brings a lot of levity and laughs between the two, who realize after almost 5 years of marriage and 9 years together, they know quite a bit about each other, but not quite everything!
If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episode 113, where Aric and I di...
2024-02-1331 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 163: Overcoming Landlord Not So Horror StoriesDan went to college for finance. He got into real estate when the company he worked for after college committed massive fraud. Dan saw what his colleagues were going through who relied on their sales income to live when that income was torn out from under them. Dan became interested in the financial independence movement. He learned that with real estate, a tenant can pay down your mortgage every month, among other great benefits. Dan did momentarily succumb to analysis paralysis while learning, but he was able to buy his first property after 3 years. Now, he has a house...
2024-01-3030 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money33) Predicting the 2024 Market & Where to Buy a Vacation Rental House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest, Jasmine from Jasmine Mortgage Team, where they discuss blog 131, the 4 market niches of vacation rentals. This blog was written with the help of Lauren’s experience in Short-Term Rentals. Alan and Lauren always teach that if you’re going to invest, you must create a niche for yourself which becomes your buy box. A lot of new investors want to diversify and they want to invest in different property types or different markets all at once and this m...
2024-01-2546 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money32) How Rich People Use Real Estate & Designs That Are So Last Year House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest, Kolin, also known as Decade Investor on Social Media and they discuss blog 130, Why Rich People Don’t Have Paid-Off Properties. Being a realtor, Alan has helped a couple of billionaires buy properties and although they have the money to pay cash for a property, they don’t. Kolin asks: If the billionaires Alan worked with are buying property for themselves or is it for renting? One reason why they take loans on these properties is because they c...
2024-01-181h 03
Real Estate Investing with House Money31) Don't Read Rich Dad Poor Dad & Barbara Corcoran Predicts a Boom House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest, Clint, where they discuss blog 124, the 3 real estate books every investor should read that’s not rich dad poor dad. Many people ask him questions about what books they should read when starting in real estate and that’s why he wrote this blog. Clint has never read a single book about real estate other than textbooks so he is excited about this segment. After all, he’s a real estate CFO so he’s immersed in real estat...
2024-01-111h 06Adulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 160: Turning Real Estate Investing Into MORE BusinessesJosh’s partner, Antoinette, got him into real estate investing. As a professional referee, he was very focused on his career, but he got involved in the real estate business during Covid. Antoinette’s background is in a sales career, and Josh actually motivated her to follow her dreams like he had. When Lauren asks Josh about their “why,” he makes a great point that your why may change over time. You may not know where you want to go when you start. The opportunity recently presented itself to build new duplexes, so in addition to their health business, they’re...
2024-01-0930 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money30) Nightmares, Murder Houses & When Enough is Enough House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest, Dave from Side Hustle Houses on Twitter, where they discuss blog 129 about the big risks of transferring your property from your personal name into an LLC. The article was written because many people ask Alan about this topic. Loans are cheaper if you put them in your personal name. Aside from the low interest rate, you will also have a lower down payment. Some people then transfer the asset to their LLC through a quit claim deed. It...
2024-01-0453 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 159: What To Do When You Inherit a Property (or Bequeath One)Lauren starts by asking Ruthie how you inherit a property. It’s important to have a plan for your assets. You can leave property to others through a will or trust. Another way is from rule of law. It sounds like you should choose the will or trust route. There are some obvious benefits from inheriting a property. You don’t have to come up with the money and go through the process of buying one! Unfortunately, there are downsides too. Firstly, someone who is most likely close to you has died and that’s sad. You don’t get to c...
2024-01-0234 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money29) Sucky Airbnb Guests & Surviving Foreclosure House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan get together with their special guest, Crystal Hammond from the Stacking Deeds Podcast where they discuss blog 128 which is an article written by Alan with the help of Lauren called “10 Ways You Suck as an Airbnb Guest.” If you want to invest in short-term rentals, understanding how you’re a bad guest will help you be a better host. The hosts cover 4 out of 10 ways and the first one is asking the host to explain the fees. Hosts are not trying to squeeze you of m...
2023-12-2848 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money28) Setting 2024 Goals & Why 15-Year Mortgages Suck House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, Lauren and Alan as well as their special guest, Brian Orr, discuss blog 127, which is about why a 30-year mortgage is superior. Reason number 1 is because it’s the best inflation hedge that exists! Alan used the Snickers bar at a gas station as an analogy to explain why getting a 30-year mortgage is superior rather than getting a 15-year mortgage, especially with the inflation that’s happening right now. Reason number 2 is that you can control the timing of the sale of your property. If 5 years...
2023-12-2153 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 157: Regulating Personal Finance InfluencersNote: Tom had some internet issues early on in the interview, sorry about that!
Lauren kicks off by asking what the difference is between a financial advisor and a financial planner. Interestingly, they can be very different or very similar. Tom thinks anyone who panicked during the toilet paper shortage should have a financial planner (those that panic!). Also, he thinks people with complicated portfolios, like maybe doctors, as well as second generation wealth. Of course, given Tom’s licenses and certifications, Lauren had to ask about them, like the FINRA ones or the CFP. Tom believes th...
2023-12-1927 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 156: Financial Independence Doesn't Have To Be ExtremeRachael starts by discussing what financial independence is: being work optional. You’ve built up enough assets that they provide you enough income that you no longer need to work. But what if you like working? You don’t have to have traditional financial goals of completely stopping work at any point. Lauren points out that your feelings about work may change, and you should be ready if that happens. Then, they transition to discussing the FIRE (financial independence retire early) movement. Again, Lauren cautions against assuming a steady state for too long, you may (and probably will) change over...
2023-12-1226 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 155: Nerding Out Over Airbnb StockBrad Freeman aptly named his company Stock Market Nerd because that’s certainly what he is – in a good way! Brad is fascinated with stocks because you can be wrong a lot and still be
very successful. He believes in leaving no stone unturned when it comes to researching stocks. It’s a little obsessive actually. For him, knowledge is both power and comfort. Researching stocks to try to outperform the market, to Brad, is a full-time job. He shares what he’s learning in his newsletter. Brad also points
out that at 26-years-old, he can take on more risk tha...
2023-12-0526 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 153: Doing Your First Deal with Your FamilySince Brett bought his first house in 2022 and his first investment property in 2023, Lauren had to ask about investing in this current environment. Brett did this deal with his grandparents, and it was a great entry point for all of them! Interestingly, the deal is out of state for all of them. Brett breaks down his numbers of his first (primary) home, a townhome. Then, the two transition to breaking down the rental deal, and start by talking about working with family. His grandparents were doing a 1031 exchange of some land. They looked at 15 homes in one day before...
2023-11-2727 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 152: Mobile Homes May Be the Future of Affordable HousingLauren opens by asking the obvious question, as she often does: what’s a mobile home? Rachel touches on the history of mobile homes and manufactured homes. They started as a home for rich people to take with them on their vacations! Now, they’re not moved very often in their lifetimes. They’re usually set on blocks, wheels removed, and hitches removed. Rachel points out that since 1976, HUD got involved and created some standards throughout the industry. Rachel shares how she became “Mobile Home Girl.” It started with wholesaling, which is what she’s doing (again) now. Lauren asks about h...
2023-11-1428 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 151: Our Financial System Runs on BondsBonds are like IOU’s issued by governments and companies. They usually come in denominations of $1,000 with different interest rates (coupons). As yields (rates) on bonds increase, existing bond prices decrease. David (Uncommon Yield) breaks all thismdown and more for Lauren. Then, they get into the importance of the 2-year and 10-year treasury rates, and what it means when the 2-year is higher than the 10-year (when the yield curve inverts). Why do bonds matter? They underpin the whole financial system. And David tells Lauren what is going on in the current market right now, and it’s actually pret...
2023-11-0723 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 149: Personal Finance is Personal and So is Investing!Where better to kick off this interview than talking about what investing is? Mark talks about the difference between investing and gambling or speculating. He also goes into the foundation that should be set before investing. So, your personal finances need to be in order first! It’s important to take into account your risk tolerance, goals, and time horizon(s). Sometimes, though, you don’t know what your risk tolerance really is until push comes to shove. Lauren tells her own risk tolerance story regarding the Covid stock market crash. Of course, Lauren has to ask about how Mark...
2023-10-2420 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 148: A Million Bucks by 30Alan grew up with public school teachers as parents, so he saw wealth as a child, but he never had any. That’s why he wanted to have a million bucks by 30 – and write a book about it! He started this journey right after college, at the age of 21 or 22. Alan’s first step was to live off a small percent of what he was making. How did he save so much? He “hid” money from himself by having his HR department send a huge percent to a bank across town (remember, this was 20 years ago). Every January 1st, he would g...
2023-10-1724 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 147: $51k in Debt to House Hacking to FreedomWhat started as a conversation about buying a vacation home led to the realization that they couldn’t even afford a vacation! This week, Lauren interviews the Debt Free Guys, David and John, about their journey of getting out of debt, which leads to a
whole conversation about their journey to becoming the Debt Free Guys, which wonderfully includes house hacking. The first step, once they realized they were in a financial mess, was to go through their inflows and outflows. That led to further questioning about their money stories: why did they overspend? We all have money stories th...
2023-10-1038 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 146: 6x Your Return with Credit Card RewardsChris Campbell has 12 credit cards – more than even fit in his wallet! Lauren asked about the difference between rewards, cash back, and travel points. Chris is a big fan of travel rewards credit cards because you basically get a better return on your spending, more than you’d get with cash back, up to 3x times more! According to Chris, you can routinely get 6% back rather than the normal 1-1.5% cash back.
Chris is partial to the Chase Sapphire credit card. If you combine rewards with loyalty programs, such as at Hyatt, and you’re really cooking with fire. Some c...
2023-10-0328 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 145: Entrepreneurial Misadventures to 6 Figure W2Lauren had to start by asking about his entrepreneurial journey to date, which is extensive even though he’s only 24. Andres’s drive may have simply continued when he quit baseball after taking it very seriously for 14 years. That’s when he was introduced to the world of sneaker sales. While still in college, he created a company flipping sneakers. It was a “very profitable 8 months” before the stores closed for Covid. Meanwhile, Andres was renting licenses for bots that sourced sneakers in a Discord community. At its peak, he was making about $14k profit per month with 9 employees, but Covid...
2023-09-2623 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money15) Bad Credit, Good Contractors & Suing the NARHouse Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 117, where they talk about buying real estate with bad credit. Although you can buy real estate with bad credit, it is not as easy as buying with good credit. Alan lists 4 options when it comes to buying real estate with bad credit. Lauren asks, why do you have bad credit? Have you fixed those behaviors? Alan’s first option is to use seller financing when they don’t check your credit. His next piece of advice is to find a complementary investment partne...
2023-09-2145 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money14) Ethics of Wholesaling & Being a Landlord, Plus Fake Social BeefsHouse Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 116, is being a landlord unethical? We hear this a lot from people who want to buy a house but can’t for whatever reason. They want to blame someone, so they blame landlords. When landlords own single family homes, though, they aren’t typically competing with first time home buyers. They’re buying houses people don’t want (usually because they’re ugly or dated). Also, let’s remember that some people want to rent, and government housing isn’t the best to say the least...
2023-09-1442 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 143: The Best Form of Passive Income is DividendsLauren and Dave start by discussing some mistakes he made early on in his investing career. It started out OK. He was into the book The Wealthy Barber. He actually started investing religiously at 19 years old! Once he got out of college, he started raiding that investment account. So, that was the first big mistake. The second one was marrying the right person who encouraged Dave to draw down his retirement accounts for present wants. Then, the two discuss how to potentially not marry the wrong person. After that, they finally get into the meat and potatoes: dividend investing...
2023-09-1233 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money13) Inspections Galore, Non-Trendy Updates & Extra MethHouse Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 115 – what do look for in an inspection. Even though they cost $500-$800, inspections are very, very worth it. None of the hosts have had a clean report, though, so that’s to be expected. Alan thinks of inspections as an opportunity to ask for the price of problems found, plus a headache fee. Thus, you get the cost of your inspection back. Alan tells a recent story about the reason a client backed out after an inspection. Tom accuses Alan of being a slum...
2023-09-0744 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 142: Invest for Your Kids Born and Unborn with BudgetdogThis week, Lauren interviews the Budgetdog himself, Brennan Schlagbaum. Brennan talks about parenthood and gets into what it’s like to parent a special needs child. Brennan and his wife Erin have an almost-2-year-old with Dravet syndrome. One theme woven throughout is the importance of having time, money, and health at the same time. Then, the two focus on the topic at hand: investing for your kids. The Schlagbaums started investing for their first child, Logan Lee, before she was even born. They’re currently utilizing a brokerage, 529, and Roth IRA for their kid (she does baby modeling). Gues...
2023-09-0522 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money12) Investing Thru a Recession & Tax Benefits of Real EstateHouse Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 114, things learned when investing through the Great Financial Crisis. But only after discussing how old they were in 2008. Alan points out that in the GFC, there were more renters as people lost their homes. Both Tom and Alan’s properties cash flowed all the way through the GFC. Lauren was 18 in 2008 so she didn’t have any property. At House Money Media, we don’t really believe in timing the market. Lauren gives her thoughts on short-term rentals and what that space may be l...
2023-08-3139 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 141: All About Short-Term Rental CleanersAccording to Chris (and probably all STR hosts really), your cleaner is your most important team member. With a low performing cleaner, you’ll have a low performing property. Chris outlines 5 ways to find cleaners: 1) messaging other hosts on Airbnb, 2) searching online and reading through websites, 3) drive around at check out time and talk to cleaners, 4) local investor groups, like on social media, and 5) apps, like Turno. Both Lauren and Chris recommend having the same cleaner or small group of cleaners so they’re familiar with your properties and it isn’t different people in and out of there every...
2023-08-2930 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money11) Overcoming Analysis Paralysis & How Often to Wash Your PropertiesHouse Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 113, which covers analysis paralysis, which according to Investopedia is an inability to make a decision due to over-thinking a problem. What causes this? Perhaps it’s from having too flexible of a buy box. Alan suggests narrowing price point within $30k. Lauren reminds listeners to truly decide on your why and your strategy. Alan reminds listeners that you’re going to learn a lot when you take action, so you should act soon. Sign up for the newsletter & read ou...
2023-08-2431 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money10) Creative Ways to House Hack & Buying Lots in Chicago for $1House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 111, about how to house hack without roommates. Lauren, Alan, and Tom have all had roommates in the past. Now, they’re all pretty much past that. But what if you never want to have roommates at all? The question is: what else can you rent out? Basement, yard, parking spot, flex space, pool…. there’s an app for that! And Alan goes over them all. Remember, house hacking is all about cutting your living expenses. Alan also lobbies for a “make me vacation”...
2023-08-1743 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 139: The Future of Short-Term Rentals with Paul from SummerLauren and Paul talked about what it was like to work at Airbnb when the startup environment had so much money flowing through it. They touched on the short-term effects of Covid, as well as the longer-term ones. It seems like there’s more curiosity from the general public. Of course, they had to touch on the “Airbnbust” idea. Some areas are certainly becoming oversaturated. Paul gives great advice on underwriting your deals: think of the bear case and the bull case. In the last few years, it’s easy to wonder if people underwrote based on bull cases. Lauren a...
2023-08-1535 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money9) Upgrades that Matter & To LLC or Not to LLC?We’re changing the order of our segments this week! Let us know if you like the change. House Money Weekly In this week’s House Money Weekly segment, your hosts discuss blog 110, “To LLC or Not To LLC?” LLCs are not a requirement for real estate investing. You can have up to 10 personal loans in your name. Your spouse can also have 10 loans in their name (if you’re not on all of them together). Alan recommends maxing those out or maxing your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio, whichever comes first will force you to stop. Yo...
2023-08-1038 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money8) Learning from Real Estate Fails & the Pitfalls of PartnershipsReal Estate Is Easy Interview Lauren interviewed project manager, Rob Wittie, of Oasis Project Management and Oasis Custom Homes in St. Petersburg, Florida. Rob did a large project for Lauren and her husband recently, so they have some stories! (Note: This interview was done in-person, so the audio is a little different than usual.) The two start the interview by explaining what a project manager does. Rob is passionate about bringing people’s visions to life. Lauren couldn’t help but ask about the labor shortage and reasons behind it. Rob gives advice about what to look for...
2023-08-0347 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 137: Serving Tables, Showing Up, and Hustling to 17 Units by 23Lauren interviewed the Wealth Building Waiter this week, Adam. He’s a 23-year-old who started in the restaurant business in 2020 and has worked his way up. Adam worked 6 days a week for years as a server and just recently transitioned to 3 night per week to spend more time on real estate: being a Director of a Housing program, managing and rehabbing properties, being on the board of his HOA, and being a real estate agent. Adam breaks down the mechanics of his partnership deals. How does he find deals? Cold calling. The two emphasize personal branding and networking, which ha...
2023-08-0126 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money7) What Running the Numbers Means & Overcoming Hustle CultureReal Estate Is Easy Interview Lauren interviewed one of her short-term rental cleaners, Jasmine Jordan. They talked about the differences between regular residential cleanings versus short-term rental cleanings. Jasmine mentioned the best thing you can do is communicate with her. Together, Lauren and Jasmine did the math: over 5 years she does about 3500 cleans. Her favorite part – somehow – is making the bed. Perhaps unexpectedly, Jasmine’s house isn’t perfectly clean. She said the cost of cleaning should be based on size and expectations. Get this: Jasmine is pleasantly surprised when the places are left nice, rather than upset wh...
2023-07-2735 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 136: Should You Invest Your Emergency Fund? with NexusToday, Lauren interviewed the team from Nexus. Konstantin started investing 10 years ago. You get more from your money when you invest it vs let it sit in a bank account. He’s become fascinated by the numbers behind investing. When it comes to the culture around investing, many people think investing is inherently complicated. Index funds are not complicated and are a great place for new investors to start. You don’t have to day trade or read earnings calls. Should there be a foundation set before investing in index funds? Yes – some knowledge. Once you start learning, you realiz...
2023-07-2531 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money6) Making Real Estate Passive Through Management & Benefits of Inheriting TenantsReal Estate Is Easy Interview John Rutledge, property manager, from Cobalt Property Services. They manage 720 units. John tells us about the “resident life cycle” and what property managers do along that life cycle. Professional property managers charge 6-12% of total revenue as a management fee. You may also see renewal fees, leasing fees, and application fees. John mentioned that you can negotiate these fees, but he would like more transparency across the industry. A very important part of this interview: make sure you’re interviewing your PMs! Ask about how often you’ll speak, fees, property type they foc...
2023-07-2037 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money5) Toilet Nightmares & Credit Cards to help with Real Estate InvestingReal Estate Is Easy Interview Shemsi Shala is Lauren’s personal plumber from the Tampa Bay area. He has over 17 years of experience and his business, which is 4 years old, has over 500 reviews. The two start the interview by talking about different kinds of pipes, and the costs for replacing them. How can you avoid big costs? He suggests having someone scope the line in addition to a home inspection when purchasing. And of course, they had to talk about the 2 am toilets. Lauren’s favorite part of the interview is that Shemsi calls his employees and his...
2023-07-1344 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 134: Success Mindsets with Clint MurphyChange of pace this week! Lauren interviewed Clint Murphy to celebrate the 100th episode of his podcast, the Growth Guide. The two discussed success mindsets and a bunch of other topics, since the two know each other very well from doing live Twitter Spaces weekly for an entire year. This episode is being posted on both feeds today. Huge congrats to Clint and the Growth Guide team on hitting this milestone, and thanks for including Adulting Is Easy in marking this milestone!
Lauren asked Clint about finding balance, which he admits
he’s still working on. Clint is...
2023-07-111h 28
Real Estate Investing with House Money4) Landlord Landscaping Hacks & Timing the Real Estate MarketReal Estate Is Easy Interview Lauren interviewed Humzah Khraim, a landscaping professional from Atlanta. Landscaping, according to Humzah, exists to both protect the house and enhance its beauty. Of course, homeowners and investors alike are looking for curb appeal. Once we work within nature, within our climate zone, we can make that happen. Humzah recommends building relationships with people you get along with, from plumbers to electricians to landscapers. They will steer you towards sustainable options. What’s the highest return on investment? Getting that inside-outside living vibe. But stay away from wooden decks by using pavers or...
2023-07-0643 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money3) Making HVAC Easy & Are 1031 Exchanges Worth It?Real Estate Is Easy Interview Segment Lauren interviewed Logan Haskett, a HVAC business owner from Oklahoma. He gives great tips on what to look for when you’re interested in purchasing a property. Funny enough, he basically recommends to trust but verify anything a real estate agent tells you about your systems. The number one recommendation? Change your filters! Logan gives tips on maintenance frequency and what it should cost. He recommends learning about HVAC systems as a consumer to avoid getting taken advantage of. Lauren and Logan discussed the benefits of high efficiency. The most surprising th...
2023-06-2941 min
Real Estate Investing with House Money1) Real Estate is EasyAt House Money Media, our mission is to launch first generation real estate investors. Part of how we do this is through our podcast. Lauren Keen Aumond is the host of the podcast. She’s joined by co-hosts Alan Corey and Tom Brickman. We plan to start with the Real Estate is Easy interview segment, transition to an overview of one of our house money weekly newsletters, then Teatime with Tom. Here’s what we talked about this week. Real Estate is Easy We start by learning a bit about Alan Corey, who has b...
2023-06-1539 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 125: Tactical Short-Term Rental Tips from Former Airbnb EmployeeDanny Rusteen wrote the book on hosting. Actually, he’s written 2 of them. According to him, living in Airbnbs is a life hack, it actually makes your life less complicated. That’s why he does it! Lauren has been rotating among her own units for years. This is a good thing – hosts should stay in their places at least a couple of times per year, according to Danny. He suggests spending time in the towns where you’re going to invest. Controversy alert: he thinks you should take your own pictures. Danny talks about being employee number 700 at Airbnb. Lauren a...
2023-05-0934 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 116: Land Flipping and There's No Such Thing as a Perfect PropertyThis week, Lauren brings you her interview with Pete Reese. Lauren learned that you can invest in real estate by flipping land. Mind blown. And get this – land can be flipped within a shorter period of time than you think.
Pete talks through the business model and how it’s systematized. They started with $100,000. He talks numbers and details of their deals, like how they aim for 50% gross margins. He talks partnerships. Pete gives advice, like: when it comes to due diligence, you can’t see everything in a computer screen.
Pete detailed some red flags...
2023-03-0730 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 113: Wait Until Marriage? Separate, Joint, or Hybrid FinancesLauren's husband is here in honor of Valentine's Day! Lauren and Aric Aumond discuss couples' finances: separate, joint, or hybrid? Should married couples keep their finances separate? Should marital finances be combined? What about debt? They talk accounts, joint credit cards, paychecks, and more. Learn whether there's a right or wrong way to handle your bills as a couple. You'll be left with some thoughts about timing as well, do you wait until marriage? Lauren and Aric give you an insight into their own finances, as well.
About Aric:
Aric is Lauren's husband. The two...
2023-02-1421 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 103: New Investor Buys 1 LTR and 2 Airbnbs in 1 YearThis week, Lauren brings you her interview with Mark Holmes. Mark and his wife have both a long-term rental (LTR) and short-term rentals (STRs) in their portfolio, which is why Lauren invited him on the podcast. The two go over their cash flow numbers for the 3 properties, which by the way were purchased in 2022. They discuss retirement plans and numbers. Lauren asks about the controversial decision to take early withdrawal penalties from a 401k to invest in real estate. They even get into their new step in entrepreneurship: opening a flower shop! Did we mention they also had their...
2022-12-0630 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 98: From Actual BANK to Short-Term RentalThis week, Lauren brings you her interview with Tyann Marcink Hammond, short-term and vacation rental expert. Tyann answers the question right off the bat, what is a short-term rental? HINT: It's NOT an "Airbnb" or a "Vrbo." We learn how she got started, with some good, old-fashioned family rivalry. She started like many short-term rental (STR) hosts do, with long-term rentals (LTR) and house hacking. She had some issues with a tenant/drug dealer and that was enough of the LTRs. Lauren's favorite part is when she talks about turning a bank into an STR. The two run through...
2022-11-0132 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 97: Wholesaling is Easier Than Getting Eggs Out of a Chicken's ButtThis week, Lauren interviewed Eric Friday and Jamiel Strickland, the Monopoly Brothers. They're doing wholesaling, flipping, buy and hold, and more to trade up into apartment buildings in Detroit, Michigan. Lauren wanted to know more about wholesaling real estate. The two told Lauren what it's like to works with buyers and sellers as the middle man in a real estate deal. They talked about their biggest wins and what it's like when people are mean to wholesalers. What becomes clear as the episode goes on is the vital role wholesalers play in real estate markets. They told Lauren about...
2022-10-2536 minAdulting Is Easy: Making Personal Finance & Real Estate EasyAIE 91: Financial Impacts of Car Accidents with Joshua SchwadronThis week, Lauren brings you her interview with Joshua Schwadron. This episode is unlike any other because Lauren shares her own personal story of getting into a car accident. She was sandwiched on I-275 in Tampa, FL, when she was just 26 years old. The resulting physical, mental, and financial pain continues to this day. In a lot of ways, this is a 2-way interview in which Lauren and Josh compare her story to others. Listeners will walk away prepared to effectively navigate the personal injury world: massages, doctors, chiropractors, therapists, liens, letters of protection, settlements, lawyers, demand letters, depositions...
2022-09-1336 min