All Forum Posts by: David Shaun

 Thank you and congrats on your achievement. You make some good points.

I wasn’t aware I was mentioned on a YouTube video. Do you happen to have a link to it?

Quote from @Kristi K.:

Quote from @David Shaun:

Quote from @Kristi K.:

Quote from @David Shaun:

January marks the 13th anniversary of the purchase of my first rental property.  Since I learned a lot from this community, I wanted to share my success with you.  In 2024, I hit $200k in cash flow from my properties.  If you're interested in seeing how that all breaks down from an income and expense standpoint, I created this Sankey diagram to share with you:

As for me, I'm planning to leave my w-2 job and take a little career break before deciding what's next for me.  Best of luck to all you out there.

How much did you pay for these 3 buildings initially and how many years did it take you to earn the money to pay for them? 

It was a little under $2m for all my properties that I currently own when I purchased them. Not including closing costs.  I bought the first one 13 years ago when I was in my late 20s.

That’s awesome. Well done. I hope people get the point that you worked hard to earn the $2 mil and invested it wisely, you didn’t just get rich overnight from real estate. You deserve a break. Clear your head and decide what’s your “why” from this point on in life.

 Thank you!

I wanted to clarify that $2m was the collective asking price. I financed the properties so I actually paid a fraction of that amount upfront.

Thanks!

I’m not going to pull all that info but I will say it was not always up and to the right. Covid was challenging for my rentals that historically had college kids as tenants. I’ll also say that the cash flow more than doubled over the past few years for these reasons:

1. I sold 2 properties that were taking up a lot of my time and were producing very little of my cash flow.

2. I used the proceeds to buy another property that had an obvious value add component.

3. I paid down and refinanced another property when rates were much more favorable. 

4. Rents have increased significantly over the past few years. 

 Thanks Jeremy.

I'm going to leave my w-2 job and focus on my health and shaking off the burnout I've been feeling.  I'm going to take some time before deciding what's next.  My wife intends to continue working so that helps for sure.

Thank you Eric.

In addition to the rental properties, my wife and I have a paid off house, paid off car, and about $1.4m in retirement accounts, brokerages, and savings.

We live in a HCOL area and our expenses are $9.5k per month even though we live pretty modestly.

I set out initially to have real estate pay for at least some of my expenses in order to give me more freedom and financial security.

Quote from @Kristi K.:

Quote from @David Shaun:

January marks the 13th anniversary of the purchase of my first rental property.  Since I learned a lot from this community, I wanted to share my success with you.  In 2024, I hit $200k in cash flow from my properties.  If you're interested in seeing how that all breaks down from an income and expense standpoint, I created this Sankey diagram to share with you:

As for me, I'm planning to leave my w-2 job and take a little career break before deciding what's next for me.  Best of luck to all you out there.

How much did you pay for these 3 buildings initially and how many years did it take you to earn the money to pay for them? 

It was a little under $2m for all my properties that I currently own when I purchased them. Not including closing costs.  I bought the first one 13 years ago when I was in my late 20s.

 I thought it was high.  It's much higher than it was a few years ago and is continuing to rise.  I use brokers but they've been a bit of a disappointment lately.

 Thanks!

3 units turned over in 2024. The neighborhoods are not upscale but they are desirable so good tenants are typically found quickly.