All Forum Posts by: Dan Zambrano

Aside from tragedy in the last few weeks, things are still in line to get into a deal before the end of Q2 this year. Targeting Bridgeport, Pilsen, and near North side walking distance to the L, 3-4 unit.

Hey Everyone, 

Friendly reminder about the mastermind meetup this Wed March 19th @5pm

I've sent details to all who posted on here, feel free to send me a DM if you didn't get it.

Cheers!

Life is coming at me real fast right now. Had a series of devastating things happen personally so I am taking the next few weeks slower.

I realized I was over stretching myself just a tad, so I am reeling things in and meditating on what matters most and doing more of that. Better days to come.

Quote from @Lindsey Hu:

Hello, I currently own 3 rentals in Dupage, 1 multi family in Cook county and a few out of state. I would be interested in meeting up share and hear ideas relating to west suburb real estate investing. I have not not bought anything since 2021 due to work, life and interest rates but am ready to get out there again. Please let me know meeting date, time and location. Thanks. 

 DM sent

As February is winding down, I have quite a bit to be excited about. 

I have made the commitment to change industries into construction from utility engineering this year. I also still have the goal of getting into 1 deal this year, with a friend and business partner.

I attended the Cashflow Breakfast Club networking event this past weekend and it was awesome. Highly recommend for anyone in the Chicagoland area, I believe there will be 11 more sessions. Panelists were seasoned pros, very helpful and I was surprised by the level of experience amongst the attendees. There were only a few that were new to the investing game. In general everyone just wants to help each other get to financial freedom through Real Estate.

Looking forward to posting progress on all fronts here.

Cheers everyone, hope yall are having a great 2025 and remember small progress is PROGRESS!

Quote from @Bryan H.:

Quote from @Dan Zambrano:

Cool thread, thanks for posting this!

My sentiments are a bit similar to other commentors, slow but assured progress is best especially in this interest rate environment. But guess what, rates WILL drop in the next few months/years and most markets will explode after that IMO.

If I had 25K I would look into B or B+ (specifically with schools above 5 greatschools rating, and moderate to low crime rate confirmed by heat map and frequenting businesses there) areas within 25 minutes driving distance from my home for a SFH.

I would go with either FHA or FHA 203K loan (3-5% down) have some money left over for cosmetic improvement (paint and little else haha) live in for a year and rent. If you do this correctly you should be able to build between 30-80K in equity and have at least $200/mo cashflow when rented to set aside for vacancies rehab, repeat every year until you get 10. This is a GRIND but that is the way forward in this environment IMO.

Why this works is simple: You slow ramp to give time to build alot of skills needed to scale at the end of the 10th year you SHOULD have at least $3M portfolio assuming 3% appreciation that is $90K you are adding to your net worth EVERY single year guaranteed! Then you restart this process with your spouse's credit lol.

This path is hard, but doable. You will have setbacks, and you will require some kind of team, but again the path is there.

I have a thread on here about my journey to $20M portfolio. That would mean in so so years networth would increase by $600K if my maths are correct lol. Staggering when you start to scale this.

Why so confident interest rates will make a meaningful drop? I see this a lot. Current rates are about as average as they get. 

Heres a general breakdown:1960s: ~5 -“7%

1970s: ~7 - 11% (rising due to inflation)

1980s: ~10 - 18% (peaking at 18-19% in 1981-1982 due to high inflation)

1990s: ~7 - 10% (gradual decline)

2000s: ~5 - 7% (lower due to economic stability)

2010s: ~3 - 5% (record lows after the 2008 financial crisis)

2020s: ~2.7 - 7.8% (historically low in 2021, then rising in 2022-2023 due to Fed rate hikes)

Long-Term Average

Over the past 50 - 60 years, the average mortgage rate has been around 7 - 8%

In short and IMO, due to fiat system. There needs to be more and more money circulated now that our currency is not backed by anything. Right now circulation is very clogged and only a matter of time until a massive BK that will force the fed to lower rates. Best case scenario they start cutting before this happens. Its rough because according to experts there is not much long term hope in this system, it will eventually fail only hope is we still have a few more decades left before the failure.

Quote from @Jonathan Klemm:

Welcome back into the BP world @Dan Zambrano - I still love that you are sharing your journey here very helpful for others and vulnerable of yourself.

There is still hope for a Q1 deal if you are aligned and focused....but if time doesn't permit, just keep going with the flow of life!

Regarding your mastermind idea...I strongly suggest you come to our Chicago meetup this coming Saturday...we switched up to a mastermind format, and if you like it, we could figure out a way to partner up and start a suburb version.

Here is a link to the meetup:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/1230572-chic...

RSVP'd thanks for the heads up🙂

Quote from @Henry Lazerow:

Congrats fellow Chicago member! You sound like a very intelligent person and should do good in this. @Jonathan Klemm is a great resource! I would recommend house hacking, it’s easiest way to get started. My first deal was 5% down house hack on a 4 unit and then I used equity from that first deal to do 2 more deals once with a cash out refi and once with heloc. Currently looking for my 4th deal while also working as a realtor helping others. 

Thanks for the encouragement! And congrats on your success as well! How long did it take for you to acquire the 3?

Cool thread, thanks for posting this!

My sentiments are a bit similar to other commentors, slow but assured progress is best especially in this interest rate environment. But guess what, rates WILL drop in the next few months/years and most markets will explode after that IMO.

If I had 25K I would look into B or B+ (specifically with schools above 5 greatschools rating, and moderate to low crime rate confirmed by heat map and frequenting businesses there) areas within 25 minutes driving distance from my home for a SFH.

I would go with either FHA or FHA 203K loan (3-5% down) have some money left over for cosmetic improvement (paint and little else haha) live in for a year and rent. If you do this correctly you should be able to build between 30-80K in equity and have at least $200/mo cashflow when rented to set aside for vacancies rehab, repeat every year until you get 10. This is a GRIND but that is the way forward in this environment IMO.

Why this works is simple: You slow ramp to give time to build alot of skills needed to scale at the end of the 10th year you SHOULD have at least $3M portfolio assuming 3% appreciation that is $90K you are adding to your net worth EVERY single year guaranteed! Then you restart this process with your spouse's credit lol.

This path is hard, but doable. You will have setbacks, and you will require some kind of team, but again the path is there.

I have a thread on here about my journey to $20M portfolio. That would mean in so so years networth would increase by $600K if my maths are correct lol. Staggering when you start to scale this.

So small update on here, I managed to carve some time to begin to set things up to spring board for a deal in the next 2-3 months. I will definitely miss my target of having something before end of Q1, but I am pleased with my progress, and momentum. 

I am meeting with an attorney in the next few days to discuss business structure, and other things, and after that my goal for March is to have a meeting (along with my business partner) with an awesome MLO that was recommended by the great @Jonathan Klemm .

Important thing I wanted to plug here is a free mastermind meetup I am planning for March around Naperville. This will hopefully be a monthly meeting of high vibe RE investor folks to learn from each other and have community, everyone is welcome. Drop a comment or DM if interested and I will be happy to share details.

Cheers, and lets be safe with these single digit days coming up!