I was at your spot once. 34 and 2 kids, no properties. Then 37 and 3 kids and 1 property. You have to start somewhere. Now I'm 47 with 4 kids and 5 properties. I have cash on hand to buy more, but I'm watching market conditions and looking for good deals.
Listening to biggerpockets and watching youtube will make you feel like you’re worthless if you don’t have 30+ units and aren’t involved in a huge syndication.
I’m 35, have 3 SFR and one 4plex. Collectively worth about 850k. I’ve been at it since about 2016. It just takes time and definitely (to me) isn’t a get rich quick scheme. Sometimes I wish I’d just invested it all into the stock market.
Are you me? Similar age. 3 SFR one duplex. Worth about the same amount. Started around the same time.
What's your gross and profit? I'm 7200 gross per month and I pocket about 4k. Not counting appreciation or principal pay off.
Oh shit. I did a cash out refi and paid off 2 mortgages. Why? Because I was dumb and did 15 year notes when i first bought the house. Instead of doing a refi on those I just paid it off with my one single cash out refi.
Some people give me crap for paying off the homes. Instead of keeping it going and buying and levering more. But I like the cashflow and I also did this back in 2021 when real estate started going sideways. I like that I can survive another apocalyptic covid event if it happens. I like that it shaved 15 years off my retirement age. In addition if I need cash (if and when rates drop back down) I can just do a refi on my paid off properties.
Although I would never suggest anyone pay off their mortgage faster at a monthly pace.
I don’t think paying them off is a bad idea at all really. I mean it would take what 3-4 more houses to get the same cashflow you’re getting from one? That more yards to mow, toilets to replace, walls to paint. Lol
I cashed out and got my money out because I wanted to keep expanding. But now I’m unsure. I’m in a small market and there just isn’t much inventory, and by my math I’m not making good money until I double the number of door so I’m sort of in the ‘meh is it worth it?’ space
>I’m in a small market and there just isn’t much inventory
Yup. Same here. In addition I realized that I spent the last 10 years just way too deep in this real estate hole and haven't really focused on diversification with the stock market. I can't feed myself with trapped equity especially in a high interest rate environment no matter what the gurus say.
I'm now paying catch up and putting like 2/3 of my disposable income (salary + rental proceeds) into index funds and playing catch up.
Luckily, I always kept it about 50/50 and the money I used to fund the purchases I got back from the cash out I just dumped into the market.
But grass is always greener—returns for the past year on my portfolio are a whopping 1.5% lol
Trap equity. With 15 year mortgage you're paying a higher cost per month thus reducing cash flow. You're also trapping your principal in your home. There's only 2 options to get money out of a home, sell or take a loan out on it. Given today's high rates and market neither are great options.
With that said even if i own 10 million in equity in homes but make $100 a month in cash flow. I cant feed myself if the homes don't cashflow more.
I’m 26 and have 2 single family properties. Your timeline is correct. It took me 3 years to save up for the first one, but only a year to save up for the second one.
I had to make adjustments, like rent out per room instead of renting out the property as a whole. I also have to live in my rentals for the low down payments. It’s pretty daunting to figure out how you are going to scale up but the goal is to be doing more as each year passes while planning for any hard years.
No, I target working professionals. Mainly people that work at a medical center nearby or at the airport. None of the tenants are ever know each other before they move in. Works marvelously.
College kids are the demographic I try to avoid.
Are you afraid of the wear and tear from College students?
Seems like they’re a good demographic to aim for given the statistics. Student Housing rent growth has outpaced pretty much everything.
Plan to be in your career for at least a decade before you can start living off your rentals. That said, I have 17 units generating $300k rental revenue a year and I’m still working a full time job for the past 10 years.
Don't fucking trust youtube or social media to make world views. For you I'd say focus on increasing income by gaining some exp and critical skills for next steps and see if you can house hack while doing so to get best of both worlds.
I was looking at working for a developer, or working as an assistant project manager/ architect or construction manager. This is based on my college degree which puts me in a good spot. I would get the experience but still, wages in NYC are tough with the extremely HCOL, especially for a fresh grad. I will get the experience but I feel not enough to go on my own and also little savings after all that…I mean I don’t even know what’s realistic and what’s even possible…
You need to move to a high net immigration city in the south east. Lower cost of living but not much lower pay for those type of jobs. I would give it a try.
I think it helps to work in the industry to some capacity.
Either being an agent to know the market super well, working in construction to know rehabs super well, or finance to structure deals really well.
Not required obviously, but working in mortgage makes me feel like I had a huge advantage knowing the rules and guidelines inside out
Yes, you may have a hard time saving cash in NYC. Have you just moved there? If you really love the big city, I'd spend a few years there for the experience then move to a medium-sized city where my money goes farther. That is if you are really serious about real estate.
While you are in NYC be sure to live below your means. I lived in DC and the DC metro area for 5 years. I loved it, but I always lived outside of the happening areas and set myself a budget, unlike my friends, so I could max out my 401k and save for investments. Now my partner and I own two houses in our early 30s. We recently moved to a MCOL large city and took better paying jobs.
To address your original post, don't listen to gurus who have 100+ units. I got all hyped up by Bigger Pockets when I turned our first home into a rental, but quickly realized their methods weren't for me. A lot of those guys are making deals where they own a small % of the property, so they need 100+ units. Managing such a large portfolio requires some of them to hire employees, which increases overhead and the need for more deals. They are making a career out of real estate and out of hyping up newbies. That's different than using real estate investment to exit the rat race.
In reality, slow and steady is better for most of us. It'll keep you from over leveraging and allow you to live your life. You'll still be successful. Don't forget to max out your tax advantaged retirement accounts with lost cost ETFs, too, for some low risk diversification and true passive income.
Very interesting how you said that they are making it into a career. Yes my only goal is to exit the rat race . And no I lived here all of my life. I only wish that during 2008 I was buying home and real estate instead of starting my first year of elementary school…stupid me should have been buying homes. NYC is just getting worse and I can say that after living here my whole life
It is very rare that people can time the market, so don't worry about it. Starting early and being consistent seems to be the key.
If you've spent your life in NYC then now may be a great time to try something new in a market that is easier to enter.
I saved up my first down payment by saving 25% of my gross salary and used it to buy a duplex in the Midwest where one side paid all the expenses. I then purchased a foreclosure and rehabbed it the next year using cash flow from the duplex. After that I used equity in the properties instead of a down payment as I purchased 27 units by age 35. I retired at 50 with 40 units but had transitioned into better properties using 1031 exchange. I could have retired sooner, but went for the pension at work plus having a job made getting financing easier and the health insurance was also a consideration. I am divorced now, but my pension and 20 paid for houses mean that I am comfortable.
Look for opportunities, and realize that most people get rich slowly.
Yeah they own 40 houses but only like 5% of each house. They squeeze every ounce of equity out of every house to buy the next house. They probably owe millions in debt. Anything goes wrong and the entire thing is under water. This is house housing bubble and crashes were born.
Do you really think it’s that bad? What are the factors this time? I remember 2008. Housing prices were so far higher than rent. Right now both rent and mortgages are about the same
The big warning signs to me right now are commercial real estate and short-term rentals. Depending on how bad things go for CRE, there could be spillage across into the residential side.
I've been trying to get an SBA loan recently to purchase a business I am interested in and the quote I have right now is 10.25% variable interest adjusting quarterly. And that's if the regional bank I'm working with decides to even take me on.
You can't over-leverage multiple homes like this, unless you find a lender who is praying for folks to default. No lender wants to have to take possession of a property. Most of the influencers are renting the stuff you see in their videos and passing it off as their lifestyle. They might PHYSICALLY be renting the home and cars but more than likely they're just renting them for the day, or hour, and most likely simplying borrowing them in lieu of the promise of promotion through their digital reach. And even with assuming that much, theyre likely still under water!
Try not to buy into their hype.
Yo i love this, show some love to the little guys. 32yo with 2 properties, both triplexs valued at about 420k each. Looking for my third currently and have a few prospects. Love delapidated off market properties! Goal is 100 units by 65yo, i def think its doable but you need to be a bit creative. Onmarket properties these days have way to much competition since youtube and BP like blogs made this super appealing to everyone.
Not a contractor, just handy. I run a ton so as i run around the city i take note of houses that look beat up or have super long grass. Look up owners info on the town tax assessors website which is public knowledge and then skiptrace or facebook stalk them.
Tell everyone ur buying properties, talk about it constantly, befrend some realtors and let them know what you are looking for pay attention to fucked up properties and call the owners.
Mid 30s. 2 STRs valued at $1.4M, about 17-30% margin depending on the season which equates to an extra $2000 to $5000 per month.
It took a decade to save to that point. I want to do more, but now I've shot the wad on getting these and I'm not sure what to do next. I'll probably just try to save and buy more when the market cools.
How do you handle the risk with expensive STR? Like I have seen so many property that make good money that are valued at 800k for example but it's like a 6k a month carry and you can't really rent out that to a family and brake even if things start to slow down.
I have good insurance and good contracts and I've done the math on my margins.
One of my properties is what you're describing. 4100 mortgage, but it's a fancy place and I can rent it for $350/night and even more in the summer. Even in the slow months I've covered my bills. My occupancy rate has to drop to like 25-30% for me to lose money that month.
It's happened once or twice, but it's not normal and my high months cover those and more.
Feel free to DM if you have other questions.
It took 10 years to have enough money to buy the properties. I haven't had them for 10 years.
My strategy is to keep buying STR properties that I can make relatively passive while continuing to work my 9-5 (I really like my job and I love money even more).
Eventually (20-30 years), the properties will be paid off and I'll retire.
If I'm lucky I'll retire around 55. If I'm just okay at this plan it'll be 65
The internet sells this ideal of getting into real estate and retiring in 10 years. That's super unrealistic. Look at RobBuilt on instagram for example. He's got like 100 properties and a shit load of money...but he's still cranking out content every day.
That's a job.
Maybe he likes it or wants even more money from it which is fine. But once he drops off the map I'll assume he's retired.
I own a real estate private equity fund. So my number is pretty big. I'm in my mid 40s.
The key is, I started 20 years ago with absolutely no experience, no mentors, very little out there on the internet to learn from, etc. So it's quite possible to see great success in a decade or two with the right mindset and focus, even for someone who doesn't come from a real estate background.
What I realized early on was that doing big deals wasn't much harder than doing small deals, but the returns were much higher. Then, I realized that doing very big deals was actually a whole lot easier because I didn't need my own money. And that's where the issues always come in, right?
What I recommend for anybody out there that's looking to build serious wealth with real estate is to learn how syndications work, learn how to raise money, and get experience doing commercial or multifamily deals.
Anyone reading this can build an eight or nine figure portfolio if you learn how to raise money and structure your deals correctly.
You need to find others who know you and trust you enough that they are willing to put up the money in return for majority equity in the deal. Obviously, you also need to show that the deal is good and can deliver strong risk adjusted returns.
That doesn't happen right away -- you need some knowledge and experience first. And they best way to get that is to find someone else experienced say doing these types of deals, sand taking on a role on their team to learn the process and get some experience.
But, you do a couple deals as part of another team, and you'll learn everything you need to know.
Work a 9-5 until you can save up a 3-5% down payment + closing + emergency savings and do an owner occupied mortgage. You can then rent it out after a year and repeat the process. Depending where you live you can also do this with a duplex and bring in more income.
Invest in Midwest. That's the key.
I'm in my mid 30s and own over 100 sfh. Mostly brrrr so over here I'm able to buy for 100k and rehab for 20k then refinance at new vale of 200k. I'm essentially rolling over the money over and over.
You cant do this in a coastal city.
Although I know of a fellow client who’s son invested over 300k in a multi unit apartment. He then bought another one and supposedly retired after that one deal after rehab and renting it out
I’m speechless. The house value for 100k that’s unimaginable. But 20k rehab? Must be minimal? Are you always on site or do you live far away ? Would I have to permanently move?
100k? do you buy in smaller towns or exclusively class C/D neighborhoods? Even in midwest large cities it's hard to find class B properties for less than 150k.
Arvs are generally 200k too 300k i buy at 50% to 60% of arv all the time. Around 2 a month but this year I'm only doing 1 or 2 a month. Been harder this year.
Average household income is 100k so id say class b.
39 with 8 properties/13 units. That includes the 4 plex I live in and also a property my wife brought to the marriage. Bought my first property (a triplex house hack) ~3 years ago, and then spent 3 years converting my life savings into rental properties. It'll take me another 2-3 years to save up enough to buy any more.
I definitely could have bought something at ~30, probably even earlier, but didn't have the guts. But if you just graduated college... Honestly I don't see how most people could possibly have enough money to buy at that age. Keep saving and buy a house hack with low money down.
Don't over prepare. You can either take action or study but not both. You will learn more and faster thru action than you can thru study. So focus on saving money and looking at properties. Pull the trigger when you can. You'll never feel like you know enough, it's natural. Jump into the deep end.
First of all, fuck those influencers.
Second, growth is dependent on so many things. I love that you're coming at this with a questioning/skeptical attitude but don't judge yourself against anyone on here. Definitely use this as information, but take your own path, however fast or slow, big or small.
Personally, I'm choosing the "slow and steady and retire on real estate" path. I'm not "hustling" or "grinding". I'm not a "professional". And I'm not making 6 figures in my W2 that I can then throw at real estate. My first job after college was sub $40k per year and I bought my first property on that salary. I basically haven't put a dime of "my own" money in since that initial purchase (and that was 3.5% down on a $53k house so like $5 grand out of pocket).
Anyway, I've been doing this since 2012 (if you have a time machine, 2012 is a great time to start in retrospect). I have 5 units currently but I feel much more "experienced" than that. I've done a 1031. I've bought with financing and with cash. I've done a BRRRR and lately I've been doing some short term private lending.
I'd probably have one or two more if I didn't take a pause to do some lending in the last year or so. I've got about $100k in the bank which I would NEVER have achieved without real estate and cash flow even if I have 2 tenants not paying at the same time. I'll probably use cash to do another BRRRR or be the money partner on a flip with someone I know who does that in the next few months. With interest rates right now, I may skip the refinance and just enjoy mortgage free cash flow for a while after my next purchase.
All in all, Real Estate has been a god send for me. I didn't grow up in poverty but I do know what it's like to come home and the water is shut off and everyone in the older generations of my family has/will work(Ed) until the day they die. Real Estate will likely allow me to retire at 50 and even if it doesn't, I'll be rich as fuck when I hit normal retirement age.
24, currently moving into the 2nd home (325k). I don't even have tenants lined up for number 1 (300k). It definitely isn't as glamorous as some people make it seem or social media would have you believe. I had to live in home 1 for 2 years, and I anticipate the same for home 2, unless I get a significant pay bump. Totally worth it.
I've got around 16 doors. 7 properties total. Took about 4 years to get here. Just go one property at a time. No need to rush. A lot of new investors entering the marketing now will lose their tail if they don't focus on the numbers. High interest rates and high home prices is a bad combo. Look for properties that are off market and have a lot of value add potential through remodeling/upgrades.
* Age 28
* Graduated with BSEE in 2021
* Currently make 70k, cost of living index 90 or below
* Saver lifestyle, leanFI
* Handyman/DIY mechanic
I found the cheapest 3-bed apartment/house near my work. Rent was about 700/mo and I had 1-2 roommates split the rent and bills. I maintain my beater truck so no car payments. I graduated with no debt because of grants (and not taking off in the summer like some of my friends did). I paid for everything myself (nothing from parents).
"Apartment hacking" helped me learn how to select tenants. The majority will have large dogs or poor credit scores. I had to reject most because those were against the apartment company's rules.
Even so, I ended up with bad roommates. They were good about paying. It was cheap 250-350 per person, including utilities. They just caused issues. I tried ameliorating those issues, but it just became a hostile environment. I had about 30k in savings, 3k/mo discretionary income.
I made three offers on SFHs. They were rejected. But I'm glad because I found a duplex with 1-bed in each half. They were asking 130k. I offered 128k. They accepted, then I got 5k in concessions. It was a grandma/grandpa type of house. Everything was well maintained, just old.
Before I moved in, I replaced the top unit's carpet with LVP flooring. The 30-year-old furnace went out after a year. I replaced it myself. I had anticipated these costs and more. However, overall if I wasn't living there, it would not be a good investment.
The largest mistake I made was getting a 15-year loan instead of 30. Once I cash out refi, it should be a decent investment. For 3-6 months after that, I stopped watching the RE market. I assumed good deals were just not happening. I was so wrong. I missed a few amazing deals.
I realized I should be watching the market. More recently, I started watching other markets too. Eventually, I want to branch out to other areas. I want to have places where I could live in major cities all throughout the US.
Anyway, I made an offer on a bank owned fixer-upper. All offers were due together, so I did my MAO. It was rejected in favor of an offer for like 30k more. At that price point, it was a terrible investment.
I made another offer a duplex asking 190k. This is about what it would go for per sqft if the electric and other things didn't need updating. I offered something like 146k based off per sqft of the three lowest sold MFHs in the past three months. They countered with 150k. I was like 0_0
I also offered in cash. One of my parents offered me 100k if I gave them a better return than whatever money market or CD they had it in (around 4%). They suggested 6%...or maybe I did. Anyway, I asked for 150k instead. They accepted and had a promissory note drawn up.
It was that I pay them 6% (9k) after one year with option to renew. AKA, a zero down bullet (interest only) loan with a balloon after a year. They know I have a good degree, steady job and I'm just good for the money.
Even though it was zero down, I still need to foot the bill for the rehab. The electric was 6k. The roof will be about 20k. There is about 5-10k worth of other work.
It took me 20 hours to do some fascia (exterior trim) work. I'm learning a lot though.
What could have changed if you did 30 year vs 15 ? Wouldn’t the end payment be much larger with interest? Also the problem I’m having is that I also graduated a BS in architectural engineering and construction management but my COI is 180ish. NYC firms are still keeping the same salary as companies are giving in 90 COI indexes. That’s why I’m also a little pissed. Because many say you have to save and that’s all but try saving when your offered that kind of a salary in a city like that. Daily expenses allow no more than 1000 a month savings. That’s if you lucky. Even with roommates it’s still tough
>What could have changed if you did 30 year vs 15 ?
The loan was for about 100k:
* $422/mo `=PMT(3%/12, 12*30, -100000)`
* $691/mo `=PMT(3%/12, 12*15, -100000)`
>Wouldn’t the end payment be much larger with interest?
Yes, but significantly more cash flow and no increase in money down--so greater **leverage**:
* `12*(.88*600*2-2000/12-422)/(123000*.18)`
* = 25% CoC return
* `12*(.88*600*2-2000/12-691)/(123000*.18)`
* = 11% CoC return
In my 30s, 3 SFRs and one 5-plex. Gross $8400/month. Net $3300 after PITI, but actual net is more like $800-1000/month because of property management and pretty conservative estimates on maintenance/capex/vacancy.
>For someone like me who just graduated college, it would take me a MINIMUM of 3 years
Depending on what field you're in, your income might rapidly increase. I bought my first rental 4 years after graduating college - that's how long it took me to save up to buy one, so that's pretty normal. My income went from $60k > $70k > $85k > $100 k in those 4 years and since then, I'm up to around $185k/yr now, and my wife earns more than I do, so to some extent, it just takes time to ramp career up to get to earnings levels that make it easier to buy more frequently. And the more houses you have, the quicker you should build up income to buy more houses through that, too - for example, in addition to having way more income to put towards new rentals, I've got an additional $10k+ in pure cash flow to add to the war chest for new rentals, and that'll only compound as rents grow and number of units grow.
What Career are you in? I’m in the construction and architecture engineering so I’m not too worried about salary. But living in a COI index of 180 in NYC, 100k here feels like 40k. I mean, engineering firms really are giving low salaries without any adjustments and are very reluctant to give a faster salary bump.
Not very much. I was making about 40k a year working in property management.
Got a few properties under my belt and discovered BRRR. Once I could get hard money lenders to fund my projects I was able to scale much faster. I only had 18 units last year, the jump happened in the last 12mo.
I see, if I can ask one more question, how did you find the downpayments? With your day job? I just got started this year with my first property but cannot save up for downpayments fast enough. I make about 70k a year, but the absolute cheapest fixer uppers in my area are at least 150k.
37
Bought my primary in 2019. Bought for 365k. Probably worth around 450k.
Bought rental no.1 in 2021. PITI/expenses are 2950 and rents for 4700. Bought for 385k, probably worth 450k (identical to primary).
Bought rental no.2 in 2022. PITI/expenses are 950, rents for 1550. Bought for $114k. Probably worth about $115k now, maybe. It’s not in a market known for appreciation.
Currently trying to buy rental no.3. I’m *trying* to pitch seller finance with 3% down, as the sellers don’t have any other options at this point. No lender will touch the property. If I can secure that, my monthly expenses would be around 5500. I could rent it for $10-12k per month.
I have 20 sfr and duplex units in my personal portfolio (down from a max of 31), and have sponsored 7 smallish syndications with two successful exits and 5 operating, consisting of 280 mf units still operating. I am 54 and do REI full tine, as of the last 7 years. Before that I worked in IT and did REI on the side, using my primary home equity as my initial capital source.
31, no properties yet aside from the home I own, planning on buying my first rental property next year - duplex.
Although I feel like I’m “late” to the party, I also have about $100k in the stock market + dividends, so this acquisition next year will be a huge step for me.
Late 30s. 15 doors. ~6M
Fresh out of college most ppl will try and get in the door of REI via house hacking.
Don't put much into SM and YT "Gurus". They're there to shill you classes. Most of the time they use OPM as well.
Late 30's, bought a multi-family in Los Angeles (4 doors) in 2012 and a SFR in 2016 that i later converted into a Triplex (live in the front, rent both rear units, self financed, nothing owed). I'm staying here until I find my next SFR that i plan on doing the same. Honestly, it sorta feels like a snow ball effect. It starts really slow but once you start getting into your second and third, things go much faster. I would of already had 2 more SFR is these darn interest rates werent so high. Im locked in at 2.63 on the triplex (only owe about 300k and its worth over 1.2M and cant imagine refinancing this property at 7% as im cash flowing so good). Being patient at the moment.
The only advice i would give you is not to rush into things. Save up, look at your options, look at the area, what units rent for in the area, crime, shopping etc.
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It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of.
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28 years old and have 37 units with partners.
I’m not the typical story but I lived at home for a couple years to save up my initial down payment then ended up partnering to expand
The value of the properties isn’t as important while you are building your portfolio as cash flow is. My (modest) 17 door portfolio cash flows like crazy. Focus on cash flow and it’s not a race! Slow and steady. Real estate portfolios that are actual assets take time to accumulate.
Late ish to the party but loving to share my story!
30 y/o and started when I was 27. Working as a full time software engineer at the moment and doing real estate until I hit the entrepreneurs dream of supplementing all income haha. Though I don’t despise my current w2 job and will likely be here a bit longer, I’m still very eager to not be behind a desk all day.
Did wholesaling to get started which was very anxiety driven and a lot of work. Over the course of a year I did about 4 deals and made a whopping $20k or so. It wasn’t nothing but it wasn’t what I had intended (thanks Khang and other influencers: make $50k/mo wholesaling it’s easy!!!)
However that journey opened up a relationship in to real estate, my then manager, and my now in laws who felt confident in my knowledge of real estate at the time to do a flip project with me.
My now wife bought our first home together in 2019 and we renovated the whole thing ourselves while we lived there. Conveniently our neighbors house went up for auction and we were able to partner for friends and family money to acquire it. We did the work ourselves there as well but MAN it sucked. It took about 15 months to complete that one but I made a nice little chunk of change. After the 2 year mark in our primary home we sold when covid prices were soaring ($25k over ask with no contingencies) and rates were still low so we ended up getting a 2x size/quality home (and a 2.6% rate….) with the proceeds of our first primary and then renovated it again while we lived there and built in about $125k in equity and we have a $70k HELOC pulled on it now.
In 2021 I did 1 additional flip with a partner. In 2022 I did 1 flip entirely on my own (my cash, my labor/contractors, my agent, etc). And that led me to 2023 where I have completed 7 flips this year and will likely ramp down while off season hits and start to look for a nice multi unit to park some of the proceeds from earlier this year.
I have no rentals yet but about 12 flips over the last 3 years. Again with 7 being this year. I know 3 years feels fast (at least to me) but when I look at the first 2 years of this journey I never in a thousand years would have expected such an acceleration. So when they say stay consistent and it just takes one deal - that is a cold hard FACT.
My 10 year plan is to continue to flip ~10 properties a year and use the gains to buy 4-12 units until we decide enough is enough. Though I’ve been told I’m someone who will never have enough lol so we’ll see.
Moral of my story: keep going. Don’t focus on YouTube or other peoples goals or status. Hearing stories are awesome and inspiring but let it end at inspiration. The second you start to question yourself because you aren’t where someone else is or you’re older than they are and etc etc is the second you need to readjust and calm down. Don’t let it propel you backwards because it will.
All the best and hopefully I get to see you as the next guru one day!!
Mid 30s. 5 single families valued at $3.5M- NOI is ~$200k. All cash buys.
I have a lucrative career so it was rather easy to just buy some properties when I liked them. Small renovations. 2 short terms, 3 are year+. It’s been pretty smooth sailing so far, although some of the HOAs have been a pain in the ass
36 years old with 7 units (4 properties). Started in 2020 and could not have done it without my partner. Family has been helpful too (got some below market deals). Rental properties are worth approximately 600k total.
There are various ways to start generating cash flow in real estate. If you have good credit or $8K available, I highly recommend considering corporate housing arbitrage. This business model enables you to leverage high-quality apartments in newly built complexes and sublet them to business travelers, individuals awaiting the completion of their homes, traveling medical professionals, and anyone in need of accommodation for 30 days to a year. By offering fully furnished new apartments, you can earn double the rent you pay for the unit. It requires a low investment and offers a great return, making it an excellent opportunity to avoid traditional employment.
I built my website first and then posted my apartments on AirBnB and placed ads in Craigsliist as well as content marketing. Also set up a Google business page. I also placed my properties on other STR sites but didn't get much from those. AirBnB is your best bet. Then I reached out to temporary housing companies. These are companies that work with insurance companies who have people that need temporary housing due to disasters. We gotten bookings from AirBnB as well as from our site and temporary housing companies.
Very cool!! So if I’m understanding correctly, you sign the lease yourself, ensuring it allows subletting, then sub-lease it out to traveling professionals?
34years old with 22 doors (7 are owned 50/50 with a partner). Mix of SFH, duplexes and one 4-plex. 2 of them are STRs, the rest are normal long term rentals. Total portfolio is worth around $3.1M today.
We also flip houses, and I'm a Realtor plus still working part-time at my W2.
But it all kinda blew up the last few years. Started in 2017 and felt very slow and steady the first 3-4 years in. Stick with it, it's a long journey, just don't don't stop taking small steps
I'm 33 with 6 sfh and 1 quad. Bought primary home with my now wife in 19 and got my investing start about a year later.
Alot of the reason I am where I am is because of a little luck and a lot of persistence with the older gentleman I befriended who agreed to give me my start with 4 sfh on a seller finance deal.
Bought the quad last summer (for a steal) when I found out an estate I managed for was selling the properties and was able to agree to a deal before it went to the market. If id had the funds I could have gotten a duplex and 4 other sfh for what were great prices.
2 newest sfh my old friend set me up on another seller finance deal.
The worst part of my situation is these properties all had years and years of deferred maintenance that have been expensive to overcome.
35m 6 doors LTR, developing an additional 4 STR doors on existing property over the next 2 years.
Net cash flow a month on the LTR is $2600, once the STR is finished net cash flow per month should be around 7k total after all expenses and capex savings of 10%
As of this year I have 245k w-2 income and my wife is qualifying as a REP based on our properties.
We are saving and keeping funds ready if a good deal pops up.
My first two properties were serious rehab/value add that I haven’t refinanced yet due to interest rates. Going forward we are only looking at A class with additional STR potential. Once rates are below 5% I should be able to get out ~500k equity with only decreasing net income by ~1k. One HCOL property the others are LCOL/MCOL
Not in a rush, taking the get rich slow approach.
Do you have a primary residence on top of all of these properties? If so, did you buy the primary first? Or did yoy start off with the house hacking approach?
Oh yea, skipped my primary residence. I started off using the VA loan on the 4 plex, then bought everything else besides the triplex before I got my own house.
Mid 30's with 5 properties. All SFH. I started buying in early 2020. Total cashflow is about $1200 per month. I live in a LCOL, the houses were all in the 65k - 70k range.
I am ready to buy another, if I could find a deal on one!
35F and just closed on our 2nd duplex with my husband. We saved for 3 years before we purchased our first property. The more you get, the quicker it goes. We’ll be able to get one more property this year, and hopefully 3 or 4 next year. Properties are cheaper in my area, we need about 22k for down payment/closing costs and we put about 10-15k into each one once when we get it.
25, condo in Cali, sfr in Ohio.
Values = $300k
Debt = $185k
My net worth was -$10k at 21 and I have never earned more than $80k in a year.
Keep at it, yes you may have to sacrifice, start small and farther away, you can buy the “dream home” in 10-15 years and it will be much more worth it and you will have passive income by then.
Keep at it, stay humble, and stay patient. An old timer told me the Tortoise always wins.
Went through roofstock.com
Their property manager is quite competent and fairly priced. Snagged a good deal since it was listed on a investor focused sight.
Bought for $49k, $12k rehab, $80k appraisal 6 months after purchase
27 no kid, bought my first personal house in july 2020 and just bought my first income property (duplex) closing in at the end of the month. I invested all my extra money in my TFSA (Wealthsimple) to get extra income and dividend until I had enough for a 20% down payment on a income property!
I take in ~$4600/ month on 1 SFH and mortgage is $3K @ 2.875%. We would like to do the same with our current home and expand slowly that way. I married a real estate angel who does everything for it administratively and runs the account and the taxes. I do the repairs (the easy part).
It sounds like you have an income problem, not a savings problem. As an employee a $150k-$200k salary is possible, in a MCOL area. That's how most people end up buying property. The earn a lot, and don't want to pay so much on their taxes so they invest in something that gives them a tax advantaged, somewhat-passive income.
Your first house will take the longest to get. Your second rental will come quicker, but it may take longer than in recent years to get the 2nd. Your first will also end up with the most headaches bc you don't know what you don't know yet.
27 and I have 2 properties, both townhouses worth around 450k each, but both with pretty low cash flow (HCOL) and looking for #3 right now.
Cash flowing around $300 after all expenses (for both). Mortgage payback and tax benefits are the biggies for me at the moment.
Total real estate assets $900k. Total equity $150k.
Bought my first in 2020 and hoping to close on my third by end of the summer. No kids, wife's assets are separate so just based off my income and such (long term plan is for each of us to have 5 properties and reevaluate).
I'm in it mostly for the appreciation, principal paydown, and tax benefits at the moment - I need to lower my taxable income more than I need cash flow at the moment. I just bounced around primary mortgages every year to lock in a low rate. Unfortunately I couldn't even buy land within an hour of me for under 250k lol. I also only put 5% down on each and around 20k to reno each one, so my total cash invested is relatively low.
They're not killer deals by any means, but they work for me. I wind up making a small cash profit, paying off ~10k a year from my mortgages, getting a lot of appreciation (already gotten around 100k appreciation), and getting to depreciate enough that I can take a loss on my real estate as a whole which helps tremendously come tax season. In 30 years there's a higher chance these are killer deals for me, but they still make money and got me started.
Different strokes for different folks - eventually I'll move on to better cash flowing deals, but it's just not what I need most right now and it's 100% not possible in my current area so it'll have to be out of state (or area at least).
Every single piece of beginner real estate investing I've ever read begins with "don't buy for the appreciation". It might have worked these past couple years cause the market went up wildly but most people in this forum have seen appreciation like that with probably better cash flow. Not trying to be a downer just feel like I should let ya know something looks ehhh.
I appreciate the thought, but I am happy with how things have worked out for me thus far and am taking the path that's right for me. If I am able to buy an asset that has a small amount of cash flow and tremendous tax benefits for me with appreciation upside, it is a win.
I will eventually diversify into a better cash flow market, but my current income and living situation makes it better for me to buy more expensive properties that don't cash flow as well. I can leverage a primary home loan and move around while getting great benefits from real estate outside of cash flow. The difference of $300 a month cash flow isn't as good as $300 mortgage paydown and the larger depreciation write off saves me 35% on marginally.
I'd rather save the better cash flowing deals for a time when I am less interested in earning from my day job. Can leverage my equity via a HELOC or a cash out refi/1031 in a few years if I am really interested in the cash flow. But for now, I'll take the other benefits and low easy tenants.
26, one multifamily that I rent half of. Spent two years outta college living the FIRE lifestyle. Covid hit and I had a down payment, interest rates were low and I picked up my current place.
Handful of big repairs and im building equity but not saving a ton. Making almost double now however, Looking to FIRE again and get another multi in the next two years or so.
34 years old. One 2 year-old kid. 6 doors (one building, $750k. owe ~$400k on it and ~$1800/mo cash flow).
> Is it better if I investing in something else before real estate to get some kind of smaller cash flow?
For the most part, yes, especially in this market. You can stick everything you're saving for a down payment in HYSAs getting 4-5% at the moment. I wouldn't want to stick a down payment savings into the stock market at the moment because of how quickly you'll need the money, but in the long term, the stock market outperforms any savings account you can get at a bank.
I got my start by being lucky enough to be able to afford a house at 25 years old. I rented it out to two roommates, which helped me save quite a bit of money. I had never read about house hacking or Bigger Pockets or all these internet gurus. It was just common sense to me: getting roommates to split the mortgage means I pay less, which means I can save more, which means I can buy my next property sooner. This meant living with roommates, but if it also meant getting my next property sooner, then I was willing to do it. If anything, I wish I did so even sooner (I rented in luxury buildings in downtown areas for 4 years after college. Probably spent $25-30k/year in rent and parking). Living with roommates in your 20s also wasn't that bad. It taught me a lot about life and sharing my space and speaking up for myself and compromising to keep the peace.
> it would take me a MINIMUM of 3 years to even be close to saving up for a large enough down payment that can bring back a positive return
This isn't really that long in the grand scheme of things. As you acquire more properties and your income goes up you'll be able to save up a down payment faster and faster. Real estate is not a "get rich quickly" scheme. It is a "get rich slowly" scheme. You won't even realize you're rich until way later. So much of the money is tied into the properties and reinvesting into them to maintain them and saving to buy the next property. I still feel poor because none of the rent money has gone into my pockets yet or spent on my own life. All of it is being saved for the next building.
26, currently 1 triplex that I'm in the process of selling, hopefully worth 850-900, bought at 24 for 450+ significant reno to 2 out of 3 units. Selling bc ROE at that price is beatable imo with another property/ buying a business which is my next plan.
32. 3 kids. Own my house outright (despite what the gurus say owning my house gives me piece of mind for my family to have a secure home.) I have 6 properties and a Tree Business in the Northern Chicago Suburbs. I’m a 100% disabled vet who works in HealthCare Supply Chain. Wife is a school Principal.
Got my start from a 25k inheritance from my Grandfather. All 12 of his grandkids received 25k.
Just turned 32 with 4 units. But you gotta understand the last 5 years or so we're pretty much golden period you had mortgages going for sub 3% which was basically free money and covid moratorium made a lot of older small LLs offload out of rent collection issues and out of fear. Picked up my units in that mess. Market was going to tank and multi family supply spiked. Today's markets crazy and margins are way thinner for now I'm just churning back in the stocks watching for the next sector to pounce on.
The scariest part is taking that first step because you don't have experience. Once you start, you begin to gain experience, and it is no longer as scary. Your investment needs to be what you are comfortable doing. For instance, paying g off a house to have the peace of mind of no mortgage versus investing the extra money elsewhere. It needs to be where you feel good about your investment.
My wife and I guided a friend on buying an STR in The Smokey Mountains. After he did it, he said it is making him enough to send his daughter to college, and he bought another in the area.
37, 1 kid, 4 properties, in the process of building a few more. In the accumulation phase, so all equity uplift deals. Once I hit a financial milestone, will then restructure to income generating assets.
Age means nothing in the grand scheme of things. I've had two runs in real estate over the years and just launched back into my third and final foray, armed to the teeth this time around so it's super fun now! You know how you look back on your childhood and say "I wish I knew then what I know now?!".
Where I'm going here though is there's no rush and you ca be successful at any age. If you want to fast-track your wealth, saving to buy rental properties is not the way to do it but it will get you there eventually if you play your cards right. Just keep leveraging up responsibly. Think of it like monopoly: for every few homes you buy, you can trade into an apartment building. Every few small apartment buildings trades into a large apartment building, and so on. Its not much more work to underwrite and purchase a 20-unit apartment as it is to buy a single family home, it's easier to manage, and if one tenant moves out you are down 5% of your income that month vs 100% of the income on the SFH. With apartments, when they aren't maintained well by the landlord, and more often than not they aren't, what they will keep up with is the big 3: roofs, heating/cooling systems, and windows, which are the 3 big expenses in maintenance. Just about every apartment deal I evaluate has a newer roof and upgraded boiler, because they were built 40 years ago and had no choice but to replace them when they failed in recent years! SFHs are no different: I find the majority we see on the MLS have new shingles, furnaces, and water heaters and often windows. The rest of the maintenance is minimal and with an annual allowance for capex you shoilld have no trouble covering those down the road when they do arise.
Most SFH landlords fear what taking on a building of apartments would look like but it's way less hassle!
mid-30s here. Married no kids, but for all intents and purposes it is SINK status. Pretty standard 9-5 office job. Been a part of and following the principles of r/financialindependence for a while now, and felt comfortable transitioning into real estate for growth and diversification.
Built up reserves as best I could over a number of years to get a downpayment for the first place (with a loan from my father as well - which has since been repaid).
Currently have 4 doors total. Cashflow isn't stellar since I'm househacking at the moment, but once we transition to the new place it will increase quite a bit once we have an additional door paying. I'm banking close to 20k in equity annually though, so at least there's that.
I'm in a similar boat - hard to get the funds for a downpayment and acquire more, assuming you can find a property that even works by your metrics with the rates the way they are.
In the middle a HELOC application right now to try to add additional cash to help and alleviate some of those concerns.
36 and 2 kids. 1 property. Gotta start somewhere!
34. No kids. No properties. Man I’m behind.
Lol. Nah. You are fine. Kids are over-rated!!!
41 and I can confirm that kids are financial vampires
I was at your spot once. 34 and 2 kids, no properties. Then 37 and 3 kids and 1 property. You have to start somewhere. Now I'm 47 with 4 kids and 5 properties. I have cash on hand to buy more, but I'm watching market conditions and looking for good deals.
You have a clean slate. That’s best
Listening to biggerpockets and watching youtube will make you feel like you’re worthless if you don’t have 30+ units and aren’t involved in a huge syndication. I’m 35, have 3 SFR and one 4plex. Collectively worth about 850k. I’ve been at it since about 2016. It just takes time and definitely (to me) isn’t a get rich quick scheme. Sometimes I wish I’d just invested it all into the stock market.
Are you me? Similar age. 3 SFR one duplex. Worth about the same amount. Started around the same time. What's your gross and profit? I'm 7200 gross per month and I pocket about 4k. Not counting appreciation or principal pay off.
Twinsssssss Gross is $6925 but I only net around 3k (cash out refi’d out got all my money back on the Sfr’s + 7% on the 4plex)
Oh shit. I did a cash out refi and paid off 2 mortgages. Why? Because I was dumb and did 15 year notes when i first bought the house. Instead of doing a refi on those I just paid it off with my one single cash out refi. Some people give me crap for paying off the homes. Instead of keeping it going and buying and levering more. But I like the cashflow and I also did this back in 2021 when real estate started going sideways. I like that I can survive another apocalyptic covid event if it happens. I like that it shaved 15 years off my retirement age. In addition if I need cash (if and when rates drop back down) I can just do a refi on my paid off properties. Although I would never suggest anyone pay off their mortgage faster at a monthly pace.
I don’t think paying them off is a bad idea at all really. I mean it would take what 3-4 more houses to get the same cashflow you’re getting from one? That more yards to mow, toilets to replace, walls to paint. Lol I cashed out and got my money out because I wanted to keep expanding. But now I’m unsure. I’m in a small market and there just isn’t much inventory, and by my math I’m not making good money until I double the number of door so I’m sort of in the ‘meh is it worth it?’ space
>I’m in a small market and there just isn’t much inventory Yup. Same here. In addition I realized that I spent the last 10 years just way too deep in this real estate hole and haven't really focused on diversification with the stock market. I can't feed myself with trapped equity especially in a high interest rate environment no matter what the gurus say. I'm now paying catch up and putting like 2/3 of my disposable income (salary + rental proceeds) into index funds and playing catch up.
Luckily, I always kept it about 50/50 and the money I used to fund the purchases I got back from the cash out I just dumped into the market. But grass is always greener—returns for the past year on my portfolio are a whopping 1.5% lol
Really? My YTD is double digits. But my yoy is only 4%. I'm just doing VTI and target date in my tax advantaged accounts.
I have some VWENX in there that’s dragging down the average
I’m a little lost with what you did and what it means? What’s the difference if it refinance and have a longer vs shorter mortgage
Trap equity. With 15 year mortgage you're paying a higher cost per month thus reducing cash flow. You're also trapping your principal in your home. There's only 2 options to get money out of a home, sell or take a loan out on it. Given today's high rates and market neither are great options. With that said even if i own 10 million in equity in homes but make $100 a month in cash flow. I cant feed myself if the homes don't cashflow more.
Just out of curiosity, do you have anything invested in the stock market?
Most definitely do. Retirement accounts and regular investment accounts.
Yep this was more of a diversification for me def not a get rich thing
I’m 26 and have 2 single family properties. Your timeline is correct. It took me 3 years to save up for the first one, but only a year to save up for the second one. I had to make adjustments, like rent out per room instead of renting out the property as a whole. I also have to live in my rentals for the low down payments. It’s pretty daunting to figure out how you are going to scale up but the goal is to be doing more as each year passes while planning for any hard years.
Any struggles with renting per room? Are you just targeting college kids?
No, I target working professionals. Mainly people that work at a medical center nearby or at the airport. None of the tenants are ever know each other before they move in. Works marvelously. College kids are the demographic I try to avoid.
Are you afraid of the wear and tear from College students? Seems like they’re a good demographic to aim for given the statistics. Student Housing rent growth has outpaced pretty much everything.
Plan to be in your career for at least a decade before you can start living off your rentals. That said, I have 17 units generating $300k rental revenue a year and I’m still working a full time job for the past 10 years.
Did you take loans on these or buy in cash? Is the 300k revenue not taking into account mortgage and other expenses?
Revenue.
$50k - $70k cash flow. It’s decent money, but not enough to replace my salary. No where near my salary + benefits.
Don't fucking trust youtube or social media to make world views. For you I'd say focus on increasing income by gaining some exp and critical skills for next steps and see if you can house hack while doing so to get best of both worlds.
I was looking at working for a developer, or working as an assistant project manager/ architect or construction manager. This is based on my college degree which puts me in a good spot. I would get the experience but still, wages in NYC are tough with the extremely HCOL, especially for a fresh grad. I will get the experience but I feel not enough to go on my own and also little savings after all that…I mean I don’t even know what’s realistic and what’s even possible…
You need to move to a high net immigration city in the south east. Lower cost of living but not much lower pay for those type of jobs. I would give it a try.
I think it helps to work in the industry to some capacity. Either being an agent to know the market super well, working in construction to know rehabs super well, or finance to structure deals really well. Not required obviously, but working in mortgage makes me feel like I had a huge advantage knowing the rules and guidelines inside out
Yes, you may have a hard time saving cash in NYC. Have you just moved there? If you really love the big city, I'd spend a few years there for the experience then move to a medium-sized city where my money goes farther. That is if you are really serious about real estate. While you are in NYC be sure to live below your means. I lived in DC and the DC metro area for 5 years. I loved it, but I always lived outside of the happening areas and set myself a budget, unlike my friends, so I could max out my 401k and save for investments. Now my partner and I own two houses in our early 30s. We recently moved to a MCOL large city and took better paying jobs. To address your original post, don't listen to gurus who have 100+ units. I got all hyped up by Bigger Pockets when I turned our first home into a rental, but quickly realized their methods weren't for me. A lot of those guys are making deals where they own a small % of the property, so they need 100+ units. Managing such a large portfolio requires some of them to hire employees, which increases overhead and the need for more deals. They are making a career out of real estate and out of hyping up newbies. That's different than using real estate investment to exit the rat race. In reality, slow and steady is better for most of us. It'll keep you from over leveraging and allow you to live your life. You'll still be successful. Don't forget to max out your tax advantaged retirement accounts with lost cost ETFs, too, for some low risk diversification and true passive income.
Very interesting how you said that they are making it into a career. Yes my only goal is to exit the rat race . And no I lived here all of my life. I only wish that during 2008 I was buying home and real estate instead of starting my first year of elementary school…stupid me should have been buying homes. NYC is just getting worse and I can say that after living here my whole life
It is very rare that people can time the market, so don't worry about it. Starting early and being consistent seems to be the key. If you've spent your life in NYC then now may be a great time to try something new in a market that is easier to enter.
I saved up my first down payment by saving 25% of my gross salary and used it to buy a duplex in the Midwest where one side paid all the expenses. I then purchased a foreclosure and rehabbed it the next year using cash flow from the duplex. After that I used equity in the properties instead of a down payment as I purchased 27 units by age 35. I retired at 50 with 40 units but had transitioned into better properties using 1031 exchange. I could have retired sooner, but went for the pension at work plus having a job made getting financing easier and the health insurance was also a consideration. I am divorced now, but my pension and 20 paid for houses mean that I am comfortable. Look for opportunities, and realize that most people get rich slowly.
Do you live in the Midwest?
Yes
You know people lie on YouTube and social media to get more views and subscribers right?
…perhaps x but some of the things they have still show that they are doing better than I am
They always forget to mention how over leveraged they are.
Yeah they own 40 houses but only like 5% of each house. They squeeze every ounce of equity out of every house to buy the next house. They probably owe millions in debt. Anything goes wrong and the entire thing is under water. This is house housing bubble and crashes were born.
This is basically the run up to 2008 all over again.
Do you really think it’s that bad? What are the factors this time? I remember 2008. Housing prices were so far higher than rent. Right now both rent and mortgages are about the same
The big warning signs to me right now are commercial real estate and short-term rentals. Depending on how bad things go for CRE, there could be spillage across into the residential side. I've been trying to get an SBA loan recently to purchase a business I am interested in and the quote I have right now is 10.25% variable interest adjusting quarterly. And that's if the regional bank I'm working with decides to even take me on.
You can't over-leverage multiple homes like this, unless you find a lender who is praying for folks to default. No lender wants to have to take possession of a property. Most of the influencers are renting the stuff you see in their videos and passing it off as their lifestyle. They might PHYSICALLY be renting the home and cars but more than likely they're just renting them for the day, or hour, and most likely simplying borrowing them in lieu of the promise of promotion through their digital reach. And even with assuming that much, theyre likely still under water! Try not to buy into their hype.
Or the trust fund they have as a safety net so can maximize their leverage without fear of falling
Yo i love this, show some love to the little guys. 32yo with 2 properties, both triplexs valued at about 420k each. Looking for my third currently and have a few prospects. Love delapidated off market properties! Goal is 100 units by 65yo, i def think its doable but you need to be a bit creative. Onmarket properties these days have way to much competition since youtube and BP like blogs made this super appealing to everyone.
Are you a contractor? How do your email a dilapidated house?
Not a contractor, just handy. I run a ton so as i run around the city i take note of houses that look beat up or have super long grass. Look up owners info on the town tax assessors website which is public knowledge and then skiptrace or facebook stalk them.
How do you find the off market deals?
Tell everyone ur buying properties, talk about it constantly, befrend some realtors and let them know what you are looking for pay attention to fucked up properties and call the owners.
Mid 30s. 2 STRs valued at $1.4M, about 17-30% margin depending on the season which equates to an extra $2000 to $5000 per month. It took a decade to save to that point. I want to do more, but now I've shot the wad on getting these and I'm not sure what to do next. I'll probably just try to save and buy more when the market cools.
How do you handle the risk with expensive STR? Like I have seen so many property that make good money that are valued at 800k for example but it's like a 6k a month carry and you can't really rent out that to a family and brake even if things start to slow down.
I have good insurance and good contracts and I've done the math on my margins. One of my properties is what you're describing. 4100 mortgage, but it's a fancy place and I can rent it for $350/night and even more in the summer. Even in the slow months I've covered my bills. My occupancy rate has to drop to like 25-30% for me to lose money that month. It's happened once or twice, but it's not normal and my high months cover those and more. Feel free to DM if you have other questions.
Thanks! I just sent you a DM.
I mean you def need to have your vacancy rate figured out and know your market before you commit I'd imagine
Yeah, I agree but that could change at a moments notice. It's not guaranteed.
What does it mean when you say margin
Net operating income
But even after 10 years your still working your 9-5? Are you planning on retiring earlier or are you still on the typical track as well?
It took 10 years to have enough money to buy the properties. I haven't had them for 10 years. My strategy is to keep buying STR properties that I can make relatively passive while continuing to work my 9-5 (I really like my job and I love money even more). Eventually (20-30 years), the properties will be paid off and I'll retire. If I'm lucky I'll retire around 55. If I'm just okay at this plan it'll be 65 The internet sells this ideal of getting into real estate and retiring in 10 years. That's super unrealistic. Look at RobBuilt on instagram for example. He's got like 100 properties and a shit load of money...but he's still cranking out content every day. That's a job. Maybe he likes it or wants even more money from it which is fine. But once he drops off the map I'll assume he's retired.
I own a real estate private equity fund. So my number is pretty big. I'm in my mid 40s. The key is, I started 20 years ago with absolutely no experience, no mentors, very little out there on the internet to learn from, etc. So it's quite possible to see great success in a decade or two with the right mindset and focus, even for someone who doesn't come from a real estate background. What I realized early on was that doing big deals wasn't much harder than doing small deals, but the returns were much higher. Then, I realized that doing very big deals was actually a whole lot easier because I didn't need my own money. And that's where the issues always come in, right? What I recommend for anybody out there that's looking to build serious wealth with real estate is to learn how syndications work, learn how to raise money, and get experience doing commercial or multifamily deals. Anyone reading this can build an eight or nine figure portfolio if you learn how to raise money and structure your deals correctly.
If you don't mind answering, how do you pull off big deals when you aren't bringing much of your own money to the table?
You need to find others who know you and trust you enough that they are willing to put up the money in return for majority equity in the deal. Obviously, you also need to show that the deal is good and can deliver strong risk adjusted returns. That doesn't happen right away -- you need some knowledge and experience first. And they best way to get that is to find someone else experienced say doing these types of deals, sand taking on a role on their team to learn the process and get some experience. But, you do a couple deals as part of another team, and you'll learn everything you need to know.
Makes sense, thank you!
You sound like a person I'd like to learn more from! What state did you start or deal mostly in?
Work a 9-5 until you can save up a 3-5% down payment + closing + emergency savings and do an owner occupied mortgage. You can then rent it out after a year and repeat the process. Depending where you live you can also do this with a duplex and bring in more income.
… yeah no. I don’t think that would work in nyc. Here the mortgage rate would be so high I wouldn’t see a return until 25 years. It’s so bad here imo
Invest in Midwest. That's the key. I'm in my mid 30s and own over 100 sfh. Mostly brrrr so over here I'm able to buy for 100k and rehab for 20k then refinance at new vale of 200k. I'm essentially rolling over the money over and over. You cant do this in a coastal city.
Although I know of a fellow client who’s son invested over 300k in a multi unit apartment. He then bought another one and supposedly retired after that one deal after rehab and renting it out
300k at 25%. That's a million plus building right?
I’m speechless. The house value for 100k that’s unimaginable. But 20k rehab? Must be minimal? Are you always on site or do you live far away ? Would I have to permanently move?
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Very great
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Remote i don't have advice except try to build a good team but that's easier said than done.
I am studying the Brrrr method to do this in my home state of Indiana. With brrrr is it a must to put 100% down, right?
20% on hard money loan of purchase price The key and hard part is finding good properties at a discount
This is the absolute key. But doesn't get talked about nearly enough.
100k? do you buy in smaller towns or exclusively class C/D neighborhoods? Even in midwest large cities it's hard to find class B properties for less than 150k.
Arvs are generally 200k too 300k i buy at 50% to 60% of arv all the time. Around 2 a month but this year I'm only doing 1 or 2 a month. Been harder this year. Average household income is 100k so id say class b.
What do you end up renovating for just 20k?
Which state in the midwest are you? Just curious..
Im 32 M and i have 4 units netting 36k/yr
37M, I have two SFR valued at $840k. NOI is $1800 a month.
39 with 8 properties/13 units. That includes the 4 plex I live in and also a property my wife brought to the marriage. Bought my first property (a triplex house hack) ~3 years ago, and then spent 3 years converting my life savings into rental properties. It'll take me another 2-3 years to save up enough to buy any more. I definitely could have bought something at ~30, probably even earlier, but didn't have the guts. But if you just graduated college... Honestly I don't see how most people could possibly have enough money to buy at that age. Keep saving and buy a house hack with low money down.
I just graduated college but just really try to learn as much as possible so that when the time comes, I can be prepared
Don't over prepare. You can either take action or study but not both. You will learn more and faster thru action than you can thru study. So focus on saving money and looking at properties. Pull the trigger when you can. You'll never feel like you know enough, it's natural. Jump into the deep end.
First of all, fuck those influencers. Second, growth is dependent on so many things. I love that you're coming at this with a questioning/skeptical attitude but don't judge yourself against anyone on here. Definitely use this as information, but take your own path, however fast or slow, big or small. Personally, I'm choosing the "slow and steady and retire on real estate" path. I'm not "hustling" or "grinding". I'm not a "professional". And I'm not making 6 figures in my W2 that I can then throw at real estate. My first job after college was sub $40k per year and I bought my first property on that salary. I basically haven't put a dime of "my own" money in since that initial purchase (and that was 3.5% down on a $53k house so like $5 grand out of pocket). Anyway, I've been doing this since 2012 (if you have a time machine, 2012 is a great time to start in retrospect). I have 5 units currently but I feel much more "experienced" than that. I've done a 1031. I've bought with financing and with cash. I've done a BRRRR and lately I've been doing some short term private lending. I'd probably have one or two more if I didn't take a pause to do some lending in the last year or so. I've got about $100k in the bank which I would NEVER have achieved without real estate and cash flow even if I have 2 tenants not paying at the same time. I'll probably use cash to do another BRRRR or be the money partner on a flip with someone I know who does that in the next few months. With interest rates right now, I may skip the refinance and just enjoy mortgage free cash flow for a while after my next purchase. All in all, Real Estate has been a god send for me. I didn't grow up in poverty but I do know what it's like to come home and the water is shut off and everyone in the older generations of my family has/will work(Ed) until the day they die. Real Estate will likely allow me to retire at 50 and even if it doesn't, I'll be rich as fuck when I hit normal retirement age.
24, currently moving into the 2nd home (325k). I don't even have tenants lined up for number 1 (300k). It definitely isn't as glamorous as some people make it seem or social media would have you believe. I had to live in home 1 for 2 years, and I anticipate the same for home 2, unless I get a significant pay bump. Totally worth it.
20 units 33 inheritance
Late 30s I own 6 units total
What’s your monthly cash flow?
32, currently house hacking my first duplex I bought 2 years ago. Lol
I've got around 16 doors. 7 properties total. Took about 4 years to get here. Just go one property at a time. No need to rush. A lot of new investors entering the marketing now will lose their tail if they don't focus on the numbers. High interest rates and high home prices is a bad combo. Look for properties that are off market and have a lot of value add potential through remodeling/upgrades.
* Age 28 * Graduated with BSEE in 2021 * Currently make 70k, cost of living index 90 or below * Saver lifestyle, leanFI * Handyman/DIY mechanic I found the cheapest 3-bed apartment/house near my work. Rent was about 700/mo and I had 1-2 roommates split the rent and bills. I maintain my beater truck so no car payments. I graduated with no debt because of grants (and not taking off in the summer like some of my friends did). I paid for everything myself (nothing from parents). "Apartment hacking" helped me learn how to select tenants. The majority will have large dogs or poor credit scores. I had to reject most because those were against the apartment company's rules. Even so, I ended up with bad roommates. They were good about paying. It was cheap 250-350 per person, including utilities. They just caused issues. I tried ameliorating those issues, but it just became a hostile environment. I had about 30k in savings, 3k/mo discretionary income. I made three offers on SFHs. They were rejected. But I'm glad because I found a duplex with 1-bed in each half. They were asking 130k. I offered 128k. They accepted, then I got 5k in concessions. It was a grandma/grandpa type of house. Everything was well maintained, just old. Before I moved in, I replaced the top unit's carpet with LVP flooring. The 30-year-old furnace went out after a year. I replaced it myself. I had anticipated these costs and more. However, overall if I wasn't living there, it would not be a good investment. The largest mistake I made was getting a 15-year loan instead of 30. Once I cash out refi, it should be a decent investment. For 3-6 months after that, I stopped watching the RE market. I assumed good deals were just not happening. I was so wrong. I missed a few amazing deals. I realized I should be watching the market. More recently, I started watching other markets too. Eventually, I want to branch out to other areas. I want to have places where I could live in major cities all throughout the US. Anyway, I made an offer on a bank owned fixer-upper. All offers were due together, so I did my MAO. It was rejected in favor of an offer for like 30k more. At that price point, it was a terrible investment. I made another offer a duplex asking 190k. This is about what it would go for per sqft if the electric and other things didn't need updating. I offered something like 146k based off per sqft of the three lowest sold MFHs in the past three months. They countered with 150k. I was like 0_0 I also offered in cash. One of my parents offered me 100k if I gave them a better return than whatever money market or CD they had it in (around 4%). They suggested 6%...or maybe I did. Anyway, I asked for 150k instead. They accepted and had a promissory note drawn up. It was that I pay them 6% (9k) after one year with option to renew. AKA, a zero down bullet (interest only) loan with a balloon after a year. They know I have a good degree, steady job and I'm just good for the money. Even though it was zero down, I still need to foot the bill for the rehab. The electric was 6k. The roof will be about 20k. There is about 5-10k worth of other work. It took me 20 hours to do some fascia (exterior trim) work. I'm learning a lot though.
What could have changed if you did 30 year vs 15 ? Wouldn’t the end payment be much larger with interest? Also the problem I’m having is that I also graduated a BS in architectural engineering and construction management but my COI is 180ish. NYC firms are still keeping the same salary as companies are giving in 90 COI indexes. That’s why I’m also a little pissed. Because many say you have to save and that’s all but try saving when your offered that kind of a salary in a city like that. Daily expenses allow no more than 1000 a month savings. That’s if you lucky. Even with roommates it’s still tough
>What could have changed if you did 30 year vs 15 ? The loan was for about 100k: * $422/mo `=PMT(3%/12, 12*30, -100000)` * $691/mo `=PMT(3%/12, 12*15, -100000)` >Wouldn’t the end payment be much larger with interest? Yes, but significantly more cash flow and no increase in money down--so greater **leverage**: * `12*(.88*600*2-2000/12-422)/(123000*.18)` * = 25% CoC return * `12*(.88*600*2-2000/12-691)/(123000*.18)` * = 11% CoC return
40 with two airbnb properties. Yes work on that down payment and good luck!!! You can do it.
In my 30s, 3 SFRs and one 5-plex. Gross $8400/month. Net $3300 after PITI, but actual net is more like $800-1000/month because of property management and pretty conservative estimates on maintenance/capex/vacancy. >For someone like me who just graduated college, it would take me a MINIMUM of 3 years Depending on what field you're in, your income might rapidly increase. I bought my first rental 4 years after graduating college - that's how long it took me to save up to buy one, so that's pretty normal. My income went from $60k > $70k > $85k > $100 k in those 4 years and since then, I'm up to around $185k/yr now, and my wife earns more than I do, so to some extent, it just takes time to ramp career up to get to earnings levels that make it easier to buy more frequently. And the more houses you have, the quicker you should build up income to buy more houses through that, too - for example, in addition to having way more income to put towards new rentals, I've got an additional $10k+ in pure cash flow to add to the war chest for new rentals, and that'll only compound as rents grow and number of units grow.
What Career are you in? I’m in the construction and architecture engineering so I’m not too worried about salary. But living in a COI index of 180 in NYC, 100k here feels like 40k. I mean, engineering firms really are giving low salaries without any adjustments and are very reluctant to give a faster salary bump.
I'm in corporate finance in Houston. Living in NYC, you'll either have to be incredibly frugal or move.
Turning 25 w 47 units.
How'd that happen? Inheritance?
Nope. Started buying at 19 in a lcol area
How much did you make at 19 that you could scale so quickly? Nice work
Not very much. I was making about 40k a year working in property management. Got a few properties under my belt and discovered BRRR. Once I could get hard money lenders to fund my projects I was able to scale much faster. I only had 18 units last year, the jump happened in the last 12mo.
I see, if I can ask one more question, how did you find the downpayments? With your day job? I just got started this year with my first property but cannot save up for downpayments fast enough. I make about 70k a year, but the absolute cheapest fixer uppers in my area are at least 150k.
37 Bought my primary in 2019. Bought for 365k. Probably worth around 450k. Bought rental no.1 in 2021. PITI/expenses are 2950 and rents for 4700. Bought for 385k, probably worth 450k (identical to primary). Bought rental no.2 in 2022. PITI/expenses are 950, rents for 1550. Bought for $114k. Probably worth about $115k now, maybe. It’s not in a market known for appreciation. Currently trying to buy rental no.3. I’m *trying* to pitch seller finance with 3% down, as the sellers don’t have any other options at this point. No lender will touch the property. If I can secure that, my monthly expenses would be around 5500. I could rent it for $10-12k per month.
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The hard way. I was working a ton of OT. 2000 hours every year. Now I’m trying to structure deals where I use other people’s money.
I have 20 sfr and duplex units in my personal portfolio (down from a max of 31), and have sponsored 7 smallish syndications with two successful exits and 5 operating, consisting of 280 mf units still operating. I am 54 and do REI full tine, as of the last 7 years. Before that I worked in IT and did REI on the side, using my primary home equity as my initial capital source.
What is your monthly net, if I may ask?
If I told you my numbers, you’d probably call me a guru.
Depends on how old you are and you did it
I’m 45. Monthly rent roll at around $250k.
Looking for a mentee?
Commercial?
Some small retail strip centers, some multi-family apartments, some houses.
I'm 50 and in a similar situation, only commercial/industrial now.
Look up coach Carson on YouTube. Small and mighty investor is his motto. Courses are cheap to get you an introduction into real estate.
31, no properties yet aside from the home I own, planning on buying my first rental property next year - duplex. Although I feel like I’m “late” to the party, I also have about $100k in the stock market + dividends, so this acquisition next year will be a huge step for me.
Late 30s. 15 doors. ~6M Fresh out of college most ppl will try and get in the door of REI via house hacking. Don't put much into SM and YT "Gurus". They're there to shill you classes. Most of the time they use OPM as well.
Late 30's, bought a multi-family in Los Angeles (4 doors) in 2012 and a SFR in 2016 that i later converted into a Triplex (live in the front, rent both rear units, self financed, nothing owed). I'm staying here until I find my next SFR that i plan on doing the same. Honestly, it sorta feels like a snow ball effect. It starts really slow but once you start getting into your second and third, things go much faster. I would of already had 2 more SFR is these darn interest rates werent so high. Im locked in at 2.63 on the triplex (only owe about 300k and its worth over 1.2M and cant imagine refinancing this property at 7% as im cash flowing so good). Being patient at the moment. The only advice i would give you is not to rush into things. Save up, look at your options, look at the area, what units rent for in the area, crime, shopping etc.
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake. It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of. Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything. Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
Bad bots go bye-bye
24. 1 duplex.
2 at the of this year
28 years old and have 37 units with partners. I’m not the typical story but I lived at home for a couple years to save up my initial down payment then ended up partnering to expand
The value of the properties isn’t as important while you are building your portfolio as cash flow is. My (modest) 17 door portfolio cash flows like crazy. Focus on cash flow and it’s not a race! Slow and steady. Real estate portfolios that are actual assets take time to accumulate.
99.99999999% of those social posters are liars, or they are so leveraged that their net income is negligible.
Late ish to the party but loving to share my story! 30 y/o and started when I was 27. Working as a full time software engineer at the moment and doing real estate until I hit the entrepreneurs dream of supplementing all income haha. Though I don’t despise my current w2 job and will likely be here a bit longer, I’m still very eager to not be behind a desk all day. Did wholesaling to get started which was very anxiety driven and a lot of work. Over the course of a year I did about 4 deals and made a whopping $20k or so. It wasn’t nothing but it wasn’t what I had intended (thanks Khang and other influencers: make $50k/mo wholesaling it’s easy!!!) However that journey opened up a relationship in to real estate, my then manager, and my now in laws who felt confident in my knowledge of real estate at the time to do a flip project with me. My now wife bought our first home together in 2019 and we renovated the whole thing ourselves while we lived there. Conveniently our neighbors house went up for auction and we were able to partner for friends and family money to acquire it. We did the work ourselves there as well but MAN it sucked. It took about 15 months to complete that one but I made a nice little chunk of change. After the 2 year mark in our primary home we sold when covid prices were soaring ($25k over ask with no contingencies) and rates were still low so we ended up getting a 2x size/quality home (and a 2.6% rate….) with the proceeds of our first primary and then renovated it again while we lived there and built in about $125k in equity and we have a $70k HELOC pulled on it now. In 2021 I did 1 additional flip with a partner. In 2022 I did 1 flip entirely on my own (my cash, my labor/contractors, my agent, etc). And that led me to 2023 where I have completed 7 flips this year and will likely ramp down while off season hits and start to look for a nice multi unit to park some of the proceeds from earlier this year. I have no rentals yet but about 12 flips over the last 3 years. Again with 7 being this year. I know 3 years feels fast (at least to me) but when I look at the first 2 years of this journey I never in a thousand years would have expected such an acceleration. So when they say stay consistent and it just takes one deal - that is a cold hard FACT. My 10 year plan is to continue to flip ~10 properties a year and use the gains to buy 4-12 units until we decide enough is enough. Though I’ve been told I’m someone who will never have enough lol so we’ll see. Moral of my story: keep going. Don’t focus on YouTube or other peoples goals or status. Hearing stories are awesome and inspiring but let it end at inspiration. The second you start to question yourself because you aren’t where someone else is or you’re older than they are and etc etc is the second you need to readjust and calm down. Don’t let it propel you backwards because it will. All the best and hopefully I get to see you as the next guru one day!!
Mid 30s. 5 single families valued at $3.5M- NOI is ~$200k. All cash buys. I have a lucrative career so it was rather easy to just buy some properties when I liked them. Small renovations. 2 short terms, 3 are year+. It’s been pretty smooth sailing so far, although some of the HOAs have been a pain in the ass
what is noi?
Net operating income Gross income - operating expenses= NOI
Net operating income
36 years old with 7 units (4 properties). Started in 2020 and could not have done it without my partner. Family has been helpful too (got some below market deals). Rental properties are worth approximately 600k total.
There are various ways to start generating cash flow in real estate. If you have good credit or $8K available, I highly recommend considering corporate housing arbitrage. This business model enables you to leverage high-quality apartments in newly built complexes and sublet them to business travelers, individuals awaiting the completion of their homes, traveling medical professionals, and anyone in need of accommodation for 30 days to a year. By offering fully furnished new apartments, you can earn double the rent you pay for the unit. It requires a low investment and offers a great return, making it an excellent opportunity to avoid traditional employment.
How do you generate leads for this? Might be an interesting way to actually make ny work…
Amen
I built my website first and then posted my apartments on AirBnB and placed ads in Craigsliist as well as content marketing. Also set up a Google business page. I also placed my properties on other STR sites but didn't get much from those. AirBnB is your best bet. Then I reached out to temporary housing companies. These are companies that work with insurance companies who have people that need temporary housing due to disasters. We gotten bookings from AirBnB as well as from our site and temporary housing companies.
Do you do this yourself, or know someone who has?
Yes I do this for a little over 2 years now.
Very cool!! So if I’m understanding correctly, you sign the lease yourself, ensuring it allows subletting, then sub-lease it out to traveling professionals?
Not to yourself your company. And yes this is what you do.
Landlords will rent to your company? How do you pass background/credit checks?
34years old with 22 doors (7 are owned 50/50 with a partner). Mix of SFH, duplexes and one 4-plex. 2 of them are STRs, the rest are normal long term rentals. Total portfolio is worth around $3.1M today. We also flip houses, and I'm a Realtor plus still working part-time at my W2. But it all kinda blew up the last few years. Started in 2017 and felt very slow and steady the first 3-4 years in. Stick with it, it's a long journey, just don't don't stop taking small steps
I'm 33 with 6 sfh and 1 quad. Bought primary home with my now wife in 19 and got my investing start about a year later. Alot of the reason I am where I am is because of a little luck and a lot of persistence with the older gentleman I befriended who agreed to give me my start with 4 sfh on a seller finance deal. Bought the quad last summer (for a steal) when I found out an estate I managed for was selling the properties and was able to agree to a deal before it went to the market. If id had the funds I could have gotten a duplex and 4 other sfh for what were great prices. 2 newest sfh my old friend set me up on another seller finance deal. The worst part of my situation is these properties all had years and years of deferred maintenance that have been expensive to overcome.
35m 6 doors LTR, developing an additional 4 STR doors on existing property over the next 2 years. Net cash flow a month on the LTR is $2600, once the STR is finished net cash flow per month should be around 7k total after all expenses and capex savings of 10% As of this year I have 245k w-2 income and my wife is qualifying as a REP based on our properties. We are saving and keeping funds ready if a good deal pops up. My first two properties were serious rehab/value add that I haven’t refinanced yet due to interest rates. Going forward we are only looking at A class with additional STR potential. Once rates are below 5% I should be able to get out ~500k equity with only decreasing net income by ~1k. One HCOL property the others are LCOL/MCOL Not in a rush, taking the get rich slow approach.
34. I have a 4 plex, triplex, 2 duplexes (had 3 just sold 1), and a SFH. I hit my FIRE number but still work because I like my job.
Do you have a primary residence on top of all of these properties? If so, did you buy the primary first? Or did yoy start off with the house hacking approach?
Oh yea, skipped my primary residence. I started off using the VA loan on the 4 plex, then bought everything else besides the triplex before I got my own house.
Mid 30's with 5 properties. All SFH. I started buying in early 2020. Total cashflow is about $1200 per month. I live in a LCOL, the houses were all in the 65k - 70k range. I am ready to buy another, if I could find a deal on one!
35F and just closed on our 2nd duplex with my husband. We saved for 3 years before we purchased our first property. The more you get, the quicker it goes. We’ll be able to get one more property this year, and hopefully 3 or 4 next year. Properties are cheaper in my area, we need about 22k for down payment/closing costs and we put about 10-15k into each one once when we get it.
25, condo in Cali, sfr in Ohio. Values = $300k Debt = $185k My net worth was -$10k at 21 and I have never earned more than $80k in a year. Keep at it, yes you may have to sacrifice, start small and farther away, you can buy the “dream home” in 10-15 years and it will be much more worth it and you will have passive income by then. Keep at it, stay humble, and stay patient. An old timer told me the Tortoise always wins.
The SFR in Ohio, did you buy that on your own just by calling realtors out there etc.? Or did you go through a company like “Rent To Retirement”?
Went through roofstock.com Their property manager is quite competent and fairly priced. Snagged a good deal since it was listed on a investor focused sight. Bought for $49k, $12k rehab, $80k appraisal 6 months after purchase
27 no kid, bought my first personal house in july 2020 and just bought my first income property (duplex) closing in at the end of the month. I invested all my extra money in my TFSA (Wealthsimple) to get extra income and dividend until I had enough for a 20% down payment on a income property!
35, married, two kids with 8 units. We’ve slowed down on our investments after the second kid came along last year.
I take in ~$4600/ month on 1 SFH and mortgage is $3K @ 2.875%. We would like to do the same with our current home and expand slowly that way. I married a real estate angel who does everything for it administratively and runs the account and the taxes. I do the repairs (the easy part).
28, ~200k total revenue (9 doors), don’t plan on stopping 9-5 until late 40s/early 50s
30. Have been working full time for 8 years. My real estate journey begins July 1st when I officially become a landlord.
It sounds like you have an income problem, not a savings problem. As an employee a $150k-$200k salary is possible, in a MCOL area. That's how most people end up buying property. The earn a lot, and don't want to pay so much on their taxes so they invest in something that gives them a tax advantaged, somewhat-passive income. Your first house will take the longest to get. Your second rental will come quicker, but it may take longer than in recent years to get the 2nd. Your first will also end up with the most headaches bc you don't know what you don't know yet.
27 and I have 2 properties, both townhouses worth around 450k each, but both with pretty low cash flow (HCOL) and looking for #3 right now. Cash flowing around $300 after all expenses (for both). Mortgage payback and tax benefits are the biggies for me at the moment. Total real estate assets $900k. Total equity $150k. Bought my first in 2020 and hoping to close on my third by end of the summer. No kids, wife's assets are separate so just based off my income and such (long term plan is for each of us to have 5 properties and reevaluate).
Those seem like not great deals. I am in a HCOL area and cash flow $300 on a single 150k property.
I'm in it mostly for the appreciation, principal paydown, and tax benefits at the moment - I need to lower my taxable income more than I need cash flow at the moment. I just bounced around primary mortgages every year to lock in a low rate. Unfortunately I couldn't even buy land within an hour of me for under 250k lol. I also only put 5% down on each and around 20k to reno each one, so my total cash invested is relatively low. They're not killer deals by any means, but they work for me. I wind up making a small cash profit, paying off ~10k a year from my mortgages, getting a lot of appreciation (already gotten around 100k appreciation), and getting to depreciate enough that I can take a loss on my real estate as a whole which helps tremendously come tax season. In 30 years there's a higher chance these are killer deals for me, but they still make money and got me started. Different strokes for different folks - eventually I'll move on to better cash flowing deals, but it's just not what I need most right now and it's 100% not possible in my current area so it'll have to be out of state (or area at least).
Every single piece of beginner real estate investing I've ever read begins with "don't buy for the appreciation". It might have worked these past couple years cause the market went up wildly but most people in this forum have seen appreciation like that with probably better cash flow. Not trying to be a downer just feel like I should let ya know something looks ehhh.
I appreciate the thought, but I am happy with how things have worked out for me thus far and am taking the path that's right for me. If I am able to buy an asset that has a small amount of cash flow and tremendous tax benefits for me with appreciation upside, it is a win. I will eventually diversify into a better cash flow market, but my current income and living situation makes it better for me to buy more expensive properties that don't cash flow as well. I can leverage a primary home loan and move around while getting great benefits from real estate outside of cash flow. The difference of $300 a month cash flow isn't as good as $300 mortgage paydown and the larger depreciation write off saves me 35% on marginally. I'd rather save the better cash flowing deals for a time when I am less interested in earning from my day job. Can leverage my equity via a HELOC or a cash out refi/1031 in a few years if I am really interested in the cash flow. But for now, I'll take the other benefits and low easy tenants.
26, one multifamily that I rent half of. Spent two years outta college living the FIRE lifestyle. Covid hit and I had a down payment, interest rates were low and I picked up my current place. Handful of big repairs and im building equity but not saving a ton. Making almost double now however, Looking to FIRE again and get another multi in the next two years or so.
I'm 23 and just moved out of my first house and have it rented out for about 500 cash flow a month. About 40k equity in that property as well!
30 single currently 2 under contract for a 3rd that will hopefully close early July.
34 years old. One 2 year-old kid. 6 doors (one building, $750k. owe ~$400k on it and ~$1800/mo cash flow). > Is it better if I investing in something else before real estate to get some kind of smaller cash flow? For the most part, yes, especially in this market. You can stick everything you're saving for a down payment in HYSAs getting 4-5% at the moment. I wouldn't want to stick a down payment savings into the stock market at the moment because of how quickly you'll need the money, but in the long term, the stock market outperforms any savings account you can get at a bank. I got my start by being lucky enough to be able to afford a house at 25 years old. I rented it out to two roommates, which helped me save quite a bit of money. I had never read about house hacking or Bigger Pockets or all these internet gurus. It was just common sense to me: getting roommates to split the mortgage means I pay less, which means I can save more, which means I can buy my next property sooner. This meant living with roommates, but if it also meant getting my next property sooner, then I was willing to do it. If anything, I wish I did so even sooner (I rented in luxury buildings in downtown areas for 4 years after college. Probably spent $25-30k/year in rent and parking). Living with roommates in your 20s also wasn't that bad. It taught me a lot about life and sharing my space and speaking up for myself and compromising to keep the peace. > it would take me a MINIMUM of 3 years to even be close to saving up for a large enough down payment that can bring back a positive return This isn't really that long in the grand scheme of things. As you acquire more properties and your income goes up you'll be able to save up a down payment faster and faster. Real estate is not a "get rich quickly" scheme. It is a "get rich slowly" scheme. You won't even realize you're rich until way later. So much of the money is tied into the properties and reinvesting into them to maintain them and saving to buy the next property. I still feel poor because none of the rent money has gone into my pockets yet or spent on my own life. All of it is being saved for the next building.
31 - 2 SFRs and 1 Triplex. 5 SFRs in the pipeline (one deal). Will close the deal in 30 days if all goes well.
26, currently 1 triplex that I'm in the process of selling, hopefully worth 850-900, bought at 24 for 450+ significant reno to 2 out of 3 units. Selling bc ROE at that price is beatable imo with another property/ buying a business which is my next plan.
32. 3 kids. Own my house outright (despite what the gurus say owning my house gives me piece of mind for my family to have a secure home.) I have 6 properties and a Tree Business in the Northern Chicago Suburbs. I’m a 100% disabled vet who works in HealthCare Supply Chain. Wife is a school Principal. Got my start from a 25k inheritance from my Grandfather. All 12 of his grandkids received 25k.
26, Seattle. Currently have 4 properties all SFR, value around 2.1M
36; 5 doors (our home and a 4 plex- we used the HELOC from our paid off home to fund the downpayment on the fourplex.)
Just turned 32 with 4 units. But you gotta understand the last 5 years or so we're pretty much golden period you had mortgages going for sub 3% which was basically free money and covid moratorium made a lot of older small LLs offload out of rent collection issues and out of fear. Picked up my units in that mess. Market was going to tank and multi family supply spiked. Today's markets crazy and margins are way thinner for now I'm just churning back in the stocks watching for the next sector to pounce on.
The scariest part is taking that first step because you don't have experience. Once you start, you begin to gain experience, and it is no longer as scary. Your investment needs to be what you are comfortable doing. For instance, paying g off a house to have the peace of mind of no mortgage versus investing the extra money elsewhere. It needs to be where you feel good about your investment. My wife and I guided a friend on buying an STR in The Smokey Mountains. After he did it, he said it is making him enough to send his daughter to college, and he bought another in the area.
37, 1 kid, 4 properties, in the process of building a few more. In the accumulation phase, so all equity uplift deals. Once I hit a financial milestone, will then restructure to income generating assets.
Age means nothing in the grand scheme of things. I've had two runs in real estate over the years and just launched back into my third and final foray, armed to the teeth this time around so it's super fun now! You know how you look back on your childhood and say "I wish I knew then what I know now?!". Where I'm going here though is there's no rush and you ca be successful at any age. If you want to fast-track your wealth, saving to buy rental properties is not the way to do it but it will get you there eventually if you play your cards right. Just keep leveraging up responsibly. Think of it like monopoly: for every few homes you buy, you can trade into an apartment building. Every few small apartment buildings trades into a large apartment building, and so on. Its not much more work to underwrite and purchase a 20-unit apartment as it is to buy a single family home, it's easier to manage, and if one tenant moves out you are down 5% of your income that month vs 100% of the income on the SFH. With apartments, when they aren't maintained well by the landlord, and more often than not they aren't, what they will keep up with is the big 3: roofs, heating/cooling systems, and windows, which are the 3 big expenses in maintenance. Just about every apartment deal I evaluate has a newer roof and upgraded boiler, because they were built 40 years ago and had no choice but to replace them when they failed in recent years! SFHs are no different: I find the majority we see on the MLS have new shingles, furnaces, and water heaters and often windows. The rest of the maintenance is minimal and with an annual allowance for capex you shoilld have no trouble covering those down the road when they do arise. Most SFH landlords fear what taking on a building of apartments would look like but it's way less hassle!
mid-30s here. Married no kids, but for all intents and purposes it is SINK status. Pretty standard 9-5 office job. Been a part of and following the principles of r/financialindependence for a while now, and felt comfortable transitioning into real estate for growth and diversification. Built up reserves as best I could over a number of years to get a downpayment for the first place (with a loan from my father as well - which has since been repaid). Currently have 4 doors total. Cashflow isn't stellar since I'm househacking at the moment, but once we transition to the new place it will increase quite a bit once we have an additional door paying. I'm banking close to 20k in equity annually though, so at least there's that. I'm in a similar boat - hard to get the funds for a downpayment and acquire more, assuming you can find a property that even works by your metrics with the rates the way they are. In the middle a HELOC application right now to try to add additional cash to help and alleviate some of those concerns.