Multi-family, SFR investor in Boston, Dallas, maybe Denver

[Nancy C.]

Hi!  I'm Nancy Capron and I have been a dabbler in real estate investing for the past 12 years.  We started with a slow flip of our personal residence and then purchased a three family in Boston and lived in and renovated that.  I got tired of self-managing so moved to Melbourne, Australia (OK, that was really because my husband got a great job opportunity).  We have since purchased long-distance 3 single families in the Dallas area and are considering purchasing another single family in Colorado, probably north of the Denver area.

My real estate goals are probably similar to everyone's, passive income so we can retire.  While my husband and I have just turned 40, we've been saving well from his well paying job for 15 years so we're hoping to get there in the next 5 years.  I came to BiggerPockets a couple of years ago looking for advice on how to make that happen.  I haven't been very active nor very deliberate in our investing.  But since my husband keeps running the numbers and saying he's "done" working (and/or he wants to work in Asia :)  ) we need a more considered plan.

We're headed back to the US for an extended family visit and are considering purchasing another property in the Denver/northern Colorado area (mainly to help a family member).  I'm bumping in to the "fifth mortgage" problem and looking for advice and other members' experience before I waste my vacation time "working".

Looking forward to taking this more seriously and making more connections this time around!

[Bill S.]

@Nancy C. a couple of thoughts in reading your post. First, welcome back.

2nd and the reason I voted for your post. Becoming more deliberate in your RE investing.

3rd and completely contradictory to my 2nd comment. You said something that is a huge red flag in real estate. Purchasing a property to "help" a family member. That is not an investment, it's a charity and you should mentally burn that money. If something good comes of it then great but 90% of those deals end up bad. There is story after story here and many other places to support that statistic. 

4th - loan sources for 5 plus investment properties. If you find the right lender they will take you up to 10 properties with loans. A good investment minded mortgage broker knows the 3 or 4 places you can go from 5 to 10. There are also local regional banks that will do commercial loans covering the purchase of investment properties. They have no upper limit. The down side is that the 30 yr fixed is out of the question since these banks hold the paper in house. There are a number of posts about local banks that do "portfolio loans". Hit the search box in the upper right hand corner and see what you can find. 

Also any good investor focused agent should have a few options for those wanting more than 4 properties with loans.