REI Plan

[Michael R.]

Hi,

I've posted a few times for advice but recently I have made the move to leave the world of being a rental tenant in order to live in a multifamily property and rent out one unit to offset the cost.

Once I move I will be living in a 2 unit property with approximately 200k in equity (40%) right from the start. In addition to the equity, I have approximately $54k of liquid assets. I'm putting up more money to lower the monthly payments, and I should be able to live with monthly house related expenses of only $600-800.

I currently work full time as an accountant with the goal of becoming a full time REI. I would ideally like to go the rental property route to achieve this, however I need advice in putting a plan together to make this happen in a few years.

I'm struggling in putting together a plan to achieve $80-100k in annual cash flow in order to quit my day job. Should I aim to buy multiple high leveraged properties in the hopes of rolling those into larger multi unit building purchases (the thought here would be to NOT make extra payments on the mortgage), or should I try to pay these properties off? It seems like the route of building up a portfolio of many smaller units "free and clear" is more of a long term retirement plan versus a plan to become an investor. I'm thinking that if I bought several high yielding 2-4 unit properties in the short term, I could use the saved cash flow and profit on sale for a larger apartment building. Also, I'm considering leaving my job next year to become a real estate broker. Any thoughts/ideas? Thanks.