I sat down with Cristina Franco from Opt-In Lending. Cristina isn’t just in lending. She’s spent decades as a real estate operator, landlord, and now works in pre-litigation mediation dealing with probate, divorce, inheritance disputes, and the real mess investors eventually face. Her message was simple and blunt:
Finding deals for a real estate project is difficult.. But so is managing the back operations of a real estate project and figuring out what a project actually cost you. Most people don’t even want to deal with tracking every dollar. I'll do it later kind of
For most business owners, especially those just getting started, keeping clean financial records is an afterthought. You’re focused on deals, income, and growth, not spreadsheets or receipts. But sooner or later, disorganized books catch up with you. Mixing personal and business funds, paying expenses from the wrong account, or
In real estate, your numbers should tell the story of your business, what’s working, what’s not, and where you’re heading. But if your bookkeeping is behind or scattered across spreadsheets, it’s not just a paperwork issue. It’s a business problem that limits your growth, hides
When Claudia first came to the U.S. from Venezuela, she never thought real estate would be the thing that changed her life. Back home, her mom was a lawyer, respected, hardworking but even with that, she couldn’t afford to buy a home or a car. Hyperinflation made ownership
When you own real estate, whether it’s a single rental or a portfolio of multifamily properties, you’re not just holding an asset; you’re holding responsibility. When you’re the one in charge, managing, and operating a property, you’ve got a duty to protect it and it&
In real estate investing, we’re not chasing the hottest deal on the block or the quickest flip for the biggest win. Sure, those happen, but if that’s your whole business plan, the risks add up fast. Many investors who built on hype have already burned out, went under
In today’s world, “ownership” can feel like an illusion. You might own stocks, ETFs, or crypto in a brokerage account, but what does that really mean? Those assets exist as entries in a database, managed by a custodian. You can buy, sell, or trade them, sure. But if that
When I first got into real estate, I had no clue where to start. I wasn’t born into money, didn’t have a family of investors, and definitely didn’t have a roadmap. What I had was curiosity, and a desire to stop trading time for money. Most people
When I first got into real estate, I thought I had it all figured out. My first big win was buying a property, holding it for a few years, and selling for a substantial gain. Suddenly, I had more money in the bank than I’d ever had before. I
Have you ever taken your property tax protest all the way up to the formal board? Is it worth the effort? If I could go back, I’d make sure to do it every single year. Why? Because at that level, they’re more likely to actually hear you out,
Real estate isn’t just about chasing the biggest returns. For most investors, it’s about preserving capital, creating consistent income, and protecting against inflation. Unlike stocks that swing every day, real estate offers stability because housing is always in demand. Key Defensive Benefits of Real Estate * Inflation Hedge: Property