How One Woman "Retired" in Her 20s Through Real Estate Investing

Abstract

Dandan's First Investment Property "My first investment property was back in 2014 in Brooklyn. It was a condo in the roughest part of town, where there are plenty of gun deaths and gang activity. I knew that the NYC real estate scene was going to have significant appreciation but due to how expensive the whole city is, I could only afford to buy in a transitioning area."I had studied the market for quite some time until finally one day I saw an open house for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom condo at the affordable price of $340k. " Professional Tenants & Growing Pains "From the period of 2016-2018, I barely kept my living expenses afloat because my Baltimore properties had some really bad tenants and I lost quite a bit of money due to nonpayment of rent, continued eviction filings and property management fees to carry out the evictions, and also to fix the tenant damages. Lessons Learned & Experience Gained "When I started to gain experience I started to understand how important it is to have really great margins to make real estate worth it, which is why I'm focusing more on multifamily long-term rentals and Airbnb holdings now as the only assets worth looking at."Some of the speculative condo buying I did in the past were very stressful due to the HOA being really awful and there being majority stakeholders which offset the control I had on my properties. You must do your research on the town and city if they're Airbnb-friendly or not!" Want to compare investment property loans? What short-term fix-and-flip loan options are available nowadays? How about long-term rental property loans? We compare several buy-and-rehab lenders and several long-term landlord loans on LTV, interest rates, closing costs, income requirements and more. What's Dandan Doing Now? "Now that I have multiple homes, buying and selling, some of the properties are completely financed by appreciation from previous properties, or I'm using loans and credit cards where it makes sense or bringing in cosigners as needed or investing partners if I need additional capital and/or labor support. "Since most of the homes I buy are in or around $90k-150k, I'm also using creative financing such as credit card debt to bridge the gap while I earn more cash income through rental properties and my recruiting company which I created in 2018 in order to continue driving liquid income to finance more property purchases and to pay for construction/renovation costs." Wondering how to finance rental properties with credit cards? You can raise $150,000-250,000 in unsecured business credit lines and cards through Fund&Grow. "If you can take managing bad actors in stride, you'll be very much in a good position to be a sane and fair landlord and be ready for the issues that will inevitably rise when managing properties." Amen.♦ How do you plan to reach financial independence with real estate? What active income streams do you plan to help carry your real estate investments in the meantime? More Real Estate Investing Reads: Financial Independence from Flipping Houses: How John Maxim Did It How Recession-Proof Are Rental Properties? About the Author G. Brian Davis is a landlord, real estate investor, and co-founder of SparkRental.