Welcome to “Tarl's Weekly Insights," my take on real estate today. 

Hey there,

Welcome to Tarl’s Weekly Insights, my take on real estate today.

In these newsletters, we'll dive deep into the real estate world, share valuable investment strategies, and explore the craziness that life has thrown my way. Whether it's my struggle and journey of overcoming flipping, deciphering the insanity of the market, successful strategies being used in REI, or just me making fun of social media real estate investors.

I can't wait to share it all with you...

If everyone thinks Single Family Residential Real Estate is safe to invest in...is it?!?

 I struggle BIG TIME with investing...when everyone agrees that something is a good investment. Especially the last few years...

When everyone was like "I am going to syndicate multi-family!" and "Multi-family is skyrocketing, it's the best!" I was like..."well...looks like I am staying away from Multi-family for the time being"

When everyone was like "Short-term rentals are the greatest investment ever" and "I am getting into STR, it's the best!" then I was very much like "Looks like I am never doing that business..."

And when people were like "Crypto is going to the moon! Invest now!" I was like "SOUNDS GREAT!" and I did...and lost about $100k in the process (cause Blockfi went bankrupt and all my good stuff got trapped in the proceedings and can't get out)...should have stuck to my contrarian strategy there...

So what about Single Family Homes?

 It is hard for me to see, in strong growing markets with stable job growth and low housing supply, a reason why single-family properties are going to face a nose dive in the market. My issue is...everyone seems to agree that SFR is a great spot to invest...and it kind of is freaking me out.

Yet, data is data, math is math, supply and demand is supply and demand. I talked with my friend Ken McElroy the other day and posed this challenge to him. He believes that if I stick with LONG-TERM rentals in SFR, then he can't see any reason to panic. So long as the deal cashflows, then good to go. Flipping though, is where the risk is at. Why? Should there be a time where the market does shift, flippers are typically the ones that take the biggest hit. We saw this in 2022.

Yet! Flipping is still fantastic in the right markets, so as long as you can take a hit (or another) if something shifts, then keep after it! Save money, don't spend it all, don't over leverage, don't get over your ski's (it's that time of year), and do your best to keep deals for the long run.

The data in the right markets say that I am good to go all-in with SFR, and that is what I am doing...I'm still nervous, which is a good thing in this business in my opinion. Hubris and overconfidence have been the ONLY reasons I have lost money on deals, lessons learned.

People use food, alcohol, video games, social media, etc, as a coping mechanism. When it gets out of control, they become addicted. How do you break the cycle when it has become too much?

I use pictures of contractors, local inspectors, and construction failures of mine as a motivation to not buy more flips. Every time I get the urge to justify another flip...I just turn to my right and look at the wall of photos...like the picture of that contractor who ran off with a deposit, or the picture of that inspector that red-tagged my house when it was on the market even though we had permits (thus scaring away buyers the first weekend it was listed), or the picture of the "dry basement" that flooded after we finished sheet rocking it...So much motivation to stay away from flips, yet they say cash is king so how do I get fat stacks of cash without flipping!? The struggle is real...

I posted on my IG account the other day "ask me anything" story and there was one question that stood out the most:

@beardybrandon: “Why does Brandon always beat you at Jiu Jitsu?! Like not even close. It’s sad, really.”

This is obviously libel and defamation of character. I take false accusations very seriously, and because of this I decided to post my response to Brandon here: 

Let's stay connected! Find me on social media at @tarlyarber and stay updated with additional videos and content.

That's it for this edition of Tarl's Weekly Insights! Stay tuned for more each week!

Talk Soon,

Tarl Yarber