27 y/o Female – 50k debt to $1M+ net worth (24 units,50 deals/yr)

[Arianne L.]

Hey BP! Wanted to share a quick story and our progression for anyone who might find it useful. 

None of this is intended to brag, as there are many more amazing people than us out there. It’s just here as an example of what is possible in a relatively short time.

TLDR; My progression from $50k in debt to $1M+ net worth in 3 years

Background:

I was born in the Philippines, moved to New Zealand with my parents and siblings in high school, then moved to the US when I married @Chris Lemire

Chris and I started our newlywed life and working career with about 50k of my student loan debt in 2014. Chris was a software developer and I was a speech language pathologist.

The dilemma:

About a year or so into our newlywed life, we realized that my chosen career wouldn’t allow us to spend much time with my side of the family on the other side of the world. We felt trapped and hated the idea that when we had kids, they may not have the opportunity to get to know half of their extended family.

Our progression:

June 2015 -joined Biggerpockets. Started learning about REI. Started going to REIA and taking action

Dec 2015 – closed on our first rental (technically our primary residence but purchased on rental criteria)

Feb 2016 – closed on purchase of 2nd rental (bp post - rental case study) and 1st flip

May 2016 – bought 2nd flip

June 2016 – sold 1st flip (concept proven). Pivoted to flipping houses

October 2016 – went to Flip Hacking Live event in San Diego and joined a mastermind group

• Arianne quit her job to focus on REI business fulltime

Nov-Dec 2016 – bought more flips

2017 – sold 15 flips and 35 wholesales (bp post - flip case study)

July 2018 – limited (passive) partners in 250+ unit apartment complex in Texas

Aug 2018 – closed on local 24 unit multifamily property

• Chris quit his job to focus on REI business fulltime

Projected 2018 – on track to sell 20 flips and 40 wholesales

A closer look at our flipping/wholesaling business

We have a team of 4 (not including Chris and I) that run this business. Right now YTD we are at 18 flips and 25 wholesales. We are on track to finish 2018 with 20 flips and 40 wholesales with a gross profit of more than $1M.

A closer look at the 24-unit deal

This lead came from us mailing local 2-4 Unit owners. 

It took 6 months of follow up and relationship building (we even took him out for dinner) before we went under contract.

Purchase Price: $1,335,000

Financing: 6 Conventional loans (1 for ea 4plex). 5.375%, 30 year fixed, 25% down payment

NOI at purchase: $111,000

Plan: Renovate units that haven’t been renovated (8 of them). Raise rents to market $850 (current average is $721)

Thoughts and thanks

If you had asked us if something like this were possible 3 years ago, we’d have thought you were crazy. It wasn’t until we started surrounding ourselves with amazing people doing amazing things that we realized just how low we set our bar.

Thank you Biggerpockets for providing an amazing platform for learning and networking. It put real estate on the radar for us, gave us what we needed to get started, and allowed us to meet great people who helped us grow our business to the next level.

Thank you @William Allen for inviting us to the first Flip Hacking Live event in San Diego.

It was a life-changing event for us. The value we got was priceless. It helped us shatter that self-imposed glass ceiling, resetting our expectations of what was possible and allowing us to shoot for something bigger. Thank you @Justin Williams for putting it together.

We learned that we could turn the active income that is flipping houses into a business that runs on its own. We learned how to do it, but most importantly we met and spent a lot of time with people who were already doing it. And they were normal people like us! It helped us see that we could do this too.

Thank you for reading. I hope someone finds value in this and if you have any questions feel free to ask!