By day, Soli works as a commercial real estate broker. During her spare time, she builds her out-of-state rental portfolio in Cincinnati, Ohio. Today’s episode gives us a peek at how a beginner got into real estate investing and even invest in out-of-state properties, how she raised private money for her deals and the power of social media in growing her network.
Soli started working with a real estate company beginning her sophomore year in college. Purely out of a desire for earning a paycheck, she later decided to pursue it full time and focus on investing.
For a 22-year-old, Soli has big goals already for her real estate investing journey. She plans to have $20,000 a month in passive income from rental properties by the time she’s 30.
She seems to have made considerable progress as she already owns a single-family home and is in the process of closing on a triplex and another single-family.
Soli made use of different financing options when she closed on her deals. For her first purchase, the single-family home, she used her saved up life savings for the down payment and rehab costs.
When it came to the triplex, she managed to raise private money from friends and family. She pitched to her network with an offer of 7% interest only for a 3-year term.
For her 5th door, another single-family, Soli is using hard money with only a $5,000 down payment
Most people might not see Cincinnati in a good light, but for Soli, it is a recession-proof city and having talked with developers building there, she believes there’s a lot of potential for the city.
Compared to the $100,000 you’d need to invest in California, with just $20,000, you can buy a home in Cincinnati.
Her first single-family home had a purchase price of $98,000. Following a $20,000 renovation, the home now has a $165,000 after repair value, brings in $1,600 in rent, and net cash flows of $600 per month after PITI.
Her second single-family home was initially meant to be a flip, but with only an expected $30,000 profit, Soli decided to do a BRRR instead.
While most out-of-state investors have never even seen their properties, Soli chose to be more hands-on and even lived in one of her units to work with her general contractor and subcontractors in person.
This allowed her to meet new people in her community and build her network. Social media is also one way that she was able to grow her connections.
By documenting her journey on her Instagram page, she was able to gain 5,000 followers. Providing the point of view of someone just starting their journey and being open about her own worries made her very relatable and authentic. This led to her account taking a life of its own and snowballing.
But Soli also gets a lot of random value adds from her followers. She sees it as essentially having 5,000 investors behind her back, advising her on her deals. Likewise, she invests a lot in engaging with her audience.
Most people don’t realize how much time it takes to build those connections. Soli personally replies to anyone who sends her a DM and gets to know people on a personal level.
Raising private money through family and friends has advantages. But it also meant that she needed to do everything in her power to make sure the investment works out.
This is the motivation that led her to be more hands-on and know her community better because taking actual responsibility for her investment made her a better investor.
Soli’s goal is to be able to replace her W2 income by the end of the year. She believes that acquiring a 10-15 unit building would be enough to do that.
As far as financing goes, she isn’t so much worried as she believes she can tap on her network to raise the money and just figure out getting a super low balance loan.
Don’t work as much as you can.
Share stories through social media. Your network is your net worth. Think big and your network will start opening doors for you.
Go out and find yourself a meetup or a mentor who can help.
Understand that network is key
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