10 months ago I was driving up and down every road in this new town of Iron Mountain MI trying to get a feel for the quality of the neighborhoods and characteristics of the market. I still had a few weeks of college left but was likely going to be starting a job in the town after graduation. Having already understood that multi family properties was where I wanted to focus my attention I wanted to take a look at every apartment complex or 4+ unit structure I could find. Knowing I could only afford 4 units as my first purchase I passed by a large complex on a small lake in the center of town and said to my mother who was in the car with me… “Wow, that would be amazing to own!” Given the size of the building, location, and fact that the numbers on the carports went up to 16 I shrugged it off knowing there was no way I could ever afford something like that in the near future.

The day before graduation I received my job offer, and 2 days after graduation I submitted an offer on a 4 unit building in the hopes of living in one unit while renting out the others. I wanted to renovate the units with the idea that within 6 months I could be living rent free with my tenants paying all my bills. After negotiations and inspections I closed on my first deal in June 2015, began my job, and began renovations. 5 months later I had the first major renovations completed and got the building full to achieve my goal of living rent free before the new year.

In October 2015, during the renovations of my last vacant unit my carpet installer gave me a tip on a 16 unit building. So being young and ambitious I figured, “what the hell, why not call and see what the deal looks like.” Well, it ended up being Crystal Lake, that 16 unit that caught my eye on my first property hunt through the town.

After analyzing the numbers, viewing a few units in the property, trying to find investors interested in a partnership and exhausting my network I had to make a phone call and acknowledge my inability to move forward on the deal(I was 100% honest the entire time about my situation). I explained that while I clearly like the deal, unless the owners could provide some sort of owner financing (in the very first conversation the owners were clear about not wanting to do any owner financing) then I couldn't likely make an offer as I didn't have the financing to back it up.

Long story short, the owners came back with an owner financing option, we negotiated and had a signed purchase agreement by the end of January 2016. After getting multiple banks to negotiate on the financing I was able to secure a commercial loan in 1st position with the owner financing in second position all under very favorable terms. I walked into closing today and was only required to put $11,950 down on the building.

If anyone is interested in learning more about my financing structure, negotiation, or cash flow analysis please PM me!

Needless to say, the past 10 months have been very exciting for me. I am 22 years old and now own 20 units. The goal is to hit 150 units by age 30! But why not try to hit that by age 26?

I have to give a big shout out to the BP community for the advice, encouragement, and cautions as I have sought out help through this process. I really cannot imagine I would be where I am today without the BP community to lean on when things have gotten challenging.

For all the newbies, I was one just 10 months ago. Don’t think because you don’t have lots of money or experience you cant make it happen. It took me just $17k in total investment of my own money to secure these 20 units which rent for an average of $600 each (most of the utilities are sub metered too!). Figure out what peoples problems are and try to find the most advantageous way to solve those problems for all parties. It’s a relationship and problem solving game. Do that better then anyone else who is competing for a particular deal and you can surely see substantial success in a short period of time!

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