25 Months, 5 Houses, 1 Blog post

[Dave B.]

BP Community, I finally took the plunge and created an account. I decided it's time to finally reach out for help as I'm going through the phase I'm sure many of you have experienced, where real estate investing is going from a hobby to a business and I thought it prudent to share my business plan and solicit some feedback.

My career in sales requires my wife and I to move every 3-4 years so instead of buying a primary residence here in FL, we've invested back in West Michigan in the suburbs of Grand Rapids where we'll return to in the next 10-15 years. With the help of several books and listening to every BP podcast over the last 2 years I've purchased 5 homes, below I've laid out my strategy. We're fortunate that my wife and I both make a good income and her mother manages the properties for us at no cost. I'd love to get some feedback.

- Purchase newer houses on 15 year mortgages. The houses we've purchased we're built in 1995,1999, 2000, 2012 x 2. 3 of these houses are on 15 yr, and 2 30 years.

- 4 bed, 2+ bath, with 2K sq feet is ideal,150K-175K purchase price (love the Midwest prices). All the houses but 1 rent for $1,500-$1,800 and all are on multiyear leases. This is an area of town with few nice SFR rentals so we're able to lock in tenants long term.

We've started to take a more professional approach, recently automating rent collection, getting an umbrella insurance policy etc. Our long term goal is to get 15-20 houses prior to moving back to Michigan so soon we'll need to search for a good portfolio lender etc.

Without making my first post too long this is my question, what are some other things outside of continued financing that we should be keeping in mind? Other pitfalls that young investors have had to overcome with quick growth etc.

Any feedback is welcome and apologies for such a long initial post!