Eric is financially independent due to his investment properties. This is his biography. Please read this blog to see how he started and is continuing the journey.
After graduating high school at 17, and a year of pumping gas, Eric spent 4 years in the USAF at Barksdale AFB, where he was a crew chief on a B-52. His advice “Do not let anyone try to send you to fetch 50′ of flight line…”
He graduated with a degree in Computer Science, with minor in math and has an MBA in Marketing. He recently received his real estate license for the second time, the first one being earned in 1983. He says “I went to the school of hard knocks where I majored in repeating everyone else’s mistakes.”
He is 55 year old, soon to be former, computer professional. He started several years ago to replace his “work income”, with other alternate streams. He is well on his way to retirement at age 56, and is currently making more money at extracurricular activities, than he is working at his full time job. Whether that is Financially Independent, or just old fashioned entrepreneurial spirit, is in the eyes of the beholder.
In ~2005/6, he went to a cattle call wealth building seminar, with Donald Trump, George Foreman, Michael Coles and a few others. It was an eye-opening experience. He investigated many opportunities after that, including franchises such as a Laundromat, check cashing business, tanning business, hair salon, handyman services, trading stocks and real estate. He started several businesses over the years; some he stuck with, some were not as profitable or logistically would not merge seamlessly in with his current situation. But trying leads to success.
Sometimes fate and life’s situations create a path that is inevitable, and real estate is where he settled. He started as a landlord and owning investment property in 2000.
Eric currently owns 24 rentals in seven buildings in the Eagan and West St. Paul area in Minnesota. He does all of his own maintenance. He manages property for other investors, so he currently has 25 renters to track. In addition to the renters, which many people would already consider to be a full-time job, he also still has a full-time job, a data architect at a major bank. He is an HOA president, property manager for the HOA which includes the responsibility of tenant screening. In his spare time, he also runs a small mowing business and plows snow with his Ford F350 Diesel.
Other than that, he just loafs around the house and blogs…
Eric says the secret to minimizing the work in his rentals is attracting and recognizing great tenants. Read his blog to find out more at http://www.NoNonsenseLandLord.com/. Be sure to read the posts, he has a lot of tips about managing property and financial independence.
As an aspiring real estate investor, Im glad to have found your blog.
Looks like we have a lot in common – I graduated with a computer science degree as well and am a software designer. Even though its an exciting career, I feel that excitement waning and have been itching for some entrepreneurship work instead. Ive been debating whether to go to school for an MBA but because of where I am in life, I dont think I will be able to do it.
I invest mostly in dividend growing companies and have been growing my other sources of income in order to diversify my finances and income sources. Real estate is something that I am very interested in, but as a first step my wife and I need a house to live in (we are currently renting) although we are debating the idea of buying a duplex in order to supplement our income.
regards
I am glad you have found my Blog too. Read as much as you can. Tenant screening, and tenant management, is one of the most important things you need to understand as a landlord. Property management, without tenant management, is easy.
I really wish I’d found this back in 2013… Probably would have saved me a lot of headache.
Thank you for visiting! I am glad I could help.
I just knew you were in Minnesota. And I can guess how awful that Section 8 tenant was. And MN being so left wing libtard I’m sure it was hard to get rid of that free loading pos
Thank you for reading!
It wasn’t bad. People are people.
Hello – glad I found your blog. I am an army 1st Iraq war vet looking to own 40 rental units. I currently have 4. I am in Milwaukee WI where the opportunity for turn key rental is great. I get about 5 of these deals (all in under 30K) per month.
Thank you for the comment! Great job. Just make sure you are compensating for higher maintenance costs and higher credit risks in a lower cost neighborhood.
You may want to read this article.
Or this one
Or even this one
Hoping to learn a lot here as we think about picking up an additional rental property towards the back half of the year. With 24 rentals, you sound like you know what you are doing.
Thank you for the comment!
I learned through some bad tenants. You never learn anything from great tenants, except how people are supposed to behave.
Enjoyed your blog and bio. I’m 36, own a business and 9 units. Trying to figure out where to go from here which led me to your blog….
Thank you for reading.
I will be posting about my real estate adventures as I go along. Keep reading, there will be much more.
Just bought my first duplex and expect to buy more over the coming years. Looks like you got a lot of great material on this website that I can use to help me manage my properties.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for reading! I am glad I could be of help.
I like your blog. Question how did you get mortgages for so many properties. Usually there is a limit of 4 mortgages per person? At least that what the mortgage broker at Chase bank told me.
I never had more than 5 mortgages. US Bank allows up to 6. The 4 mortgage limit is artificial, it is not a Freddie or Fannie requirement.
I order to go above the 4 mortgage limit, I needed to have at least a 740 credit score, enough money in the bank to pay all the mortgages for 6 months, and 30% down.
I hope this helps.
Eric, I liked reading your story. Congratulations on reaching FIRE with your properties! Did you purchase most of your properties slowly over time? Or, did you buy them in chunks during cycle swings?
I had a couple of duplexes first, so rt accidentally. Then i went full-bore in 2008. One per year. Buy a property, digest it, then buy again.
Hey Eric. Nice website and biography. Glad I’ve found you. Thanks for sharing the interesting story. I respect that you built this up and manage over 24 rentals. That’s commendable. You’re a hustler 🙂
Thanks for the motivation my friend.
Thank you for reading!
As I was buying the rentals, I never knew they would work out this well. It always seemed like I was broke, but now they seem to be doing great. Better than I could have ever imagined.
Awesome site. We’ve got 4 units right now, and starting to look at a second building. This blog looks like it’s full of handy tips.
Thank you for reading!
Keep building up the properties. I have a lot of great information here on how to get solid tenants and make you more profitable.
Great site Eric! Hope to learn more on owning rentals. Btw, would you do a post to elaborate on the millionaire mindset mentioned in post about mowing grass?
Thanks
Thank you for reading!
I should do one! It takes a mindset to focus on achieving success. When I was mowing, I was more concerned with just making a few extra dollars, not necessarily becoming a millionaire. But it did lead me to extra funds that were use to propel my real estate purchases.
Hi Eric, Just reading your profile and see you left the rat race in July 2016 to be a full time landlord, congratulations. Question for you, what is the best/first advice you would give to someone who wants to jump into real estate, even on a small scale? I am going to bookmark your site so when I take the leap I have a resource. Happy new year!
Thank you for reading!
Start small. Real Estate is high risk, high reward. You can suffer a $10K loss easily, and quickly, especially if you do not know how to screen tenants.
Do all other forms of saving first. 401K, SA, Roth, IRA, etc. Only when you can buy a rental property and not have to depend on rent income should you do it.