How did this happen? A look back on 1 year ago...

[Adam Hughes]

Friends, I share this story in the hopes that you'll find encouragement and belief in yourself. The other night, like many nights, I was laying in bed letting my thoughts run wild. I've found these thoughts and excitement are a trait I love and hate about myself. Anyways, in my thoughts about what I want to accomplish in 2022 I realized I'd yet to appreciate 2021. While thinking about this I had to ask myself, "How did this happen? How did I get myself in these situations?" You see, in September of 2020 I owned 1 rental property and had thought for 10 years about how I wanted to grow my rental portfolio but had done nothing about it. By fate, my grandmother wanted to sell her farm, which I emotionally was attached to so I bought it. This enabled me to by the farm in October then 2 new duplexes in December of 2020. My goal for 2021 was to own 10 doors, essentially adding 4 more in 2021. I analyzed deal after deal and as of this month, 1 year later, I own 16 doors in my own portfolio. Again, I had to ask myself, how did this happen? 

So this is further than I could have ever imagined myself being in less than a year. As any good informercial would say, "but wait there's more"! In January, I found a deal that I thought was "TOO BIG" for me to take on with a 36 unit complex, but something called to me about this property. I posted on BP Facebook page for advice and met a fellow investor in the St. Louis area. He and I hit it off as we both had a mentality of 1 step at a time, but let nothing get in our way. In June we closed on the property, secured $2.1 million for the purchase and a $1.5 million construction/rehab loan. We did this through syndication, which is a word I didn't even realized existed a couple of years ago when I started listening to BP. 

This move helped us start our own Property Management company that is now managing our personal portfolios, current partnership properties, and additional properties we syndicated down the road. We hired our first employee and continue to improve our processes daily. Oh yeah, and I have 3 additional duplexes under contract currently! My goal was 10 doors in 2021 and it's looking as though I'll have at least 58 doors!

Once again, I have to ask myself, "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?" Well the answer summed up below is the conclusion I came to. 

1) Set goals - Looking back at the goal I set, it was probably too conservative. That said, if I hadn't set a goal I would have never accomplished what I have so far this year. By the way, another goal I had set was to make at least 2 great business connections. From the story above you can tell that was a huge part of my progress this past year. 

2) Use the tools and resources at your fingertips - Bigger Pockets has been a very big part of my knowledge base. I listen to BP about 4-5 mornings a week while I'm on my run or rides. That tool has inspired me to use the calculators from BP, my own tools, networking opportunities, deal finding techniques, and much more. I've also read about 75% of the books on BP plus many other real estate books. 

3) Make Large Leaps by by taking each step individually - Brandon and David say it all the time. Things can seem complicated, such as syndicating your first deal on a 36 unit complex. Break it down in to singular steps and take each step as they were meant to be taken. 

4) Network - If I would have never taken the call from the random dude on Facebook, I'd never have started this partnership where I've learned so much and earned so much. 

5) Create processes before you need them - I started building processes out for leasing, evictions, rent collection, and other difficult topics before I bought these properties. It's made crazy issues so much easier! 

In conclusion, I'm certainly not claiming victory nor to be an expert. As a matter of fact, I'm far from it and the day I feel I'm the expert is the day that I'm sure this will all become somewhat boring to me. I love learning and that is probably my attraction to real estate, it will take a life time to learn. Again, I hope this story touches at least one person and encourages you to take on those "scary" challenges and take them head on! Be excited, Be brave, and Be bold! 

If anyone wants to discuss further feel free to reach out as I'd be happy to talk in general or about specifics. 

Best Wishes to all of You!