7 Ways to Lower Rental Property Expenses by Thousands Per Year

BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

BiggerPockets

Investing, Education, Business

4.8 • 16.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This could turn an average real estate deal into a home run, and it’s nothing you can’t do right now. Today, we’re giving you seven tips to save thousands (if not tens of thousands) on your rental property expenses, so you keep more of your cash flow every month. Plus, we’re announcing something new at BiggerPockets—something we specifically negotiated to save you hundreds, even thousands, of dollars on every rental you buy. We’ll teach you how to close on your first (or next) rental property with less, get the seller to pay for your reserves or next repair, instantly save $250/year on landlord insurance, do top-tier renovations for budget prices, and save $10,000+ with just two phone calls. Want lower property taxes, too? We’ll show you the completely legal (and surprisingly easy) way to get the city to charge you hundreds of dollars less per year. Get access to all the BiggerPockets Pro discounts by signing up today! In This Episode We Cover The rule of thumb that has saved Dave and Henry $10,000+ during renovations How to immediately get $1,000+ off your closing costs on your next investment property Why you always (especially now) ask sellers for a credit/assist at closing Do not let your general contractor buy the materials (rookie mistake) How Dave gets his property taxes lowered by hundreds of dollars with one phone call And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠h⁠ttps://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1247 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	These are seven ways to lower your expenses and save money on your rental property.
0:05.1	Most investors obsess over finding their next property.
0:08.6	They renovate.
0:09.5	They increase rents, but they're bleeding thousands of dollars every year on expenses.
0:14.2	They honestly just don't need to pay.
0:16.9	These are things like closing costs, insurance, materials, higher property taxes, software,
0:22.8	and more. And these add up to thousands of dollars per property, and almost all of them can
0:28.2	be negotiated or reduced. So today we're breaking down seven ways to cut your expenses and
0:34.4	keep more money in your pocket on every single property. Some of these
0:39.5	will save you a few hundred dollars. Others can save you thousands. And you don't have to cut
0:44.9	corners or downgrade on quality. This is about being smart with your money and being willing
0:49.6	to shop around when other investors won't.
1:01.9	What's up, everyone? I'm Dave Meyer, Chief Investment Officer at Bigger Pockets.
1:07.4	My co-hosts, Mr. Henry Washington, is also here with me today. Henry, how you doing?
1:11.7	I'm doing great. I've got my Onyx, I mean, McDonald's coffee. Ony coffee shop in Henry's town and he likes to make fun of me and our producer
1:18.2	Ian for liking bougie coffee. I'll drink McDonald's coffee too. I've had tons of it, but like
1:22.9	given the choice, I would have a nicer coffee if I have the option. Well, actually, the discussion of McDonald's coffee is very on topic for today's show,
1:32.5	because we are talking about some of the ways that you can reduce your expenses,
1:37.2	save money, and increase your cash on cash return for every property you buy.
1:42.6	And no, I'm not one of those people who's like, oh, if
1:44.5	millennials just stop drinking coffee out, they could buy more rental properties. But we did
1:49.7	get on the right topic talking about saving money on coffee. Very Dave Ramsey of us.
	...

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