Good morning,
Earlier this week I sent out a quick tweet – simple asking how much people paid (out of pocket) for their first rental property.
The series of responses was diverse – from perfect BRRRRs ($0) to $160,000.
Yet the majority was in the very manageable sub $20,000 range. Got me thinking that while real estate is the playground of the rich – you don’t need to be rich to get started.
Which leads me to today’s investor – or should I say investors. This couple has taken the FinTwit world by storm! It is my pleasure to introduce you to the FI Couple!
How many doors do you have?
Currently we have 7! This is a mix of 2 duplexes and 1 triplex. We currently house hack one of the duplexes. All of our properties are in the same city and within 5-6 minutes of each other.
What got you into real estate investing?
As newlyweds in 2018 we knew we needed to find a way to pay off $100k student loans. We were burnt out in our jobs and wanted more time to together and the ability to do more of what we loved like travel and spend time with family.
We knew if we had debt, we would have to work jobs to be able to pay off the debt. We came to realize that by house hacking, we could buy a home with an extra unit, rent that unit out and use the rent to cover our mortgage. This would lower our housing and speed up our ability to pay off debt.
What market(s) do you operate in?
Upstate NY near Albany
How would you describe your portfolio?
We focus on long term, buy and hold, small multi family buildings
What are you currently buying?
We are currently in the process of acquiring an off market, 3-unit property with the help of a hard money loan. This deal was a word-of-mouth referral and will be the first deal we buy without moving in. The purchase price will be for $190,000 however at this time, the ARV for the property is around $245,000
Tell us about your biggest mistake in real estate?
As people who had debt and not a lot of money, we thought it would be best if we tried to do everything ourselves on the property. This ended up costing us more money due to us not doing great work and cost us time.
By having time focused on smaller property tasks, this then held us back from focusing on higher dollar productive tasks .
Tell us about your biggest win in real estate?
A big win for us came in September of 2020. We had always wanted to achieve our goal of getting paid to live for free. When we closed on our 2nd house hack duplex, we moved in and rented our former apartment out. As a result, between the rent we collected from all units, this covered our entire housing payment which was a big goal for us
Outside of real estate what else do you invest in?
Outside of real estate, we like to invest our money into stocks and ETF’s. Most of our money focused on ETF’s that cover the S&P 500 as well as the total stock market fund which is every publicly traded company in the US. We like these funds for long term growth and passive income.
Books people should read before investing
Set for Life
Simple Path to Wealth
Psychology of Money
What advice would you give to a new investor?
Know why you want to invest, what you would do if you did not have to work and learn how to network and make connections with people. If you find one deal, you found one deal. If you make the right connection? You may have just found 10 deals
Enough Business
In last week’s newsletter I broke the news that Princess (pictured below) fell down a flight of stairs. As a 13 year puppy, the fact that she only fractured her front left paw is miraculous.
Over the past two weeks she has seen half a dozen doctors and surgeons. All trying to figure out the best course of action and the extent of the fracture.
As it turns out she likely won’t need surgery – a simple cast should be enough to ensure she heals.
To be honest I don’t know how much longer we will have her. But we aim to make the remainder of her life as comfortable as possible.
Made me think about time. Seems we only appreciate it when we see it diminishing. As investors we leverage time to work for us. Much rather have time on your side.
See you Tuesday – Landlord Pro with @thepennydrop3
