I Only Needed 4 Rentals to Quit My Job (and I DON'T Need More) #1120

It only took four investment properties to change this investor's entire life. She was sick of the corporate grind and looking for a more fulfilling lifestyle when she accidentally discovered real estate investing. Now she's implemented strategies to maximize her monthly cash flow. She's created systems to automate the parts of investing she just doesn't enjoy and is passionate about providing badly needed services for people in her community. Hey, everyone, I'm Dave Meyer, head of real estate investing at BiggerPockets, where we teach you how to achieve financial freedom through real estate investing. Today's guest on the show is Antoinette Monroe, an investor operating in Florida and Georgia. You may have heard her on the pod a couple of years ago, back on episode 710. And we're bringing Antoinette back because she's a great example of how you don't need some massive portfolio to change your entire life. Like I said at the beginning, she only owns four properties, and she aspires to stay small and mighty instead of growing to dozens or even hundreds of units. Antoinette and I are going to talk about how she first dove into real estate after learning that there is another path besides working that traditional career for 40 years, the strategies she's using today to create multiple cash flow streams from each new property she buys, and why her next investing strategy is based all around the places she likes to vacation. Let's bring on Antoinette. Antoinette, welcome back to the BiggerPockets podcast. Thanks for joining us again. Thank you very much for inviting me back, Dave. Happy to be here. I want to start at the beginning here. Tell me a little bit about where you were in your life when you started thinking about investing in real estate for the first time. Well, I wasn't thinking about it. This happened unintentionally. I was at a wedding being introduced to the wedding guest by one of my neighbors as a budding real estate investor. And then I remember looking over to my boyfriend being like, I think I got to become a real estate investor. Let's figure out what that is. Why would they introduce you that way? Well, I had bought a house in the neighborhood and I walked around and knocked on my neighbor's doors to get to know them. And I used some contractors that was referred to me by one particular neighbor. He was a real estate investor. And when I finished the house and then put it on Airbnb and was just kind of checking in with him and telling him the things that I was doing, he was like, oh boy, your real estate portfolio is starting. I think you're going to be a great investor. And I was like, okay. I guess if the shoe fits, right? Yeah. It's like you're already doing the work of an investor. You just didn't call yourself that at that point. I had no idea. So I had to reverse engineer that project to understand what being a real estate investor meant and what I had done. So yeah, it was definitely unintentional. But you bought this house to put it on Airbnb. That was the original point of it. Well, I bought it. I was pursuing like five financial independence retire early. I bought this house so that I could pay it down quickly and not have a mortgage. And then I could leave my job and find something else to do. So I was working a retirement plan, but it just so happened that after completing the project, I'd found out about Airbnb and decided to use two of the bedrooms for that. Okay. Got it. Very cool. And where in the world was this? In Orlando, Florida. And were you working full time or like what else were you doing at this time? Yeah, I was in the good old corporate grind, working my way up, managing the Southeast region for a large beverage company. So you may have seen me in, you know, many CVSs and Walgreens, selling my wares, trying to get extra shelf space. Nice. And so was that just not fulfilling to you or were you not enjoying it? It wasn't. It never was the plan. Like coming out of college, I just wanted to make sure I had a job. And I graduated in 2008. So that was like at the height of the market crash. People's offers were getting rescinded. So I just, I wanted a job. So I took the highest offer I could get with the plan to like, I'm going to work, save up, pay off my student loans and be out of here within two years because this is not what I want. And then I look up eight years later and I was still there having successfully forgotten about all my dreams, wearing the golden handcuffs proudly. Yeah. So I was, this project was the like rebirth of who I knew I was, but had forgotten going to work every day. That's awesome. Wow. Good for you. And this is a pretty common story, right? Where people just think that they're going to go into a job for a couple of years and then fast forward, you're just in a totally different part of your life. What sort of snapped you out of that and got you started thinking about a different alternative path or trying to do the financial independence retire early? If you Google, I hate my job enough, lots of interesting things come up and that's really what it was. So, you know, lots of late nights where I'm like, I hate my job or what to do if you don't think how to find your purpose. So those late night searches eventually led me to fire and started down that path. So really the very first few years of that job was just fire saving, making smart money investments so I could have the freedom to choose a job that I enjoyed and not have to choose employment for money. So how did that first deal that you inadvertently became a real estate investor on, how did that one work out? It was great, actually. And it changed my entire life. It was a long, crazy process. So it took nine months to find that first property. We got it under contract. And the day before the first closing, the seller died. So then we spent about five months going through probate. It took that long because the first probate was filed in the wrong county. So then they had to refile it in the proper county. So finally, from a contract in April, we closed in November. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I've never heard anything like that before. I have several questions. So first of all, you said it took you nine months to find. I think this is a common challenge that people have, especially when they're trying to find their first deal, and especially in today's day and age when it is hard to find deals. So what was the process you were going through? And how did you stay disciplined and focused through a long search for your first deal? It was the standard process. And at the time, I'm just a regular person, right? I'm looking for a home to live in, in an area that I want to be in. So I was being picky. But I also needed it to be, like, rehab-able because I knew I didn't want to spend too much and I wanted to make it my own. So it took that long because I needed the right thing in the right area. I didn't know that I was doing, you know, real estate investor-type situations. So it just took that long to find something. I didn't want to pay over $200,000, right? And I needed to be able to fix it up. And it needed to be in a one-mile radius of, like, the best neighborhood in Orlando. So that's what took the longest. And then I need to ask about this probate process. And if anyone doesn't know, I'm not a lawyer, but probate is basically when someone dies, their will goes through a legal process called probate, where all of their assets are accounted for and divvied up appropriately. But it sounds like you had a contract with someone who passed away. And so because they passed away, you had to wait for this entire probate process to go through. It sounds like twice, through two different counties. And in the midst of that, you know, there were rate locks. So every time the rate was extending, I was getting charged additional for the rate lock. So the cost was going up. And then I lost insurance twice, right? Because it kept not closing. And so my insurance guy was like, well, I'm out on this deal. So I had to, in the end, change lenders by the time we actually closed so that I could get rid of all those fees from the initial rate locks and find new insurance. And did they hold your earnest money that whole time as well? They did. But it wasn't much. I think it was just like a thousand dollars. But I canceled my lease because I thought I was moving in in June. So now I'm slightly homeless and, you know, sharing a twin bunk bed with my boyfriend at his mom's house. So it's one of those deals where it tested you in every way, in terms of cost, in terms of flexibility, ability to stick it out. Even when everyone's telling me, hey, walk away from this one. But it made all the right sense for my purposes and my needs. So I also think that going through that, you gain a level of patience that you're going to need as you continue to do deals and as everything goes wrong and surprises you each day. So after that experience, there was nothing else that was going to come up in a project that was going to take me out. Like if I stuck through that, I'd be able to weather the ups and downs of just typical things that happen in real estate investing. That's such a good attitude because that's just how it works, right? Every deal has some challenges. I don't know about you. I've rarely, maybe one deal that's ever gone like exactly how I was expecting. And getting that over with your first time is honestly really helpful. And that's sort of what you got to do because most people, when they buy their first deal, they're not coming from a place where they have a ton of money or a ton of experience. And so you got to substitute that money and experience with a little bit of hustle and a little bit of patience and a little bit of just willing to do whatever it takes, like share a bunk bed with your boyfriend. Like that's just, I mean, my first deal, I lived in my friend's grandma's basement for a few years when I was instead of paying rent. And, you know, that's just sort of how, how it goes when you're trying to get started, unless you've made a little more progress in your life. And maybe you have some financial means to, to buy a really good quality deal right off the bat. Yeah, you have to work with what you got. Like even for that project, we did all the work ourselves. So I hung drywall, I pulled up floorboards, I knocked down walls because there was no budget to hire someone to do those things. But in doing it, you learn why you pay someone to do it. And now I have no problem paying somebody to do that because it's tough. Yeah, those are like a one and done kind of experience. You do it because you have to and then realize this is probably not for everyone. Let the experts do it. Well, it sounds like the first deal worked out really well. I want to hear more about how you scale your portfolio from there, but we do have to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Hey, so they say that real estate investing is passive, but let's get real. Chasing rents, drowning in receipts, and getting buried in spreadsheets feels anything but passive. If you're tired of losing valuable hours on financial busywork, I've found a solution that will transform your business. It's Baseline, a trusted BiggerPockets Pro partner. Baseline is an all-in-one platform that can help you automate the day-to-day. It automates your rent collection and uses AI-powered bookkeeping to auto-tag transactions for instant cash flow visibility and reporting. Plus, they have tons of other features like recurring payments, multi-user access, and free wires to save you more time and money. Spend less time managing your money and more time growing your portfolio. Ready to automate the busywork and get back to investing? Baseline is giving BiggerPockets listeners an exclusive $100 bonus when you sign up at Baseline.com. Answer that. Tell us what happened from there. Did you catch the bug immediately? Did you really like how that first deal played out for you? Yes, I did. One, the rehab was gorgeous because, you know, I did it. But also, Airbnb was like, you know, lighter fluid on a fire. I had no idea. At first, I was like, maybe I'll get roommates. But using Airbnb instantly in the first month, my mortgage was completely covered, and now I was living for free. So I spent that entire first year kind of digging through all of the BiggerPockets forums, listening to all the podcasts to understand, okay, what do you do next when you've done this? I learned about house hacking. I realized that that's what I was doing. But then also the birth strategy. And that is how I got my second deal. So in 2019, I purchased an off-market deal from my neighbor in the neighborhood I grew up in. So I had a direct connect to the seller. And that deal, I was able to get under contract for under $200,000. It only needed about $30,000 or $40,000 worth of work. And through some tips that I got off the BiggerPockets forum, I was able to refinance that house and get all of my cash back within 45 days of closing. Wow. Amazing. I'd love to dig into that, because I think this is one of these deals that people listening are going to be like, I want one of those, give me that. So tell me a little bit how the off-market deal comes up, because we always hear about off-market deals. They're great. And they're kind of just this magical thing. And I think, how did this one come about? Well, no, because at the time I wasn't. I just had the one house. But my mom knew that I was learning to be a real estate investor, and I wanted to do that. So talking to her one day, she mentioned, hey, the neighbor across the street, she's planning to move to Georgia to be with her kids, because she's getting older. And I was like, ah, I know what this is. I heard that podcast. This is a wholesale deal. So I was like, give me her number. I'm going to call her. And so I called her, found out what she was interested in doing. I went through all of the steps of the things that I learned about from a wholesale deal. I was not a good negotiator. So I was just like, what is it that you want for it? I'll agree to that, because the numbers worked out. Yeah, which is kind of a win-win situation, right? Yeah. And so she still talked to a couple of different wholesalers. And I explained to her, I was like, they're going to give you offers. Then they're going to come and look at it. And then they're going to whittle that offer down based on the expenses that they have. So they'll do whatever to get you under contract. But ultimately, I think I was able to get that deal because of the personal relationship. And she was getting the price that she wanted. And that was enough for her. So it's one of those, sometimes right place, right time. You never know when that deal will come. But if you're putting out what you're interested in or what you're looking for, then people usually try to help. So I told my mom, I want to be a real estate investor. I want to buy more properties. So anytime, now her ears are open when she hears about opportunities, she's going to think of me and give me a call. Well, I love that. Good for you. That's an amazing story about this combination of serendipity and circumstance, but also being prepared for it. If I hadn't been listening to the podcast, if I hadn't been doing the research and understanding, that opportunity would have came. And I wouldn't have known what to do with it or how to actually make it work. Yeah. Your mom would have said, hey, our neighbor's moving. You've been like, oh, cool. I hope they enjoy Georgia. You know, like you wouldn't have been thinking about how could you potentially create a mutually beneficial situation for yourself and for this person. So you, it was a single family home, I assume. And you were just, your plan was to turn it into a rental? Yes. So it was a single family. I put it under contract before I saw it. I just had like the memories I'd been in here before as a kid, you know, it's similar to my house. That's kind of fun. But once I closed on it, I came down and saw that they had done an addition to it that made it a much larger single family than I knew. And the layout made it, you know, conducive for a split, which is what I did with the first house. I bought a single family, split it in half and kind of made two units out of it, right up to the line of being in trouble with code. Like just. Just telling that line. Yeah. So I saw this opportunity in that house as well. And I did the same thing. I just dropped a wall through the middle of it, made a one bed, one bath studio in the back with a kitchenette because kitchens mean code issues. And then kept the three, one in the front. And I was able to rent both sides out. One to a family member, because anytime you're doing something, there's always somebody watching. So immediately one half went to a family member and the other half I use a realtor to get rented out. Okay, great. You said you bought it for under 200 grand. You had to put like 30 or 40 grand in. How did you finance all of that? So with the first project, I had improved it and then added 700 square feet. So there was a good bit of equity in that home. Nice. I learned on the forms that I should pull home equity lines of credit. So I had one existing and ready to go on that first home. So I was able to buy this outright in cash using the equity from the home equity loan. And then I borrowed private money from my brother-in-law to complete the renovation on that second home. So it was a combination of all the things you learned. There was that home equity line of credit. There was borrowing money from my brother-in-law. And then the hack that I use is my strategy to make single families have twice as much cash flow. That's great. Which is splitting them in half. Well, good for you. I mean, this, again, it's just kind of a story of just like piecing it together. It's not the easiest way to do it if when you're taking money from here and there. But it's not that hard, right? I mean, it's just like using your network, using your connections. And shout out to the BiggerPockets forums. It feels like they're giving you some good advice. If you need advice about your own deals, you can go to the BiggerPockets forums for free and ask these types of questions or just see what other people are asking. Great resource out there. So after these first two deals, Antoinette, how did you scale up? At this point, did you figure out that you wanted to sort of have a more full-time career in real estate? At this point, yes. The first project, it was if I did this well, I'd move in this direction until I could leave my job. So by the second deal, I'm feeling confident. I've done some heavy things, right? I've done a BRRRR and a cash out refinance in 45 days. I've done private money, home equity loan. Okay, cool. Then I went to work for a contractor. 2020 touched us all. I lost my job in 2020. And I was like, okay, I'm interested in real estate. Let me see. Maybe I want to be a contractor. So I took a job with a contractor and he invited me to my first flip. So I hadn't done one of those before. We partnered 50-50, kept it very simple. I did one flip with him. And then later in that year, another neighbor, same neighborhood, actually the house next door, called and said, hey, I saw what you did with Ms. Gladys' house. I have a property that I want to sell. Are you interested? So then there was property number two that's going to remain in my portfolio down in Miami that I was able to purchase. And I reached out to that contractor and said, hey, I have no money. So I can't pay a hard money loan. But if we partnered, I'll bring the deal. You bring the money and the construction and we'll go from there. And so that's how we did that one. I have to ask because I'm trying to follow the timeline, but you had lost your job. So were you still able to get loans? No, that's why I had to partner with that contractor for that last flip we just talked about. I couldn't go to a lender and get anything. I couldn't carry it month to month even. So that's why that deal ended up being a partnership for that last flip. Got it. You've done so much in four deals. That's more than I think most people do, or at least more variety that you get in your sort of types of deals in the first four. So how are you thinking about it at that point? What was your plan of attack after that? At that point, I still was like trying to be a real estate investor, thinking that I wasn't one yet because I hadn't done enough deals and I'm still listening and learning. And every guest that came on with this huge portfolio, I'm like, man, I've done three or four. I'm not working hard enough. And so first I had to get out of my own head and stop comparing myself to other people's journeys because even though I had done less, there was just such a wide breadth of the different types of things I had to encounter that I still was knowledgeable even though I was small and mighty. So I worked with him, with the contractor for about five months in total. And through that time, he had introduced me to assisted living or group homes because he was rehabbing them and he and his wife were considering opening one on their own. So I looked at the numbers with that. I was like, hey, yeah, this does way better than Airbnb. I think I'm gonna make this switch and pursue that. So at the end of five months, I let him know that I would be leaving. Two months later, I purchased a home that I was gonna use as Airbnb in the meantime while I went through the licensing process to convert it over to assisted living. So that was the next thing. And again, it's like turbo speed. My fourth deal is now an assisted living facility. So in just four deals, I think I've touched a good percentage of the different types of real estate models or styles that you could go after. You keep going, yeah. Assisted living comes up a lot on the show recently because I think the demographics of it just make a lot of sense, right? Like there's just a need for it and there's not enough supply, but it seems hard. What was that licensing process like? The licensing process for the end result is almost too easy, right? Like I just filled out paperwork. And let me clarify, within the States, there may be a couple of different agencies. So people use like assisted living as a overarching moniker, but there are different agencies involved with licensing and these agencies serve different populations. So specifically for me, I serve adults that were born with a developmental disability. And so that's the agency for persons with disabilities in Florida. Their licensing process, it's free to apply. It's a lot of paperwork, but that's all it is. And you don't have to have like a college degree. You could have a GED or a diploma and still be able to apply. So once you complete the application, the hardest part is finding the application on their website and understanding the additional documents that you have to go through. So for that, I reached out to a consultant and had them help me prepare that application. Wow, that sounds not that hard. And then what is the operations like though? That's a different beast. Now we're beyond real estate investing at this point. It touches it, but the moment you reach that threshold, you have now crossed over and you're now owning and operating, in our case, a medical facility because we provide 24 hour nursing care. So you learn medical terminology. You learn the tenets of HR because now you have to hire and staff and schedule. You're doing inventory. You're maintaining medical supplies. You're going to doctor's appointments. So it's a whole nother world now. The path that led me here was real estate. Is it worth it? Oh, 100%. On all fronts, right? Just from the numbers perspective, there is nothing else I was going to do with that property to generate this level of revenue at all, hands down. It doesn't matter how sexy your Airbnb is. You're not beating this. But two, what I'm doing is necessary and purposeful. I know that every effort I make is improving the life of an individual that one, can't make those efforts for themselves and two, based on what you see in the industry, there is not a lot of effort placed for these individuals in terms of the quality of their home or the quality of care. So everything that I do has this massive impact for the individual, for the families, for the staff involved. So it goes far and beyond like any, okay, I make six figures or I make this much at this job and this is my title. This is now like path aligning with purpose or purpose to path or however you say it is probably the greatest thing I could have ever done that I never knew that I was going to do or ever thought I wanted to do, but I'm here. Good for you. I could just see it on your face. Like you seem so genuinely passionate about this and it's just another example. I think this story is so inspiring because even before that, throughout your career, you've just found win-win situations. And I think real estate investors sometimes get a bad knock for being greedy or just, people don't like landlords a lot of the time, but like you've just demonstrated at each step in your career, ways that you are helping other people while also creating a profitable and meaningful business for yourself. So to me, that's like the ultimate, no matter how, what size of portfolio you have, whether it's two properties or 200, like if you can accomplish that, man, you're doing pretty well for yourself. So congratulations. And you have to make peace with that because like you'll want to do what everybody else is doing. You'll want to play like the big boys. You'll want to be able to say, I have a hundred plus doors, but ultimately if what you're doing is not what truly resonates with you, it's not what's coming organically. It's not going to be sustainable. It's not going to be fulfilling. So I'm happy with my little portfolio of just four properties, right? But each of those properties, they come, it comes with so much more than the earnings there and the earnings are great, but there's the, and then that also comes with it that you can't like put a price on. I love that. And I think, you know, I wrote about this in my book, but I actually think there's like almost an inverse relationship for how many properties you own and how happy you are about your own portfolio. Like the people I know who have huge portfolios, they're all like, they're just grinding all the time and they're miserable about it. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Whereas like, I don't have a massive portfolio. I'd say I have a medium sized portfolio and like, I'm, I'm chilling. I'm fine. I'm pretty happy. I have great relationships with all my tenants. Like I feel good about all of the, of the properties I own. It sounds like you're in a pretty similar place and like, that's so great. I just think in this real estate investing world, we've sort of created this narrative where like financial freedom is like this destination. And I really hope, and it sounds like you agree, like people just enjoy the journey of it as well. And one deal is great. Like one deal will get you, is a better financial situation than you were the day before. A second deal will move you a little bit further. The third deal will move you a little bit further. And like each one of those steps is an accomplishment and it's something that you should be proud of and that you should be celebrating. And I just think these are, you're such a perfect example of at least the philosophy that I believe in as a real estate investor. Yeah. And that philosophy has to come from you, right? Like you can't borrow every gurus you listen to and try to follow their path exactly. You really do have to create your own and be clear in like what it is that you want for you. And it's very much like freedom first for me and a hundred plus unit portfolio. I don't know how free I would be if I had that much responsibility. So yeah, definitely listen to yourself. Don't knock yourself about what you've done or haven't done yet. Just keep making the next best step. Absolutely. It's great advice. Great advice. So what's next for you? I mean, you know, we're talking about scaling. Are you done or what are you thinking about next? I think now I'm trying to employ more of a strategy. One that's, I have the cash cow, right? So I'm converting each of the properties I have to these group home or assisted living models. So it takes that one property and makes it perform as if that one property were a portfolio of 50 to a hundred units based on the income that we earn from it. So from there, I want to reinvest in like stocks, other things. I may attempt to get some commercial but my real estate investment moving forward would involve things that could be truly passive, right? Things that can put the money into or buy and have under a management team so that I'm not doing the day-to-day. Of course, I'm going to stick to my roots. So I want to get at least five Airbnbs and places I like to visit. So basically I'm just, you know I'm doing some lifestyle enhancement. Okay, I want to visit here, let me get this but also I'm smart enough to know that it should pay for itself and not me pay for it. So that's it. I'm just continuing to like build the life that I want but using real estate as the tool to do the building. What you were saying before about sort of finding passive places to reinvest I think is so important. And it's a topic we do talk about sometimes on the show but I think is really important for people to think about. It's just like the structure of your portfolio and not every deal has to be the same. It sounds like, you know doing these group homes is very labor intensive. That sounds like a full-time job. And so you can scale even if it's a little bit less profitable finding the type of deals that work for not just your financial goals but your lifestyle goals. Because it sounds like scaling up group homes to 30 or 40 units. That's, you know, you're running a medium big business at that point. And maybe that's not what you want but having five or 10 of these and then passive real estate can create perhaps the right combination of investments for you. Like I own a bunch of small duplexes, single family homes and then I invest in syndications because it's completely passive. And I don't want to do major rehabs but I know people who are good at that. And so I'll invest with them. And it's about sort of creating the right balance for yourself. And as Antoinette said not chasing what other people are doing but just figuring out what are you capable of time-wise? What do you want financially? And then sort of reverse engineering what types of properties what types of deals you need to ultimately get there. Yeah. And I want people to know like a system, it sounds like a lot but it isn't. I have more freedom in this model than I do when I'm doing a flip and driving out to that product every day or than I did when I was doing Airbnb and responding constantly to guest requests or complaints because this requires staffing. So I just had to be good enough to set up the systems to hire properly. And then once those things are in place it does a lot of running itself. So my level of involvement within the system of living is purely like choice. The things I enjoy to do. I want to go to their doctor's appointments because I want to keep up with what's going on with them. I want to throw the birthday parties for them when that's happening there. So it's still choice but the actual operations of it I don't want anybody to shy away from attempting it. If you staff it properly and put management in place that can still allow you to be have that freedom that you want from real estate investing. It just adds a little bit of purpose for you. Perfect. I love it. That's great. And good advice. It sounds like it's kind of true of every business, right? Like you can choose how much you want to outsource how much you want to do yourself. What are you good at? What gives you energy? What fulfills you? Sounds like you found a great balance there. My last question for you Antoinette is you gave me a lead here that I need to follow up on. Where do you want your Airbnbs? What are the places? Give me the top three spots you want to go hang out and have an Airbnb. Well, one in LA. That's not my top choice. That's my boyfriend's choice. But if I didn't say it, I'd be in trouble. I like Chicago because food is really good there. Honestly, my producer Ian and I were planning like a road show and we picked Chicago because we want to just go eat there. The food is so good. So that's probably in Atlanta because also food is there. It's a little bit closer and I just love the whole vibe and culture of Atlanta. I think the others would need to be in other countries. So I would go as far as I can and put one in Bali because also there's a theme here. If you put them there, I'll stay there. Food is my thing. So I'll be your first guest. And then outside of Bali, another international one, probably Italy because food. Because food, yeah, yeah. Just somewhere in central Italy, you'll be eating great. That's super fun. I love the dream. I love how you're approaching this and just really thoughtfully pursuing a life that you want through real estate. That's what this is all about. So thank you so much for joining us here today, Antoinette. We really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story. Thank you for having me. I was worried that I was like, I only have four deals. I don't have that much to update. But thank you for helping me show that, you know, enough is still good enough. Absolutely. Small and mighty. Exactly. Well, thanks again, Antoinette. And thank you all so much for listening to this episode of the Bigger Pockets podcast. We'll see you next time.