The Beginning

Looking back on things in our past, isn’t it crazy how things just seem to fall into place? Seeing where I am now – overlooking a calm, peaceful lake on a chilly, summer North Carolina morning, slowly sipping a warm, french roast from the upper porch of our quaint lake house – in light of where I was a mere 3 years ago, working 60+ hours a week, punching away for the next dollar in the bank, it is amazing to see of the ways in which trying to ask, listen, and follow God’s plan can drastically alter the way in which you see your own life going.

For those of you that don’t know, I more so “stumbled” into real estate than was actively pursuing it as a potential career or even side-gig. I was a poor, post-college young professional working as a logistics coordinator by day and an aspiring tennis professional and instructor by night. I needed a place to live and came upon a 2br/1.5ba short sale in the heart of Clintonville in Columbus, OH and fell in love with it.

Now, for those that may never have heard of or experienced a short sale… they are anything but short. Mine was no exception. A “mere” 11 months later and I finally became a home owner! I know what you are thinking, “11 months?!” And you aren’t wrong, I was thinking the exact same thing!

However, I had no idea of the way in which God was blessing me through this process. A long story cut muuuuuuch shorter, the owner (who lived in California) and I reached an agreement for me to move in only one month after I submitted my offer. Moreover, he did not charge me rent for being there, I only had to cover my utilities – you read that correctly, living rent free and mortgage free for 12 months! He also permitted me to have a roommate that was paying ME the rent (which, fast-forward, he let me keep when we closed). All of that coupled with me working over 65-70 hours per week between two jobs and putting that straight into the bank allowed me to have a decent little “savings” at the end of that year.

(I’ll come back to the “savings” part)

What I noticed throughout that process was that having half of my mortgage paid down by someone else was a pretty nice chunk of change being saved each month. Seeing this, I thought to myself, “why not get another roommate in here and have the whole thing paid for?”

And that’s just what I did.

I went about to start finishing the basement: added in another full bath, a bedroom, and even an additional kitchen space.

One month later, I had another roommate and after collecting rent and paying the mortgage, I was making exactly $35.65 per month! (okay okay, not a lot, but minus utilities, I was basically living in my house for free!)

I had never studied real estate nor had any idea that I was essentially living out the technique now affectionately referred to as “house-hacking,” (thanks to our good friends here at Biggerpockets) but I can tell you that whatever I thought I was doing at the time, I wanted to replicate the process as many times as possible.

After 2 years of making payments on my 15-year mortgage fixed at 2.75% (yes, you read that correctly – not a bad deal if you ask me) and starting to read a little bit about real estate (first book was The Millionaire Real Estate Investor – who can name that author?), I wanted to try my hand at my first rental.

However, throughout this time, I had actually quit my W-2 job to focus on my tennis career… fun idea and absolutely NO regrets, but I’ll tell you what… that lack of salary and stable income makes in incredibly difficult to secure any sort of financing. What was I to do? I could spend my life-savings on a potential bust of a deal, but at the time I was still very risk-averse. (Coming back to “savings,” you will see that mindset shift from saving to investing – stewardship)

Before I continue, I will be the first to stand firmly by the idea that real estate done correctly and with prior due diligence is not a risky profession – I just did not know this at the time.

So what was I to do? After stumbling around the internet, I came across Biggerpockets. I read through many forum posts and heard about this thing called a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC). Turns out, securing a HELOC is waaaay easier than securing another mortgage on an investment property. So boom, I got a $50,000 line of credit on my residence (oh, I forgot to mention: my house had recently appraised for $87,000 more than I bought it for… not bad for putting about $2,273.58 into it). Using that $50,000, I was able to buy a slightly shoddy, single family rental for a whopping $29,900 with a tenant in place paying $700 a month. Suddenly I had become a “Real Estate Investor” and boy did I wear that badge proudly.

Was it all smooth-sailing though? Of course not… what would life be without a few bruises and learning experiences along the way?

Once again cutting the details, my tenant became less than desirable, moved out without paying her last months rent, and left the place with over TWO large 12’x4’x8′ dumpsters of trash and debris. Dang it… so much for the “kickback and relax” cushy lifestyle of the rich and famous.

But you know what? I was surprised again. Blessed again, I was able to do the rehab work by myself with the help of my now lovely wife and a TON of help from my very handy parents.

$5,129 later, and the place was made beautiful with an extra full bath to make it a 3/2.5 and was move-in ready. Three days later, an amazing family of 5 moved in paying $850 per month.

As I have already been long-winded, I will leave my beginning as a real estate investor here. Come now to July 1, 2017, and I am sitting here, drinking coffee, and overlooking what has to be one of my favorite sights in the world, ready to take a week or two to celebrate 6 months of marriage to my beautiful bride – made possible by God’s blessings and this little thing called real estate.