Is there a clever way to use credit cards in real estate?

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I have had credit cards for around 10 years and have always paid them off every month. I am a numbers guy, it just makes sense if you have a business to use credit cards for every day expenses. I never said I was going to become a millionaire from credit cards. I have yet to meet a millionaire who uses cash...they understand numbers like me.

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John Hyatt Taking a step back, what you're suggesting is that the contractor eat the 2.5% tax they pay on those credit card transactions so that you can get 1-2% in rewards. At the end of the day, this behavior destroys value - it makes the collective lives of the contractor and client WORSE than if they paid in cash. Value is siphoned out of the ecosystem by the credit card processing companies. I don't mean to be harsh, but if I take a holistic view of the system and all parties involved, I would argue the client is either being selfish for pursuing points at the expense of the contractor or fellow clients. We should be adding real value in what we do, not destroying it, IMHO. [Small business owner, so I'm passionate about the system-level impact of credit card use - not personal]

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If you buy materials from Home Depot, there is something you can do to save more than the 2% cash back - at least that was the case for the past couple of years. I overpaid my taxes on purpose, so that I can get a tax refund. I used H&R block at home to file my taxes, and took advantage of the 10% bonus if the refund is received via gift card. I opted to get the maximum of $5,000 from my refund towards Home Depot gift cards, and ended up with $5,500 to spend at Home Depot.

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@John Hyatt there is an online service called plastiq which allows you to pay bills using a credit card which normally cannot. You can pay mortgages, ect using a credit card because they bill you an amount and then send a check on your behalf. They charge 2.5% for this service so the credit card rewards that you get by doing this better be valuable. You can get lots of points to cover personal expenses and although you should confirm with a CPA I believe that you can write off the payment fee so you're now down to true cost of under 2%. Some hotel and airline rewards can be worth north of $0.02 per dollar spent so it can be worthwhile. I believe that there are similar services but plastiq is the only one that I've used.

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Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad Poor Dad) bought his first investment property using a credit card. Brian Kelly (The Points Guy) is another obvious millionaire. I would guess a lot of people became millionaires by using credit cards. Credit cards can be huge for things like credit stacking, which allows you to pay 0% interest for years on years. You can basically do a rehab for free after refinancing and paying off your interest free loan. You can use use credits cards as cash through convenience checks or through companies like Plastiq. Sometimes fees can be waived. Other times the high fees can actually be covered plus some in certain situations when accounting for welcome bonuses. I wouldn’t say you’re playing with fire if you’re confident in your analysis and committed to the deal. Credit cards can open a lot of doors when it comes to creative financing.

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I got Southwest Card prior to building our current primary residence. Where we could use the card we did. Where contractors offered a cash discount we did that. We didn't force or ask anyone to take our CC payment but if they accepted it without any extra charge we used it. Mostly it was material shops, Home Depot etc., but some of the larger outfit contractor accepted them too.Took the entire family on a cruise out if Galveston and the airfare was less than $100 total just for taxes. Still have 150k ish points left and got a companion pass.

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It's true that contractors won't, and shouldn't, accept credit cards or their costs and thus ours would go up. However, you could elect in some situations to pay for the material yourself, which is a significant cost. I put 12k on my Citi double cash card on my last rehab; now that's just $240 in rewards but that's better than nothing. I also do much of the work myself so that may not work for most.

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Your playing with fire, be careful. How many millionaires became a millionaire by using credit cards or credit card points? Zero

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Use your credit cards to buy materials, have the contractors do the work. Doesn't allow you to fully max things out, but could give you something. Don't always have to have the contractor get materials and do the work.

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My cousin recently bought a Jaguar F-Type. Had the money in cash, but they asked him how he wanted to pay for it, and he said can I do my credit card? Sure enough he walked out with over a thousand dollars back lol. Paid off the card as soon as it posted.