My Duplex Strategy: One Unit Is Too Close To None

My whole strategy of building my investment portfolio from the ground up via new construction and cash-flowing each property via short-term rental websites is a bit unique. We are in a special time in history where long-term rentals are no longer desirable to landlords who hate having to deal with broken toilets, and tenants tearing up their places for such small returns.

Listing a property on a short-term rental website is a game changer these days. If done right, it can 10X your returns overnight! This opportunity of being able to list your property on an online marketplace with a ton of demand did not exist just 7 years ago. A traditional Real Estate investment strategy is to acquire single-family homes and place a long-term tenant for at least 12 months hoping to get a net profit of at least 1% of the mortgage or maybe at least $250 after all your mortgage expenses. The idea is to scale up the amount of homes you buy and multiply that passive $250 by that number. This can take a very long time. God forbid a tenant breaks a toilet, or an AC unit goes out. That could wipe out 1 or 2 years worth of profits on several of the rental properties in your portfolio. Especially if you are buying existing older homes. However, over time it is a successful strategy so I am not knocking it. Ultimately the passive income will add up and the passive financial benefits are tremendous if you stay in the game long enough.

However, what if you could kick that strategy up a notch? What if you could acquire fewer properties and bring in 10 times the returns to cover any repairs, and still achieve your financial goals in under 4-5 years? What if each of the properties you acquired in this short amount of time also came with virtually no repairs because everything was brand new or under warranty? Well, that is what my strategy entails. I am building brand new properties, from the ground up, two at a time as duplexes, and I am cash-flowing those properties on short-term rental websites to get ridiculous returns and build up my net worth relatively overnight. This is a lengthy and involved process but if done right it can be very lucrative and help you to build wealth very fast. Unlike purchasing existing old homes with old pipes, and old foundations. Everything on my properties is brand new and I have two doors instead of one. Double the revenue. Not to mention the instant equity that I generate out of “thin air” because it is usually cheaper to build a property than it is to buy an existing one.

When using multiple units in your strategy you end up having so many ways to exit a deal it lowers your risk. As a licensed loan officer (NMLS# 1769194) it is easier for me to qualify a potential borrower for a two-family duplex than it is for me to qualify someone for a single-family home because I can add potential rent to the borrower’s income to help them qualify for more home. This gives you, the investor/seller, a larger buyer pool of retail buyers and investors competing for your property once it is built. Higher demand means higher value and higher prices. If I decide to keep the property I can take a conservative approach and rent one side long-term to cover the mortgage and on the other side I can rent on short-term rental websites for higher returns. The flexibility is unmatched. Having one door is too close to having none.

If you want to learn my entire strategy from A to Z including how to LEGALLY keep the IRS out of your profits. Give my course a try. I truly believe that the wealth of information I will share is worth the price of admission.