Twelve years ago, my husband and I decided to take a leap into real estate. We didn’t come from money, and we definitely didn’t have cash sitting around, but over the years, we invested about $1.8 million of our own savings and the collected cash flow from each rental that we slowly added to our portfolio — through hard work and discipline, slowly, deal by deal.
Fast forward to today, our portfolio is now worth $13 million. That’s a 788% increase which is something we never imagined when we started. We are not even talking about the cash flow and equity returns also generated from the portfolio.
So how did we do it? Here’s what worked for us.
We Focused on Cash Flow
From day one, we made sure each property could pay for itself. We weren’t chasing “hot markets” or for just pure appreciation. We bought homes that generated steady income, enough to cover expenses and still leave profit at the end of the month. It’s easy to get swept up by beautiful and fancy homes or grow attached to a property and end up paying for it even when the numbers don’t work out. So, we had to train ourselves to stay focused and considered only what really mattered to us which is cash flow. With this strategy, we were able to stay in the game even through tougher times because we knew the properties are always working for us.
We Used Leverage the Smart Way
Mortgages and financing is a powerful tool in real estate. We used it to help us purchase properties using little cash, but each deal guarantees long term returns as high as the home value since the monthly mortgage payments would reliably be paid from the rental income. So, think about it. We used the bank’s money to allow us to own the property and have someone else help pay down the mortgages for us. This is why leverage is such a powerful tool. But we also always stayed conservative, securing enough leverage to scale our portfolio while not losing any sleep. That balance let us keep buying while staying financially secure as our wealth passively grows.
We Reinvested Everything
Instead of treating rental income like extra spending money, we reinvested it. Every dollar of cash flow, every bit of equity, and even tax savings went straight into the next property. While more cash was flowing into our bank account as each property was added to our portfolio, it was very tempting to think that we had extra cash to spend each month. However, we did not think so and did not spend the extra cash flow. Instead, we saved up looking forward to the next property in sight. The rental income may seem very little at first, since each single-family property cash flowed only a few hundred dollars every month, but with patience and seeing the rental rates increased over the years, that snowball effect became huge over time.
We Built Systems to Keep It Simple
We have grown our portfolio to 40 units as of writing this post, and managing all of them could have been a full-time job. However, we wanted freedom, not more work. So we built a great team of property managers, realtors, contractors, insurance brokers and lenders. Those systems let us grow passively while focusing on strategy and continuing to stay on path.
We Stayed Consistent
We had gone through ups and downs, including difficult tenants, difficult property managers, rising interest rates, rising insurance costs, and unpredictable world events that impacted housing performance. But we never quit. We held onto the properties and trusted the long game. The hardest challenge along the way wasn’t getting the numbers right or the tedious process of closing each deal. It was believing in our own strategy.
Each purchase is a huge commitment. Real estate isn’t something you can just sell with a click like a stock. Once you buy, you’re in it for the long haul. We had to train our mindset to stay patient and confident through uncertainty.
The process was repetitive and demanding like finding the right realtor, identifying a solid rental in the right market, securing favorable loan terms, comparing insurance quotes, analyzing the deal, going through the process of closing, hiring the right property manager, and handling everything else that comes with being a landlord. It was exhausting at times. But we stayed the course, and now what once felt overwhelming has simply become our system.
Looking back, the biggest lesson isn’t just about investing in real estate. It’s about patience, discipline, and believing that slow, steady progress adds up.
What’s next? With the equity we have built from the appreciation of our portfolio, our strategy is to convert them into an even larger portfolio without the need to tap into our personal savings anymore. And that 788% in 12 years? It’s not just a number. It’s proof that steady, intentional investing can turn ordinary savings into something extraordinary.
