Just passed 100 units on our way to 160 by the end of the year

[Shiloh Lundahl]

This last week was a busy week for us. We closed on a 6-plex, a mobile home park with 10 units (29 pads in total) both in Florence, Arizona, and 2 single family homes in Winston Salem and Greensboro, North Carolina.

My wife and I started investing in 2010 with just 1 rental and then at the end of 2014 we purchased a small commercial building with 12 units. In 2015 and 2016 we mostly flipped properties and bought a few out of state. But in 2017 we switched our model to buy and hold (mostly selling using lease options) in Arizona with a partner.

Here is our units by year including primary residences:

2010 - 2 (primary, 1 rental)

2011 - 2 (primary, 1 rental)

2012 - 2 (primary, 1 rental)

2013 - 3 (primary house hack, 1 rental)

2014 - 15 (primary house hack, 1 rental, 12 unit commercial building)

2015 - 15 (primary house hack, 1 rental, 12 unit commercial building, 3 flips) 

2016 - 22 (primary house hack, 12 unit commercial building, 3 duplexes 1 SFR (out of state), 6 flips, 1 sale on seller financing)

2017 - 51 (primary house hack, second primary with house hack, 12 unit commercial building, 3 duplexes 1 SFR (out of state), 6 flips, 1 sale on seller financing, 17 buy and hold lease options)

2018 - 74 (primary house hack, second primary with house hack, 12 unit commercial building, 3 duplexes 1 SFR (out of state), 29 buy and hold lease options 1 triplex, 19-unit Mobile home park)

2019 - 97 (major primary house hack 7, second primary with house hack, 12 unit commercial building, 2 SFR (out of state), 54 buy and hold lease options 1 triplex, 1 duplex, 18-unit Mobile home park)

As of the end of January 2020 - 115 (With the addition of the 6-plex, new mobile home park, and the other 2 single family homes in North Carolina)

Our plan by the end of the year is to add 19 more units to the mobile home park, buy an additional 6 units in Arizona, and 21 more properties in North Carolina.

We have felt some growing pains, but for the most part, it has been a wild ride. I am really grateful to many who have helped us along the way including my wife, my partner, our assistants, our subcontractor, our hard money lenders, our private money lenders, our bankers, mentors, coaches, and many others who I’ve learned from on BiggerPockets. Thank you all for your help and support.

[Shiloh Lundahl]

@Kevin Zolea start with one property that you can manage on your own. It doesn’t need to be the best property but the numbers need to work where you can cash flow. That means that you may need to have a big down payment at first.

My first investment property I bought was in 2010 and I got it off the MLS at market value for 93k. I had to put 20k down as a down payment. I knew the tenants that were going to move in before I purchased the property and I made a deal with them that if they painted it and put new flooring in it that I would give them a discount on their rent for 2 years.

Gone are the days where you can buy a 5 bed, 3 bath house that backs the golf course for 93k in San Tan Valley, Arizona. However, if I knew then what I know now about real estate, I wouldn’t have bought that particular property, or at least they way I did. I probably would have been able to get a different property for probably half that and forced appreciation and made double my profit with less out of pocket. But at the time, with my skill set and knowledge, I didn’t know how to do that. So I had to start somewhere.

Simply by being on BiggerPockets, you probably have more knowledge than I did when I got started so you have a better advantage. I would encourage you to network, network, network. Take out an investor who invests in the area you hope to invest in every week for lunch. Ask that investor questions about how they got started and how they find their deals. Connect with wholesalers in your area and practice running numbers. If your serious about buying a property then I’d encourage you to run numbers every day until you get really good at it. Then start making offers that fit your numbers. Connecting with a realtor who invests himself or partnering with an honest investor on a first deal can help lessen the risk and still give you knowledge and experience.

After you get your first deal, and you get it stabilized, the next ones get easier and easier until you get to the point that you can make a decision to buy a property in 5 minutes. It may take a few years to work up to this but with help, experience, and a good team/network your confidence grows and it becomes easier. That doesn’t mean you won’t continue to make mistakes, but mistakes are simply learning opportunities along your path of growth.