Morning,
Raise your hand if your property taxes went up. So…. Everyone? Good thought it was just been me.
When we all get a decades worth of appreciation in two years – we end up with a nice tax bill. Just in time for what is likely to be a lackluster selling season as buyers cope with 5%+ interest rates.
But you don’t need to be a doctor to know that opportunities are likely to start bubbling up.
Speaking of doctors – we have two doctors that are working to help fellow doctors escape the rat race through real estate. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Letizia Alto MD & Kenji Asakura MD of Semi Retired MD!
How many doors do you have?
We have 150+ doors
What got you into real estate investing?
We realized that we would never get to have the life we wanted, on our terms, if we didn’t have financial security outside of our day jobs (we’re both physicians).
We chose investing in real estate because of the ability to replace our clinical incomes with cashflow, the ability to own a tangible asset, the ability to use leverage and the ability to shelter our income from taxes (which we have done since 2015 when Kenji first met criteria for real estate professional status).
We’ve been forcing appreciation, saving on taxes, and recycling all our cashflow and tax savings back into buying more real estate since the very beginning, which has allowed our wealth to grow geometrically.
What market(s) do you operate in?
- Western Washington
- Spokane
- Dallas
- Las Vegas
We are expanding into at least 1-2 other markets this year.
How would you describe your portfolio?
A mix of buy-and-hold multifamily (ranging from duplexes to a 160 unit) and short-term rentals with a mixed use and a building project thrown in for good measure!
What are you currently buying?
We just bought in Vegas and are actively looking for deals in TX, AZ and in Puerto Rico. We’re also planning on getting a short-term rental in Italy.
Tell us about your biggest mistake in real estate?
We bought an older six-unit in Oklahoma City that needed a lot of work, and didn’t do as great a job as we should have overseeing the contractor. We should have fired him much faster than we did.
In the end, we decided to sell the property to get into better deals, but it took a lot of our time and effort for a year and we didn’t end up walking away with a profit.
Tell us about your biggest win in real estate?
We recently bought a significant portion of a 160 unit as a tenants in common (TIC)/syndication.
This was a great learning process of how to structure a property purchase a part tenants in common and then also have a portion of the purchase as a syndication with limited partners. This is a great value-add opportunity in Vegas, and we’re excited to turn the property around!
Outside of real estate what else do you invest in?
- Start-ups
- Stocks
- Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
Books people should read before investing
- Gary Keller – Millionaire RE Investor
- Robert Kiyosaki – Rich Dad Poor Dad
What advice would you give to a new investor?
Find a mentor who has done exactly what you want to do, and follow in their footsteps.
Investing in your mind and in having amazing mentors will help accelerate your trajectory (while helping you avoid mistakes) immensely.
Enough Business
So much of our lives is spent in front of a screen. Like for instance this newsletter + Twitter account!
We spend our 8+ hour work days hunched over a computer – hard at work to eventually buy that next rental. Then go home (or leave the home office) to grab dinner and sit in front of a screen watching the last season of Ozarks.
Been thinking that maybe our dogs have the right mindset. Always brimming with excitement to get outside. If to do nothing more, than to sit in the grass and watch the squirrels.
There is a happy medium somewhere between the two. We just need to find it.
See you on Tuesday (STR Pro – Questions to ask your potential cleaners)
