All Forum Posts by: Chris Wiser

@Jason Bible, thanks I will add Jerry to the network list.  Seems like the good PMs can be hard to find.

@Kevin Moules, thanks, appreciative of all of the good insight! I will definitely add Zuber's book to my reading list, enjoy reading about people's path to success. Wanted to say congrats on taking the first step of your journey btw! Texas seems like a good place to invest based on the limited knowledge I have so far - have invested in 3 MF syndications that closed and the returns were good. Lots of folks still moving here, too, it seems.

Thanks for weighing in @Frank Wong, that is a good perspective and for me it ties into the work smarter mentality; more units doesn't always you're in a better position. I'm also fortunate to have a great job that I enjoy, and hope to continue working and invest at the same time.

@Jason Bible, more great insights, thank you. Big fan of the FIRE movement as well, reading up on people's stories (a certain mustached fellow) is actually what got me excited again about REI.

What are your thoughts on property management companies vs self-managed? Or is that something to think about down the road (will still budget for a PM in each deal either way)? Seems like even though that would reduce returns it would help with the passive piece.

Thanks, @Kevin Wood, I will be sure to listen to your podcast, would enjoy hearing more about your journey. That makes sense as SF seems to be the most familiar to folks. That's awesome that you have been able to scale so quickly. Do you only invest in the Houston market?

@Mark Sewell, thanks for sharing some of your story, sounds like quite a ride. Love what you said about "firing myself." My first investment was a disaster because we tried to do all of the work ourselves, with a full time job AND hardly any experience. We were so tired of analyzing deals and not pulling the trigger on something, we decided to be aggressive. We overpaid and under projected on rehab timelines of course and lost all of our capital. So what you said about getting the right team in place to avoid messing things up and making sure that you are taking smart actions vs just a lot of action hits home.

Thanks @James Wise, what you wrote makes a ton of sense and echoes what we hear from people's stories on the Podcasts in terms of realistic expectations. I'm thinking that I will certainly need to leverage partners/other people's money to scale faster or and/or build a business around my investing activities. Think I need to continue asking questions to wrap my head around what one of those models need to look like. I like to begin something having a clear expectation of what I want the outcome to be, and I don't feel like I have that at the moment, but maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong perspective? Maybe I just need to jump in then worry about scaling as I go?

Thanks for sharing @Kevin Wood, any thoughts on starting out with single family vs starting out with 2-4 unit (duplexes, etc) to generate more cash flow?  Or is the main thing just to get the ball rolling with either/or and the doors will come through momentum, as you mentioned?

Thanks for sharing some details around your journey, @Vijaianand Thirunageswaram . Sounds like you kicked into high gear in 2017 with a lot of activity, congrats on taking massive action. Do you prefer SFH rentals/duplexes/triplexes, etc in Houston?

@Jason Bible Thanks for the insight, I’m leaning toward that path as it sounds like you can scale faster with the duplexes/fourplexes and they still qualify for conventional financing.  Would you continue to add to your portfolio after those 20 or focus on paying some down first?

My current end goal is to create a passive, sustainable stream of income that will allow my family and I to travel and with a good deal of flexibility and not require too much time investment per week (would 20-30 hours/wk be an unrealistic expectation once my business is up and running?).

I currently have a full time job that I enjoy but will not allow that to be an excuse not to invest.

Here is what I have done so far in terms of REI:

• Joined BP of course and currently engaged in analysis paralysis when it comes to active investing.
• I participate in several syndications and so far those are going well but I am not at a point where I can generate enough income to replace my current salary. Even though the returns so far have been great, this also ties my money up for x years.
• I am a member of a mentorship program that will help me to invest in SF/duplex/fourplex properties, just not sure how this strategy stacks up against trying to jump right into MF.

I would like get advice from other folks who have started their investing careers with a job and were able to generate enough to pay their expenses through their investments while still working full time. I'm curious as to how long it took folks to accomplish this and what investment paths they used (wholesaling, SF BRRR, notes, MF syndications, turnkey, etc). Also, what were the first steps you took to begin your investing career.

Thanks for your time.

Hi @Rohit Aggarwal,

I'm pretty new to posting on this forum as well but will share what I have learned from the podcasts and experience so far.

One way to make passive income is the path you described above. Real estate can be a great vehicle to generate passive income and wealth, even buying just one SFH every year.

There are also other options to leverage your time and resources more effectively and retire earlier than 15-20 years, depending on your criterion for retirement.

It seems like the faster path to retirement is to treat your real estate investing as a business.  You want that business to be scalable and to have the ability to grow without you getting your hands dirty with every aspect.  For example, leverage a general contractor to help you with rehab estimates, leverage virtual personal assistants to help you field phone calls from leads, build relationships with real estate agents, inspectors, appraisers during your lunch hours and learn as much as you can every day about real estate.

In time I believe you will find some areas that you are interested in and passionate about and you will also realize other areas that you don't want to do yourself (you can outsource those tasks).  

I am in a similar situation to you, I like my job and it demands much of my time.  I invest with multi family syndications and have been fortunate enough to make anywhere from 15-27% per year on these investments.  These investments are completely passive, I give money to an equity group and the person leading these deals does a new apartment build typically (sometimes a rehab) and  then works on getting my money back to me within 3-10 years.  There is always the risk of loss but so far it has worked out well and allowed me to get some good returns and be a passive player in real estate.  

I currently have a mentor who is going to help me get into the SFH market using property managers to help with the day to day. I am going to also try and find a way to BRRR SFH passively and keep my day job to get more knowledge.

Hope something here was helpful and wish you all the best.