Passive income is one of the most powerful ideas in real estate investing. It represents freedom, flexibility, and the ability to generate wealth without trading time for money forever. But somewhere along the way, the concept became oversimplified. Social media turned passive income into a lifestyle slogan, making real estate investing appear effortless once the...
Ken McElroy’s Real Estate Edge
Direct from the desk of Ken McElroy! Your trusted source for up-to-date real estate insights, financial literacy, and actionable investing solutions.
Real estate investing is often viewed as a numbers game. Investors spend years learning about cap rates, financing structures, market cycles, and underwriting models. But over time, most experienced investors realize that success in real estate depends just as much on psychology as it does on analytics. Markets fluctuate, deals fail, and uncertainty is constant....
Inflation changes the way people think about money. As the cost of living rises, purchasing power declines, savings lose value, and investors begin searching for assets that can preserve wealth over time. Historically, real estate has been one of the few asset classes that not only survives inflationary periods but often benefits from them. While...
The Fed can’t cut when prices keep rising. But high inflation has its own way of pushing property values up. Either way, the case for real assets holds. The April CPI came in at 3.8% year-over-year, and markets noticed. Bond investors expects higher inflation. That’s the market saying it doesn’t believe inflation is going quietly....
Somewhere in Dallas right now, there are nearly 1,000 multifamily properties where 100% of net operating income goes straight to debt service. Not profit. Not reserves. Not investor distributions. \Just keeping the loan alive. And in most cases, the property itself is fine. Occupancy is stable. Rents are being collected. The operator is doing...
What the Jobs Report Doesn’t Tell You
May 13, 20260
The Labor Department reported 115,000 jobs added in April. Markets liked it. But talk to anyone actually looking for work and they’ll tell you nobody’s hiring. So which is it? Here’s what most people don’t know about how these numbers get made. The BLS releases an initial number on the first Friday of the following...
In multifamily investing, it’s easy to get lost in numbers. Between cap rates, pro formas, and projections, investors are often presented with more data than clarity. But successful investing doesn’t come from tracking every metric-it comes from focusing on the right ones. In 2026, where margins are tighter and assumptions are being tested, a handful of key metrics determine whether a...
Cap rates have long been the shorthand for evaluating real estate deals. They’re simple, widely used, and easy to compare across markets. But in today’s environment, relying on cap rates alone is one of the fastest ways to misprice risk. In 2026, where debt costs, rent growth, and operating expenses are all shifting, cap rates tell only a fraction...
Real estate rewards patience-but it punishes ignorance. The difference between experienced investors and everyone else isn’t just deal selection; it’s the ability to read markets before they turn. In 2026, as supply surges, debt tightens, and migration patterns shift, the ability to spot a failing market early has become one of the most valuable skills in real estate investing. Those who recognize the...
For more than a decade, real estate investors operated in an environment where debt was an advantage. Cheap capital, rising asset values, and easy refinancing made leverage a powerful tool for growth. But that environment has changed. In 2026, debt is no longer a tailwind—it’s the single most important risk factor in real estate investing....
