Ken McElroy

Real estate investors just got a major tax win. Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill delivers: ✔️ Full bonus depreciation ✔️ Locked-in 1031 exchanges ✔️ Opportunity Zones revived I sat down with a tax expert to discuss its impact on the real estate market: kenmcelroy.com/education/new-…

You don’t have a deal problem You have a room problem Posting online and hoping for capital isn’t a strategy. The serious investors are at events, masterminds, and conferences where capital is moving and connections are made in real time. Mindset shift Money flows to…

Raising capital is easy keeping trust is where most syndicators fail. In hot markets, deals got done by whoever could pay the most. But now? LPs are looking around, wondering where the updates went. You can’t just perform on paper you’ve got to communicate in real time. Because…

Downtown Phoenix is giving away 4 months of free rent. Empty buildings. Panicked developers. This looks like a crash... but it’s not. It’s not one market. It’s two. Downtown: Overbuilt, overleveraged, flooded with concessions. 10 miles north: Zero concessions, rising rents, no…

If your money’s taking days off, you’re investing wrong. Most people work 40 hours a week and let their dollars sit idle in a savings account. But the wealthy? They make every dollar earn its keep 24/7. That’s the power of smart real estate investing. When you buy cash-flowing…

Granite doesn’t pay the bills convenience does. Most investors blow their budget on looks. But tenants in workforce housing aren’t chasing style they’re chasing ease, safety, and reliability. Want higher ROI? Start solving real problems. Think like a tenant, not a designer.…

“I hate folding my underwear in front of everyone else.” That one tenant complaint made us rethink everything and led to one of the highest ROI strategies we’ve ever used. Instead of upgrading cabinets, we upgraded convenience. Washer/dryer hookups were already there we just…

Design didn’t move the needle laundry did. We turned a tenant complaint into a value-add strategy that works in every market. No granite. No backsplash. Just solving a real problem. Most investors overlook the simple stuff. But when you start thinking like a tenant, you find…

Most investors are chasing the wrong upgrades. We didn’t touch the kitchens. No granite. No fancy paint. Just one overlooked pain point and it added $3.1 million in value to a 256-unit deal. Why? Because cash flow isn’t about appearance. It’s about solving real problems for…

What if I told you I’ve bought real estate with $0 out of pocket-and done it over and over again? Here’s the secret: You don’t need money. You need a deal. Good deals attract capital. Bad deals don’t. It’s that simple. Most people waste time hunting for money with no deal in…

Net worth looks good on paper. Cash flow sets you free. A high net worth won’t help if your income stops tomorrow. What matters is how much passive income your assets produce month after month, without you clocking in. The wealthy don’t chase big numbers. They chase freedom.…

If you're raising capital and don't know the difference between 506(b) and 506(c), you're already losing. Want to post your deal on social media? You can’t if you're using 506(b). Mindset shift Raising money isn’t just about finding capital it’s about playing by the rules…

Most people mess this up before they ever raise a dollar. If you’re raising capital and don’t understand the difference between 506(b) and 506(c), you’re playing with fire. Mindset shift It’s not just about finding investors it’s about knowing which investors you can legally…

If your underwriting only works on paper, you're already out of the game. I’ve seen it over and over 30 offers on a deal, 2 or 3 way above the rest, and guess what? Brokers toss them. Why? Because real players stick to fundamentals, not fantasy. Here’s the mindset shift It’s…

Surprise bills aren’t just annoying they can wipe out your entire year of cash flow. I learned this the hard way. One HOA fee hike or special assessment, and there goes your return. Here’s the mindset shift: If you don’t control the expenses, you don’t control the deal. That’s…

You can’t scale without raising capital and you can’t raise capital without a real deal. Most investors think it’s hard to find money. It’s not. The real challenge is becoming the kind of operator LPs want to invest with. There’s a massive pool of capital out there right now…

Your retirement account isn’t stuck it’s just mismanaged. Most people don’t realize the money in their 401k or pension is theirs. And with a self-directed IRA, they could be using it to invest in real estate deals instead of riding the Wall Street rollercoaster. Here’s the…

If everyone’s got the same numbers why are some people paying $5M more? This is where investors lose their discipline. Same rent roll, same debt, same interest rates but someone always overpays just to win the deal. Here's the truth: you can make any deal work on paper. But…

What if your retirement account could fund your next real estate deal? Most people let Wall Street babysit their retirement but here’s the truth: you can take control. With a self-directed IRA, you decide where the money goes not some fund manager. Real financial freedom starts…

If you're still paying your mortgage with your own paycheck, you're on the wrong side of the equation. Smart investors don’t work for money they put money to work for them. In real estate, the goal is simple: let the renters cover the debt while you keep the cash flow. That’s…

If the deal only works because of the acquisition fee it’s not a real deal. A lot of syndicators scaled fast in 2021 and 2022 but they were funding their business by buying more properties, not by building real cash flow. Here’s the problem: when the buying stops, the income…