Dear BP! I just wanted to share my story with all of you and hope that it will motivate you and give you hope. My story will show some of the lessons I learned during the last few years. First, it doesn’t take as much money as you think to achieve financial freedom but you have to stay focused on your goal. Realize that made you successful in your job today may not be sufficient for you to be successful as a real estate investor. Be numbers driven and get emotions out of financial decisions. Finally take action. Any action is better than inaction in my opinion.

On October 2014, one of my 2 sons came to me because he wanted to do real estate investments. It gave me mixed feelings. My real estate experience so far was not as successful as I wanted it to be. His announcement brought me back to my very first real estate investment. I was young, fearless, and nothing to lose. I was in my second year of university with $125 in the bank. I was introduced to this real estate mentor who showed me how to do a deal one move at a time. I wasn’t afraid because I didn’t know what to be afraid of and worked tirelessly to find an 8 units apartment building that would work cashflow with a seller who was willing to give me loan in second position. Closed with no money down! But it was bitter sweet because I didn’t see the value in property management so I became the property manager and the maintenance guy. Let’s just say it was not for me.

Just a little background about me before moving on. I graduated in Math and worked as an Actuary in Canada. Most of my actuarial career was dedicated to converting defined benefit plan to defined contribution plan. In 2000, my wife, my 2 boys (5 and 3 at the time), and I moved to the SF bay area. As an actuary I knew that I wouldn’t be able to retire comfortably unless I changed the path I was on. As a father I wanted to leave a legacy for my children. As entrepreneurs, my wife and I tried multiple businesses that would generate passive income.

Back to my son who is waiting on my answer while trying to figure out my inner dialog. My answer? “Sounds great. How do we do that?” Turns out that FortuneBuilder was the answer. FB has a great program for people who are new to real estate investment which was perfect. The two of us tried to put some deals together but living in the SF Bay Area it was nearly impossible. My older son was graduating in entrepreneurship and he wanted to do business so he joined us in this venture. We pivoted a few times since 2015 until we found our footing in Single Family rentals out of state.

February 2017: We bought, rehabbed and rented out our first single family rental in Memphis. BRRR

April 2017: Bought 1 more SF rental in Memphis.

July 2017: Sold 1 rental and bought 1 rental in Memphis. Word got out to our friends and family about our investments and some of them started investing with us.

August 2017: Built a team in Cleveland and St Louis. Bought a fourplex in St Louis, 1 single family (SF) in Cleveland, and 1 more SF in Memphis. At this point our buyer’s list was growing.

Sept-Dec 2017: 4 more deals.

2017: Bought 10 deals and sold 5 deals. The deals that were not sold are still cash flowing today as part of our portfolio.

January to July 2018: We bought 15 more houses, rehabbed them, rented them and sold 10 of them to our growing investor list.

August to December 2018: Sold our primary residence in August. Like I said, be numbers driven. I used the gains to invest in out of state rental properties, used the passive income to pay the rent on a bigger better house for us in the Bay Area. Bought 34 properties including a 20 unit apartment building in mid town Memphis. Sold 11 more properties.

2019: We are on target to more than double what we did last year, including 4 multifamily properties. I also quit my lucrative consulting gig to focus entirely on real estate.