What is your favorite strategy?

Question

My husband and I purchased our first rental property in November 2019 in Montclair, NJ, right before the pandemic.

At the time, we had just gotten married, bought our chocolate lab Milo, and had absolutely no idea what we were doing.

We inherited tenants in one unit and moved into the other. In the first year, we renovated the 1st unit that we lived in then had a baby and decided to move upstairs. We fixed up unit 2, had another baby, and then moved out within the first 4 years.

When we bought the property, it was generating about $2,400/month in rental income.

Today, that same property generates over $8,400/month from just two units.

Looking back, the biggest lesson wasn't finding the perfect deal—it was taking action before we felt ready and being willing to learn along the way.

There were plenty of mistakes and unexpected expenses but taking that first step completely changed our trajectory.

I'm curious:

What's been your biggest win in real estate?

Or maybe more importantly...

What's been your biggest lesson or mistake?

I always enjoy connecting with other investors, hearing their stories, and learning from both the successes and setbacks. If you're investing in New Jersey or anywhere else, I'd love to hear about your journey.

👇 Share your story below.

Alex Bekeza · Answer

@Alexis Manco

Love this, congrats on turning a house-hack into a cash flow machine. That $2,400 to $8,400 jump is no joke.

My version of "taking action before I felt ready" was buying my first rental in St. Louis in 2019 during the height of the pandemic fears when you couldn't buy toilet paper or send a GC to a job site. I live in LA so I did the whole thing out of state, BRRRR strategy, and just kept going. 29 doors later across Missouri and Texas, and the biggest lesson I took away is almost identical to yours: the deal you actually close beats the perfect deal you're still analyzing.

The mistakes were real too underestimated rehab costs, a few units with high turnover rates, picked the wrong PM for the first few years, had a roof surprise that wiped out many months of cash flow, etc.  But each one just sharpened the system.

The biggest lesson I learned is that BRRRR is really the best way to scale a portfolio because those value add deals allow to you to recover your purchase/rehab costs on the refi and today's easy access to hard money purchase + DSCR refi make for a very scalable 1-2 punch.  My only regret was the 2 or 3 that I bought "turnkey".  They're fine rentals but just nowhere near the Return on Equity that I get on the BRRRRs.

I just completed a pretty awesome one this week.  Purchased a 2,500 square foot grandma house for $75,000 (listed at $140k and heirs just wanted nothing to do with it).  We did $82k in rehab and got the appraisal back at $282,500 with a market rent of $2,700.  Not everyone is quite this sweet but the scalability of these types of deals is real when you have the right capital stack of lenders behind you.

Travis Main · Answer

Hey Alexis,

This is a great example of why getting started is often more important than waiting for the perfect opportunity. Most successful investors I know didn't have everything figured out when they bought their first property—they learned by doing. The fact that you were able to navigate renovations, growing your family, tenant management, and increase the income from $2,400 to $8,400 per month is incredible. Stories like this are a good reminder that real estate is a long-term game, and consistent action over time can completely change your financial future. Congratulations on what you've built.

My biggest win in real estate has honestly been the relationships I've built. Deals come and go, markets change, but having a strong network of investors, agents, lenders, contractors, and title partners has opened more doors than any single property ever could.

As far as lessons go, I've learned that every deal has something hiding beneath the surface. Early on, I focused heavily on the numbers and not enough on the details. Things like open permits, title issues, contractor problems, and unexpected repairs can turn a good deal into a headache if you're not paying attention.

One thing I've learned is that you'll never feel completely ready. A lot of what I know today came from getting involved, making mistakes, and figuring things out along the way. Experience is a tough teacher, but it's usually the best one.