It has been 8 months since I left my job and.....

[Brie Schmidt]

.... it has been CRAZY!

When I recorded my podcast, I had just quit my job and started my journey as a full-time investor.

The one question I get asked most about the podcast is how we were able to grow so fast. We did not get a chance to really talk about it on the podcast so I wanted to address it here. We bought a duplex in an “A” neighborhood from an estate sale for property number three, which is now our personal residence. The house had not been touched since the 1970’s, so we did an extensive rehab on it and pulled out over six figures of equity. We used that equity as the down payment for the next set of properties in a cheaper, better cash flow market.

What I thought my life would be like: I thought I would have a ton of free time to finally focus on myself. I would be able to wake up after 6 a.m., go to the gym, and cook elaborate meals. I would be the person that is never rushed and just sits at a cafe midday reading books.

What my life is actually like: Now I sleep in until 7 am, still haven’t made it to the gym but that is on my to-do list. I work more hours than ever before but it does not feel like work, because I actually enjoy it. I do enjoy running errands and getting groceries at 2 p.m. on a Wednesday… that is a luxury I don’t think I can ever trade!

What has happened since July: We closed on the 19 units in Milwaukee the day before my podcast aired. I had cleared my schedule to handle the transition, but it was very easy because we kept the previous property manager, so the day to day operations were the same. We did not know that when you buy property in Milwaukee a code inspector comes out and issues you violations, which must be fixed in 90 days. We got hit badly with one property, about $10k in violations. Luckily the easy/preforming properties covered the cost of the non-preforming ones, and my PM handled everything. It took me about a month to realize I am just not one of those relaxing people and I was bored out of my mind, so…

I decided to start my own brokerage business! I have been licensed in Illinois since 2004 but had not taken on clients in almost 10 years. A member at our meet-up group asked me if I could help him and his fiancée buy their first investment property and so it started. I enjoy this business but it is so surreal for me. I am going through things with them that I went through with my first property and I really forgot how emotional and frustrating it is! IL is reciprocal with WI so I decided to open my own brokerage company there too, though I do not take on clients in Wisconsin. The Chicago real estate starts to slow down in winter so…

I decided to buy again in Milwaukee! We had sold three of the buildings there because I got an offer I couldn’t refuse. We had some money but not enough to do much, so I convinced my brother to put a lien on his free and clear house for me as a personal loan.  On December 1 we bought 13 more units. Four units were vacant and we had two vacancies from the July properties, so six vacancies in DECEMBER and my PM was on vacation the last two weeks of the month. He and I were showing apartments left and right and had five filled before he left. It was a crazy few weeks but we handled it very well and things went back to a steady pace. We had 25 units in six months and the bank said they would need to review our tax returns before deciding what we could do next so…

I started a website business with Jay Hinrichs! He approached me with an idea in late December and I thought it was fantastic. I found someone to build the framework of the site and even learned some coding so I can make my own site changes. We officially launched a few weeks ago and are working on building site traffic and adding new features. Our vision is to be a place where turnkey (TK) buyers can read real experiences from other TK buyers. The feedback so far has been very positive. It has been very exciting to see it grow and develop. As we were finishing up the site the bank gave us the green light so…

We bought another 15 units on Friday! These properties are almost all occupied, which will hopefully lead to a smooth transition. It has been crazy and will continue to be crazy for a while. Our strategy is to “get by” for the next few months, focusing on getting all units tenanted and taking care of all the code violations. Then when things settle down we have some units that need rent increases so we are going to spend the summer working on a few each month. We will raise rents and deal with the turnover we might experience but at least it will be in prime rental season and it will add almost $17k per year in rent. 

That is 40 units and over $1.2 million of property in eight months!

What is next:

• We are taking our first week long vacation in almost 2.5 years! It is desperately needed! We are going to Mexico for a week in April and then Europe for 2 weeks in May.
• We are doing one more buy of about 10 units, so we can “retire” and our goal is to close sometime in April. I know I will probably never “retire” but we will be in a place where my husband and I can live off rental income. This which gives us the ability to spend our time doing what we love, regardless of if it produces income.
• I am doing my first JV buy and hold deal. I have a California investor coming in this month to see our operations, meet my team, and to look at properties. Essentially I will buy for him just like I buy for myself and will manage the properties like I manage my own (with my PM). We have been talking for months and I feel we will make a good partnership.
• The website will be a main focus, as we will continue to market it and build site traffic. We really feel this is needed in the marketplace and will benefit turn key buyers both in the US and Internationally. My husband has shown interest in the website so when he leaves his job I think he will help me out with the backend stuff and day to day.
• We really want to plan a “around the world” trip! I have already mapped it out to do 25 cities in 25 weeks from Portugal to China leaving in October. But before we can commit to a trip like that we need to make sure the business are running smoothly before we decide to book the trip. At this point I don’t think we will be able to leave for six months but we are at least going to do a four to six week trip in winter.

Every time things seem to slow down I get myself involved in something else, it’s bad. On Valentine’s Day I sat down with my husband to watch a full hour TV show without working for the first time since New Year’s Day! I am making an effort to give myself “work hours” and to unplug more. I am such a “Type A” person and had a normal routine when I was working corporate jobs; now everything is up in the air all of the time so I have been trying to schedule my time for each of the businesses and stick to it.

If you would have told me what I would be doing now I would have laughed in your face. A year ago we had eight units, now we have 48. A year ago quitting my job was not an option, now I could never imagine working a corporate job. Almost none of this was planned, it just happened because I had to the passion and drive to make it happen. It has been the craziest eight months of my life and I am excited to see where the rest of this year brings!