Ambitious rental investor - Lansing, MI

[Michael Ulrich]

Hello BP Community,

My name is Michael Ulrich - jumped into rental investing a little over a year ago and love it!  We started with 1 in late 2018, currently have 8, and hope to keep growing.

I'm a regional sales rep with an Ag company for the past 12 years, and faced a slow spell mid-2018.  At the time I thought maybe I'd pick up a fixer-upper and flip it that Summer for something to do.  Well, I got outbid on several properties, because I was looking for a decent margin, and I discovered what a competitive market flipping has become.  At that point we bought one to buy-and-hold.  My wife and I both discovered our niche, and decided to just keep going!  

We live 20-30 minutes north of Lansing and are only investing locally where we can easily care for our properties - all SFH at this point. With past construction experience (particularly with windows and doors) I do the rehabs myself, subbing out plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc. Then I pass them on to a good property management company, and look for the next property. I'm thankful for a job that currently allows me time and financial freedom to focus part time on the rental business.

My goal it to retire when feasible and do rentals for our main income (along with another side-job I have).  We're buying nice high risk/high yield properties in decent areas, then rehabbing and updating them with a goal of about $50+/mo higher rent than average rent estimate.  In addition to having nice, clean properties; it's a pleasure to provide pleasant accommodation for good tenants!

I've thoroughly enjoyed learning from BP podcasts and forums, Brandon Turner and crew!  We have a lot yet to learn and am grateful for the discussions and insights of fellow BP members.  Feel free to reach out to me with any questions, advice, etc. that you care to share.