Firefighter Chasing FIRE Locks Down 50 Doors in 1 Year

Kyle Robertson was a Realtor until the market crashed in ’08. He transitioned to become a full-time firefighter but had a burning passion to do more. So, he again turned to real estate—but this time as an investor.

Name: Kyle Robertson

Age: 36

Location: Eugene, Oregon

What were you doing prior to real estate?

I was a Realtor from 2004 until the market crash in 2008/2009. When I couldn’t sell homes to pay the bills, I started looking for another career that was a bit more recession-resistant.

I had been a volunteer firefighter since early 2007, so the next logical step was to pursue the fire service full-time. I went to school and got my degree as a paramedic, and by the end of 2009, I was hired as a full-time firefighter/paramedic with a small town in Oregon.

But real estate was my first love, and I followed it religiously for the next 15 years until I pulled the trigger on investing full-time.

What got you interested in real estate investing, and how did you get started?

My father owned a real estate business while I was growing up, so I was exposed when I was very young. He never branched out into investing himself—he chose to operate his successful business and that was enough for him.

After I got hired at the fire department and worked 24 hours on, 48 hours off, I realized I had some free time for a “side hustle.” I already had one rental house (which used to be my primary house before I got married and bought one with my wife), so I started educating myself. I explored terms I had heard before, such as cash flow, assets and liabilities, and multi-amily investing.

Enter the wonderful world of books! I never was much of a book “reader” unless it had lots of pictures. I blame my short attention span. But after I burned through Rich Dad Poor Dad, I found that I just couldn’t get enough. I started reading Lindahl, Keller, David Greene, Brandon Turner, Michael Blank, and a pile of other names.

Fast forward and…

Here’s the quick version: I own 50 residential doors spread throughout four apartment buildings, all purchased in the past 12 months. It’s been a hell of a ride!

Here’s the long version: I mentioned before that I already owned a house before I got married. After my wife and I bought a home together, we rented my bachelor pad out to local college students, mostly because our economy in Oregon was in the toilet—I couldn’t sell it if I wanted to. We cash flowed around $100/month, which didn’t get me too excited.

But five years later, our market had begun to recover, along with appreciation rates. We decided to finally attempt to sell the house and—to our surprise—the property value had exploded upward nearly 50% since the last time we checked its value. We took that money and ran (and paid a lot of taxes, too).

Since we experienced success in residential investing, we decided to try our hand at commercial investing. We located a small mini-storage facility in our hometown that had been for sale for nearly six months and made an offer for owner-carry financing, which they accepted. And just like that, we were business owners!

We instantly lost about $1,000/month for the first six months because the facility was only 40% full. The previous owner had been neglecting the business because he just didn’t want it any longer. But once we rented everything out, we were cash flowing over $2,000/month.

We kept those storage units for almost three years until another investor made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. We had purchased the facility for $165,000 and ended up selling three years later for $325,000 (and we didn’t even change anything about it!). Isn’t real estate great?!

We took the profit and did a 1031 exchange for the very first time. We bought two duplexes that were side by side for $219,000 each (four doors)—well below market value and in a state of neglect. We added $20,000/door of upgrades and raised rents from $500/month per door to $1,250/month.

Then, we sold them in 2019 after two years of ownership for $325,000 each. Cha-ching! We 1031-ed that profit into a fourplex and a 12-plex in Arkansas.

At that point, cash flow had become so phenomenal that we decided to sell our family home, take the profits, and buy even more apartments in the south! We bought a 16-unit turnkey apartment complex in Tennessee in June 2020 and an 18-unit BRRRR apartment complex in Arkansas in September 2020, bringing our total portfolio to four apartment complexes and 50 doors.

Now my little family of five is living in a three-bedroom house with… my parents! Not sure why my wife hasn’t divorced me yet. Stay tuned.

What is your real estate investment plan and preferred investing strategy?

I gravitate toward a few: multifamily, buy and hold, fix and flip, commercial. Currently, my focus is buy and hold, value-add, repositionings. Next up for us will be real estate syndications and partnerships.

We have always done investing on our own, but a very smart man once told me that owning 50% of something is still better than owning 100% of nothing!

How much did you have to invest when you first started?

First house: $5,000 down, which I had to borrow. Storage units: $10,000 down.

How many deals have you done to date?

Nine.

What is the most important part of a deal for you?

Cash flow and time.

How do you know if a property fits your goals?

I use a modified version of Brandon Turner’s four square method to assess properties. I modified it because the size of the properties I am looking at require some in-depth number crunching to find an accurate ROI.

Pro tip: 5% repairs, vacancy, and CapEx allowances are too low. Double it to 10%, and your calculations will be more accurate. Don’t forget things like lawncare, snow removal, and pest control contracts. These are expenses that will eat away at your ROI.

What red flags do you look out for when purchasing property?

Pro formas—make your own! Lots of these documents are made by an owner or Realtor who’s attempting to sell the property based on “potential” rents. Don’t buy it. Run all calculations off of real rents and expenses.

Walk the properties before you buy, or hire someone you trust to do it for you if you’re out of the area. Don’t take just anyone’s word on condition. If you’re buying multifamily, then hire an experienced agent or lawyer who has been there and done that. This is not the asset class for a beginner as your representative.

Real estate isn’t “passive.” If it is, you’re probably doing it wrong. Manage your manager!

How has real estate investing changed your life?

Financial stability gives you confidence in every aspect of your life—be it personal, professional, or spiritual satisfaction. My relationship with my wife of 12 years has never been more stable and happy than it has been in the last five years as we ramped up our business.

And the most surprising part about all of this has been my obnoxious desire to mentor others on real estate investing. I probably annoy the heck out of my coworkers because I talk about financial freedom all the time (but oh, well). I’m their boss so they have to at least pretend to listen.

What’s your “why”—the reason you pursued real estate investing and your drive to keep going when things get tough?

When I was 30 (as most 30-year-olds have done), I took a step back and looked at where I was in life. I was married to a beautiful woman, working on my third kid, owned a nice home, and had a stable job that paid me very well.

And I was also very, very unhappy. I couldn’t figure it out. I was always grumpy, frequently tired (thanks to a firefighter 24/48 work schedule), and a miserable person to live with. Although I was proud of what I had accomplished, I felt painfully unfulfilled.

I’m a planner and a self-proclaimed doer. I realized at that time that I had done everything I had planned, and now I had nothing. I was consumed with an overwhelming despair that nothing in life would ever be exciting again, everything had been accomplished that needed accomplishing, and nothing could change that. It was time to sit back and wait to die.

I was depressed. I felt a deep desire to create something, but I didn’t know what. I tried to come up with a new product (Shark Tank-style), but I wasn’t smart or industrious enough for that. I thought about buying a business, but I didn’t want a second job. I wanted something I could have that was semi-passive and generational (something I could hand down when I kicked the bucket).

My wife was nearly done with me. She was the reason I changed. My family was the only thing I had that truly made me happy, and I made a decision that I would do anything I could to keep them.

I knew I needed more than the fire department could provide, so I took stock of my options. I knew that to be successful, I would need to stick with what I knew. I knew real estate. Shortly thereafter, I rolled the dice and bought the 50-unit storage unit facility. And the rest is history.

What should people consider before getting involved in real estate investing?

You need to want it. If you don’t want it, you’re wasting your time and energy.
You will not be successful if you’re not willing to spend the time reading, learning, researching, and calculating deals. Be a student of the industry, no matter if you own 10 or 10,000 units.
Surround yourself with successful people. You will become your environment. Attitudes are contagious!
Don’t use the word can’t… like, ever. Whether you say you can or you can’t, you’re right.
Failure is the best teacher. Fail often, but learn oftener (probably not a real word but you get it).

How did you find out about BiggerPockets? How has it helped you?

At the beginning of our journey, I invited a local investor out for dinner to pick his brain. I signed up that afternoon.

BiggerPockets has helped me with networking, advice, and most of all motivation. I love success stories, and reading fellow investors’ journeys to FI really lit my fire.

Hopefully, my story will help light someone else’s!

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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.