I started investing journey when I moved out of my first home in 2019 at 28yrs of age. I didn't really start investing until 2021 where I jumped into real estate somewhat aggressively and bought 8 more deals between 2021 and 2024 (some purchases were with family members). I stated to dream bigger and stated making plans for purchasing minimum 2 properties per year to maintain a strong momentum and find a way to retire by the time I'm 45 using my rentals.
2025 has been a discouraging year where I went under contract multiple times but things just haven't lined up and I would fall out of contract due to multitude of reasons. I can no longer find cash on cash deals I previously would find and I found myself purchasing nothing. I have also expanded my search from focusing on 3-4 markets to now looking at just about every city, almost desperate to find the next deal.
Has anyone else particularly struggled in 2025 with high interest rates and home prices? I can't pinpoint to what I may be doing wrong but I can't get 9-11% CoC in C+ to B areas no matter where I'm looking. I've become discouraged and heading into 2026 I want to fire myself up again and get encouraged and close on deals again. I'm not sure what I'm looking for in response to this post, possibly some encouragement or wisdom.
You’re definitely not alone—2025 has been one of the toughest environments I’ve seen for clean cash-on-cash deals, especially in solid C+ to B markets. A lot of experienced investors are running into the same friction.
One thing I’ve learned through different cycles is that forcing deals in this kind of market usually hurts more than it helps. Tightening focus, protecting capital, and sharpening underwriting is progress—even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment.
I’ve had to adjust strategy myself and lean more into creativity, execution, and long-term positioning rather than chasing what used to pencil easily.
Happy to connect and compare notes—feel free to DM me if you want to talk through what you’re seeing or just network I have had success in my area on deals still.
I started investing journey when I moved out of my first home in 2019 at 28yrs of age. I didn't really start investing until 2021 where I jumped into real estate somewhat aggressively and bought 8 more deals between 2021 and 2024 (some purchases were with family members). I stated to dream bigger and stated making plans for purchasing minimum 2 properties per year to maintain a strong momentum and find a way to retire by the time I'm 45 using my rentals.
2025 has been a discouraging year where I went under contract multiple times but things just haven't lined up and I would fall out of contract due to multitude of reasons. I can no longer find cash on cash deals I previously would find and I found myself purchasing nothing. I have also expanded my search from focusing on 3-4 markets to now looking at just about every city, almost desperate to find the next deal.
Has anyone else particularly struggled in 2025 with high interest rates and home prices? I can't pinpoint to what I may be doing wrong but I can't get 9-11% CoC in C+ to B areas no matter where I'm looking. I've become discouraged and heading into 2026 I want to fire myself up again and get encouraged and close on deals again. I'm not sure what I'm looking for in response to this post, possibly some encouragement or wisdom.
thank you
First of all you should realize that things are never as bad - or as good - as they seem. What seems like a life altering event in real time often ends up as a mere footnote in retrospect.
yup, we’re in an economic situation where there are much fewer deals in residential real estate that meet investor criteria for a risk adjusted ROI. This is because we had a large run up (totally unexpected) in SFR prices immediately following the pandemic- but no corresponding increase in rental rates. Higher property taxes, higher insurance costs, higher maintenance/repair costs, larger mortgage payments, higher down payments, all with rental rates the same or smaller increases.
So, assuming the investor doesn’t want to invest in deals that do not meet their risk adjusted return minimum, and doesn’t want to bet on future appreciation, they have four choices.
1. Wait it out. Wait for a return to a time when rental rates and property prices are in a more balanced relationship.
2. Search harder, (more time, effort, and cost) to find the very few deals that do meet the adjusted risk/reward ROI. Work harder to MAKE a deal, longer negotiations, negotiating 5 deals at once instead of 2; making offers on 50 properties even if they’re “low ball”, increasing marketing budget significantly to drive deal flow, getting more “creative”.
3. Invest in other property types. This of course requires education, so there’s an investment of both time and $ to get up to speed. Right now we’re finding that warehouse facilities, auto repair properties, and small retail/service centers provide the risk adjusted return we’re looking for.
4. Invest thru a different medium/. There are many ultra conservative REITS that’s stock is selling at a 15 - 20% discount to net asset value and are yielding on dividends 4 - 6%. Further, they’re utilizing leverage of only 20 -30%.
A little further out on the safety scale are medium risk REITS selling at 30 -50% discount to NAV, and yielding 6 - 11%.
Let us know which way you decide to go. I would be interested in what you decide.
