Originally posted by @Micah Stewart:
@Lam N.
Great to hear!
As someone forming a similar plan for my wife and myself currently, do you mind detailing a couple of specifics about these last few years?
When your husband quit, had you already been in the business for awhile, or was that a cold start?
What was the volume of work in the first year vs second? You say you've been working like dogs, but was that the case on day 1?
I don't mind at all telling you what we have planned and what we have done.
So, when we were ready to buy our first house, we were poor. We were so poor that when we took a vacation, we drove to Florida from Chicago, ate dollar sandwiches at Mcdonalds, slept in the car because we couldn't afford to rent a hotel, and enjoyed the beaches during the day.
Anyway, we decided to buy a foreclosed home for about $80k. For a year, we kept having renovation projects where we did everything ourselves. We did not at all intend on flipping it or anything like that. We were determined to make it our own. We completely gutted the kitchen, flooring, bathrooms, etc. and made the place into our own palace with minimal budget.
Then a year after we moved in, I got a job offer elsewhere with a 50% pay increase. They were also willing to pay for moving costs plus pay for rent for the first year. Couldn't pass up the offer so we put the house on the market and promptly moved. Sold it for $162K. With all the renos we did, we only put in about $15k in renovating costs.
So, when we were ready to buy another house, I started formulating a plan. What if we kept doing live-in flips and every year we would end up getting a wad of cash for it? Hang on, what if we start getting really cheap places, fix them up ourselves, and rent them out?
I talked to my husband about this idea and he had his doubts. But I worked out the numbers and showed him that within 5-7 years we would have enough passive income to keep us going indefinitely. I also reminded him that when we first met I asked him what he wanted to become and he said he wanted to flip houses like the property brothers. I told him he could still pursue this dream. Once we have enough cash we don't have to do everything ourselves. We could start hiring people and he could direct the renos.
So, we put this plan in motion. We got another foreclosure and worked on it. We both had our full time jobs (I'm an engineer and he was a PR professional) and during the weekends we would work on the house. Turned out he had a lot of great ideas. I'm fashion blind, but I know how to do everything from plumbing to electrical to walls to flooring. We put in about $15-18k into that property and made a huge profit when we sold it a year later. Did it again and again made huge profit on it.
Then we started buying really cheap properties and worked on them to rent out. I know that most people don't want to get their hands dirty. Most people we have talked to imagine getting a mortgage and buy a place for $200k that's move-in ready and then rent it out. We on the other hand got cheap places. Like really cheap places. One of our properties we bought for $15k and is now renting for $1100/month. We spent about $500 on repair and reno costs and millions of manhours of our own labor.
Earlier this year, we bought 2 more, bringing the total number of rental properties we have up to 5. Between showing potential tenants, managing the properties, and everything else required a full time person. So, we decided it was time for one of us to quit the day job. I made more with my engineering job so he resigned from his position and started dedicating his full attention on our gig.
And this is the part that I think is the most important part of the long term plan. We have been extremely careful with going about this. When we first met years ago, I owned an IT business. Took some unnecessary risks and I lost EVERYYYYTHING. Was up to my eyeballs in debt. So, this time, one of us has to keep our day job to provide a safety net while the other nurture the business.
The other thing that determined who to quit the day job is he is a lot more creative than I am. His interior design ideas are pretty darn good. Like I said, I have zero sense of fashion. None. So, naturally it's him that will take the main role in flipping our next flip house.
And that's where we are at right now. The next phase in our plan is to find another house to flip after all 5 rental properties have stable tenants. Right now, 3 have tenants and 2 have tenants moving in next week. And since we are tired of living in sawdust, we will no longer be living in our flips LOL.
Keep this in mind. This is not for everyone. We have made a lot of sacrifices. Don't get me wrong, we are anything but frugal. We just came back from Cancun. We're millennials and we like to travel way too much to be living on beans and rice. We take some advice from Dave Ramsey but we also make sure we can enjoy life as much as possible. In a couple months, we will be spending a week in Palm Springs, CA. This winter we plan on going to Hawaii... or somewhere else. Haven't decided.
LOL sorry, we don't have any trade secret that's ground breaking. If you take how much money we have made versus how much time we have put into them, I bet my hourly wage is like $3/hour. But once we have tenants in all 5 units, for the first time the rental income will surpass my active job income. WOOHOO!
Feel free to ask any question to me directly. I wish you guys the best in your venture. I really do hope for nothing but the best for you. A couple more years and we should be financially independent. Aim for it!
