Intro to Analyzing Rental Income Properties (Udemy.com)
Learn the fundamentals of investment analysis specifically for rental income property investments
Created by: Symon He
Last updated July 2023
Our take
Based on the ratings of 1,984 students and a sample of their written reviews. No course pays to be reviewed.
This is a short, focused primer on running the numbers for a rental property or a fix and flip. It runs about 6.4 hours and is pitched at beginners. The description says it covers the foundations first, then two case studies, one for each deal type, with Excel models students can reuse on their own deals. Symon He, co-author of Airbnb for Dummies, teaches it, and he says it is meant for people with no real estate background.
Reviewers like the clear, step-by-step teaching and the practical feel. One says the case studies and models turned out more advanced than expected. The complaints are consistent. Several students outside the US, including two in Canada, say the Zillow-based examples do not map to their markets. A three-star reviewer wanted to know where the 7.5% discount rate comes from, and another called the material fairly basic and said one lesson could have been cut to under ten minutes. One student found the spreadsheets hard to read on mobile.
The rating is 4.4 from 1,981 reviews, which is solid. The material was last updated in 2023, and many of the sample reviews date from 2016 to 2019, so check that the tools shown still match what you use. It suits a first-time US buyer or flipper who wants a method and templates. Experienced investors should look at the instructor's more advanced courses, which the description itself recommends.
Pros
- Step-by-step lessons that reviewers call practical and easy to follow
- Two worked case studies, a fix and flip and a rental, with reusable Excel models
- Symon He explains the why behind the data, not just which numbers to plug in
- Short at 6.4 hours, so it works as a quick first step for a beginner
Cons
- Examples lean on Zillow and US data, which frustrated Canadian and other non-US students
- The discount rate and some assumptions are skipped over, so beginners may be left guessing
- Some find it basic, and the spreadsheets are hard to read on a phone
Very well executed course for those new to real estate investing. Symon is a clear & effective communicator and presents the material in an easy and engaging manner.
Real beginners with no real estate background. Anyone with experience will likely find it basic.
What you will learn
- Understand key metrics for evaluating rental income properties
- Confidently evaluate rental income property investment opportunities
- Use professional-grade investment models to evaluate their own flip or rental deals
- Understand the core concepts of real estate investing
- Understand professional real estate investment strategies and techniques
- Confidently evaluate fix & flip investment opportunities
How it compares
Against the other 75 rated Udemy courses in Real Estate on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.5 out of 5higher than 26% of them
- Reviews1,984#14 of 76 by number of reviews
- Length6.4 hourslonger than 68% of them
- Last updatedJuly 2023earlier than 64% of them
Course Description
Instructor Symon He hosts near daily LIVE office hours on TikTok 10:30PM PDT. Find him @SymonHe.
Jason Mora - 5 Stars
“I'm loving it so far. The content is top notch. The instruction is clear and concise. The pace is perfect and the extra resources are enormously helpful. Well done!”
Dimitris Provatas - 5 Stars
“Really enjoyed learning from Symon. Can't wait for more courses on real estate topics, especial financial modeling and evaluating investment proposals”
Eric Chaussé - 5 Stars
“Very practical!!!! Love the lesson plans and the step-by-step instructions.”
If you've EVER wanted to…
• Invest in a rental income property
• Do a fix & flip for profit
• Have professional investment analysis tools that you could use immediately to evaluate your own investment opportunities
…then this course is definitely for you.
_______________________________________
If you’re still unsure, here are a few questions that I often get from prospective students:
I don't live in the US, is the material still useful for me?
Yes! The examples I use are primarily US properties because the vast majority of my students are from the US. However, ALL of the concepts taught and tools provided are just as useful for any market around the world.
In fact, I have students from over 190 countries who are using the tools and knowledge provided in this course to help them invest wherever they are located.
The only difference is that it's harder to gather the initial information in some markets and will require different tactics to get that data.
How is this different from your other courses?
This course only covers the foundational topics and only has two case studies with the fix & flip and the rental income property.
If you only intend to invest in fix & flips and rental income properties, this course has everything you need for investment analysis.
If you intend to invest with business partners, in apartments, in commercial, etc...then you should look into taking my other courses, which can be found at the bottom of this page.
What if I don't have any real estate background?
This is the perfect course to get your feet wet. I'll cover all the important foundational topics for you and then show you how to apply those same concepts to evaluating a fix & flip as well as a rental income property.
I have some real estate background already, what could I learn from your course?
If you have some background, I'd recommend you check out my other more advanced courses.
I can learn all of this elsewhere, why should I learn from you?
No, you can't. Go Google how to use the waterfall structure and try to find someone that not only covers the waterfall framework in great detail but also gives you numerous examples on how it’s used. I've looked and it's not there.
The same goes for all the other material in this course. You can find the descriptions and commentary, but you won't find the detailed examples and the investment models that I give to you here.
In theory you could do this on your own by searching all over the internet, buying tons of books, interviewing lots of experts, getting an MBA, performing all your own research, getting a job in real estate private equity, and doing $400M+ in real estate deals and get the same level of knowledge I have.
OR….you could just take advantage of my experience. I've done everything I listed above and I put the best of what I learned into this course. Trust me, it’s worth it.
Can you make me rich by taking your course?
No way! Not just from taking the course, anyway. Anyone who promises you that is selling snake oil.
If you take my course AND apply what you’ve learned to make smarter investments in the future, then you have a chance at making some real profits.
What I can guarantee is that you will leave with some serious real estate investing knowledge, techniques, and tools.
What else does this course cover besides real estate investing?
This course is ALL about and ONLY about professional real estate investment analysis concepts and techniques. Nothing else. But as you can see, just this topic alone requires I cover quite a bit already.
Actually, I do cover one more thing: I will also give you daily affirmations that help you build a "winning" mindset and I'll have lots of sales videos that push you to sign up for my top-secret real estate system for only 12 monthly low payments of just $999. Just kidding.
James Cochrane - 5 Stars
“Great class. You will learn a lot from this instructor and the subject material is good.”
Jerry Mastren - 5 Stars
“Easy to understand, step by step instructions.”
Glenn Levine - 5 Stars
“The instructor is very informative and is a real estate expert. I will definitely purchase more of his video tutorials in the future. GL”
What will I be able to do after I take your course?
After taking my course, you will be:
• Able to confidently use professional real estate investment techniques.
• Able to evaluate both fix & flips as well as rental income properties.
What WON'T I get from this course?
• You will not get a Real Estate License from taking this course. You can only get licensed by taking the appropriate test with the testing agency of your state and country. But what is taught in this course has nothing to with getting a license, which focuses on how to legally transact real estate deals between buyers and sellers. This course is about investment analysis.
• I will not be evaluating your personal investment deals for you for this course. This is about you learning how to do it on your own using the lessons and the tools here. If you really want me to consult, you can reach out to me. My hourly rate is $350/hr.
What’s holding you back?
Are you afraid this course won’t work? I promise you it will.
Are you afraid this course will work and you’ll actually have to start investing? I think that’s a pretty good problem to have.
Instructor Details
- 4.5 Rating
1,984 Reviews
Symon He
Symon He is the author of the Rental Property Investing QuickStart Guide, Amazon best-seller Real Estate Investing QuickStart Guide, and the co-author of Airbnb for Dummies, all available now on Amazon and in bookstores throughout North America.
He is also co-founder of LearnBNB, a leading online educational destination for all things Airbnb hosting and short-term rentals. His works have been cited or featured on the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Forbes, CNBC, Entrepreneur, and SKIFT. Through his training and coaching programs, he has worked directly with thousands of aspiring Airbnb hosts to jumpstart their short term rental journeys. His training programs have been featured by prominent third-party partners, including a joint venture with RichDad.
As a licensed broker, Symon previously helped private real estate investors with their acquisitions and deal structuring. As an angel investor, he also advises and invests in early stage startups.
Previously, Symon worked in several corporate real estate and finance roles at large private and Fortune 80 companies, including at a private equity investment firm covering a wide range of commercial real estate acquisitions in the western USA.
Symon received dual degrees in Computer Engineering and Economics with Honors from UC Irvine and an MBA from Stanford University.
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Reviews
By Rafael Sanchez on 9/10/2024
Couse content, the way it is approached, and everything else is quite good. It would have been better if the instructor at least included a brief introduction/explanation of the Monthly P&L model and other Excel worksheets he uses for the Avdanced-Rental-Income-Model.xlsx and Advanced-Flix-And-Flip-Model.xlsx
By Primrose Chimhanda on 2/6/2021
Great course. However , I found it necessary to sometimes do further research on other online platforms to get a better understanding of some of the concepts discussed. However, Symon is a great teacher and I appreciate the effort , time and attention taken to create the course. The downloadable Excel files are also great!
By Christopher Lambert on 10/22/2020
This course has already taught me a lot in just a short time! Looking forward to the rest of the course!
By B Jeff Lim on 10/7/2020
The explanation are great as I am a beginner.
By Edwin R Maynor on 10/5/2020
It is very informative and gives lots of information and tools to help. The spread sheets are nice and all the examples are a great touch. I wasn't expecting the formulas and examples covering such a large variety of examples, but it was great. I'd recommend this course to friends!
By Chantelle on 10/5/2020
It is a good match, I like how he makes the investment analysis so simple and easy to follow. I only have to do the research and plug in the numbers
By Steven Struthers on 10/5/2020
Out of my market, as Im based in Europe, not sure if same methods of evaluation apply in the eU
By Nick Calvey on 9/14/2020
This has merged perfectly with my real life experiences working as a property manager. Hoping to use all of the skills I am learning to one day start and empire of my own.
By Michael Brull on 9/14/2020
I really enjoyed this course. It has a lot of good materials and I plan on taking more of Symon's courses.
By Philip Dorsey on 9/11/2020
Well organized and very clear instruction and speaking style. The examples are great and the resources provided are awesome.
By Diane Pomo on 9/10/2020
When I try to download the resources, I get an error message. It says, "Error 403. Forbidden. Sorry, you are not authorized to access the resource."
The course relies heavily on being able to put into practicle application what we've learned. I'm stuck. Please help!!!!!!!!
By Hilal E on 8/21/2020
Good course
Quality Score
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Overall Score : 90 / 100












