If you’re in real estate long enough, you’ll face it: a tenant who stops paying rent. It’s frustrating, but you can’t let emotions take over. You have to handle it like a business. Over the years, I’ve tested a lot of approaches. Some were smart. Some… not so much. Here are the top strategies that actually work and the mistakes you should never make. ✅ 1. Offer Cash for Keys Yes, you read that right. I’ll walk up to the tenant and say, “I’ll pay you to leave.” Why? Because it’s faster and cheaper than months of lost rent and legal fees. We’ve paid anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 to have someone hand over the keys and walk away. Time is money. The faster I can renovate, place a paying tenant, and refinance, the better. ✅ 2. Go Legal if You Have To If they refuse the offer? Fine. We bring in the attorney and start the formal eviction. It takes longer, but it’s clean, it’s legal, and it keeps your reputation intact. Sometimes you can’t avoid this step but don’t skip straight to it without trying negotiation first. 🚫 3. What NOT to Do: Never Cut Utilities I learned this one the hard way. Early on, I thought turning off water or power would force them out faster. Big mistake. It’s illegal, and it almost got me sued. We got lucky. You might not. So don’t even think about it no matter how tempting it feels in the moment. Key Takeaways: 🔹 Stay professional. This is business, not personal. 🔹 Always weigh the cost of time vs. pride. 🔹 Avoid illegal shortcuts that can destroy your reputation. 🔹 Protect your cash flow and keep your operation moving. At the end of the day, real estate isn’t about proving a point. It’s about keeping your income steady and your name clean. Play it smart. Every time.

If you’ve been in this game long enough, you know one thing: mistakes happen. Every investor, every landlord, every entrepreneur makes them. You’re not here to play perfect. You’re here to play smart. Real estate is like a chessboard. It’s not about making every move flawlessly. It’s about making fewer mistakes than your opponent. That’s how you win. That’s how you stay in the game. Over the years, I’ve learned the best way to avoid mistakes is to learn from others who’ve already paid the price. That’s why I share stories from my own experience: the good, the bad, and even the embarrassing. Like the time I illegally turned off water on a non-paying tenant because I didn’t know any better. Big mistake. Could’ve cost me. Thankfully, I got lucky and learned the lesson without a lawsuit. That’s why we’re here to help you make better moves. Learn from our missteps. Avoid the traps. Play smarter every time. In real estate, nobody wins because they’re perfect. The winner is always the one who makes the least mistakes and keeps moving forward.

If you're just getting started in real estate and already thinking about raising capital from others. Stop right there. That’s a fast track to burning bridges, not building wealth. Before you ever take a single dollar from someone else, you need to build your own track record. I’m talking 50 units. Deals you’ve bought, managed, refinanced, rehabbed; all on your own dime. You need to know what it feels like to take the hit when a project goes sideways, and you need to know how to pull it back into profit. When it’s your own money on the line, your decision-making gets sharper. You learn where to spend, where to cut, how to spot red flags early, and how to make a deal work when nothing goes according to plan. That’s experience you can’t fake and it’s the kind of experience that protects your reputation later. Because here’s the truth: You can lose money and recover. You can make mistakes and bounce back. But your reputation? You lose that once, and it’s almost impossible to get back. So don't gamble with someone else’s life savings to “try something new.” Master the process first. Become a professional with your own money before you ever invite someone else into your deal. That’s how you build trust. That’s how you build a legacy. Do the reps. Prove the model. Then scale with partners. That’s the real game.

Everyone’s chasing the next flashy trend. AI apps. Crypto coins. Drop shipping stores with fake urgency timers. But if you want consistent wealth, you’ve got to stop playing the hype game and look at what’s already working. There are 12 million baby boomers retiring in the next 10 years. And guess what they own? Real companies. Real assets. Real cash flow. We’re talking about: ✳️ Property management firms ✳️ HVAC and plumbing companies ✳️ Truck routes delivering every single day ✳️ Laundry businesses, auto repair shops, storage facilities Not sexy. But incredibly profitable. These businesses survived the 2008 crash. They survived COVID. They’ve been paying their owners for decades. Now those owners are ready to retire and most of their kids want nothing to do with it. That’s your opportunity. Instead of building from scratch, you walk into: ✅ A business with customers ✅ Staff that already know what they’re doing ✅ Recurring revenue ✅ And 30 years of goodwill in the community You clean up the books, improve marketing, streamline operations… and suddenly you’re making double what the seller was. This is the ultimate shortcut to real wealth: Buy boring. Make it better. Keep or sell.

Everyone wants to “build something.” Start a brand. Launch a product. Raise money. But building from zero is risky, slow, and expensive. Instead, you can acquire something that already has momentum. That means looking for: ✅ Small apartment buildings from tired landlords ✅ Logistics routes from retiring operators ✅ Rental portfolios from older investors ✅ Businesses with solid cash flow but no succession plan You don’t need to create cash flow. You need to own it. Buy it. Improve it. Keep it or sell it for more. This is how the real players win. They skip the startup graveyard and buy cash flowing assets from day one. You want to be rich? Stop building from scratch. Start acquiring.