that in 2010 / 11, the housing industry in San Diego was depressed. I tried to find out what this would mean to people like myself
“ I only invested in my first property in my mid 40s, and I got my friends to help me with this.” who wanted to invest and make more money, " he adds
The volatility of the real estate industry in San Diego meant that the market was favouring the buyers, and that Swan could buy properties to save up his money properly and probably use those properties in various ways to make rewarding returns.
“ I learned that I could buy properties, and they could cash flow more than $ 500( R7 000) a unit back then. I started investing in one rental property at the time which I managed by myself while working 60 hours a week on my other job as a teacher.”
Swan, who is also called Swanny, managed to get himself 10 rental condos, which made him $ 50 000 a year. In the following three years, his properties accumulated the returns of about $ 1.6million in equity. At the time this article was written, Swanny has more than 100 units around San Diego and makes more than $ 200 000 from these units. This follows a relentless commitment to studying the real estate market through mentorship, seminars and real estate books.
The Motivation Sharing his journey with REI Radio presenter, Neale Peterson, Swanny says upon finding his way around the first condo that he invested in, he consulted his friend who is in the real estate industry for guidance on his way up the real estate ladder.
“ My journey was pretty much different than most people who start out in the industry. I only invested in my first property in my mid 40s, and I got my friends to help me with this. They helped me manage the one condo, they helped with credit checks and helped me in buying the properties that I have,” he said.
Leading up to his first investment, Swanny had studied some books to enrich his mind when it comes to real estate investing.
“ Among some of the study materials I used to study the real estate industry, I read a book by David Lindahl – Multi- Family Millions, I went to workshops, seminars and tried to get a lot of education in that respect.”
“ In this business you need to make sure that you have a good team. In the north east area, I had to have property managers, real estate attorneys, real estate CPAs, commercial brokers, lenders just to name a few. And getting this team together takes quite some time and there are land mines to step on.”
At REI, we always focus on equipping you with the relevant tools to get you ahead of the game. It gets quite interesting to hear all the messages of caution being conveyed by someone who has actually walked the route. Click here to listen to more of his top tips for investing in real estate.
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SOURCE Rei Radio
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine MAY 2021 21