The beginning is always a good place to start! We started our journey back in 2016. My husband, Steven, was talking with someone at work who mentioned a group they had joined to start investing in real estate – Lifestyle’s Unlimited. Financial freedom through passive income was their pitch. We were skeptical, but we had started feeling the drain on our spirits from our jobs. We took the bait.
The first event we attended was their monthly case study. We heard story after story of demonstrated success achieved by actual people – and they had the numbers to back it up. The case study got us excited, so we jumped head on into the two day seminar. At the seminar, we learned a lot more about how they achieve their success – a particular “map to retirement” they called it. It was engaging, it was helpful and it was exciting. From the seminar, we joined their introductory program and hit the ground running!
The first step was scary – we liquidated Steven’s retirement from our Vanguard account. It was making around a 1.46% rate of return each quarter, which was not very exciting, but the fear of the unknown was real, – the fear of failure was oh so real.
We connected with a realtor from their group and found this turn-key home within a month of attending the seminar. We fixed up the fence, tore down a shed, cleaned it up a bit and then sent it to market. We had one grand showing and then we had amazing tenants in place within a few days!
This has been the lowest maintenance property so far, with only one major sewage pipe break – there was not a back flow valve installed, so it flooded the house with some nasty stuff and assisted in terminating our lease a little early with the first tenants. However, insurance is a wonderful thing, and our bank effectively “rented” our property from us while funding all of the interior repairs.
We still have this property and, despite a hiccup or two with it, it is our highest performing rental and in one of our favorite neighborhoods in San Antonio.
We took our 1.46% return rate and transformed it into a 24.12% rate of return within a year.
Looking better already!
When we sell it in a year or so, we expect to see significant gains in equity due to appreciation as well.
The first investment went so well, we thought we were ready to dive into rehabs. We got a little ahead of ourselves and instead of stepping down into a more moderate fixer upper, we went into huge renovations. We quickly learned some painful lessons.
Join in the conversation!!
Have you considered real estate investing as a means to retirement?
If you are investing already, what was your first deal like?
What kinds of things would you do if you were financially free?
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