Portfolio — Houston Southard

LANDLORDING

Just another straight white property-owning mail boy self-congratulating himself on a job partially well done.

I’m a semi-seasoned buy-and-hold real estate investor gobbling up small multifamilies in the south city area of St. Louis as fast as my Buy-Rehab-Rent-Refinance-Repeat FHA house-hacking strategy will allow. I went from deep red to financial independence in 30 months and have officially become, as my friends would put it, “somehow more annoying.”

It’s still a scary thing, but when everything’s scary, nothing is? Real estate is no contest the best wealth vehicle for those unable to dip into their parent’s coffers.

I started by eating and breathing BiggerPockets. The books, the podcast, the blog. I stalked the local REA meetups. I got some good advice from great people. This wasn’t an epiphany. This industry has instructions for everything.

LESSONS LEARNED

I don’t have a lot of money. I’m definitely doing better than I was before Winona, and I’ve learned to padlock my wallet a bit better, but the point is if a swiss wallet fella like me can in 3 short years own and operate 3 four-families with a net monthly passive income of just over $3,000, I’m pretty sure anyone can.

I found all my properties by asking a multifamily realtor to run the rolodex on those he’d previously sold to until we found buyers who wanted to sell but didn’t want all the hassle of putting it on the market. Sellers don’t typically like FHA financing and the inspections that accompany them, but even so, if someone in today’s market tells you it’s too competitive to find a place, punch them in the fucking ear and get creative. You’ll need to, because I hear assault’s expensive.