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WOW!! What a long way in 3 years!!
Okay this may be a long post.. but it is amazing what persistence can accomplish... When I first got into real estate investing I'd say about 4 years ago is when I joined bigger pockets and I would continuously read the success stories and wonder how these things were accumulating for these other investors and how they were able to scale. I will give a brief run down of my story and why I am posting in the success stories although there is so much farther to go.
I graduated college got a 9-5 at Fedex and thought I was doing well at life like I had been taught. I was going to go get a masters degree when a guy at work gave me a book called 'Rich Dad Poor Dad'. He told me I should consider reading the book before going back to school. The book blew my mind! It single handily changed my life. I had always wondered what separated the rich and poor and after reading this book I had an extreme epiphany. I immediately wanted to start investing in mulitfamily real estate. I figured if I continued to work my job I could save 20k year and buy one property a year then year 2 buy two properties and have my portfolio snowball that way. After a 6-8 months of trying and failing, reading as many books as I could get my greasy hands on, and constantly networking and looking for properties I finally found a triplex I bought in August 2015.
My mother was dating a guy who I ABSOLUTELY HATED!! After a while I finally became cordial with him although we never spoke. At this point I had became relatively knowledgeable about real estate after constantly reading (at least 20 pages a day.. still to this day) and taking action, failing, and repeating. She kept bugging me to show him what I was doing with real estate that he was interested in investing. For months she would ask me to show him some properties or deals. One day, after constant harassment from my mom I finally brought over a deal for him. He is from Lithuania and did not understand investing what so ever so I had to explain every detail of the deal to him. After I finished explaining the deal he asked me, "what if I don't want mortgage I just buy cash". I was like WOAH!? I'm thinking in my head YOU HAVE 130K cash!? I immediately reached back to my real estate reading and explained the power of leverage to him.
At this point it had been a few months since my first deal and I was just manifesting. Out in the field meeting people, analyzing deals, speaking to people about real estate and my goals. I had just gotten close with these sellers who I tried to buy a 4 unit off of previously when I first started and I ran back into them at an auction. They had told me they were selling a 12 unit for 500k. I had brought an investor to the property with no avail. Let's fast forward to two weeks later when I brought my moms boyfriend the duplex deal. After, explaining leverage to him I said I have a deal for you to check out. It was the 12 unit for 500k I had been trying so hard to get.
I compared the numbers side by side with him. The 130k duplex paid in cash would only produce 18k/year max. 100k down on the 500k property would produce around 30k/year net. The only problem I didn't have enough money to go in half with him. I brought him a proposal that stated we would be partners in the deal and I would do everything he could imagine in regards to management in the property and all he had to do was put his money up and collect a check. I explained to him I only had 20k. He said he could cover the 80k. When we were preparing the LLC I asked about the ownership and said its "51(him)/49(me)" and he said in his Russian accent "60/40" I said okay in a heart beat. I would have done anything to get that property. We closed on the 12 unit in August of 2016.
After about 15 months I found another 9 unit in which the numbers made sense. We purchased the property for 330k with 66k down 20k from me 46k from him. This purchase was in November 2017.
Recently, I really tried to level up and buy 71 units for 2.4 million. Two different properties from the same owner 41 unit and a 29 unit. I had convinced my partner to "burn the ship" and put the last of his 500k down on this property because we had some outs and it was a cash cow. He would have had 100k cash after and owns his house in full so he felt okay with it. We actually ended up needing 668k for our downpayment after closing cost etc. I paid a business broker who only does deals over 1 million to work with us to find us creative financing. We we working with him for 4 months at which we had finally secured lending. I thought I had made it. Or so we thought. Before the lender moved forward he came to see the property and he just had a bad taste in his mouth. He uped our requirements and the deal would just not financially made sense on our end if something bad happened we'd be screwed. So we it was a let down but like a shoot for the stars land on the moon type situation. We ended up buying one of the properties under contract a 29 unit for 1,025,000.00 my FIRST MILLION DOLLAR DEAL WHOOOO!!!
We now have 51 units together and I still own my original triplex that I live in and rent the other 2 units out so I now have 54 units under management. It is amazing to see how far we and I have come since joining biggerpockets although I have been MIA for years on here. My goals now are to focus on continuing to grow as fast and large as possible through any means necessary.
What city did you buy these buildings?
Where did you find them? MLS or ZILLOW or ?
@Tania Riley with the multifamily he used 100K as down payment borrowing the rest. that property has a 30k/year return. A 130K house bought cash, would have netted 18K. it's just more profitable/better use of the money in the multifamily due to the rent scaling/leverage.
Great story @Skylar DeJesus I currently work for UPS and its definitely not a 9-5, more like 9-9 lol. I hoping to tell a story like that myself.
Congratulations!! Inspiring!!
I see your from Tennessee - where are you multifamalies located?
Congratulations . Loved hearing about your success. Are you investing in Johnson City, TN?
@Skylar Dejesus LOVE IT! A couple money guys, deal hunting skills, and knowledge of the game make magic happen! You're the man my friend. The beautiful thing is that this is so doable if more people could jump in and execute like you did!
Great story! It's been fun to see the Tri-Cities area come back so strong in last several years. I'm on the VA side, but the growth and popularity of people moving back into the region is mind blowing.
Thanks for sharing Skylar. Been looking for a few months - the wife and I are getting a bit frustrated and reading about your persistence and creativity helps keep me focused.
What a great story and an inspiration! Thanks for sharing your story with us.
Originally posted by @Kevin Dias:
Congratulations . Loved hearing about your success. Are you investing in Johnson City, TN?
Hey! I Invest in johnson city. Do you?
congratulations. Inspiring and very motivating story!
A $1M deal? That's freakin' awesome, Skylar. What an incredible story! Truly inspirational.
Great story, which has inspired me a great deal.
I am truly encouraged that normal people can make it big in the property game.
Congratulations man ! That’s awesome, you found the cash and you had the knowledge. That’s not luck that’s being prepared and saying yes to opportunity. Thank you for the story. Great post
Congratulations on the success Keep going.
@Skylar Dejesus Great tenacity. A lesson for those of us just starting to get our feet wet in this new world.
Congratulation
Wow What a continuous hard work can do in realstate, great inspiration
Thanks for sharing.
Great success story! It is amazing how when we open up to people and ideas it can change our lives. I am from the Johnson City area originally, and am moving back in Summer 2020 if not sooner. I plan house hacking, and want to pursue the BRRRR Strategy. @Felisha McCurry I would like to invest in Johnson City! Maybe we can connect in the future. I would really appreciate hearing you and your husbands expert opinion on pursuing the BRRRR Strategy in the Tri-Cities Area.