Why do I do it?

Between the age of twenty three and twenty six, my ex-husband and I bought three investment properties. We had relatively no idea what we were doing; we just followed the directions of my sister and her husband who lived in Austin during the early 1990’s. Two of the properties were in Austin and one was in west El Paso where we lived. In 1994 we purchased a four-plex directly from the listing agent. I don’t think there were any negotiations and I can’t remember who our lender was, but I have vague recollections that he was related to the listing agent. We paid about $129,000 for that property, rented three of the units, moved into the fourth and lived rent free for the following year.

My sister and brother-in-law managed the properties in Austin and we managed the property in El Paso. I was an elementary school teacher in those days and this was just enough to keep me occupied all the time. I learned how to get a place rented quickly, explain a lease, paint, install laminate flooring, fix a toilet and get on the roof to adjust the swamp coolers in the summer. We didn’t have any money, so we did everything. I have fond memories of my mom coming over to help us paint. She used to love to paint walls.

These were not sexy properties. The duplexes were in southeast Austin and rented Section 8. The four-plex was on a street full of other four-plexes. During the first month we were living there we had a guy knocking on the window in the middle of the night wanting to buy drugs. It was a little scary. What was amazing was that we were living rent free from just one property. Right before we were going to buy our fourth property, tragedy struck and we ended up getting divorced instead. We split up the properties and I got the duplexes in Austin.

The cash flow from those duplexes paid my way through graduate school. It also made it possible for me to move to Austin. When it came time to sell those properties, the proceeds propelled me into east Austin and allowed John and I to purchase and renovate some beautiful homes in the area. Much of this resulted from action that took place eighteen years ago. At the time, I didn’t know how impactful owning real estate could be. Now that I know, it’s important to me that other people experience those benefits too. That is why I do what I do.