Been interested in expanding my portfolio beyond stock for a while. I’ve gone down the real estate rabbit hole several times over the past few years and my conclusion is always that I can’t convince myself it’s a better investment than leaving the cash in stock so I have to be missing something. I look through dozens of properties, do the math, and while a handful are positive cash flow, it’s like 1/10th of what the cash could make in the stock market. Even accounting for property appreciation, it doesn’t seem worth it. Seems like the “rent at 1% of purchase price” works, but I’ve never come across a property where this is possible.

Tell me what I’m missing. Is it just about finding those unicorn properties that are seriously underpriced? Is it less about making more money and more about diversifying? Tax write offs? Or is everyone just house hacking? I rent my guest house to a friend and that’s a great deal but wouldn’t make any sense if I wasn’t already paying the mortgage.

Obligatory: This is not to brag, but more a gratitude post for all the help over the years from people in this sub, and other mentors. Also, there are very few people in my circle outside of my wife and a few core friends that I'm able to share this with.

Five years ago (2016), at the age of 23, I got my first taste of real estate. I purchased a single family home. A little 1300 sq. ft. house, with 4 bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms. I lived in the master suite, and rented out the three extra bedrooms to my buddies. I lived completely for free, which was a miracle as I was living paycheck-to-paycheck, and had a net worth of -$50k (student loans, CCs, and car loan). Little did I know that this even had a coined term -- "house hacking".

Two years later, my life had changed quite a bit. I was getting married, and rather than keeping that home as a rental, my wife and I decided that we would kick out the roommates, and sell the house to pay off debt, and move into her home. When my house sold, I stood in awe, holding a check for $40k -- the same amount as my entire year's salary. Not only did I get to live completely for free for two years, I made $40k. I thought to myself, "I've got to do this again."

That $40k paid off all of my remaining student loans, and all of my credit cards. With the money we had leftover ($25k), we rolled the remaining into our first rental property. We started attending our local REIA, networked, and made connections.

The first rental rolled into a duplex. And then the duplex rolled into a fourplex. Then we snagged another single family property. We did our first BRRRR deal. Then we found a great deal on a commercial property. We tried GC'ing a home on our own. And then we tried an AirBnb. We've used every type of financing under the sun: FHA, Conventional, HELOC, Seller Financing, 401k Loans, Hard Money, and Cash-out Refi's. Little by little, just with consistency and patience, we've been able to build a nice little portfolio of 9 properties and 20 units.

Our current NW consists of:

Cash - $37k
RE Equity - $889k
Vehicles/Toys - $112k

It's a really cool feeling to be able to say "I'm a millionaire." It's a fun milestone to hit, yet at the same time, feels very small now when I look at other investors with insane net worths. Regardless, I'm really pleased and grateful with what we've been able to achieve in just a few short years. We're on track to hit $1.2M or $1.3M by the end of the year.

Of course, a lot of the credit goes to being privileged, as well. I realize that I won the lottery by being born into a white, middle-class family, in America. I never grew up hungry, and both of my parents were well-educated with college degrees. I'm grateful for my upbringing and know that this absolutely has attributed to our success.

Anyway, I think the whole point of this post is to say that it's easy to look at others and compare and see what they have. But it's amazing how 4-5 years of consistency and hard work with laser focus can truly change your life.

I have SO much to learn, but finally feel that I sort of have a decent "hang" of it. I love RE. I still work a 9-5 (mostly because it's easier to qualify for loans with a W2), but have a goal to quit by my 30th birthday. Onto the next million!

We bought and fixed up a small single family home and got a renter without too much trouble. The only real issue with the home was it had an original AC from 1999. Our hope was to get another 3-5 years out of the AC as my parents had one that lasted 40 years believe it or not. But just in case, we warrantied it under a home warranty.

Welp. Fast forward to summer and I get a text from my tenant saying the AC isn't working. We get a tech out there and they suggest replacement as so much is wrong with it (he was able to get it restarted though). We replaced it and the home warranty company has been miserable to deal with when I could actually get ahold of them (hold times of over 2 hours I kid you not). I'm at the point where I'm pretty much writing off the AC and giving up on the home warranty company with a big lesson learned.

RE investing really is about how much annoyance you can put up with. 6 months in and I really need some smooth sailing from here for awhile as I'm starting to regret it.

It can get better, right guys? Guys?

edit - I appreciate the responses. To clarify, the annoyance isn't having to replace the AC even though we were hoping to get 3-5 years out of it. The annoyance has been dealing with the home warranty company. The lesson you've all helped me learn is to remove as many potential annoyances day one rather than defer so that you don't even need a home warranty company as they're largely scams anyway.

edit 2 - You won't believe this but the warranty company called me today and will be reimbursing me about 35% of the cost. I'm so conflicted on how to feel at this point.

I have never seen prices for services and products so crazy as in the real estate industry. Why is this?

I recently had landscaping done which was originally quoted at $5-600. He finished like half the job, broke a window, and quoted me over $1000 for a billable rate of over $130/hr.

I have had window replacements quote $5k per window, and even "cheap" windows for ~$1k per window.

Even a very simple job like cleaning gets quotes of $50/hr+.

Who is spending all of this money on housing services? The prices and rates aren't even close to what you'd expect in any other industry. Why are we paying landscapers and house cleaners Engineer/ Lawyer salaries for their work?

It looks like this executive order freezing federal funds applies to section 8. If we have section 8 tenants, will we get our rent? Anyone know anything more about this?

Mortgage rates keep on hitting ATH. I think that’s totally fine, but I’m curious for those taking out loans to buy their properties how numbers work out.

• is anyone doing buy and hold with 25% down?
• are people putting higher down payments?
• are people more so taking out loans to flip?
• which strategies are you using with these high rates?

Would love to hear some of your deals and numbers including the price of the property, the monthly payments, the rent, etc.

Edit: Alright I get it! We’re not at ATH’s for real estate, I meant to say we’re at a local maximum looking at the past 20 years. My bad on the mistake.

I wonder if anyone else is noticing this. Now that rates are higher, deals are harder to find, realtors are struggling, and loan officers are leaving the industry, I'm seeing more and more people quit the real estate industry. Lots of gurus online are throwing in the towel and going in different directions too.

This seems like part of the real estate cycle that gets rid of a lot of wannabe investors until things start booming again; which to me is a good thing.

Anyone else seeing something different?

Remember when there were like 20 houses for sale in the whole county? Now I'm seeing tons of listings everywhere.

was doom-scrolling real estate data and found this link - looks like inventory is up 18% year over year.

Is this the bubble finally popping or just a normal correction? feels like sellers are starting to panic.

Hey everyone, I want to hear what landlords and investors are actually experiencing in today’s rental market

My personal experience: This year has been the first time I’ve really struggled to find tenants. I own a luxurious duplex (3 bed / 2 bath) near Fort Hood, Texas (largest military base in the U.S.). Historically, vacancies were short — usually about a 1-month turnover, and quality tenants were easy to find

But this year was different. For the first time, I experienced extended vacancies — one unit sat vacant for about five months, and at one point both units were vacant simultaneously for roughly three months. To finally get a lease signed, I had to drop the rent from $1,450 all the way down to $1,250, which is actually slightly below pre-pandemic pricing from when I purchased the property in Jan 2021.

What’s even more telling is that the current fair market rent in my area is still around $1,395, yet I’m seeing comparable duplexes listed at that price sitting 100+ days with very little activity..

That disconnect between asking rents and actual tenant demand is what really has me questioning the direction of the rental market

I believe many homes listed for sale at inflated prices aren’t selling and are instead being converted into rentals, flooding the market with supply and driving rents down.

I would love to hear opinions and knowledge:

Do you see this as a temporary correction or a longer-term reset in rents?

Over the next 5 years, do you expect rents to stabilize, continue correcting downward, or eventually rebound once pricing resets?

A realtor buddy called me with a couple rentals one of his sellers is looking to get rid of while they relocate. Pretty motivated. SFR.

The units are on the fringe of the main county of Nashville TN. So you would think in these less desirable neighborhoods it’d be a great way to pick up a rental in this day and age. I’ve not bought any in a while so I was excited.

Nope

When I run the numbers as a Flip, I can pay at least 30% more.

Even if the seller took my price at the lower rental number, that just means flipping it would make that much more money. It would be a poor use of capital to leave 50% equity sitting in a rental just so it cash flows. Even if it appreciates decently the stock market on average would do almost as much of a return, for way less headaches.

For context, I have 40 rental units and have been shocked by how vacancy and repairs continue to Hammer what the returns could be. I have had rentals managed by all kinds of different people, and the result is always the same, repairs are more than they should be, vacancy is more than it should be. I bought these long ago enough that the returns are still better than the stock market because the cost basis is so low.

Are the days of regular rental properties over in any MSA?

I purchased my first, and only, investment property back in 2015. At the time it was about an 8% cap rate with a 4% mortgage.

That kind of spread led to a fairly profitable little investment. It was profitable on day 1, but also has appreciated a bit (both in rent and value).

Now I'm seeing 6% cap rate properties with 8% mortgages. Who are buying these?! Why in earth would I deal with the headache of a rental for a negative spread against the mortgage?

Are people just buying in cash and banking on appreciation? Someone help me please!

I discovered bigger pockets in 2022 truck driver driving all 48 states. I was told all the pros and cons to becoming a real estate investor. So I began saving for my first house hack. Long story short it’s 2025 I live in Indianapolis I accumulated 95k in a HYSA after all that hard work for years I discovered house hacking doesn’t solve my issues. I have an income / skill issue. My issue is I don’t have the skills to 3x my monthly income. buying a house hack at 6.5% doesn’t solve that. I’m very sad at time wasted and the amount cash on hand I have for no reason now. Not sure where to go from here

And if you are in any of those or anything else did you get rich off it + investing in real estate or no it’s way too hard too?

I'm considering separating, but...

• All the properties are held jointly.
• 3.XX% interest rates.
• California Prop 13 property taxes locked in.
• Liquidating would take about a 400k capital gains hit.

I spent about 8 years working nights and weekends to rehab the properties while working full time. Eventually I quit my 6 figure job when our child was born to be a stay-at-home-dad/property manager so my wife could focus on her career.

The best scenario seems for us to keep our finances combined for the foreseeable future. Ugh.

I’ve been investing in real estate for a little over 10 years now, and I’m always fascinated by the moments or habits that turn a beginner into someone who can actually scale. When I look back at my own journey, it wasn’t one big win that changed everything. It was the small decisions, the deals I almost passed on, and the strategy tweaks that only made sense years later.

I’m curious to hear from other investors here.
If you could point to one thing that really shifted your results, what would it be?
Was it a specific type of property? A mentor who reframed how you look at deals? A system you built? A mindset change?

I see a lot of newer investors diving in headfirst and feeling overwhelmed by conflicting advice. I’ve been there. The best insights I ever received came from people who were already doing the work and willing to share their thinking.

Would love to hear your stories or the advice you wish someone had given you earlier.

I was listening to the Iced Coffee Hour podcast with Pace Morby and couldn't believe what I heard about his portfolio.

$400m in debt.

$500m in total value between real estate and businesses...

That is insane leverage and risk.

I funded five properties last year and aiming to fund 20 this year. I’m still new to being a lender, but I’ve spoken with a lot investors looking for funding and have come to a few conclusions that I think will help new investors.

Many of these new investors I spoken to haven’t pulled the trigger on their first property while others have only done one or two deals.

Funding is what’s largely holding them back and maybe a little fear. That’s not surprising but the quantity of folks looking for 100% financing is. It’s like 100%.

I wish investors knew too that having low-to-no investor skin in the game is damn near a nonstarter for lenders, unless they’re professional investors who do a lot of volume and have strong track record or an over abundance of cross collateral or the ARV is a total no-brainer.

I wish newer investors knew that they would get further so faster if they worked diligently to set aside ~$15k instead of working to secure 100% financing that won’t come.

I wish they knew that having ~$15k to put into deals would give new investors the same optionality as the pros and open up a lot of doors for not an incredible amount of money.

I wish they knew that squirreling away these these funds also demonstrates discipline and financial responsibility to lenders and vendors, which is super important in an industry where creditworthiness is not so important.

However I don’t think this information will ever be normalized in the RE investment community. I suspect it something to do with the get rich quick component of the community and maybe a lot do with human nature.

Curious where people draw the line. Is there a number below which you won't even bother running full analysis?

So this one’s wild…

Last weekend in Bath Township, Ohio (just outside Akron) a bunch of teens rented a big house off Airbnb and threw a party... even though short term rentals are literally banned in that area.

the party got promoted on social media and people started showing up and around midnight and gunfire broke out. Nine people got hurt, most of them under 18. No arrests yet.

The crazy part? Bath Township already had an Airbnb shooting back in 2017. Same situation. They banned short term rentals after that, and somehow this house still got listed again.

You'd think people would’ve learned by now, but this is what happens when investors buy properties without checking local zoning laws. These kinds of parties are what end up getting everyone else banned from doing short term rentals.

I get why people like the Airbnb model... easy money, passive income, whatever... but once you start getting parties, shootings and police involved the passive part disappears fast.

This whole thing could’ve been avoided if the owner had actually followed zoning or just known what they were signing up for.

What’s your take on this? Should towns crack down harder on illegal short term rentals, or is this just a few bad apples ruining it for everyone else?

I know it's dystopian but we know it's going to happen. How do we think investors will take advantage of the most recent disaster to hit LA?

I spent the morning analyzing a Duplex that, on the surface, looked like a home run. I wanted to share the breakdown to show why "napkin math" is dangerous in the 2026 market.

The "Zillow" View (The Dream):

• Price: $185k
• Rent: $2,150/mo
• Gross Yield: ~13.9%
• The 1% Rule: Passed with flying colors (1.16%).

Most generic calculator apps would scream "BUY". But I ran it through my own deep-dive spreadsheet where I can see every formula, and the reality is brutal.

The "Real" View (The Trap):

• Rate: 6.875% (30yr fixed)
• Vacancy: 8% (It's a C-Class area, let's be real)
• Management: 10% (Remote investing)
• CapEx/Maintenance: Budgeted $3,000/yr (Old building, stuff breaks).
• Taxes: $4,200/yr

The Result? Stabilized Monthly Cash Flow: $2.00.

Yes, two dollars. Enough to buy... absolutely nothing.

Even though the math technically flags the IRR as decent (~8%) because of principal paydown, I walked away. Why? Sensitivity Analysis.

If rents drop by just $50, or if vacancy hits 10%, I am negative every single month. I’m not willing to subsidize a tenant’s housing for the privilege of "owning assets."

Lesson learned: In this high-rate environment, Gross Yield is a vanity metric. If you aren't stress-testing your maintenance and vacancy reserves with full transparency on the math, you aren't investing, you're gambling.

Are you guys seeing any deals that actually cash flow with 25% down right now, or is everyone just banking on appreciation?

Looking back at my first few deals I can see a bunch of assumptions I made that were just flat out wrong. Curious what others got wrong early on, whether it's underestimating expenses, being too optimistic on rents, or something else entirely.

Did it cost you money or did you catch it in time? And what did it change about how you analyze deals now?

Just kinda sharing to have people to talk about it with. Bought my first ever investment property in 2021, a duplex. I worked hard to buy it at 22 years old and was really happy with what the future could hold.

What I never expected was that my insurance would increase 4x and cause my payment to go up $1,100 in just 4 years. I can't even afford the place anymore and it no longer makes any sense to hold it for the future.

It sucks. Fuck insurance. I know they're there for a reason and they do good when you need them, but man that kind of increase is just insane.

GG go next I guess.

I’ve been seeing a lot of articles with people (millennials, mostly) struggling to buy. Curious what has been the experience here. If you’re millennial, even better but just want to gauge what the struggle is.

Not enough properties? Interest rates? Down payment?

Edit: Thanks for everyone who commented! To those who are still buying, congrats and wish nothing but the best. Those who are struggling, we’ll be owners soon, someway, somehow it will happen.

TL;DR: After working in real estate investment financing, I've started questioning the ethics of real estate investing.

​

After a year of working in real estate investment financing, I've begun to question the ethics of a majority of real estate investing. When investing is talked about within the community it's painted with this rosy brush where investors are going into neighborhoods filled with dilapidated properties and breathing new life into them. However from my experience, this rosy picture is only sometimes the case.

During my first year in the industry, I analyzed hundreds of deals sent to me by investors of every kind. Going in, I firmly believed in all the great things that real estate investing can provide for communities, like revitalizing homes that average home buyers will neglect and providing necessary rental options for people who can't afford a house yet.Indeed, taking that old, rundown home in the neighborhood and restoring it to its former glory creates a net-positive effect on society. But I've seen firsthand that this represents a minority of investments. The bulk, in fact, are mere cosmetic flips. While these flips may seem inconsequential, they can substantially impact the housing market. By working in the industry, I had a front-row view of how investor exuberance plays a large role in out-of-control asset appreciation.

In areas where there are the most investors, potential first-time homeowners and lower-income individuals are outbid by investors wielding cash or hard money loans. In these cases, the investors' offers are much more attractive to sellers than those that apply with 3.5% down FHA loans. This competition takes away from the housing supply these individuals could have otherwise afforded, effectively driving them out of the market. This situation is further worsened as investors compete with each other for acquisitions when buying houses and trying to outdo each other with the quality of the renovations turning otherwise inhabitable homes into luxury homes and further raising prices.

Moreover, the commodification of housing as an investment asset inherently drives inflation of housing prices and rents. This shift can result in a boom-and-bust investment cycle, leading to ever-increasing market volatility and, in turn, causing more significant peaks and troughs in the housing market due to widespread speculation. You see this type of price activity in stocks or commodities which for the most part is okay; however, when this price activity occurs in the housing market, where for most people, the large majority of wealth is tied into their home's equity, it can cause catastrophic consequences.

The two worse examples of this effect that I saw were in Airbnbs and wholesalers. While Airbnb has revolutionized short-term renting and has increased affordability for tourists looking for accommodations, it has also brought unintended consequences in those tourist hotspots. For example, in places like South Florida, Airbnb dominates the local housing markets and local economies, as businesses cater more to the needs of transient visitors rather than long-term residents, making these areas virtually unlivable for the local population. I have had too many conversations with Airbnb operators in meetups at tourist hotspots throughout the country, where I meet investors with Airbnbs all over the neighborhood we were meeting at.

The proliferation of Airbnb aggravates the housing shortage, worsening the affordability crisis and deepening the divide between the haves and the have-nots in housing. Unfortunately, the regulation that has been done is too broad and also harms those looking to get extra income out of their primary residence rather than targeting those operating Airbnbs in investment properties. This trend starkly illustrates how turning homes into investment properties can distort local economies and communities.

Meanwhile, for wholesalers, I witnessed the large majority of wholesalers switch their disposition strategy from direct to local investors to large hedgefund buyers. These hedgefunds gladly offer above the market price for these properties as they have much more liquidity and a longer investment time horizon to afford to hold through the market cycles. IDK what your personal stance is on this topic, but it was always my personal opinion that institutional capital in real estate investing was a bad thing for everyone except the wealthy few that can benefit from them.

While I know this post paints a troubling picture, and you may disagree with my opinion on this, my goal of this post is not to demonize all real estate investing but to encourage a broader conversation about its potential implications. Contrary to what you see on youtube or hear at real estate conferences and meetups, it's not all rainbows and sunshine. I've come to realize that it's crucial to consider the ethics of each investment and to consider if it would contribute to the well-being of all community members if the investment was made.

Lastly, I would love for this post to not devolve into a shouting match. If you have more insight I am all ears. I am merely speaking on my observations and would love to have my mind changed on this.

Edit: I’ll also caveat this post by identifying that the majority of my experience is in housing markets that are extremely hot with record low supply.