19 Units in 6 Years by Buying Small, Overlooked, $100K Rentals

Summary

BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast
Episode Title: 19 Units in 6 Years by Buying Small, Overlooked, $100K Rentals
Date: April 13, 2026
Guest: Crystal Staiskill
Host: Henry Washington

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Episode Overview

This episode features Crystal Staiskill, a former high school math teacher from Illinois who transitioned into real estate and built a 19-unit rental portfolio in just six years. Crystal shares how she started small—buying overlooked properties under $100,000—and strategically scaled her business while raising two young kids and self-managing her entire portfolio. The discussion provides practical insights for anyone seeking financial freedom through real estate, especially for those with limited starting capital and busy family lives.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Crystal’s Background and Decision to Start Investing

• Career Shift & Motivation
  • Crystal taught high school math for seven years before becoming a mother of two.
  • After her second child, daycare costs made teaching impractical, prompting a search for alternative income.
  • Her husband, inspired by a book club reading of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," suggested real estate investing.
• Education Phase
  • The couple consumed “all the BiggerPockets episodes” and books to learn real estate basics.

    “We listened to, I feel like, all the BiggerPockets episodes. We read all the books, all the audiobooks, and it quickly became, you know, like, let's do this.” (Crystal, 01:42)

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First Real Estate Deal: Out-of-State Investment

• Market Selection & Networking ([03:17])
  • Local properties near Chicago were out of budget, so they targeted Kansas City, Missouri.
  • Used BiggerPockets to find and vet a local agent, including an initial trip to the market for due diligence.
  • Importance of “boots on the ground” and networking for out-of-state investors.

    “You got your butt on a plane and you went to the market...Not with intent to buy anything, but to get a feel for the market.” (Henry, 04:30)

• Deal Details
  • Purchase Price: $52,000
  • Repairs: Radon mitigation, roof (with tenant in place initially)
  • Rents: $800/month
  • Financing: Cash purchase with delayed financing; appraised at $75k.
  • Return: Left $13,000 in the deal, kept as a long-term rental.

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Second Deal: Auction Strategy

• Partnering with a Local Specialist ([07:27])
  • Crystal connected with a local expert whose business was acquiring properties via foreclosure auction, doing light reno, then selling or managing as directed.
  • She and her husband vetted him with references, accompanied him to auctions, and observed the process firsthand.

    “We also asked him for references. So I talked to three other investors that he'd worked with...They used iCloud to record videos and send them to us. We had like weekly updates on how the renovations were going.” (Crystal, 13:38)

• Deal Details

  • Purchase Price: $21,000 for 850 sq ft house

  • Renovation: $40,000 (total all-in approx. $61,000)

  • Financing: Cash, then refi on appraisal ($88k), leaving $13,000 in the deal.

  • Rents: Started at $800, increased to $925.

  • Lesson: Auctions are a strong networking and education opportunity for aspiring investors.

    “If you are at all interested in buying auction properties, just go to a couple of auctions. You're going to learn so much.” (Henry, 09:01)

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Pivot to Local Investments Due to COVID-19

• Out-of-State Challenges ([19:19])

  • COVID-19 halted foreclosures, ending their previous strategy.

  • Crystal emphasizes that out-of-state investing forced her to create systems, but having properties closer to home offers convenience.

    “It is kind of nice to have things a little bit closer...But you have to force yourself to build in processes, even though you can do the things yourself.” (Henry, 19:52)

• Entering Wisconsin Market
  • Started investing in Beloit, Wisconsin (just over the Illinois border), leveraging referrals for agent connections.

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Scaling Up: Portfolio Growth and Management

• Types of Properties ([20:29], [33:35])
  • Focuses on single-family homes, small duplexes/fourplexes, older but not historic properties (preferably post-1960s).
  • Typical purchases: sub-$100K, significant renovations, increasing rent potential.
  • Example Recent Deal: Purchase at $110k, $40k renovations, appraised at $187k, rented for $1,825.
• Financing Approach
  • Mix of straight financing, cash-out refi, and relationships with small local banks for lines of credit.
  • “That’s the play...Get direct to seller leads and you can get in with a local community bank.” (Henry, 29:11)
• Active Sourcing: Direct Mail

  • Tried bandit signs (unsuccessfully), but succeeded with small-batch direct mail.

  • Sent 82 test postcards, landed 2 deals—attributed success partly to targeting less competitive markets.

    “People who are listening do not do that. This is a very rare occasion where you'll get a deal from anything less than at least a thousand postcards...Mail has a much higher return in smaller, less popular markets.” (Henry, 27:38)

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Lifestyle Impact: Quitting Job, Family, & Self-Management

• Leaving Her Job ([22:22])
  • Left IT to focus on real estate and family; husband (an engineer) kept W2 for stability and bankability.
  • All real estate cash flow is reinvested for future acquisitions.
  • Host emphasizes the strategic benefit of keeping at least one household W2 income for scaling.

    “Banks love a W2. Even if your real estate business makes so much more...you limit yourself from a bankability perspective when you leave your job too soon.” (Henry, 23:08)

• Portfolio Summary as of Episode
  • Total Units: 19 (18 long-term, 1 Airbnb)
  • Geography: Kansas City, Wisconsin (Beloit), northern Illinois
  • Short-Term Rental: Lake house Airbnb in Wisconsin (“the perfect little retreat”)
• Self-Management Approach ([35:58])
  • Crystal self-manages all units, including those out-of-state.
  • Systems in place: local maintenance contacts, regular inspections (quarterly initially), and use of technology for communication.
  • Emphasizes relationships and personalized approach with tenants; very low turnover.

    “Our tenants stay with us for a really long time. We have a very low turnover, but it's all about relationships. We pride ourselves on being mom and pop and caring about our properties...” (Crystal, 37:27)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Overcoming Fear and Getting Started

  “It can be scary, right? The way that I combat scary things is by data gathering. Get your hands on anything you possibly can...But be careful not to get stuck in analysis paralysis. At some point you have to make a move.”
  (Crystal, 38:34)

• On Self-Management and Systems

  “Stuff's gonna happen and it's not the most convenient time, but you just have to have, again, systems...I know that I can go to Lowe's and get appliances delivered to any property and the old one removed quickly.”
  (Crystal, 36:20)

• On Direct Mail Success in Small Markets

  “Mail has a much higher return in smaller, less popular markets. Because people there are not used to getting direct mail...If you're going to send 80 postcards in Houston, Texas, you wouldn't have heard a peep.”
  (Henry, 27:40)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:35] Introduction to Crystal and her background
• [03:17] First out-of-state deal details and market selection
• [07:27] Second deal via auction strategy
• [13:38] Tips for vetting partners and remote renovation oversight
• [19:19] COVID-19 pivots investment focus to local market
• [20:29] Entry into Wisconsin market; typical property deals
• [22:22] Crystal’s decision to leave work and impact on family/bankability
• [25:15] Portfolio snapshot (18 long-term, 1 STR)
• [26:28] Marketing efforts: Bandit signs vs. direct mail
• [29:11] The benefits of working with small local banks
• [33:35] Ongoing deal structure and renovation strategy
• [35:58] Self-managing rentals, systems, and tenant relationships
• [38:34] Advice for new investors overcoming fear

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Takeaways for Listeners

• You don’t need large capital—buying small, under-valued properties in less “hot” markets can be highly profitable.
• Networking and systems are critical, especially when investing remotely.
• The right partner, trusted boots-on-the-ground, and local lenders can be the difference-makers.
• Scaling is possible while self-managing and raising a family, but only with the right systems in place.
• Direct mail can work—especially in overlooked or small markets—and relationships matter more than size.
• Keep at least one stable W2 income for greater financial flexibility and scalability in real estate investing.

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Transcript

[A]

After having her second daughter, high school math teacher Crystal Staiskill, had a choice to make. She could keep working for little pay and give up the time she had with her young children. Or she could find another way to help provide her answer. Rental properties, but not $400,000 homes. She couldn't afford that. But what she could afford were small rentals. We're talking 800 square feet that cost less than $100,000. That's something she could do. She bought her first rentals out of state right when the lockdowns began and she had a tenant moving out. Not a great start, but she didn't give up. By rental number three, she quit her job and went all in. Now Crystal has 19 rental units, using all her cash flow to keep investing While her husband's W2 is paying their bills. That's a dream team combination. She's able to spend time with the two girls and provide the best experience to her tenants across her portfolio. And she should know because she self manages these units. Crystal is still buying properties for around 100,000 doll and they're still cash flowing. She shares the exact market she's buying in, the renovations she's doing to get her higher rents, and how she juggles it all while raising two kids. These small properties can make you financially free too. So let's learn how. What's going on, everybody? I am Henry Washington. I am here with an investor story from Cross Crystal Staskill out of Illinois. She is building a portfolio to help her achieve financial freedom. So let's jump in and learn how. Crystal, welcome to the show.

[B]

Thank you. Happy to be here.

[A]

Why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about your background and how you first jumped into all this crazy real estate stuff.

[B]

So I was a high school math teacher. I taught for seven years. I really enjoyed it. But in that time, my husband and I started a family and we had two daughters and Lily and Cora. And after having Cora, it didn't make sense for me to continue teaching. The pay was not offsetting daycare costs, that kind of thing, Right. So we started looking for other options. For me, my degree is in math. So I went back and got my master's and then made the shift into it. Did that for a couple of years, but at the same time I made that shift. Alex, my husband, was doing a book club, right? And they read rich dad, poor dad, gotcha. And you know, it's classic. So he came home and he was like, hey, we should really look into real estate investing. He's like, I started listening to a couple podcasts. We should listen to more, and we should read some stuff. So we did. We listened to, I feel like, all the BiggerPockets episodes. It was all the time. We read all the books, all the audiobooks, and it quickly became, you know, like, let's do this. Let's put some effort in and see what we can make happen.

[A]

We have a lot of similarities. My father and my stepmother were both high school teachers. My stepmother was a high school math teacher.

[B]

So nice.

[A]

I did it for a while before I got into real estate.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I, too, read Rich Dad, Poor dad, and my head exploded. So I get it. I get how this all pointed you in that direction. But reading the books and getting excited and translating that to actually doing something are very different things. So what's kind of the first deal you did? How did you stumble into that?

[B]

In our area in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, things are more expensive than what we were able to do at the time. We had a little bit of money that we were willing to earmark for real estate investing, kind of try it out, but we couldn't do that here, so we knew we had to find another market. So we landed on Kansas City, Missouri. We said, okay, let's look for some boots on the ground. We started networking through BiggerPockets, and we found a realtor, decided to take a trip out there, meet him and see what he does, look at some places. We did that. It was great. He was fantastic. Came back. And then from there, what he did is he would send us things. We'd let him know if we're interested. He'd go and he would walk it. He would do a video call with us and show us everything. We ended up finding a place that we wanted to go under contract on. It was brought to us by a wholesaler, but then we had this realtor represent us in it, and it still went through all the processes. We did an inspection because it was our first one. Right. Like, we don't. We don't do those anymore, honestly. But our first one, we did the inspection. There were some things that had to be addressed. We had a couple of things addressed. We bought it at a low price, knowing that there was going to be more work to put into it. But it did have a tenant, and it was going to cash flow for us.

[A]

Okay, so you pick Kansas City. And one of the things I want to highlight about this story sounds like you knew what you wanted in terms of financial return, and you figured, I can't get that in my backyard. So let's start looking for places. You settled on Kansas City. You networked on Biggerpockets and found an agent. BiggerPockets has an agent finder. Now, that is a great tool for people when you're looking to invest out of state. You can connect with an agent. And then after a couple of video interviews, you said the one thing that people really never say when they're trying to pick a market. You got your butt on a plane and you went to the market. Right. Or you got in the car and you went to the market, and not with intent to buy anything, but to get a feel for the market. And that is such an important part of investing out of state, because there are just things you need to see, touch and feel in order to understand and evaluate deals as they come into your inbox. It's not just that you want to go and buy something, but you want to go and figure out, okay, what are the neighborhoods that make sense? What, where do I not want to buy? Right. You ended up finding a deal. That deal came from a wholesaler, you said. But you had your agent represent you, and you did an inspection. Everybody, if you've never bought a property before, do inspections. Absolutely. I don't do them anymore either, but I am very experienced. Right. If you're not experienced, you should try to get inspections whenever you can. So about this deal, talk to me a little bit. What was the purchase price of that property?

[B]

So we bought it for 52,000.

[A]

52,000. And how much work did it need?

[B]

We negotiated for them to do radon mitigation. And then as soon as we closed, I had somebody do the roof for us, but that's all we did because we had that tenant in there. As soon as she left, we did a little bit of work. We ended up replacing the floor in the kitchen.

[A]

So not a ton of work, which is good. So 50, 50, some odd thousand is a ridiculously good price. And then to not have to do a ton of work and it be in decent livable condition enough to rent it out, that's a pretty solid deal. What was it renting for?

[B]

If I recall correctly, when we bought it, it was at 800.

[A]

Oh, wow, that's really good. Okay. And how did you fund this deal? Did you pay cash and refinance it? Did you just get a bank loan right away? Because some banks won't fund a loan that low.

[B]

This one we did delayed financing on it, so we purchased cash. But we don't have to wait to Season it for a cash out refi, you can delay, finance it and you can do 75% of ARV.

[A]

Yep. Do you remember what it appraised for when you did that?

[B]

I want to say like 75.

[A]

Oh, nice. So you were able to. You were able to. Did you pull cash out or did you leave it all in there?

[B]

We ended up leaving like $13,000 in it, I want to say. And it cash flowed.

[A]

Do you still own that one?

[B]

We do. We still own it, Yep.

[A]

Okay, so first deal sounds like it was a decent deal. You still own it. Cash flowed. Paid 52. Did a light renovation, new roof, some infrastructure things. How did you transition from that into your next deal? Was it also an out of state deal?

[B]

Yeah. So our second deal was also out of state. October 2019 was when we bought that first one. And then our second one we actually bought at foreclosure auction. FEBR 2020.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

It was, it was pretty cool. So that was Kansas City as well. We were working with this guy. His whole business was, I'm going to find people who want to purchase at auction. I'm going to identify auction properties. I will send out a list to all of my buyers. If anyone's interested, I will go look at the house morning of auction, I will see if I can get pictures. I will see if I can, you know, identify any structural concerns, whatever. I will send that information to you. You tell me your max bid, I will go to auction. I will bid for you. If we win it, I will put the money down. You wire me the money, I will renovate for you. And for most of his buyers, he was also an agent and he would then sell it as a flip for them, for us. We told him we want to keep it, so you renovate it, but then we're going to go ahead and take over and we'll lease it up.

[A]

Huh. Did you find this person through bigger pockets?

[B]

I don't remember if we found him on biggerpockets or not.

[A]

Okay, okay.

[B]

But I don't know how we found him either.

[A]

Okay, okay. Random stranger seems like a decent business model. All right.

[B]

Yeah, right. No, he was so he was another person that we went out and we met and we actually with him, we said, hey, we're very curious how this process works. Can we ride along with you one day?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And he was like, yeah, meet me at 7 o' clock at the McDonald's and we will go together. You can follow me to a couple properties. I'll show you which ones I'm looking At. And then we went to an auction with him, and it was really cool.

[A]

Well, that's cool. I think that's another great piece of advice for people. Like, if you are at all interested in buying auction properties, just go to a couple of auctions.

[B]

Oh, for sure.

[A]

See how it works. You're going to learn so much. But also, auctions are a great place to meet people who have money and might be willing to be a private lender for you. So if you continue to go and start to build a. Build a brand for yourself or start to build a reputation for yourself, I mean, in most auctions, you got to pay cash for properties, if not right away, then within like, 10 to 15 days. So these are great people who have cash on hand who like investing in real estate, who could be lender contacts, but they also have all the other contacts you need to invest in real estate. Like, auctions are just a great place to hang out if you want to build your network, because those are doers at the auction. They're not playing games if they're bidding on auction properties. So you vetted this person by going and seeing how they were doing what they were doing. You looked at some of the properties that they were bidding on. So that gave you a level of comfort, I assume.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then he would go to the auctions and bid for you. Did it take a while before you, like, won? Because auctions aren't easy to win. People bid those properties up.

[B]

It took a while. We probably worked with him for probably two, three months. Honestly, we were looking at properties every night. Every night before, you know, after the kids went to bed, we were looking at the properties and flagging anything we're interested in. What's tricky is you can't actually make your final bid. Like, you can't set that number until you know the condition of the property, but you don't know until morning of. Right. If at all. There were so many times. He's like, I can't really see much. Like, don't know what's going to happen. And that's actually how this property was. He went to it, and he's like, it's tiny. You know, it's 850 square feet. He's like, it looks like it started maybe getting some work because there was new siding on, but it wasn't fully completed. So he's like, this is a little bit of a wild card. So we're like, okay, well, what could it possibly cost to renovate this thing? Right. Like, it's 800 square feet um, and we set our. Our price. But those mornings were so tense, and my husband and I were both working, right? So where I can remember sitting at our desks, being like, okay, we have 10 minutes. Figure this out. Like, quick chat, like, back and forth, and then send him the info. And we finally won that one. He told us. He's like, you'll get one. He's like, it takes time, but we'll. We'll get it. And so this day, I remember I was sitting in a meeting, a one on one meeting with my manager, and I get a text message that says, you won. I need the LLC name now. I was like, oh, my God. I'm like, what do I do? So I told my manager, I'm like, I'm so sorry, but I just got a text message. I need five minutes. I went like, you know, hustled and did whatever I needed to do, but it was like, whoa. Like, just wild. It was very cool.

[A]

Okay, how much did you win the auction for?

[B]

Yeah, so that house we bought for $21,000.

[A]

21,800 square foot house. Okay, was it. Was it a complete gut job? What was the catch here?

[B]

So it was, but not for us. The people who owned it before it must have been an investor that ran out of money. I don't know how you do on an 800, but, I mean, stuff happens. But they had gone and they had completely gutted it and started drywall flooring. So it was set up perfectly for us to just go in and finish it. So we did finish the renovation completely. They had started some tile floor in one of the rooms, but it was ugly. And we're like, just rip it up and let's just do LVP through the whole thing. So standard. We do the same finishes on all of our stuff to keep it easy. So, you know, dark wood lvp, white cabinets, black knobs, all white. Bathroom just went and did that. We did have to add ac. We had to redo the electrical because somebody had gone and pulled out all the wiring. But it was. I think the renovation ended up being all in 40,000 maybe.

[A]

Oh, wow. That's not bad at all.

[B]

No, no. With all new AC H vac.

[A]

So you're all in 60, 65 grand. What's that thing rent for? Well, what did it rent for then versus what's it rent for now?

[B]

When it rented at first, I think it was like 800.

[A]

That's such a deal.

[B]

I know. Well, and we bought it cash. We funded the renovation ourself, and then it appraised right away for 88.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

So it was. We pulled almost everything out of it. We've got $13,000 in that one too, so.

[A]

Goodness, man.

[B]

Most of our money back cash flows. And it's up to 925 now.

[A]

Oh, my goodness. What a deal.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's awesome. It's got to be scary to, to, to walk into a partnership like that though, when you're, when you're doing a deal like this. I know you said you vetted him by going and kind of seeing what he was doing. Do you have any other tips or advice you would give to people who are considering a partnership or a similar model for making sure that who they're working with they can trust? Is there any conversations you had up front before you did anything?

[B]

Yeah. So we also asked him for references. So I talked to three other investors that he'd worked with.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then the other thing that was nice is they, you know, he had a team that he worked with. His team was very communicative. They used icloud to record videos and send them to us. We had like weekly updates on how the renovations were going. You got to just be in communication, right. As long as that's happening and you, you get videos. Pictures are one thing, right. Because picture can be taken anywhere. But if you see a video, it starts with your front door and you're walking into the house, you know there's a little bit more there to it. So.

[A]

Awesome. I definitely want to dive into seeing how you continued scaling, but first we got to take a quick break.

[C]

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[A]

All right, we are back on the Bigger Pockets podcast with investor Crystal Stasko, and we are talking about how she built her real estate business. She did her first deal in Kansas City, Missouri, and I would say that was a solid double in terms of profitability. And then did a second deal in a semi partnership. I call that one a double. Maybe going on a triple. Like that's a pretty good deal.

[B]

Yeah, that's a great one. Proud of that one.

[A]

All right, so how did you determine what was going to be next? Did you continue this business model with this person? Did you continue in Kansas City? Kind of. Where. Where does the story pivot from here?

[B]

Yeah. So to be honest, I think we would have continued with that process, but Covid happened.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And foreclosures were done.

[A]

Yeah, they dried up. They dried up.

[B]

So unfortunately for. For that gentleman we worked with, his business kind of shut down for a little while. At the same time, though, we were reflecting and honestly, people are like, why did you start out of state? Like, isn't that. I can't be. You're crazy. It was great because it forced us to figure out how to do it with other people and systems. But at the same time, it is kind of nice to have things a little bit closer.

[A]

There's a price for convenience, though.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

I just think that out of state investors have a leg up because you have to build your business to run pretty much without you. That way, when you want out, it's a whole lot easier than where people like me, I didn't. I don't have to do that. I'm here. But I end up spending time doing things I absolutely should not be doing out of pure convenience. So is there a benefit to investing in your backyard? Yeah, I love investing in my backyard. But you have to force yourself to build in processes, even though you can do the things yourself. And when you're type A like you, that can be sometimes hard to do.

[B]

Yeah. So we decided, you know, let's try to Stay a little bit closer to home. So again, through networking, we found a realtor in Rock County, Wisconsin. So that's just over the Illinois border, just north of Rockford, Illinois for us, it's about an hour. And we started working with him in Beloit specifically, and we started building a portfolio there. We got our first property in fall of 2020. Single family purchased it for 57,000. Two bedroom.

[A]

Was this on market?

[B]

Yeah, it was on market. He brought it to us. I feel like he knew it was coming to market, so pocket listing. But yeah, it was just mls. It was an investor that had it. He had a couple of buildings and he was trying to 1031 into other stuff. And so we told him, yeah, we're flexible with your timeline, so go ahead and get your other stuff figured out so you can 1031 it all together and we'll just close when you're ready.

[A]

Did this one need work? Was it already rented out? What's the story?

[B]

No, it was totally renovated. It was not. I know.

[A]

For 50. What?

[B]

Yeah, 57.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, it's tiny. It's tiny. It's like 600 square feet. Okay, but in renovated, rental grade.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, but still.

[B]

Still. I mean, LVP floors, white kitchen appliances.

[A]

What was the rent the tenant was paying?

[B]

It was not rented at the time we rented it. I want to say our first rent was 725 on it.

[A]

Oh, solid. Yeah, solid. Awesome. Okay. Did you pay cash and refi this one or how did you. How did you purchase it?

[B]

We just financed it straight up on that one.

[A]

So you did like a conventional mortgage, 25% down, 30 year fixed?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

So you found this amazing deal. You have now said, all right, investing closer to home seems like a better fit now that we have some experience. Plus we feel like the market's affordable, things are growing in the right direction. At what point in all these deals were you able to leave your job? How did you make that decision?

[B]

Yeah, so it was kind of happening right around this time, right. We. It's like 1, 2, 3. We've gotten. They're working. It's. This is a thing, you know, I had only been in it a couple of years. I wasn't like super into it. I wasn't super invested in that role. And. And it just made sense for us. It was going to give me the flexibility to stay home with my kids and spend more time with them. And so we just decided to go for it.

[A]

And when you say you went full time, you mean just you. Your husband continued working a W2?

[B]

Yep. Yep. So my husband still work in his W2. He's an engineer. I'm very thankful that, you know, we found real estate and that we were both comfortable enough for, for me to leave. We didn't necessarily need my income. His is the household income that supports us. We don't use our real estate income at this point. Just put it right back in.

[A]

That's a lesson people learn. I think once you start doing a few deals because yeah, the allure is buy properties, get cash flow. Cash flow equals income. Income replaces job. Then I do full time real estate. But several things happen when you do that. A, you become less bankable. Banks love a W2. Even if your real estate business makes so much more than your W2, they will still love a W2. So you, you limit yourself from a bankability perspective when you leave your job too soon. Also, there's something to be said about real estate being more enjoyable when you don't have to feed your kids with the money your deals produce. But once it becomes I've got to pay my mortgage and feed my kids with my real estate business, it can hurt you because you start looking at deals with different goggles on. Right. And so knowing that no one's going to starve and our bills are going to be paid regardless of if I do this real estate deal or not, A makes it more fun. B, helps you make more solid investing decisions. I'm saying all this because everybody wants to quit their job. And I think there are some people that absolutely should quit their job. Sure, if you can generate enough cash flow and you have a terrible job and it's limiting your life with your family, sure, you should try to figure out a way out. But if you at all like what you're doing, you make a decent income, keep that job as long as possible because it's just you can grow and scale faster. It will make your investing life easier, you will enjoy investing more, and then you can build up wealth faster if have you have a job versus not having a job. It will make real estate harder if you don't have a job. So just don't. Just do it because you can do it because you have to or you need to. I didn't quit my job until it literally cost me money to have a job. But other than that, I was going to keep working. All right, I'm off my soapbox. Great, you were able to quit your job. Your husband still works. Can you give us give me a little bit of a breakdown? Like what does your portfolio look like now, where are the properties? Did you sell anything that you've bought? Like, where are you standing?

[B]

Our thing is we find houses that are in need of renovation. Significant or light, usually more significant. We renovate them, we cash out, and we hold them. We are at a total of 19 doors right now.

[A]

Wow. Congrats.

[B]

Thank you. We've got 18 long terms, and we just got our first airbnb in summer. 2024.

[A]

In your backyard, or did you go get one somewhere cool?

[B]

So it's. It's in Wisconsin, but it's just over the Illinois border.

[A]

Okay, so it's somewhere cold, but not somewhere cool.

[B]

Well, yeah, I mean, cold during the winter, so, yes, but that's, you know, that's where we're at. But we love it. It's a little lake house. It's on a very quiet little lake. It is the perfect little retreat, and we are so obsessed.

[A]

Do you guys use it?

[B]

We use it when we can, but it's booked very often. We were supposed to go up there this week for spring break, and it got booked, and we were like, all right, let other people enjoy it. We'll hang here. But, yeah, our long terms, 18 doors. Long term. We have a four unit. We have a two unit. Both of those are in Wisconsin. We did just start working into Illinois, a little bit more into McChesney park, which is just north of Rockford. I did direct mail marketing.

[A]

That was going to be my next question is, how are you snagging these local deals?

[B]

Yeah. So this is kind of crazy, to be honest. After I left, I was like, let's try all the things. Let's try bandit signs. Let's try direct mail, networking in investor groups, bandit signs. I got nothing off of. It was people calling me with, dude, it was the most ridiculous numbers.

[A]

And there was a time they worked. It doesn't work anymore.

[B]

Yeah. I have the same exact experience to you. I hated it. The direct mail. The first set of postcards I sent out, I specifically remember I did 83 test cards, and one of those was to myself. So 82 cards went out to these targeted properties that I found. I used Propstream for a list, and I wanted to see what they looked like. Like, that was really the motivation. Like, let me get this. Let me see how it works. Let me make sure my phone number works.

[A]

All right.

[B]

I got two different deals off of that from two different investors from those 82 cards.

[A]

Whoa. First of all, that is unheard of. I was just about to fuss at you, too, because 80 cards is a waste of money. But if you're doing it as a test, that makes sense. That's actually a pretty smart thing to do. Send out a small batch, see what they look like. So your test case landed you two deals on 80 postcards?

[B]

Yeah, it's ridiculous.

[A]

Okay, I'm gonna make a caveat here, and then I'll ask you about that. Yes. People who are listening do not do that. You are throwing money down the drain. This is a very rare occasion where you'll get a deal from anything less than at least a thousand postcards. To send less than 100 and get two deals is literally like a miracle. So congratulations. But I think. Here's what I think worked in your favor. Just based on all my years of sending mail. Mail has a much higher return in smaller, less popular markets. Because people there are not used to getting direct mail. They're not used to hearing from real estate investors about buying their house. If you're going to send 80 postcards in Houston, Texas, you wouldn't have heard a peep. But when you're sending it in much smaller markets, people are sometimes getting direct mail about buying their home for the very first time. They've never seen anything like it. So people respond. They're not always positive responses, but people. People respond. Okay, so caveat out of the way. Congratulations. That's amazing. So you got two deals from this direct mail campaign where I direct to seller. Assuming they were decent deals.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, no, they were great. And at this time, I was working with a small local bank, too.

[A]

So that's the formula. That's my formula.

[B]

It was great. They. They basically set us up with a line of credit, and then we could do our renovations using that line of credit or using our own cash, and then they would finance it for us at the end. We still work with them. They're. They're great. Such a good relationship.

[A]

That's the play. That's the real estate investor. Single family, small multifamily playbook. If you can find a way to get direct to seller leads and you can get in with a local community bank or two that like those types of assets in those specific markets, they can get super creative with you about how they get financed. Like, you can really grow your real estate business if you, if you nestle into that niche. That's super awesome. All right, this is great information and I want to dive into some more, but we're going to do that right after the break.

[D]

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[E]

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[D]

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[A]

All right, we're back with investor Crystal Stayskill talking about growing her real estate portfolio. Let's jump back in. All right, so you sourcing some off market deals, but it's. It sounds like your price points are still that sub $100,000 price point. You put some money into it if it needs it, and then you're renting it out for somewhere between. Sounds like between 800 and a thousand to 1200 bucks. Is that the deal structure that you buy and are you continuing to buy at that price point?

[B]

Yeah. So generally speaking, yes, we're still in that same kind of price point. Obviously, Covid has changed things. Right. It's much harder to find those property values. Everything has increased significantly. Additionally, though, rents have increased significantly. So we are still purchasing usually around 100 at this point. And then renting those initial properties are still 900, et cetera. But we do have the last property that we did, we purchased for 110. Our renovation was right around 40. It appraised at 187.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And then with that small bank, we did a cash out refi. So we were able to pull everything out except for 11,000. They had us keep 11,000 in it. It's renting for 1825.

[A]

Wow. Yeah, that was pretty good. And when you're buying sub $100,000 properties, what are the ages of these homes? Are they really old homes?

[B]

Absolutely. So they're definitely older. We started limiting ourselves. We don't purchase anything older than like the 60s at this point.

[A]

Oh, that's not that bad.

[B]

It's not? No. We were purchasing older stuff and we do have like, our duplex was built in the 1880s. Yeah, right. Old building. We don't want those anymore. But yeah, it's, you know, they've, they've been Worn down. And a lot of them I'm buying from investors. So it hasn't been own occupied. It's been, you know, rented, tenanted, beat up. So we go in and, you know, this last one, we threw some new subfloor down in some of the rooms. We all new flooring, all paint, you know, updated electrical in a couple places, a couple new windows, that kind of thing.

[A]

People here sub 100,000 and they just think these are the worst properties they've ever seen in life. And that's not always the case. Like, every market is different. I still buy properties sub 100,000 sometimes. And they're perfectly fine houses. Do they need work? Yeah, absolutely. But they're not some home built in, you know, 1882. Right. It's, it's, it's, it's a very reasonable home. Like I'm buying one that was built in 72 for $85,000. Right. Like this can be done. It depends on your market. One last thing I wanted to cover with you, as you mentioned earlier in the podcast that you self manage, but it sounds like a lot of your portfolio is about an hour drive away, maybe a little more. Plus, you've got the stuff in Kansas City. Are you managing the entire portfolio? And how does that impact or not impact your life?

[B]

Yeah, so I manage everything. Any of the maintenance requests come through me, anytime leases need to be renewed, it's me finding new tenants. I do that. You know, honestly, it's. I feel like it when a rain is. It pours, like, I'll hear nothing. And then it's like everything. Right.

[A]

Everybody's H Vacs out at the same time.

[B]

Yeah. And it's on a Saturday and it's

[A]

freezing and the roof. And the roof's leaking.

[B]

Yeah, right. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, there's. There's been things that it's like, wow, I need to address this immediately. Not convenient. My husband and I were out of the country for a wedding and I got a text from one of my tenants that the refrigerator started on fire. Like, they opened it up and it was like smoking and stuff. I was like, we'll get it out the house. And I sent him a new fridge. And like the, you know, Lowe's delivery, they also take away the old appliance and done in 24 hours. So, I mean, yeah, there's like, stuff's gonna happen and it's not the most convenient time, but you just have to have again systems. Like, I know that I can go to Lowe's and I can get appliances delivered to any property and the old one removed quickly. I know that I can call this H Vac company and they'll go to this set of properties and they'll be out there today. I have plumbers that I can reach out to and each of the markets in Kansas City specifically. So we also inspect our units. I recommend that to anybody who's starting out and we've all admit, like, we've gotten a little bit lax with it. We started with quarterly inspections every single quarter.

[A]

You do them or do you send someone to do them?

[B]

In Kansas City, I have somebody boots on the ground that he's my guy. He goes and he uses my form so it's all consistent. And he schedules with the tenants, he has their numbers. He schedules, he goes out there, he takes pictures. The units here, I do them just so I can get in and see everything and say hi to my tenants. We have good relationships with our tenants. Our tenants stay with us for a really long time. We have a very low turnover, but it's all about relationships. We pride ourselves on being mom and pop and caring about our properties and not being run by a property management company where you're just a number. But yeah, I mean, there's trade offs, right. It is a lot of work and you do have to be available the whole tenants, toilets and termites. Right. Everybody says that it's not that bad. Usually there are times where it all hits, but it's really manageable.

[A]

All right, well, this has been amazing. You have a fantastic story. What advice would you say or give to someone who's listening to this, who's maybe a teacher or maybe working a job where they know they need to bring in some additional income, but they're very scared to jump in. What advice would you give to that person?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, it can be scary, right? And the way that I combat scary things is by like data gathering. Get your hands on anything you possibly can. Listen to biggerpockets, podcasts, talk to other investors, read the books and network and see, like, what are other people doing? Are there opportunities in your area? Do you need to start looking out of state? And I mean, that's scary too, but it does force you to figure stuff out so you can be confident to make that decision so you can do it. You're capable of doing it. You just have to set your mind to it and combat any fears by just gathering data. Now be careful not to get stuck in analysis. Paralysis. Right. Like at some point you have to make a move. But there's definitely a fine line. You need to make sure that you're informed enough and confident enough in what you can do.

[A]

I love that. Crystal, you've got an amazing story. Thank you so much for coming on the BiggerPockets podcast and sharing it with everybody.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

All right, everybody, if you learned something from Crystal's story, then check out BiggerPockets podcast episode 1252. It was back on March 16th and it was with investor Joanna Caldera. Joanna's another scrappy investor who proved almost anyone can improve their financial picture, starting with just one property. Thank you everybody for watching this episode of the Bigger Pockets Podcast. We'll see you next time.

[D]

Thank you all for listening to the Bigger Pockets Real Estate Podcast. Make sure you get all our new episodes by subscribing on YouTube, Apple, Spotify or any other podcast platform. Our new episodes come out Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'm the host and executive producer of the show, Dave Meyer. The show is produced by Ian K, Copywriting is by Calico, content and editing is by Exodus Media. If you'd like to learn more about real estate investing or to sign up for our free newsletter, please visit www.biggerpockets.com. the content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk, so use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose, and remember, past performance is not indicative of future results. Biggerpockets LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential or other damages arising from a reliance on information presented in this podcast.