I retired my parents (Sorta)

[Matthew Hollister]

I would like to start out by saying this is not some glamorous, extravagant post this is about blue collar folks retiring a bit early all thanks to single family rentals. This all started back in 2015 when I decided at 22 years old I was going to rent out my starter home instead of selling it. I bought it for 43k and rented it out for 600 not knowing anything about real estate I thought id give it a try got my first tenant. Was a social worker he was great for a year then got into drug problems and had to evict him, after that I was hooked! Fast forward 4 yrs to 2019 I have 6 sfh and a property manager and things are going great I’m using the brrrr strategy pulling all my money out and then some to buy the next property. My parents come up to me one day and say we would like to invest in real estate will you help us? Of course I will my parents are middle of the road folks mother is a teachers aide and father works in a factory. They take most of their retirement and in a couple years we end up with 6 sfh and one duplex. Most rents average around 725 a month all the houses were paid with cash and almost all of them needed a decent amount of work to get them rent ready and we both help each other fix up our houses it’s a fun family project we all get involved in. My father just retired from a job he did not like last week he is 62 my mother is retiring in may when the school year is over. The wish they would have done real estate years and years ago. I know this isn’t a crazy story but it’s my story and I’m very proud in getting my parents out of their W-2s 3 years or so earlier then they realized was possible. They are very thankful and can enjoy more time with their grandkids!