How are people able to acquire properties so quickly?

[Brianne H.]

One thing that continually boggles my mind, and I often hear on podcasts, is how are people able to scale so quickly and buy their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th properties so quickly after the first (often within a year of buying the first one)? Or to go from buying a SFR or duplex to like 8 units or something much bigger within a year?

I know some people have partners, but not everyone who scales so quickly does. Some people live in less expensive areas, but not everyone who scales quickly does. Also not everyone who's able to buy more properties so quickly has a boatload of cash on hand. Not everyone getting into real estate has a great 9-5 paycheque, or can house-hack, or can get an FHA loan, yet a lot of those people acquire properties very quickly.

I'm just trying to wrap my head around how people are able to do what I would imagine would take 15 years, in about 3 years. At present, I'm doing a refi on my primary when some renovations will be complete in about Sept, and then plan to invest out of state in the midwest. Prices in my city just don't work and don't cashflow. Flips that are priced low enough to make the numbers work are non-existent. We have different rules here for foreclosures so no discounts to be had. Even with OOS investing, there are going to be travel expenses and of course closing costs to take into account over and above the down payment for a property. An FHA loan won't work as I won't be occupying the property.

So how have you (or those you know) managed to scale so quickly?