0-14 Doors in 16 Months!

[Joseph Cornwell]

I hope this post will help inspire new investors to keep pushing everyday until they reach their goals. I owe a lot of my success to the BP community and I hope to give back as much as I have received! 

Three years ago I set a goal to own 20 units within 10 years. I thought it would be next to impossible, I had no clue how I would accomplish so much in such a short time. At first, this seemed like a good way to supplement my 401k and pension for retirement. Now I understand this will continue to be my wealth generation vehicle and key to early retirement. 

It took nearly 18 months to find my first deal, it was a duplex that I watched drop in price for 6 months on the MLS. Eventually I was able to purchase this property for 89k, I put 40k into rehabbing it, and I refinanced 41k back out after 10 months. The current appraised value is 140k, and I have 22k invested in the property. Both units rent for 1550/mo and it cash flows 400/mo. I used that 41k cash out refi to buy my second deal.

A 6 family building I purchased for 246k off the MLS. The bank gave me a rehab loan of 25k rolled into my commercial note. I am halfway through the renovation project on this building, my cash flow when completed will be 1400/mo, gross rents are 3700/mo with laundry, ARV will be 320k. I have 50k invested in this building. This lead me into my latest deal.

A tenant of my current building heard that the owners of the building next to mine were looking to sell soon. (Identical 6 family building, but also has 10, 1 car garages in the rear lot.) I reached out to them and negotiated an off market purchase of 265k. The bank is lending a 40k rehab loan into my note. The problem was, I was pretty tight on funds after just purchasing my last property 3 months ago. I was able to show a private lender the numbers on this deal and they were happy to lend me 30k towards the down payment. They would have done the rest, but doing a 401k loan was much better terms, so I did the other 10% from my 401k. This is going to be a zero money out of pocket deal. When the project is completed it will gross 4700/mo with garages/laundry. It will cash flow 1000/mo after paying 100% financing, with no money into it. The ARV is 420k.

If you would have told me 16 months ago I would have 14 of my 20 unit goals completed today, I would have laughed at you. The lessons learned, the connections made, the wealth created in this business has changed my life forever, in a short time period. The BP community has helped me shape who I am as an investor, a real estate agent, and my life in so many countless ways. Thank you to everyone who has been there along my journey to this point, and as I continue in the future to even larger goals! 

I would love to hear from other newer investors, and help give back anyway I can, feel free to reach out. Thank you!!!

Special thanks to: @Joshua Dorkin @Brandon Turner @Scott Trench @Mindy Jensen @Joe Fairless  (and countless others) for all you have done in shaping my world. 

[Cody L.]

Way to go man!  I love reading stories like this.    I started about 10 years ago and when I bought my first property I had *NO CLUE* what I was doing.  I had to have a friend help me fill out my first lease for my first tenant (I didn't even know where to get a blank lease).

10 years and 1000+ units later, I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing.

I bet 10 years from now you have **WAY** more units than you think.  Once you get the bug you can't stop.