All Forum Posts by: Austin Fowler

@Wyatt Cole

Probably best if you ask a long list of questions, as when I try to write a long post explaining things the moderator is not permitting me to post.

7. Running your own managed fund

This is the approach I use. I run a personally guaranteed debt fund. I focus on raising capital that needs to be kept liquid and provide an 8% return on a transaction account. This is what I have used to scale to a $30M portfolio. Happy to help other people do the same. We have all the necessary technical and legal infrastructure, making it very simple for people to duplicate what we have done.

 Financial freedom doesn't mean retirement for me, it means I can focus on my philanthropic passion, namely addressing extreme poverty (opportunity.org) and help educate others on how to build a large and passive portfolio. These activities take up plenty of time, indeed the education side of things, which includes posts like this, can take up as much time as I wish to devote to it.

 Why no assumption of a return on your wealth? I run a business that personally guarantees an 8% return and has operated for over two decades.

 Why divided by 30? Is that a number of years you would like money to last or does the 30 the come from somewhere else?

In my experience achieving freedom through long-term rentals is tough as the cash flow is typically pretty thin if you are paying off a mortgage and arguably still thin if you have paid off the mortgage relative to what cash flow you could generate if that equity were invested elsewhere. I personally own 32 long-term rentals, but they are more generational wealth equity-builders than anything that supports financial freedom for me. In my case, the financial freedom primarily comes from participating in multifamily syndications where I can target a 20% per annum return and be totally hands-off after the due diligence is done (which admittedly is extensive for each deal). You don't, however, need very many such deals per year.

 If you sold off property to create a pile of cash, what kinds of options are you considering to turn that cash into truly passive income so you can fully retire?

 What if you wanted to take a year off and travel the world? Would your current setup allow that?

I'm curious what people consider financial freedom through real estate. Some styles of real estate investing are very hands-on, and as such don't really seem to meet the definition of financial freedom even if you get good at them. You'd still be very busy. So what are people shooting for? What kinds of portfolios are people trying to build that would meet their definition of financial freedom? Please share what you are working towards, and where you are at on that journey.

Looking to learn more from people that have bought at least one multifamily property using OPM. Would love to hear the details. How did you get started? Did you have the capital ready first and then find the deal? If you found the deal first, how long did you have to raise the capital?