The Power of ten properties

[Ryan Spath]

It’s easy to get “door envy” when you listen to podcasts or scroll through other investors’ posts. You see people chasing 50, 100, 200+ units and start wondering if you’re not doing enough.

But here’s the truth:
Some investors want to build massive, scalable operations, and that’s awesome. But you don’t need a giant portfolio to change your life.

If you can acquire just 10 solid properties, you will likely be set for life.

I say this from personal experience. When I started back in 2013 renting out my first home, I never thought in terms of dozens of doors. I wasn’t chasing scale, I was chasing freedom. Over the years, through house hacks, smart financing, and buying in markets I understood, our portfolio has grown steadily… not explosively. And today, sitting on multiple long-term rentals across Florida and Idaho I can confidently say this:

A small, well-bought portfolio can outperform a massive, poorly managed one.

Here’s why 10 properties is enough:

1. Debt paydown becomes a wealth-building machine.
Even if your properties only cash flow modestly, 10 tenants quietly paying down 10 mortgages for you year after year is life-changing.

2. Cash flow compounds faster than you think.
Rents rise. Mortgages stay fixed. Over 10–15 years, your cash flow doesn’t just grow, it multiplies.

3. Appreciation is the bonus, not the plan.
But when you own 10 properties for 10+ years… the bonus becomes massive.

4. You create optionality.
With 10 properties, you can sell one to pay off two. Refi one to buy another. Move equity where it matters. You gain freedom of choice.

5. It’s manageable.
You don’t need to build a property management empire. With systems (and the occasional headache), 10 doors is a very doable portfolio even for someone with a full-time career.

For me, the mindset shift happened when I realized I didn’t need hundreds of doors, I needed the right doors. And that’s the foundation of the “Power of 10” framework I now teach clients. Ten quality, leveraged, cash-flowing assets held over time… that’s real financial independence.

[Steve K.]

This has been my experience as well. I got caught in the trap of chasing doors and "cash flow"/ paper tiger multifamily properties in C- areas that I thought would be my ticket to "financial freedom". They did not perform nearly as well in reality as they did on the spreadsheet, and I noticed quickly that they were surprisingly being outperformed by my Class A rentals that I kind of ended up with by accident (former primaries and a couple SFR's that I picked up from a friend at a great price). I shifted my strategy to focusing on quality over quantity. Properties in good locations attract better tenants who stay longer and do less damage, the properties appreciate much better, rents go up faster, much less work and stress, equaling higher profits and you need less of them to make the same amount of money. I downsized from around 30 units consisting of mostly Class C multifamily to 13 Class A SFRs and net about the same $. Have not had a single eviction or any tenant issues at all since making the change either. My buy box has changed from focusing on "cash flow" to location, location, location, capturing equity/buying right, proximity to my house, and that's it. The properties that have performed the best over time were actually negative cashflow when I picked them up, but thanks to principle pay down, rent increases, and appreciation those properties have greatly outperformed the ones with a few hundred bucks in cash flow upfront. Appreciation alone on those breaks down to $500-600 PER DAY which is obviously much better than a few hundred per month in cash flow, and principle pay down on the year is also more than cashflow especially a few years into the amortization schedule. Rent appreciation also looks more like a ski jump on my better properties compared to a flat line on the lower quality ones, making cash flow better over time. Everyone has to start somewhere but the sooner an investor can get into quality properties, Class A or B+ over Class C/D, the better off they will be IMO.