Field notes for real-estate investors.
Deep dives on data, markets, and the craft of finding deals most people miss. Published daily.
Category: how-to · clear
Home Values Fell 1.7%. Tax Bills Rose 3%. Fewer Than 5% of Owners Bothered to Appeal.
ATTOM's latest annual analysis shows the average single-family home lost 1.7% of its value while its tax bill rose 3%, pushing the effective rate to its highest level since 2020. Census data shows property tax collections compounding at 4% against a price index growing 1.6%. Here's how to read your assessment, build the comp exhibit that wins an appeal, and what it's worth in NOI and enterprise value.
Everyone's Watching Florida for the Next Foreclosure Wave. The Data Says Watch Idaho and Colorado Instead.
ATTOM's Mid-Year 2026 report shows foreclosures up 21% nationally, and the CEO calls it normalization. But the states with the worst foreclosure rates (Florida, South Carolina, Indiana) aren't the states with the fastest growth (Idaho, Colorado, Georgia) — and that gap is where the real deal flow is forming. This piece breaks down the two lists, the cost drivers behind the growth-rate states, and five PropGPT workflows for screening pre-foreclosure and zombie-foreclosure inventory before the crowd catches on.
Real Estate Fraud Hit $275 Million in 2025. The Industry's Fix — "Verify by Video Call" — Is Now Part of the Scam.
The FBI says AI-enabled real estate fraud losses hit $275 million in 2025, and FundingShield's Q2 2026 data shows fraud shifting from fake emails to fake people on live video calls. Here's why the industry's go-to verification advice no longer works — and the public-record checks that still do.
The Law That Was Supposed to End Anonymous LLC Home Buying Has Been Dead for 127 Days. Nobody Told the Market.
A Texas federal judge vacated FinCEN's anonymous-LLC real estate reporting rule 127 days ago, and the agency's own FAQ confirms nobody has to file. But two other courts upheld the rule, two circuit appeals are live, and most of the industry is still acting like the old rule is in force. Here's the actual legal status, the numbers behind it, and how to check beneficial ownership yourself instead of waiting on Washington.
Florida Just Let You Protect 10 Rental Properties With One LLC Instead of Ten. Here's How the New Series Law Works.
Florida's new Protected Series LLC law, effective July 1, 2026, lets investors house unlimited rental properties inside one LLC while keeping each property's liability legally walled off from the others. Here's how the horizontal liability shield works, what it actually costs versus separate LLCs, and the recordkeeping mistakes that can blow the whole thing up.
The FBI Just Warned That Scammers Are Selling Vacant Land They Don't Own — 62% of Title Fraud Now Targets Deals Just Like Yours
The FBI just issued a fresh nationwide alert: criminals are impersonating vacant landowners, forging deeds, and selling property they don't legally own. This piece breaks down exactly how the scam works, the hard numbers behind it (62% of title fraud now targets vacant land), and a PropGPT-powered verification workflow that catches it before you wire a dollar.
100% Bonus Depreciation Is Permanent Now. Here's How to Use Cost Segregation to Eliminate $111,000 in Taxes on a $1 Million Deal.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made 100% bonus depreciation permanent in July 2025. Six months later, most real estate investors still haven't commissioned a cost segregation study — leaving $30,000 to $250,000 in year-one deductions on the table. This piece breaks down the exact cost segregation playbook, the look-back study opportunity for existing properties, the passive loss traps to avoid, and how to use PropGPT to model the math before your CPA conversation.
California Just Allowed 8 ADUs Per Lot. Here's Why Every Real Estate Investor in America Should Care.
California's 2026 ADU law bundle — SB 1211 (8 detached ADUs per multifamily lot), the elimination of owner-occupancy requirements, 60-day permit approvals, and AB 1033 (sell your ADU as a separate condo) — rewrites the math on every rental property in the state. This guide covers the five key law changes, the real build-cost and ROI numbers ($1,500–$3,000/month, 14–15% cash-on-cash), and five copy-paste PropGPT prompts for every stage of the ADU strategy.
The $3.9 Billion DST Boom: How to Use a 1031 Exchange to Defer Capital Gains — Without the 45-Day Panic
Delaware Statutory Trusts just hit a record $3.9 billion in available inventory — and Blackstone, Apollo, JLL, and Hines have all entered the market. This guide breaks down exactly how DSTs solve the 45-day 1031 deadline problem, the math on tax deferral vs. taking the hit, and five copy-paste PropGPT prompts to analyze your next exchange.
DSCR Rates Are Down to 6.12% — But Lenders Just Changed the Rules That Decide If Your Deal Qualifies
The headline DSCR rate of 6.12% is real — but it's reserved for the top tier: 760+ FICO, 65% LTV, and 1.25+ coverage. Meanwhile lenders quietly tightened overlays across the board in 2026: credit score floors moved up, STR income is now treated conservatively, and DSCR minimums increased. This guide breaks down every rule that changed and gives you five PropGPT prompts to stress-test any rental deal under the new standards before you make an offer.
Your Next Tenant Application May Be Entirely Fake. Here's How Landlords Are Fighting Back.
AI tools now generate undetectable fake pay stubs, voice-clone employer verification calls, and build synthetic credit files — costing landlords an average of $15,000 per incident. This breakdown covers the specific fraud methods hitting landlords in 2026, five PropGPT prompt workflows to screen smarter, and the concrete steps to close the gap before it costs you a placement.