Feature Article #1

Personal Finance for the Real Estate Investor–A Primer

A real estate investor’s own personal finances can play a big role in managing profitable real estate investments. One of the biggest mistakes anxious investors make is to take on a lot of leverage and financial risk with rental properties when their own finances are in shambles. Having your own finances in order […]

Rob | April 30th, 2008 | Continued

Feature Article #2

Using a Self-Directed IRA to Invest in Real Estate

One of the toughest hurdles for an investor to grow his real estate investments is raising capital. A self-directed IRA may be the answer. The term “self-directed IRA” actually refers to the administration of the IRA rather than the type of retirement account. A traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or SEP-IRA can be […]

Rob | December 17th, 2007 | Continued

Feature Article #3

How Much Money Do You Need to Start Investing in Real Estate?

When Rob and I started our joint venture or “adventure,” as the tag line suggests, I had more experience in dealing in real estate. If Rob had posed this question, my answer would have been easy: “How much you got?” I’ll try to be a bit less glib with your money. But […]

Mike | November 14th, 2007 | Continued

About this Site

About TwoWiseAcres (by Mike and Rob)
We started TwoWiseAcres with one simple goal in mind—to create a community of real estate enthusiasts who share tips and information all with the goal of becoming better and more profitable real estate investors. So here’s the deal: we are going to unlock the doors, put all of our […]

Other Recent Articles

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Real Estate Trades: Have I Got a Deal for You

The Mrs. once remarked, “When you and your father get together, you can talk about real estate until there’s no more oxygen left in the room.” Yep, we can get going pretty good. We’ll talk about his properties, my properties, the market, the last deal, the next deal, the tenants, the banks, and, […]

28Apr2008 | Mike | 1 comment | Continued
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Risk Index: The Probability of Continued Housing Price Declines

Last week, PMI Group, of private mortgage insurance fame, released its “risk index” rankings for U.S. major metropolitan areas for the 4th quarter of 2007. PMI’s risk index measures the likelihood that housing prices will be lower in two years than they are now. As the map above shows, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and well, […]

22Apr2008 | Mike | 0 comments | Continued
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Calculating Depreciation for Residential Real Estate Investments

If you didn’t catch the first part of the TwoWiseAcres quick and dirty guide to taxes for the real estate investor, you might want to check it out. In the first part, I walked through reporting income and expenses for rental properties on Schedule E. In this part, I’m going to cover the […]

15Apr2008 | Mike | 1 comment | Continued
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Reporting Taxable Income and Expenses for Real Estate Investments

It’s tax time once again. And if you’re a real estate investor and you’re anything like me, it is about this time every year when you contemplate switching your investment portfolio to something like a savings account. Granted, savings accounts return about 1.5% per year, but at least you don’t have to fill […]

13Apr2008 | Mike | 4 comments | Continued
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How Subprime Mortgages Have Sky-Rocketed Foreclosures–A Picturegraph

Here’s in interesting chart from the NYT showing the impact subprime mortgages have had on foreclosure rates. In the mid-west where Mike and I buy properties, there have been lots of foreclosures, but their connection to subprime mortgages is less than clear. In fact, some of our best foreclosure deals were made before […]

6Apr2008 | Rob | 2 comments | Continued
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HDR Photos–A Stunning Way to Market Real Estate

I was first introduced to high dynamic range (HDR) photography about a month ago as I was searching for some photos to include in my personal finance blog. I came across some HDR photos on flickr, and at first wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at. Lately, HDR photos are about all […]

1Apr2008 | Rob | 6 comments | Continued
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Foreclosures Produce Deals, but No Steals

According to a Wall Street Journal article published today, a wave of foreclosures is starting to drive down prices as banks put more properties on the market. In some areas, foreclosure-related sales account for 40% of all sales. Well a few weeks ago Mike and I did our own sort of investigative reporting–we […]

25Mar2008 | Rob | 1 comment | Continued
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House in a Box–Fact or Fiction

Have I got a deal for you. It’s called “House in a Box” and it is exactly what you hope it’s not–a house in a box. They can be shipped right to your location for “easy” assembly and installation. Talk about a great investment. Where else can you buy a 1,150 […]

18Mar2008 | Rob | 3 comments | Continued
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How to Remodel a Kitchen for Under $4,000 (Part III–Contractors, costs, pictures and a mea culpa)

This is the third and final article in our series on how to remodel a kitchen for under $4,000. In the first article, we described the factors we consider in deciding whether we undertake a major kitchen overhaul. In the second article we described how we design the remodel and select the materials. […]

10Mar2008 | Rob | 8 comments | Continued
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