Rental Property Investor · Lake Suzy, FL · Member since 2018 · 171 posts · 216 votes
I'd love to hear from those who are on the cusp of leaving their 9-5's, their cubicles, their corporate golden handcuffs, for a new life as a passive or not so passive real estate investor.
Will it be this year? Are you ready? Are you worried or optimistic? Does your employer and co-workers already see it coming?
Great Q @Tab Teehee: I'm literally on that cusp TOMORROW. But i have a bit of a different story than most who 'quit their corporate gig when their passive income exceeds their w2 income.'
I'm not near 'matching my passive income to my 9-5 income...' but I feel like the opportunity cost at this point is outweighing my 'secure income' of my 9-5 since I can't do real estate as HARD as I want to and am capable of at this point in my career. (if that makes sense). I can pursue real estate full time, and do large enough deals, with the contacts I have, and the skills I have, enough to pay my bills at this point I believe. I just closed 2 deals this past quarter, 268 units and 252 units. My 2nd and 3rd syndication deals as a General Partner. Does that make me 'ready to take on the world?' YES Does that mean its going to be a piece of cake? NO ;)
I can also 'pick back up my 9-5 any time I want' since it's a freelance world. So I can step into REI full time, and if I fall on my face, I can go back and make some cash, then try it again.
My friends all see it coming, and ask if I'm 'doing it full time yet?' so that's a good indicator to me that my brand is strong enough to push that with investors.
I spend more and more time these days actively investing, speaking at events, helping investors, etc. So this is a natural path for me.
Am I scared / Worried? YES... Absolutely.
Am I confident that I can do it? And that there's wealth in abundance beyond my current job? YES!
I'll take all the encouragement I can get though :)
What about you? Scared? That's GOOD! Progress is on the other side of discomfort. So go through it, and let's GO!
Great Q @Tab Teehee: I'm literally on that cusp TOMORROW. But i have a bit of a different story than most who 'quit their corporate gig when their passive income exceeds their w2 income.'
I'm not near 'matching my passive income to my 9-5 income...' but I feel like the opportunity cost at this point is outweighing my 'secure income' of my 9-5 since I can't do real estate as HARD as I want to and am capable of at this point in my career. (if that makes sense). I can pursue real estate full time, and do large enough deals, with the contacts I have, and the skills I have, enough to pay my bills at this point I believe. I just closed 2 deals this past quarter, 268 units and 252 units. My 2nd and 3rd syndication deals as a General Partner. Does that make me 'ready to take on the world?' YES Does that mean its going to be a piece of cake? NO ;)
I can also 'pick back up my 9-5 any time I want' since it's a freelance world. So I can step into REI full time, and if I fall on my face, I can go back and make some cash, then try it again.
My friends all see it coming, and ask if I'm 'doing it full time yet?' so that's a good indicator to me that my brand is strong enough to push that with investors.
I spend more and more time these days actively investing, speaking at events, helping investors, etc. So this is a natural path for me.
Am I scared / Worried? YES... Absolutely.
Am I confident that I can do it? And that there's wealth in abundance beyond my current job? YES!
I'll take all the encouragement I can get though :)
What about you? Scared? That's GOOD! Progress is on the other side of discomfort. So go through it, and let's GO!
It was a cold miserable day in 1998. Dragged myself out of bed @ the usual 5am & my wife simply said, "you know you really don't have to go to work anymore'. Called it in to my management's secretary & walked away. NEVER looked back, but I think they gave me a clock for my 11 years of service.
Hi @Tab Teehee, I recently left my corporate job to focus full time of real estate having managed to do three deals, with partners, last year. Although my income today is much less that I was earning in a corporate role, with 100% of my focus I have an opportunity to accelerate my real estate business much faster than I could if I was still in my corporate role.
For me personally, I think I need to focus 100% on one thing to get the necessary traction. It’s like a jet taking off whereby the majority of the energy is required to actually take off and climb to cruising altitude.
There are significant benefits to staying in a corporate job namely being able to continue to build capital and also to build relationships with people who may become investors down the line. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Quitting the security of a 9-5 job isn't easy. I remember being so excited when I left, but then reality sets in and you realize you have no cushion anymore. No income, no fallback, etc... One of the biggest things I struggled with (and still do sometimes) is time management. There's no "boss" telling you what to do and what projects to work on. That's all on you now.
My real estate business is anything but "passive", but I wouldn't have it any other way. I really enjoy what i'm doing now even though i'm working almost double the amount of hours I was at my job. The best part of real estate investing for me, is that it's something I truly love. Looking back, I probably would have figured out a way to stay a little longer, but there's no easy answer there.
I took the jump in April 2019. I was at a job I did not enjoy at all, dealing with stress there and tons of management B.S... I considered quitting the job and finding a different full-time W2 job, but decided maybe it was a good opportunity to jump into real estate investing full time and see what happens. It was definitely a risky move and 2019 definitely had its share of stressful moments! But overall, I'm glad I did it and looking forward to developing more as an entrepreneur in 2020.
@Tab Teehee My day was about 15 months ago and it was the best decision I ever made. Ultimately it took me over 2 years to pull the trigger and looking back I wish I had done it sooner. The fear of leaving a 6-figure job for me was high, especially since I knew no other way and had been working a W2 for over 20 years. My advice to people out there who want to leave their W2 in pursuit for something greater, is do it! But...make sure you take the time to plan it out. Failing to plan is planning to fail. To help get over the fear I would tell you to ask yourself, what is the absolute worse thing that could happen? If everything failed could you get another job? If so, then the downside is really not all that bad and we all know that the upside is exponential. The journey will come with great ups and downs but in the end, you are building something for yourself and your family, not someone else.
@Tab Teehee nice topic! I’m wavering on this decision this year and trying to figure out how to make it work. I live and invest in San Diego but don’t have steady enough deal flow to pay the bills in order to get the real estate business off the ground. SD isn’t a cash flow market so that means I need more transactions (flips or wholesales, which are very competitive) or a move to a different investing market. It’s a tough call and starting another year at my W2 feels painful. I’ve been focusing on real estate for about 18 months and feel like this year I need to focus on scaling, pipeline development, and raising capital. With solid progress, perhaps I can leave corporate America towards the end of the year.
Best of luck to all who are striving for this goal!
My wife quit her other job about 5 years ago to manage our properties and be a mom. We have made more from our non W2 than from my fairly high salaried W2 job every year (2018 may have been close) since then. Especially the last 5 months have been outstanding for 2019/2020.
About 10 years ago I went part-time but that really has not worked as most weeks I am very close to 40 hours and occasionally over 40 hours (working part-time - LOL). I did take on less responsibility (and received smaller raises) but there is still as much work as I desire.
I could "retire" from my W2 job (could have for at least 5 years) and I am getting closer to doing it. If I do so, it will likely be in the summer. Sometimes I like my W2 job but I have too many things to do to spend close to 40 hours a week working for someone else even if my job is one of the best jobs around. This is especially true seeing that I can possibly make more from non-w2 activities.
Only thing I am scared of is missing the work and routine. There is no financial reason for me to be working other than I like to build wealth. Even though we do not need it, I enjoy gaining net worth and learning how to gain net worth. I love making an investment that does exceptional whether it is RE related or otherwise. I love finding value adds and extracting money so that even small gains in value result in huge ROI due to leverage. We are also approaching a financial milestone goal which I do not know if I get to it faster continuing to work the W2 job or retiring from the W2 job.
I place the odds of me retiring this year at over 50%.
As of April 1, 2019 I walked away from my W-2 as a funeral director. It was difficult. It was a family business and I was just tired of the long days, long nights, never ending time away from my wife and kids.
I bought (with a partner) 5 units in 2017 with no idea that we’d grow it into a potential job. I figured it was just additional retirement at the time but as we realized pretty quickly there was nice cash in the rental business. So we discussed over the next year how many units we would need for me to leave my job (40-50... we now have 131)
So after being self employed for 8 months I wish I had done it sooner.
Ive been self employed for as long as I can remember. Always a hustle!
However, this year I have hired the first person needed to run my business and begin removing myself to focus strictly on real estate.
As of now have 2 units, working on a duplex and a mobile home park ATM. I fully intend to other than keeping the employees on track, invest in real estate in varying capacities. Also a few days away from being a licensed agent and working on a plan to start a rural prop mgmt branch under a local real estate broker.
It's fun. I've never worked standard hours so it's all one and the same to me.
I just do both for now...W-2 and real estate. Things got more passive for me with scale.
And I like working with highly educated and self-motivated people at the office (versus what I encounter in real estate). Both have their pros and cons...and are what you make of them.
@Mike Dymski curious about your comment about things getting more passive with scale. Is that because you were able to put property management in place, or were you able to hire employees? Or did you move your investments into more of an LP role than GP roles? Thanks,
@Mike Dymski curious about your comment about things getting more passive with scale. Is that because you were able to put property management in place, or were you able to hire employees? Or did you move your investments into more of an LP role than GP roles? Thanks,
All of the above. Starting in 2016, I was either going to hire an employee or use 3rd party PM. I chose the latter (for now). I also began to allocate more capital to LPs.
My wife and I started investing in real estate 5 years ago. We finally make what her income pays ($3,400/month). So she’s retiring. I love my job so I’ll keep at it for another 16 years. But our 9 SFRs allowed us to retire one of us so far...
If you love what you do for a living you'll never "work" a day in your life...or at least i've been told!
Having the ability to freelance your current profession should give you a bit more confidence in your ability to walk away, but hopefully you won't have to play that card unless you want to, on your terms!
If it wasn't for paying for professional property management, i'd be close to matching my W2 income, just not my full benefit package.
I'm 52, earn a 6 figure income, raising two grandchildren....don't want to work another 10-15 years and miss out on spending time with them before they grow up and abandon us, lol. However, losing company sponsored health care at my age while raising a family is scary! I have reached my earring potential at my job, and the only bonus for me is working overtime. Ironically, i'm at work right now, got called in to cover someone who's ill.
My wife and I just finished the purchase, rehab and repositioning of a 20 unit multifamily, and I want more! I'm also afraid that giving up my W2 income would greatly affect any large real estate deals, and at this point that's really all I'd be interested in. Getting my wife on board is another thing....she loves my job, steady, good income, good benefits...it is a GREAT job, but it's still a JOB!
It sounds like the career you left exposed you to potential investors. I guess that is another area to consider, the guys i work with are all big earners that are at least active investors in their 401k's, which have exploded in the last year by the way, and many have been intrigued by my real estate endeavors and could be potential investors.
In my 20's I went to real estate school and became a licensed agent...I did this during evenings after my welding job! Once I had that license in hand I gave my 2 weeks notice and left a relatively good paying job for a job with a zero paycheck guarantee!
The time management you mention is real...my broker/manager told me, "Tab, this is a lot different than working at a weld shop...if you wake up and decide to go fishing or play golf that day, there isn't going to be anyone to stop you"!
He was definitely right! Not everyone can handle being that self reliant. During that time my wife worked two jobs to supplement what we had saved up until my first commission check arrived!
It was a cold miserable day in 1998. Dragged myself out of bed @ the usual 5am & my wife simply said, "you know you really don't have to go to work anymore'. Called it in to my management's secretary & walked away. NEVER looked back, but I think they gave me a clock for my 11 years of service.
Scared? NEVER!!
Had your wife been trying to get you to quit your JOB before then or was this an out of the blue moment.
My latest real estate endeavor was personal to me in that, the apartments were built by my father in law. He was a doctor/real estate investor/developer back in the 60's and 70's. He was diagnosed with lupus in the prime of his medical career and began investing in real estate as a way to provide for his family if he was unable to practice medicine anymore. His real estate investments did in fact take care of his wife and children for many years after his passing. Now today his daughter and I own one of the last of his real estate projects. He had even bigger plans that weren't fulfilled and I'd love to carry on his legacy, for my own family. As you said, you're building a business for yourself, not someone else.
I'm not exactly in your shoes as I live in South Florida and our real estate market here is good, but not nearly as heated as yours! I spent the last year and a half, probably 3 trips a month, traveling to Oklahoma to manage the rehab of a 20 unit property there! It was a labor of love though and I guess now that it's kinda over (never truly over), i'm having withdrawals, lol. Don't be afraid to look away from home, there are deals everywhere...except maybe In your own neighborhood?
@Tab Teehee 🙋I'm so ready. I've been letting my fear stop me from doing what I always wanted to do. No more.. I'm ready to live the life I dream of. I have it so bad when I see a house that empty, boarded up or just need some love. I see myself walking through it and saying what can I do to make it someone home. And yes the money I can make selling it or renting out. Im form Durham NC and it's so many houses that needs some TLC. I'm looking for guidance and going to meeting with some season investor. I need to get around others thats doing what I want to do. Sorry for this long answer.