Rags to Riches Stories

[Vicki Gleitz]

I love to hear rags to riches [and rags moving up to riches] stories and I would love to hear yours.  YES, YOURS!

[Vicki Gleitz]

come on guys!  I want to hear about the beans and rice, the research at McDonalds because of free wi-fi  and learning [and appreciating]what a '3dog night" actually is. I want to hear about the 7,064 no's before receiving your first deal, and the crazy thing you did to come up with the last $698 you needed to make that deal real.  I want to hear about how your family was making jokes about yet another of your crazy schemes. I want to hear how you sold your plasma to raise enough for a professional business suit.  I want to hear about borrying your brothers car so that potential clients would never suspect that your real car was a crappy blue chevy Nova from the early 70's.  These are the stories that I love and that inspire me.  My late husband lived in a cave in Colorado in the late sixties so that he could afford to attend law school.  Let's hear YOUR stories!

[Mike Landry]

Ill let you know in a few years...

[Dawn Anastasi]

I came from a very poor family (poorer than my tenants are now) and on my mom's side no one had ever graduated college.  On my dad's side only 1 person had gone to college.  My great-grandparents had come over from Poland and Germany to the USA.

Since then I went to college and paid for it mostly on my own (with scholarships and $200 from my dad for books), worked hard and now have 12 rental properties (some owned myself and others with partners).

[Brian Burke]

I first became interested in real estate when I was in high school and my parent's house fell into foreclosure.  I figured there must be an opportunity somehow to buy real estate at a discount and make a profit.  I didn't have any money so it was more of an idea than a business.

When I was 20 my then-fiancée (and now my wife of 24 years) lived in a small apartment. We were both working in a grocery store part time, I was making about $12/hour and she was making around $8.  We were barely getting by...macaroni and cheese and overdraft protection on our checking account were our two best friends.

Around that time my mother had no place to live and found her way to our couch along with my two much younger sisters.  That just wasn't going to work, so I managed to buy a cheap mobile home with no money down so I could rent it to her and get her out of our apartment.  It might have been a great arrangement if she'd have actually paid rent as agreed, so we went further into the poor house as we borrowed money to pay on that house while barely scraping by on our own expenses.  Eventually I had to get her out and sell at roughly a break-even, but I was now even poorer than when I started.

Next, I bought a fixer by buying subject to the existing financing and using credit cards for the rest...flipped it and made a very (very) small profit, and thus my business was launched.

Bought a couple more fixers by borrowing private money from a hard money broker and using a signature credit line for the rest.  Next, after having experience and a track record, I started raising money from investors and that was a game changer.  This little business that started with money borrowed off of credit cards has now bought over $200 million in real estate.  It hasn't been easy and I wouldn't want to do it all over again, but I wouldn't want to change it now!

[Ezra Sitt]

@Brian Burke wow great story!

[Anthony Gayden]

@Brian Burke  great job!!!

That is some motivational stuff there. 

[Frankie Woods]

@Brian Burke , thank you so very  much for sharing!  You and @Dawn Anastasi are inspirations to us all!  Happy Thanksgiving and here's to continued success!  I hope to be where you are in 10 years!  11 units and ~89 to go...but whose counting?

[Jay Hinrichs]

For me I wanted to be an airline pilot.. always dreamed of it.  But coming out of high school in 1974.. the threshold to get on with the airlines was daunting.. thousands of hours of working as an instructor while students try to kill you.... I knew I did not have the pertinence for that.  I was bagging Groceries for 1.65 an hour... And my Dad talked me into getting my RE license I was 17.75 years old at the time just out of high school.. So I bought the chamberlin course  studied passed the test just after my 18th birthday, launched into RE sales with terrible results almost quit many times, many tears as well,

Well I finally made my first sale and got a 900.00 commission... the light bulb went off I would have had to work months for that money and that particular sale took me all of maybe 5 hours of work... within a year I had made almost 50k in commissions and bought my first house in Milpitas CA. I never bought another property except my personal residences in the bay area I kept moving up from Milpitas to Palo Alto to Napa valley each time making 6 figure appreciation profits with no tax. I did not start buying investment properties until maybe 25 ish.. and those were flips.. I would try a rental and that just was not for me at the time I was a terrible landlord   STill am to this day... way to nice and believe everyone's sob story.. So just learned everything I could about what I call the back end of RE.. IE how to work the court house.. How to find shadow plats in CA.. How to buy foreclosures and tax sales.  BAck in those days It was RARE that anyone showed up for a foreclosure auction in the county I concentrated on ( Lake County CA). 

Then it just became a natural progression at about 30 I decided to hang up my Brokerage hat and took my first semi job with a syndicator  ( now a PPM promotor or crowdfunder) in San Mateo I did site acquisition and management of the entitlement process for subdivisions from Nevada co. to El dorado and Sac... along with North bay area.

Then I found hard money lending and mentored with a gentlemen that had one of the most successful HML companies in Alameda county and he has no succession plan an no heirs.. I ended up owning that company after 2 years of him teaching me the ropes and of course my CA brokers license is what I used to run it... From there is just been a series of trying to stay ahead of whats hot.. Like Brian above if I quantified it in Dollars I am right up there with him in dollar amounts of deals done.

So from living in a apartment in Cupertino CA  and my parents having a VW with no back seats... CA. real estate and the bay area in particular is a huge reason I was able to move up in the industry...   Along with attitude... full time RE is a Lifestyle.. And make no mistake it is a JOB... But I look at it as a darn nice Lifestyle I don't work never did I just lived my life and my life was selling RE .. meeting all sorts of great clients and people... 

[David White]

@Dawn Anastasi Thank you for your story @Brian Burke Thank you for your story @Jay Hinrichs Thank you for your story

[Sean Kremer]

 I was working at a packing house when I bought Carlton Sheets' course on late night TV. That course changed my life for sure .

        I bought my first house on contract, used my credit card for the down payment. Back then credit card companies used to send out sheets of checks to entice you to go into debt and pay off other credit cards. That's what I used. I remember my family telling me I was making a huge mistake. I figured since I had nothing, I had nothing to lose, and most of the rich guys I knew of were real estate guys. Paid $7500 for that piece of crap. There was a large telephone pole stretched out across the basement holding the opposing walls up......good times. I still own that house, (with a new basement). 

     After a few years of buying anything, ( and I mean anything ), that would cash flow, my family started to worry that I was living way beyond my means and they voiced it constantly. They had no idea what I was really doing and really buying so they assumed I was still broke and was going crazy with credit. About five years after buying my first property, I stopped worrying about money. Today I'm one lucky S.O.B.  Thats my best explanation.

      Quick story about my dad......He was very conservative with money, and hated debt. Because of this we always lived extremely frugal and this is how I was raised. He would always harp on me about money and how I was abusing it, buying stuff at the rate that I was.  One day many years ago we were on a road trip together. Over the course of 30 minutes of driving, he watched me buy a home over the phone, and then sell it over the phone immediately to someone else for a profit that rivaled many middle class wages back in the early 90's. I'm glad he witnessed that deal come together because he never said another word about money to me after that day....

Sean K 

[J. Martin]

@Vicki Gleitz ,

- No cable (I don’t even own a TV!)
- 1991 Honda Civic w/ 150K miles (recently purchased after 250K mile truck hand-me-down that I traded for a coin-op washer and dryer for a property)
- Was making $10/hr at non-profit when I graduated from college
- $0 in cash and net worth when starting in 2012
 - Lived in crappy, older apt w/ 3 others for $600/mo under rent control in SF
- Picked up free couches off the street to save cash
- Used to borrower weekly from friends to have enough to get by
- Used credit cards to save up for first FHA 4plex purchase
- In last 2 years, bought $1MM of RE and over $150K in gross rents!

I started with no cash, slightly negative net worth coming out of college, a few credit cards, and a dream in my pocket.. After making some financial sacrifices along the way in my personal life, including moving more than once, I was able to build a portfolio of over $1MM in RE and $140k/yr in gross rents (my share; gross, not net) between 4 personally and partially owned properties and a master lease deal, at 30 years old.

After not having a car for years, I drove a hand-me-down beater truck w/ 250k miles, until it couldn't pass smog, and traded it for a coin-op washer & dryer for a 4plex I bought with a partner a few months ago. After that, I bought a 1991 Honda Civic for $1k, and put the rest of those savings in a partnership on a duplex with the same $100K in equity upside and lots of cash flow for less than half in cash of what most of my colleagues have spent on a car. ***NETWORKING COMES IN HANDY FOR BUILDING THE PORTFOLIO TOO!**

I invite friends out to beautiful Lake Merritt for a drink instead of going to the bar.
I skip cable and satellite TV and watch things on occasion on Hulu.
I have always received free furniture off of Craigslist or from friends, in decent condition, but of course never really what I wanted.

I recently met a young investor like myself who said he didn't have enough money to get started in some areas he wanted to, couldn't find cash flow, but was driving a brand new Mercedes! I'm sure I'll get some flack from those who have really "made it" about enjoying your life. And I do :) But the best things in life aren't things ;) Or shiny stuff. Or new, comfy cars. *some of which I may enjoy more in the future*

But that long-term growth of income and equity in RE really can put you closer toward that goal of getting off the 9-5, and plowing your cash into RE instead of depreciating assets is a great way to get started!

ps. I finally bought my first new couch from a store after meeting my first big benchmark of $1MM in RE :) Not too expensive, but It's great! And has a fold-out bed, which I may utilize to generate some income when I AirB&B out my apartment next time I'm out of the country traveling! :)

Since I first joined BP in March of 2011 from a referral from @Johnson H., I have purchased 12 units (4plexes, duplex, SFHs) between 4 addresses by myself and with 2 different partners in the last 2 years, started a monthly meetup group in Oakland, and hosted a big RE Networking Summit in SF last weekend w/ about 200 other RE investors and 20 inspiring speakers and panelists from BP, mentored several newer investors, borrowed from and done deals with other BP members, and gained a huge network of wonderful people :)

 I also control 3 additional units w/ 5yr leases rented out to international students and Airbnb. All around the “1% rule” in the Bay Area where I hear there is no cash flow – even with 2 purchases this year. This came with quite a bit of sacrifice in flexible living, cheap cars, and frugal spending in many areas of my life. But paid off well!

None of this would have been possible without inspiration and ideas from others in my personal life, on BP, and in my local network. Investors like @Jay Hinrichs and @Brian Burke  above (both who I've had the opportunity to meet in person) have been a part of this inspiration. You can grow as big as you can imagine!! 2 years ago, I was a nobody with nothing! Now I've had the honor to meet and learn from great investors like Brian Burke, @Bryan Hancock , and @Brandon Turner .

[Ramon Fyffe]

Thanks for the encouraging stories everyone this is a great thread!

[Amine E.]

Wow. I never really took the time to look back and think about my journey so far. Your question and the follow-up stories triggered some interesting memories so here it goes...

Came to the united states in 2001 at 19 years old barely speaking any English and with $1700 in my pocket from a loan my day took to send me to Boston, Ma to go to school. What was I thinking??!!... I later that year I moved to Oklahoma City where i paid my own way through Undergrad (UCO) and later grad School (OSU). When I think about struggle and sacrifice during the early years in the US of A, the first thing that comes to my mind is how much it sucked to walk for a mile to go to work (fast-food job) in frigid weather, and uphill especially when it snows and is windy as hell. looking back at those experiences, I could easily see how much impact they had on who I am today.

 I started investing in 2012. Currently own 6 rentals with a goal of 25 rentals by 2020. Although I see plenty of opportunities to accelerate  investing by using other people's money; right now, I m sticking to my goal and taking things slowly as they come to me.

My favorite thing is collecting rent every month in person from my tenants. I take my 8 year old daughter with me whenever I can.  It is so fun when you have financial and business conversations with kids... see how wide their eye open when they see how things work...I always tell my daughter that we are barely making. Her response : " Dad, you are rich in kids world"   I truly look forward to the end of each month because I could see and feel the fruits of hard work.

[Mikisha Simms]

Very inspiring stories!!