How to retire early with real estate & other community questions

Question

Chad aka Coach Carson is an entrepreneur, writer, and teacher who used real estate investing to reach financial independence before the age of 37. Chad and his business partner currently focus on long-term rental properties and private lending in and around the college town of Clemson, South Carolina with a portfolio of 90+ units. They started the business from scratch in 2003 with a combination of wholesaling, fix-and-flips, and non-conventional financing sources like private lending, seller financing, and lease options—which remains their expertise today.

If you had one question for a professional real estate investor who retired themselves by 37, what would it be??

Now is your shot to ask! Chad Carson has not one, but two BiggerPockets books sharing their expertise:
Retire Early with Real Estate
The Small & Mighty Real Estate Investor

Exploring questions in his books like:How many rentals do I need to retire?How do I design a small yet effective real estate portfolio?Can I retire with buy & hold properties?How can I benefit myself AND my community by offering rentals?

Want to get more of your questions answered about retiring with a small buy & hold portfolio? Check out Chad's books Retire Early with Real Estate & The Small & Mighty Real Estate Investor both on sale THIS WEEKEND. Get your copy at the best price ever, right now here!

Caleigh McDonough · Answer

Thank you for taking the time to read my post! I am thinking of moving from AZ to Charlotte, NC May 2025. I found a new build I like and in my price range while visiting Charlotte this weekend. I plan to purchase the property with 5-10% down, live in it for a year or two with a roommate, then rent it out full-time and repeat! (at least for the first few properties) I do not need cash flow in the short run but my ultimate goal would be to retire early from my investment properties.

I know Charlotte is growing, so I'm hoping for some appreciation long-term and I know cash flow can be harder to come by these days. However, after running the numbers accounting for insurance, PMI, taxes, vacancy, capX, property manager, etc. the property is estimated -1.85% cash on cash return (-$600/mo) once I fully rent the property. To be conservative, I assumed rents will be on the lower end of the spectrum. CoC just about breaks even if I assume rents are on the higher end of the spectrum.

My questions are:

1. Should I wait until I can put 20% down on a property to decrease the monthly mortgage payment? I believe this is one reason none of the deals I analyze are cash-flowing.

2. Are any <$350k single-family deals cash flowing in Charlotte? Again, not my main goal but it also doesn't seem wise to be short $600/mo.

3. Anything else I should be thinking about? I typically wouldn't look at new builds but it seems to be very reasonably priced. The community is new and secluded with trees but is NW of Sugar Creek & SE of Oakdale.

Happy to provide any more context

Alex Olson · Answer

KC is an amazing market. I can show you the areas to invest and where to start away from. Just DM me.

Keegan Felix · Answer

This is all very new to me, but I started listening to the BP podcast about a month ago and realized I have a strong interest in real estate investing. I'm using my workout time to educate myself daily and feel overwhelmed, but excited to get going. My goal is to create generational wealth for my family and to eventually have the financial freedom to say "yes" to travel adventures as a family.

I'm open to suggestions for where to start investing. I have family in Kansas City, MO area so I thought that would be a good place to start since I could visit properties while visiting family. The other area I'd consider is Cleveland after listening to one of the BP podcasts and doing some research on that area. Multi-family units and investing for equity are my focuses to start, unless anyone has any other suggestions? Open to cash flowing properties too if the numbers are right.

I have about 8K to start investing, which I know is not a lot, but with 3 kids living in SoCal, we are already pinching pennies.

Random question: has anyone cashed out their retirement (or part of it) to invest in real estate? Good move, or bad?

Thanks for reading! Looking forward to connecting and learning!

Alex Silang · Answer

I've heard of people retiring on real estate. They just have a bunch of rentals.

Would you be willing to do that? Maybe have a decent sized pool of cash to take care of the occasional roof repair or personal expense, but almost entirely in real estate?

Or is RE just a supplement?

Rene Brown · Answer

Husband and I have a 1100 square foot home we are trying to sell.  It is a 3BR, 2BA single family home with attached garage and full basement  with potential for at least 1 BR to be added downstairs.  Needs lots of updates.  Not many lookers and barely any offers.  We are thinking about renting.  I have read many forums and watched webinars.  Very interested in renting, but heard many horror stories.  Very poor RE selling market here.  60 homes on market.  We live in a town of approximately 5,000 people.  Not much industry for decent jobs.  Therefore not many people that may qualify to rent at $600/mo.  I realize that the unknown fears are what holds many people back in the landlording realm.  Any words of encouragement or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

How to retire early with real estate & other community questions

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