Sometimes we just need a guiding hand to help us get started. Thankfully for Reinhard Kurzen he had a family member introduce him to the idea of House Hacking. Working a professional job and advancing in his career, Reinhard originally had intended to settle down and live out a more traditional middle class life. But ever since discovering the wealth building power of real estate investing, his life has taken a turn for the better indefinitely.
From investing across state lines to dealing with homeless intruders, Reinhard and his wife, Samantha, have steadily grown their portfolio over the last several years and have no intention of letting up. They House Hack their main residence and utilize the BRRRR Method on their larger properties. Up to date, they own 32 units and look to grow exponentially from here.
Takeaways from our conversation with Reinhard:
1) Buy quality materials. Starting out, Reinhard and Samantha decided they were going to rehab their own investment property. Without intentionally meaning to do so originally, they ended up with a house that was all but gutted out. What was intended to be a “light paint and finishes” type-of-job, turned into a full blown home makeover. The worst part is that they then had to redo some of the work because they went with cheap materials. The lesson here? Buy quality products and materials so you don’t have to do the labor more than once! It costs less money and takes up less time to do the job correctly the first time then it does to put half effort and have to do the same job a second time.
2) Budget your time. If you do plan on going down the DIY route of real estate investing, whether it be rehabbing, managing, etc., make time for your business. Because after all, it’s a business! Growing a business takes time, and that time has to be put into the business.
3) Understand the different rent models available. Depending on your market, as well as the type of tenants you house, some models are preferable to others. While on one hand it benefits the landlord to individually meter each unit for additional housing costs/fees, on the other hand, many times tenants just want one lump sum to pay each and every single month. You as the landlord must decide which model works best for your situation, on top of establishing clear and concise guidelines and lease agreements from the get go with your tenant(s).
4) Declare it to the world! At the start of his investing journey, Reinhard decided he would follow the “Stack,” a method in which you double your number of units every year, or established time period, allowing you to geometrically grow your portfolio (i.e: 2 units, 4 units, 8 units, 16 units…). After Reinhard obtained several units, he began letting everyone in his network know he was searching for a commercial eight unit property, so he could continue his “Stack.” Lo and behold, he was introduced to a 26 unit value-add apartment complex. While quite a jump from eight, the point is to network and tell others what you are seeking. You never know what others come across that is perfect for you and vice versa. Like the Stack itself, the power of your network is, too, geometrical (Refer to Metcalfe’s Law).
If Reinhard could go back and talk to his 16 year old self, he’d tell him, “Get educated. Learn everything you can about real estate.”
An unexpected benefit of real estate investing, Reinhard said, was the ability to save and invest those savings that he would otherwise be spending on housing.
A piece of advice Reinhard would tell his friends looking to get started in real estate would be to “House Hack!”
Reinhard recommends using Appfolio to help you stay connected with your team and keep your documents organized.
Reinhard recommends reading The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod to help you live out your goals every day.
If you’d like to get in touch with Reinhard, contact him at reinhardpkurzen@gmail.com
Thank you to everyone that has reached out to us to connect them with our trusted real estate agents in their area! And congratulations to those who have even closed deals using our referrals! For those that didn’t know, we can help connect you with real estate investor friendly agents in your area to help you get started investing in real estate. We recently made some changes to our website that we believe will better suit you in your real estate investing needs. For more information, visit www.millennial-realestate.com and head over to the “Start Investing” Tab. Best wishes and see you in the next one!