Needing some advice and a different persepctive!

[Kenny Tran]

Hi everyone,

I am 26 years old from California and I just bought my first 2 rental properties in Chicago. When I bought these 2 houses I inherited the tenants as well. One has been at one house for 6 years and one has been at the other for 15 years. Both are section 8 tenants and that is my safety net as to how I am able to manage these and to get rent collected since I get it direct deposited into my acc every month. I do have a friend down there whos a handy man who I can call up in case anything goes wrong.

To sum it up, both houses combined I am making a 15% ROI. Both houses combined net me $6,312 per year and I put down a total of $47,000.

I didnt buy these houses 30% below market value as most investors say you should do. I bought these houses 10% below market value so I cant refinance and get my money out so I have my down payment stuck in these. These houses arent turn-key so I know I can add value to these if I updated them but I dont plan on doing that until the tenants move out. Since they have made these homes their home for so long, I dont want to increase the rent or anything. 

I wanted to ask all of you experienced investors If I am doing a good job. I feel like I am not doing "enough". I dont feel like I am doing anything wrong, but I think I just have the case of wanting to be more and do more. Typical young people problems haha. My plan is to buy more rentals and have a rental empire like many of you. 

I look up to all of you real estate investors and I would love to get some tips or words of encouragement from you all. Where were you at my age? Anything you would do differently? Anything I should look out for? What do you think I should do in the next 5 years to scale? 

Thank you!