Keith N.

When I was a kid, my dad always told me the two things he wished he'd done when he was younger was drive a semi so he could see the country, and buy rental property when he was young so he could pay them off and retire when he was older. I got my CDL on my 21st birthday and drove cross country for 3 years. After I left truck driving, I bought my first fixer-upper and made the common mistake of doing all the work myself, taking way too long, doing a few things wrong and having to re-do them. I still made a profit, which I used to pay down debt instead of re-investing. After a few years, I decided to get back into REI. I bought a 3 unit, and rehabbed that with family and friends. I just sat on that for about 6 years, wanting to buy more but afraid to take the next step. In 2010, I decided I was either going to move to AZ for warm weather or I was going to get serious about REI in IL where I had connections and familiarity with the community. I set out a plan to get up to 10 units in 5 years, and 30 units in 10 years. After 2 years, I had 10 units. After 6 years, I had 18 units, and at 10 years I had 32 units (spread across 19 buildings) surpassing my goal! It felt so wonderful to reach a goal I had set 10 years earlier, so I set a new goal of 30 buildings or 50 units in 5 years, by 2025. So far, as of 2022, I have 40 units spread across 22 buildings.