House Hack to Rental

[Anthony Platas]

Hey everyone I'm so glad to have discovered BiggerPockets, this is pretty legit! 

So I wanted to share a bit of my story how I started and where I'm at today. 

At age 19 i got my first real job as an industrial painter. I knew one day i wanted to own my own home, So after two long years of saving i had about 15 grand in my bank account. I decided to buy my first single family home and on my 21st birthday i got the keys to my house all by myself! 

Once i was in i started what they call "House Hacking" i guess and had a few buddies move in and rent the other two rooms, room mates are okay until they're not; but it all ended okay. 

I was switching careers to be an automotive salesman... Yes a car salesman for Toyota! Lol It was fun while it lasted i sold probably 125 cars give or take. In the meanwhile i rented my home out to two different tenants over the course of two years. First set of people was my former manager, you think it would be great, older responsible guy. Nahhhhhhh..... never goes as planned LOL came to find out that he was growing weed in the converted garage and ripped out the carpet and some other random things. 

Luckily the second tenants i payed more attention to detail, but didn't have any kind of process in place. I wrote up a contract i found online and filled in the blanks, that worked out for about a year and never had any problems besides replacing the fridge and the washer. 

I basically broke even the whole time i was renting the property out, which in my eyes was okay thats all i really needed was to have my butt covered.

Now i realize i guess i have been in the real estate game somewhat right?? Not sure if thats considered in the game or not but i did get some landlord experience! 

Me and a friend are now looking to invest into properties just not sure on what path we can actually take at this point with about 10 grand down. Maybe cheap single family homes, flipping homes?? Not sure but i do know i eventually want to get into Multi family properties like 4 plexes. The Rent is fantastic in my area about 900 for a town home 2 bed 1 bath. 

The problem i am finding is the few banks i talk to want 25% down payment!! I'm like dang thats a pretty good chunk of change. Any advice or stories on how people first started with their property portfolio?? 

Thanks everyone who took the time to read this!!

Cant wait to hear from ya'll. 

Anthony Platas