Guides & playbooks
Blog
Tips, guides, and insights for real estate wholesalers and investors.
June 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
Can You Really Wholesale Real Estate With No Money?
The honest answer is: not quite, and the version most articles describe isn't the version that actually works.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
Cap Rate vs Cash on Cash Return: What's the Difference?
Cap rate and cash on cash return both express a rental property's performance as a percentage. They're often used in the same conversation. They're measuring completely different things.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
DSCR Loan Requirements 2026: What Real Estate Investors Need to Know
If you own rental properties, or you're trying to, you've probably run into the wall conventional loans put in front of investors.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
Hard Money Loans Explained: What They Cost and When to Use Them
Hard money loans have a reputation for being expensive and intimidating. They are expensive.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
How to Analyze a Rental Property
Most new investors evaluate rental properties the same way: look at the monthly rent, subtract the mortgage payment, and call the difference profit. That math misses a lot.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
How to Calculate Holding Costs on a Flip
Holding costs are the expenses that accrue every day you own a property during a flip, from the day you close on the purchase to the day you collect from the sale. They're not dramatic. They just never stop.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
How to Choose Between Wholesaling and Flipping Houses
Most people researching this question are actually asking something simpler: which one can I start with?
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
How to Find Distressed Properties
Every wholesale deal, fix and flip, and BRRRR strategy starts with the same thing: a property the owner is motivated to sell below market value.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
How to Make Offers on Wholesale Deals
Making an offer is easy. Making the right offer is hard, and it's one of the biggest things new wholesalers get wrong.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
How to Negotiate with Motivated Sellers
Most new wholesalers think negotiation is about talking someone down to a lower number. It isn't.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
Novation Agreement in Real Estate: What It Is and When to Use It
Most wholesalers learn the assignment of contract first and use it on almost every deal. Novation stays in the background until the moment an assignment won't work.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
Pre-Foreclosure Investing: How to Find and Approach Sellers
Pre-foreclosure is one of the most misunderstood opportunities in real estate investing. Most people either avoid it entirely, thinking it's too complicated or feels predatory, or they approach it the wrong way and wonder why sellers won't talk to them.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
Real Estate Assignment Fee: What It Is, How Much to Charge, and How to Explain It to Sellers
The assignment fee is where most wholesalers either make the deal or lose it. The number is usually fine. The problem is the conversation, specifically, the one you weren't prepared for when the seller sees what you're making.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
Real Estate Investing With $10,000: What's Actually Possible
$10,000 is enough to start in real estate. It is not enough to do everything.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
Subject-To Real Estate: How It Works
Subject-to is one of those strategies that sounds complicated until someone explains it in plain English. Then it sounds almost too simple.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
What Is Driving for Dollars in Real Estate?
Driving for dollars is exactly what it sounds like. You get in your car, drive through neighborhoods you want to invest in, and look for distressed properties whose owners might be motivated to sell.
Read articleJune 23, 2026·ChatARV Team
What Is Wholesale Real Estate and How Do Wholesalers Make Money?
Wholesaling is the fastest way to profit from real estate without using any cash. You find a distressed property, get it under contract below market value, and sell that contract to a cash buyer.
Read articleMay 14, 2026·ChatARV Team
Real estate deal calculator: ARV, wholesale, flip, and BRRRR
Free calculator plus guide: MAO and the 70% rule, wholesale, flip, and Buy Rehab Rent Refinance Repeat (BRRRR) in one place, comps that hold up, common mistakes, and FAQs. About a 5 min read. Updated May 2026.
Read articleMay 14, 2026·ChatARV Team
How to generate as-is comp reports fast
When to use as-is value instead of ARV, why condition-matched comps make or break your report, what to include for buyers, and how to get a defensible number out the door fast.
Read articleMay 14, 2026·ChatARV Team
Non-Disclosure States for Real Estate Investors: The Complete Comping Guide (Revised)
How to get comps in non-disclosure states
Read articleMay 11, 2026·ChatARV Team
Welcome to the ChatARV Blog
We're launching our blog to share tips, guides, and insights for real estate wholesalers and investors.
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