How do you scale from one property to multiple properties and have them cash flow ?

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@Mike MutabaziIf you are planning on getting traditional financing for each property, then you will need to find some way to provide a down payment. There are no lenders I am aware of that offer no money down financing options. The lowest option that is common is a 3.5% down FHA loan that is used for a primary residence. Most investment property will required 20-30% down payment, depending on the lender. One option that might work for you is to partner with others who are willing to provide the down payment capital in exchange for equity in the property if you are willing to do the leg work for it. There are options such as a BRRRR that would let you scale faster but doing so would require you to do a cash out refinance. If the property is currently breaking even, then it likely will not be possible for you to do a cash out refinance while still maintaining break even monthly cash status. In that case, the best option remain is likely to wait for appreciate to raise the property and rent in the future to provide more cash out refinance options or simply find other ways to come up with additional down payments. Real estate is not a get rich quick strategy so time and patience are usually needed to scale operations.

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@Mike Mutabazithe short answer is - you don't. David Greene has started to refer to a W2 job as a 'down payment generator.' that makes a lot of sense to me. the longer answer is... if you are employing a combination of creative strategies then it's possible to reduce the amount of cash you need to put down / to close. but these strategies tend to be higher risk and not for beginners.one way to split the difference is to serially house hack. buy a live in flip with a low down payment loan. live in it. improve it. move after 1-3 years. repeat. this is a labor intensive and painful strategy. but you could have a portfolio of 5-15 properties in 8-10 years if you were willing to do it.https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/live-in-flip

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Personally we don't do anything more than 50% leverage and right now we are right around 20% leveraged on our entire $4mm portfolio.i don't understand how people do all these 0,10-20% leverage deals and max out with little to no cash flow but have "100 doors" we have 20 doors but they are all high quality homes.Was an intensive grind and a lot of cash but I wouldn't trade our journey for anything -14 years later were at 20% leverage on our portfolio and dropping rapidly every month

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First, don't buy a property that doesn't have positive cash flow. If you can't find one, then don't buy one, just for the sake of buying a property. Keep in mind you are a real estate INVESTOR, not a Property collector.Second, you have to flip your cash from one property into the next, with each flip increasing the dollars you have to advance. Don't think of this as flipping "properties". Think of this for what it should be, flipping your "cash".Third, as your cash increases, take some (NOT ALL) of it and invest in cash flow,...the rest keep flipping, repeating steps 1 and 2,...and then 3 again, until you reach your financial goals.REI isn't a series of one time events, it's a system of continuous steps, all leading to a specific financial end result.

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@Mike Mutabazi Couldn't agree with @Nicholas L. more. I love this site, but I think for years it's perpetuated a myth that everyone can be financially free in 5 years or something. And that cash flow is abundant if you wait for "a good deal." The unsexy answer is that real estate here in Denver or Colorado Springs or anywhere is not free money, nor easy money. It's a grind as much as any other money-maker. Keep your w2, save save save, and buy something every year or two or three. If there's a "secret sauce" at all, that's it.Now, can you juice your cash flow a bit with STRs/MTRs or house-hacking? Sure, but this isn't without work. Good luck!

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@Mike Mutabazi Honestly, the "tried and true" way is to keep building up more cash. You can maybe cashout refi your property in the future, or perhaps try to utilize some of it through a 1031 exchange later.What you see/hear about purchasing / scaling with "no money" is extremely difficult, works in certain situations, and many of the techniques entail a tremendous amount of risk. For "seasoned" investors, its not a true issue since they would have the reserves to handle it.One technique to try is the "brrrr" method. Many try it. However, its hard to really make the numbers work, and you need to be able to handle a remodel. Again, if something goes "wrong" and you don't have the reserves to cover it.Meanwhile, I'm part of the group that feels cash flow is over rated when trying to generate wealth. Sure, if you can find and get those deals --- great. I guess I just don't try hard enough. https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/1159104-overleveraging-net-worth-cash-flow-and-headache-factor You can read this long thread about what happens when you try to reach for cash flow. One of the few, if only, thread where the investor "put it all out there."Good luck.

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Learn how to underwrite, without the spreadsheets, they can come later. There are podcasts here and on youtube. Then apply what you have learned and you can get cash flow.