Yesterday (7/31) I closed on a $1.3M, 20 unit apartment deal that's going to net me a passive, positive cashflow of $3,000/month. This is after ALL expenses (PITI, PM fees, repairs, vacancy, capex fund, etc). My personal monthly expenses are just under half that amount, which means I'm financially free at the ripe old age of 21! I did this without a co-signer, & while working a full time career.

Backstory: I never went to college. The moment I turned 18, I began selling insurance. I worked non-stop & saved every penny, having zero social life. My first year of insurance sales, I earned over $100K. Real estate deal #1 for me was building a quadraplex which I ended up flipping, it took over 2 years & I barely broke even; that left a bad taste in my mouth. I almost gave up on real estate, but I found Biggerpockets, & other's success stories motivated me to keep trying. 

Here I would like to give a shoutout to Jake & Gino, their podcast (BP #182) was a huge inspiration to me, along with their book Wheelbarrow Profits. It got me focused on my chosen niche of multifamily apartment buildings. Another great (& recent) book for me was Set For Life by Scott Trench.

In December 2016, I got a 23 unit deal under contract in Gatlinburg, TN; unfortunately, it along with 2000 other buildings burned to the ground in the wildfires. It was very disheartening, but I kept moving forward; calling every multifamily realtor in the area, seeing loads of properties & submitting lots of offers. Keep in mind, I did all of this while working my full time insurance career.

In January, one of the realtors I'd met showed me a promising property, we submitted an offer but we couldn't come to terms. It went under contract with someone else, but it fell through. Later, it went off the market & my realtor got back in touch with the owner. After much back & forth, we got it under contract; a few months after that & we finally closed!

The biggest hurdle was being patient & finding a good deal, I'd rather have no deal than buy a bad one. Other obstacles were securing financing without a cosigner, and another was getting realtors to take me seriously at my young age. I won't forget one older realtor, who when he first met me at a 30+ unit property, asked "Is this a joke?". Later at lunch, he commented "I'm really impressed, when I was your age, I was just thinking about the next time I could get drunk!"

It's such a great feeling knowing that now I get to work because I want to, not because I have to. I'm not going to slow down, I will continue my insurance career & save money for the next multifamily purchase.

My advice would be, work hard, keep learning, save your money, and never give up!