20 Steps to Earn Passive Income Through Real Estate

By Kate Sokolov

USING REAL ESTATE TO INVEST & REINVEST OUR GOD-GIVEN "TALENTS." 

Have you ever wanted to do more with your life and stop living paycheck to paycheck? Do you feel caught up in the rat race of societal norms with not enough energy left to think about ways on how to get out? Many of us understand these feelings all too well.

I

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jul 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685565688

Kate Sokolov

Kate is a Holy Spirit filled believer seeking to redeem her time on earth for God's Kingdom. Entrenched in corporate America, she worked with top executives from world-renown ministries and multi-billion-dollar corporations. Real estate has allowed her to become her own executiveand fund other entrepreneurship projects with her husband.

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20 Steps

to Earn

Passive Income

through

Real Estate

KATE Sokolov

20 Steps to Earn Passive Income Through Real Estate

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2022 by Kate Sokolov

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) are taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are from the New Living Translation Bible. Copyright© Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.

For information, address Trilogy Christian Publishing Rights Department, 2442 Michelle Drive, Tustin, CA 92780.

Trilogy Christian Publishing/ TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 978-1-68556-567-1

ISBN: 978-1-68556-568-8

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Real Estate Journey

#1: Find a Mentor

#2: Get a Job, Any Job

#3: Save for a Down Payment

#4: Build the Credit Score

#5: Qualify/Apply for a Mortgage

#6: Buy a House

#7: Make the House a Home

#8: House Hack—Share Expenses/Sublet

#9: Build Equity

#10: Use Equity to Do a HELOC

#11: Finding a Good Rental Property (That Cash Flows After Making the Loan Payments)

#12: Purchasing the Rental Property

#13: Establish an LLC

#14: Fixing Up the Rental Property to Attract Renters

#15: Pay Off the HELOC—Qualify for Mortgage to Repay the HELOC

#16: Property Management

#17: Pay Taxes

#18: Never Stop Learning

#19: Pray & Give Thanks

#20: Enjoy the Passive Income!

Conclusion

Introduction

When it came to long-term vision and retirement, I was taught how most of us are taught. I thought I would work a corporate job for another forty years before retiring with whatever was saved in the 401k. And then, when I am sixty-five years old (with whatever health I have left), I can cash in my retirement and do whatever I want to do.

However, after gaining some more life experience, I realized a corporate job might not be how I wanted to spend all my days on earth. I wanted to be able to use my talents to become all that God had wanted me to be! When I read the Bible, it’s full of stories with people who had a vision and a calling that cried from their souls to draw them into their dreams and passions! I heard testimonies of the same dreams being fulfilled today.

For some reason, it was hard for me to imagine fulfilling those same dreams for myself. Yet I knew there was more to life than just living to pay my bills. I started praying more about my vision, disciplining myself financially, and making strategic decisions that would position me for greater future success. I wanted to have that same opportunity to pursue my dreams, have my own calendar, and be able to live out my faith freely. In the end, all I wanted was freedom. I had many hopes of reaching financial independence as a way to become free, but the goal always seemed so far away… Especially when all my time was consumed at my job, sitting inside my cubicle, typing away and answering phone call after phone call.

During this time of soul searching, I was working at a call center. I remember one moment in particular that had a profound impact on instilling the desire to have more freedom. I had just spoken with a customer and helped them process their application. They ended the call with, Wow, thank you so much for your help! God bless you, sweetie! to which I replied, Yep, uhuh. God bless you too!

My supervisor looked up at me and asked, What did you say?

Afraid of being reprimanded, I said, She said it first. Then I smiled and shrugged my shoulders as if it would be rude to not respond the same way.

He smiled back, but in a way that also said, Be careful.

This was definitely not the freedom I was looking for, so I determined there must be another way to be free. And although I had absolutely no idea how to find this freedom, I was going to do whatever it took to find it! I asked God many times, every day, to lead the way. And He was always faithful to guide me. I realized many of our choices on earth depend on having the monetary assets to do what we want to do, which we normally accumulate through the workforce. This creates a greater dependence on our jobs, making us fully reliant on the ones who give us this wealth. I remember taking a walk outside of the office on my lunch break and looking at all the big corporate buildings. I thought, Where would I be without this job? Oh, thank you Lord for my work and my reliable income. I don’t know what else I would do. In an attitude of gratitude, I was shocked at the vision that came in response. Right after my mind finished these thoughts, The Lord showed me a vision of the buildings crumbling. This pulled at my inner being as He showed me how all this is temporary.

Immediately, I realized I was putting all my hope, security, and trust in a job, something that is temporary. Worse yet, without even consulting God, I had made it my plan was to serve and invest my whole life to this job until I retire. Matthew 6:24 (NLT) states, No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

I didn’t want to be tied to my job or trust wholly in money to determine the course of my life. It’s not wrong to serve God in a job if that is what He calls us to do, but I realized my heart and my motives weren’t right. I fell into following a worldly pattern for a promise of a monetary return and not for any other reason. Thus, I determined the first step I needed to break this slave of mammon mentality was to become financially independent. I didn’t think it would be through real estate, but eventually that is the path where God led me.

However, the process to this lofty goal of financial freedom still took years to establish and it had to start with building passive income. I had to fund the passive income investments with my current income. Thus, I didn’t quit my job right away and I served over ten years in various positions for corporate America before finding the right time to take my paycheck into my own hands. While working full-time, I also went to college, attended ministry school, joined community organizations,