Why Your Spouse/Partner Is Your Greatest Real Estate Weapon

[Michael K Gallagher]

I do all of the reading, the looking at deals, the analyzing, but the main reason that my wife and I are in a position to have a duplex and a single family is because of my wife. She is my REI secret weapon. So in order to hopefully help others engage their spouse or partner in REI...below are some key life events and how my wife, and partner, was so key to our success.

1) Bought out first house, sold our first house two years later for a large profit, because my wife works and has such a great income we were able to afford that first house in the burbs. 

2) house in the burbs appreciates in value in 2 years, we sell it, take that money, buy a duplex, house hack it, and drop our living expenses by more than 50%.  The only reason I could house hack the duplex was because my wife was ok enough with the idea of long term wealth and our future, that a couple years in a duplex was worth it to her. She didn't have to really understand or care about the fine details, all she needed to know and be ok with is that living in a duplex would let us cut costs and save more for the future.

3) I was able to start my on LLC. With our costs were so low, because of the house hack, and because my wife still has a great job, last year I was able to start my own LLC and take a risk that, had we not been living in a duplex, I would not have been able to take.

4) My wife literally bought the new house.  We just closed on a single family to be a primary residence, and because my wife has a great W2, and we have income from the duplex, she was able to buy our current home in her own name, and qualify for some credits because my income as a 1099 didn't count.  

Long story short, I would not be where I am currently in life without a key life partner who may not know anything about cash on cash returns, or the BRRRRR method, but she has been the most important part of the investing we've been able to do so far.