5 Rental Properties As a College Student... With $16,000!!

[James G.]

Hi BP,

I write this in hopes to be an inspiration for those who have not started in the RE game either because they don't have a job, they don't have money, or they think they're too young. I am 21 years old and I started Real Estate with bigger pockets about 6 months ago. I had more drive than I could ever imagine. I have been getting up at 6am everyday, and have been diligently working to make my dreams a reality ever since. It all started when I made a simple post on BP, and a property manger reached out to me who was knowledgeable in the mobile home niche. Wanting to just get my foot in the door in some way, my first real estate investment was a mobile home for $5,000 cash... My property manger agreed to put the other $5,000 of rehab in out of his pocket, as long as I payed him back through the tenants rent month by month (It was a win win for him because I hired his property management services once the property was ready to go). After trying to wholesale properties for 4 months, I could not wholesale a SINGLE PROPERTY. I had many under contract, but it took me a while to be able to distinguish between a good or bad deal. I went back to the mobile home park 4 months later and looked for another mobile home to invest in. I ended up buying two mobile homes with owner financing. I paid $7,000 down, and the rest is being paid month by month (total purchase price of $18,500).

While mobile homes can be great for cash flow (they rent for $850 per month each), I really wanted to get into SFH to take one more step forward into the RE game. After hours on top of weeks of searching, I finally found a hard money lender who agreed to finance my properties at 100% LTV, at 13% interest and 5 points. Since finding him, I had bought two single family homes, one all in for $39,000, and the other all in for $35,000 (Out of my pocket was about $4,000 for both of these). Once I refinance, I will pay the lender back, and I will have roughly $50,000 in equity from both properties.

While this is certainly nothing to be crazy about, I am currently cash flowing $2,000 a month after all of my expenses and debt. Anything is possible if you're willing to put the work in, and I am very exciting to keep pushing and see what the future has in store. Proud but not satisfied!!