I Went from $1,000 to 100 Rentals in 8 Years (+ BIG Announcement)

Summary

Podcast Summary: BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

Episode: I Went from $1,000 to 100 Rentals in 8 Years (+ BIG Announcement)

Date: January 7, 2026
Host: Dave Meyer
New Co-Host: Henry Washington

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode marks a pivotal moment for BiggerPockets, with Dave Meyer officially introducing Henry Washington as his permanent co-host after more than a year of solo hosting. The episode charts Henry’s inspiring journey from financially struggling with only $1,000 in savings to owning 100+ rentals in eight years. Key lessons, actionable tactics, and motivational moments are shared to inspire listeners to take charge of their financial future through real estate. The show also lays out what to expect from the podcast in 2026.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Major Announcement: Henry Washington Joins as Co-Host

• Dave announces the addition of Henry Washington as his co-host after a long solo run ([00:22]).

  "We are finally having a co host join the show... none other than Mr. Henry Washington." — Dave ([00:22])

• Henry shares his excitement and gratitude, reflecting on how he started as a BiggerPockets listener and is now influential in the community ([01:02]).

  "To go from that to being the co host and being able to be a voice for more people to learn — this is a dream come true." — Henry ([01:14])

• Show format remains unchanged: Three shows per week, including investor stories, strategies, debates, market data, and new energy thanks to Henry’s involvement ([05:16]).

2. Behind the Scenes: Complementary Skillsets & Vision

• Dave & Henry’s different strengths (analytical vs. hands-on) will enrich the show and represent diverse listener experiences. Dave is “analytical”, while Henry is “all in doing the thing every single day” ([03:11]).

  “We have really complimentary skill sets and can bring different things to the audience…and just a good dude and someone I like hanging out with.” — Dave ([00:44])

3. Henry’s Investing Origin Story: From Scarcity to Abundance

• Initial state: Henry admits to being “immature” both mentally and financially, opening up about poor money habits despite a good salary ([05:50]).

  "Mentally, I was immature. Financially, I was immature." — Henry ([05:50])

• Pivotal moment: Denied from a mortgage due to poor credit; wife forced to purchase their first home alone ([06:32]).

  “The banker called me and said, hey, if you want your wife to be a house, you can’t be on the loan. Your credit is bringing down her ability to own a home.” — Henry ([06:43])

• Panic attack becomes turning point: Feeling unable to provide, Henry googled “how to make extra money” at 3 a.m. ([09:39]).
• Discovers BiggerPockets and real estate investing: Realizes real estate is accessible to "regular people" ([10:00]).

4. Taking Action with Limited Resources

• Formulating a plan: Henry decided he’d become a real estate investor — even before knowing how.
• Network as leverage: Attended local real estate meetups and found an unexpectedly generous community offering help and advice ([13:27]).

  “All these people were wanting to help... I just wanted more and more of that, like, community. Like, I just, it was intoxicating almost.” — Henry ([14:00])

5. First Deal Breakthrough (Game-Changing Moments)

• Got his first lead through networking: Friend offers to sell a house well below market value, needing a quick close ([20:13]).
• Proceeds with confidence: Henry says yes, then figures out the steps, googling each part of the process (contract, closing, etc.) as he goes ([21:27]).

  “I literally had to Google, how do you buy a house without a real estate agent?” — Henry ([21:27])

• Funding ingenuity: Leverages a community bank and learns about 401(k) loans — ultimately borrowing from his wife’s account ([25:40]).

  “I went to her and I said, I think we need to borrow 20 grand from your 401k for us to buy this rental property. And she said yes, almost immediately.” — Henry ([25:41])

• Proof of concept: The first property cash-flows, sets a repeatable model with the banker suggesting a line of credit ([26:24]).

6. Scaling Up: Portfolio Growth and Strategy

• Henry’s growth: Now owns ~100 rentals (as of 2026), flips 10–20 houses per year.
• Focus shifts from rapid growth to legacy: Now prioritizing paying off selected properties for generational family wealth ([31:56]).

  “I’m in a mode where I’m more focused on stabilizing my assets and paying them off, protecting them...” — Henry ([32:14])

7. Principles for Success in Real Estate

• People over profits: Business is driven by helping others, creating mutual benefit, and focusing on tenant/customer service ([33:29]).

  “This is a people first business for me. It’s people over profits.” — Henry ([33:29])

• Buy at a discount (walk into equity): Always purchases with built-in equity ([35:50]).

  “I want to walk into equity on day one. I may not always walk into cash flow on day one…” — Henry ([35:50])

• Leverage your unique “superpower” and local market expertise: Trust and rapport with people are Henry’s edge ([36:21]).

  “Everybody has a strategic advantage of some kind and it’s our responsibility to know what it is… there’s a strategic advantage that we all have and you need to be able to leverage it.” — Henry ([36:43])

8. Memorable Quotes & Motivational Moments

• “If we can do it, anyone can.” — Dave ([04:48])
• “Sometimes it takes a little bit of naivete to get into this. Like, you don’t know what you don’t know. You just throw yourself into it.” — Dave ([11:38])
• “Just use your 401k. …I didn’t know that was an option available to me.” — Henry ([24:41])
• “Not 90 days before that, I was having a panic attack about how I was going to take care of my family financially. And now I knew I had found the thing. I found the way that I was going to be able to take care of my family financial for the rest of my life.” — Henry ([26:24])
• “If you take care of the sellers you’re encountering, if you take care of your tenants… We don’t have a business without tenants. They’re customers.” — Henry ([34:47])
• “We all start from the same place. Everyone starts not knowing what to do…” — Dave ([38:35])

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|---------| | 00:22 | Henry announced as official co-host | | 01:14 | Henry reflects on his journey from listener to co-host | | 05:50 | Henry’s “rock bottom” financial state revealed | | 06:43 | Mortgage denial – pivotal moment | | 09:39 | Panic attack leads Henry to search for side hustles | | 13:27 | Discovers real estate meetups; importance of community | | 20:13 | Lands first deal through network and blind confidence | | 21:27 | Googles the real estate deal process step by step | | 25:41 | Uses wife’s 401(k) for first down payment | | 26:24 | Proof of concept & learning the "BRRRR" method | | 31:56 | Henry’s current portfolio and changing priorities | | 33:29 | Henry’s main principles: People-first, buying at discount, leveraging advantages | | 36:21 | Discussion on unique “superpowers” in investing | | 38:35 | Dave motivates: “We all start from the same place…” |

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Notable Quotes

• Henry Washington:

  • “Mentally, I was immature. Financially, I was immature.” ([05:50])
  • “If all these people have figured out how to own real estate and change their financial future, I’ll just do that.” ([10:00])
  • “I got a lead for my first deal and I had no idea how to do it.” ([14:33])
  • “I want to walk into equity on day one.” ([35:50])
  • “My superpower is... I’m really good at building rapport with people and that helps me build trust with people.” ([37:08])

• Dave Meyer:

  • “If we can do it, anyone can.” ([04:48])
  • “We all start from the same place. ... Everyone starts not knowing what to do, not having any clue if this is going to work out.” ([38:35])

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Episode Flow & Tone

• Supportive & Motivational: Both hosts are candid and friendly, using humor and vulnerability to make real estate feel accessible.
• Tactical & Practical: Real strategies and step-by-step stories, especially Henry’s first deal, demystify complicated processes for new investors.
• Collaborative & Community-Focused: Emphasis on BiggerPockets’ philosophy of learning from each other, mutual support, and community building.

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Conclusion

This episode is both a celebration of growth — introducing Henry as co-host — and a masterclass in what’s possible in real estate with grit, resourcefulness, and community. The discussion is highly motivational, providing not only hope for new investors but also concrete tactics for anyone looking to scale from humble beginnings. Listeners are left with the message that success in real estate, as in life, is built on learning, leveraging your unique advantages, and helping others along the way.

Transcript

[A]

Today on the BiggerPockets podcast, I have.

[B]

A big exciting announcement.

[C]

Yes, you do have a big, exciting announcement.

[B]

Hey, everyone.

[A]

I'm Dave Meyer, head of real estate.

[B]

Investing at BiggerPockets and the co host of the BiggerPockets podcast. And I'm saying co host because after.

[A]

A year and a half of doing.

[B]

This thing solo, we are finally having a co host join the show.

[C]

And.

[B]

And it is none other than Mr. Henry Washington. Henry, thank you so much for joining the show and welcome, and congratulations on officially being the co host.

[C]

Thank you so much. I am so excited to be able to be the official co host. You finally made an honest man out of me.

[B]

We have been talking about this for a very long time, so I am excited to make this official, and I couldn't be more excited because you are obviously one of the best investors out there. I think we have really complimentary skill sets and can bring different things to the audience and just a good dude and someone I like hanging out with. So I think this is going to be a lot of fun.

[C]

I also know it's going to be a lot of fun, and I mean, I'm just blessed I've been fortunate enough to be around Bigger Pockets over the past few years. But even when I first got started with my journey, like, Bigger Pockets is where I turn to to learn how to do this. And so to be able to now go from that to being the co host and being able to be a voice for more people to learn like, this is a dream come true.

[B]

Well, I'm super excited. We have a lot of fun shows and content planned for all of you in 2026 here on the BiggerPockets podcast.

[A]

So today on the show, we are.

[B]

Going to give you a little behind the scenes about how we made this decision. Then we'll talk about what you can expect from the BiggerPockets podcast going forward in 2026. And then we're going to get into Henry's incredible investor story. You may have heard bits and pieces of it on the show because Henry's been on the show before, but we're going to go into it because it's super motivational, it's inspiring, it's relatable, and I think it's a great way to off our official partnership and for all of you to kick off the year in 2026 because there's so much good information that you all can take with you for your own investing strategy heading into this year. So I have been hosting the show for a year and A half now. And I have always wanted a co host, but that, that's a big decision. That's a big commitment and we took some time and obviously you've been on the show, but it just has become more and more clear every time you come on the show. I have more fun hosting the show.

[A]

When you're there.

[B]

I think the audience has more fun, the guests have more fun. And so it's just become really obvious that you are the right person to be on the show right now in 2026.

[C]

Yeah, man. It's been super cool just to go on this journey of growing as a podcast host because this is my, I believe, third going on fourth year, just being involved with bigger pockets in some capacity. When I was first asked to co host some episodes back when Brandon left, I just remember how nervous I was and I remember thinking like, why would anybody want to listen to anything I have to say on this show? And I've had to grow a lot as a co host and a personality and I think the timing is just kind of perfect.

[B]

I, in addition to everything you said, really feel confident that you and I are. Although we have sort of the same long term vision and sort of big picture philosophy about real estate investing, the stuff we do day to day is pretty different. It's really different. And I think that's a great perspective to bring to the audience because I am much more analytical. I do, I do a combination of different types of investing. I have my hands in a lot of different pots. You are like all in doing the thing every single day. And I think both are really important and both approaches are representative of the bigger pockets audience. Like, this is what most of the people listening to this podcast right now are doing. And so I think joining forces, we are really bringing that level of expertise for pretty much the whole BP community.

[C]

Yeah, no, I agree with you. I think most people are in a position similar to either you or I, and if they aren't now, they probably were when they got started. And so having a couple of coasts that are representative of the majority of your community, I think can only be helpful because people can learn from our successes, but also learn from our mistakes. I make a lot of mistakes.

[B]

We all.

[C]

And I want to be transparent with the audience. Like, I want to talk to you about the things that I screw up and I want people to just know that we're just a couple of dudes who happen to buy some houses and they turn out usually to be pretty decent investments and it changed our lives. And I know that People can learn a lot from hearing about our experiences.

[B]

If we can do it, anyone can.

[C]

You darn right, buddy.

[B]

Well, again, man, super excited to have you. I think this is going to be great for the whole bigger pockets community. Just so you all know what you can expect, we're not like changing up the shows or anything. We're still going to have three shows a week. We're still going to be doing investor stories once a week. We're going to bring you tactics, strategies, conversations, debates once a week. We'll also be doing economics market data at least once, once a week as well. Most of those are going to be.

[A]

Henry and I together.

[B]

Some of them will be Henry alone. I'll probably do most of that economic stuff alone till spare you from having to do all that stuff. But you'll basically just see a lot.

[A]

More of Henry in the same kind.

[B]

Of formats that we've been sharing with.

[A]

You for the last year and a half.

[B]

We're going to go into Henry's story. You've probably heard bits and pieces about it as he's been on the show a lot. But I think we should just start from the beginning and talk about where you were in life, sort of like mentally and financially when you decided to get into this business.

[C]

Mentally, I was immature. Financially, I was immature. I didn't have any financial background. So like we didn't talk about money in my household like as a kid.

[B]

Or even with your wife.

[C]

As a kid. When I, when I got married, that came up. But prior to me getting married, I worked a corporate gig for Walmart. I was designing software at Great Job. I made six figures. And because I had no financial education, I was just bad with the money and so I spent it. I had a bigger apartment than I needed. Right. I had a nicer car than I needed and so I spent more money than I made, essentially.

[B]

Were you like putting on credit cards?

[C]

I was, I was. I would, you know, spend most of my money every couple of weeks and if I needed more, I'd put it on credit cards or I would, you know, eat ramen noodles and McDonald's dollar menu food until I got paid again and I didn't contribute to my 401k. I had no savings. I had about a thousand dollars in my savings account and I was fine living like that. But as you mentioned, I got married. And what I quickly learned when I got married was that my wife Jessica did not want to eat off the dollar menu toward the end of the pay period until we got paid again. She thought that that was something we shouldn't do. That was the first time in my life where I started to realize that my poor financial decisions were now impacting somebody other than myself. And it all came to a head when we tried to buy a house together, right? With the American dream. Get married, buy a house, you know, have kids. Like we were going to go down that path. And during the loan process, the banker called me and, and said, hey, if you want your wife to be a house, you can't be on the loan. Your credit is bringing down her ability to own a home. And it was. I literally remember that conversation. It was like a punch in the gut, man. I just. I remember feeling nauseated. I remember just thinking that, like, I'm screwing this up for us. And even though I made more money and I. And I wanted to be this provider, like I had this urge to provide for my now new wife, and I couldn't.

[B]

But you could have, like, you had the resources to be able to do it. But like, I mean, no offense, but like, it was your decision making. It wasn't like your circumstances.

[C]

That's what made it feel worse. Right? That's what, that's. That's what made it feel terrible, is that it was no one to blame but me. I was just, you know, my ignorance about financial education was now costing us the life that I wanted us to have and that she wanted. And so I did remove myself from the loan. She did buy the house, and luckily she allowed me to live with her. And I thought that was very kind. And not long after that, we're sitting in bed one night having a conversation about our future. Right? And this is what all young married couples do. You talk about, you know, how many kids you want to have and places you want to go on vacation and just visualizing your future life together. And we were talking about, you know, our dream home and what that looks like and where that would be. And I just remember thinking while we were talking, like, I can't afford any of that. Like a dream home. I can't. I wasn't on the loan for this home right now. Now we're talking about dream homes. And I didn't want to let her know how scared I was during that conversation, but I was terrified because I was just like, at some point she's gonna realize that I can't provide her this life. Yeah, she's gonna be out the door. And like, none of that is true. Like, that's where you brain.

[B]

Yeah, you're like, can imagine. You just feel like you know, you want to make your wife's dreams come true, and you didn't have the maturity, like you said, to provide at the point.

[C]

And so that night I had a literal panic attack because I just couldn't stop thinking about these things. You know, people say the word panic attack or the phrase panic attack all the time. Like, this was legitimate. I woke up just sweating and couldn't breathe. And I felt like the walls were closing in on me and I didn't know what else to do. So I just started Googling on my phone, like, how to make extra money. I remember I started Googling side hustles. I started Googling how to make extra money because in my head I was like, the problem is I don't have enough money, so if I get more money, then everything will be okay. And so I was just like, I'll just do anything on the side to start making money. And I started finding articles about real estate investing on bigger pockets. Like, those were all the search results where just people were investing in real estate. And I started to read through some of the posts and started to watch YouTube videos of people investing in real estate. And I just realized that, like, normal people owned real estate. And before that I'd never thought about it. Like, I just assumed super rich people or corporations owned real estate. Like, I'd never had to think about real estate before, but something about it just gave me a piece. Like, I was like, oh, if all these people have figured out how to own real estate and change their financial future, like, I'll just do that. Like, I felt so comfortable with that decision, which in hindsight is silly.

[B]

Yeah, that is. It's wild. Because there are easier side hustles. Yes, they're like, there's easier things to start up. Like you could go buy for Uber or something. But, like, what was it about this? Is it kind of like the long term benefit or like, what about real.

[C]

Estate, you know, hooked you? I don't know. It almost felt like I was supposed to do it because it's silly to think about. I had no. I had a thousand dollars in my savings account, I had sub 600 credit score, and I was sitting in a house that I couldn't afford to be on the loan for. And I thought my solution to my money problems would be to buy more houses.

[B]

This is the perfect time to go apply for a loan. So honestly, sometimes it takes a little bit of naivete to like get into this. Like, you don't know what you don't know. You just throw yourself into it.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Clearly something about it inspired you that is, as your story is evidence of, like, sometimes the inspiration and the motivation matters more than the, like, facts on the ground of what your financial situation looks like.

[C]

Yeah. And I'm not telling people to just go do something stupid. Like, I. I didn't do this in a stupid way. What I did at that time, at three in the morning was I made a decision. Like, I remember deciding. I was like, oh, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna figure it out. And I, like, had this piece. I went to sleep, and I woke up the next morning, and I told Jessica. I was like, we're gonna be real estate investors. And, yeah, she kind of did that. She did that. What you just did. That's what she did. But in all seriousness, you know, I think that she thought anything that I was better than the trajectory that we were on. And she was like, all right, well, you know, I had a grandfather own some rental properties like this. You know, I. Something that we could do if we. If we put our minds to it. And then I started to just surround myself with investors. I didn't know how to do it. And so, like, in my brain, all I could think was, like, there's gotta be people locally doing it. I'll find who they are, and I'll see if I could just spend time around them. And so that's when I found real estate meetups. I didn't know meetups were a thing, but I was just googling real estate investors in northwest Arkansas. I found the meetups. I would go to the meetups, and I found this community of people who just wanted to help you, which is so weird because most industries like this, people are competitive, and they play everything close to the vest and they don't want to share. But when I went to the first real estate meetup, everybody was like, well, how can we help you?

[D]

Yes.

[C]

Like, what do you need? Do you need money? Do you need deals? Like, it was just. I just never expected that.

[B]

It is unusual. Like, it is unexpected. That's a good way to think about it. Even on bigger pockets, like, you go on the website, people are just sharing ideas, sharing context. It's a very collaborative community. It was one of the, I think, the most underrated parts of real estate. Obviously, the financial returns are great, but, like, it's fun.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

You, like, meet people and you make friends. Like, there's. It gives you a sense of community.

[C]

Absolutely.

[B]

That in other industries I've worked in has been Completely. This is total opposite.

[C]

I just remember coming home from that first meetup and just feeling even more reinforced that like this was gonna happen because now it wasn't just me anymore. Like, all these people were wanting to help. And so I started to just make all these friends with these seasoned investors and I went to every meetup I could. Like, I just wanted more and more of that, like, community. Like, I just, it was intoxicating almost. It was like, I just want to be around this. And that turned out to be super helpful for me because 60 days after that, I got a lead for my first deal and I had no idea how to do it.

[B]

This story is, I think, very inspiring. You started where a lot of people are, whether it's exact same situation but no experience, not a good financial position. Like, this is where a lot of people in the BiggerPockets community start. That enthusiasm, I think, ramps up quickly because there's so many just positive proof points. So many people have done it, so you know you can do it. But then there's this hard gap to cross where you translate the excitement, enthusiasm, long term goal into like, all right, now I gotta go do something. I still got the sub 600 credit score. I still don't have money. So, like, how do you go from enthusiasm to actually getting in the game?

[C]

That is a great question, which I will be happy to answer right after this break.

[B]

I love having you here.

[C]

This is great.

[B]

I don't have to even think about it. We'll be right back.

[A]

The cash flow roadshow is back.

[B]

Me, Henry and other BiggerPockets personalities are coming to the Texas area from January 13th to 16th. We're going to be in Dallas, we're going to be in Austin, we're going to Houston. And we have a whole slate of events.

[A]

We're definitely going to have meetups. We're doing our first ever live podcast recording of the Bigger Pockets podcast. And we're also doing our first ever one day workshop where Henry and I and other experts are going to be giving you hands on advice on your personalized strategy.

[B]

So if you want to join us, which I hope you will, go to biggerpockets.com Texas.

[A]

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[D]

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[A]

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[B]

I'm here talking to Henry about his story and how he got started where we left off. You were going to answer a question I asked you about translating the excitement, the enthusiasm, the long term vision into doing the thing when you don't have a lot of resources or experience.

[C]

Well, one of the things that I just believe in life is that in this world you get what you give and if you want something you need to put it out there that that's what you want. And so I would just tell people I was a real estate investor even though I'd never done a deal because I felt like if I didn't believe this was gonna work, then why would anybody else believe? And so I got a phone call one day when I was at work from a buddy of mine, good friends with this guy and he says, hey, I heard you're buying houses. And I was like, yes, something's working. Yes I am. And he said I've got to sell my house and I gotta sell it in the next 30 days. He was like, I'm buying some land for my church and I need X amount of dollars to do that and I need this loan to be off my record to do that. And I have a drop dead window. So in 30 days I need this much money. So I'll sell you my house for $116,000. It's probably worth 160 to 170,000. I don't care as long as I sell it for this, I get the exact amount of money I need to go buy this land for my church, but I need it in 30 days. Can you close in 30 days? And I've been to this guy's house. I know his house, I know the neighborhood. And so I go, yeah, just blind confidence. Yeah.

[B]

Then you go, google, how do I close in 30 days?

[C]

Literally, what I did. This is 100% what I did. I did. He was like, all right, well, what do we do? And I was like, hold on. And I literally had to Google, how do you buy a house without a real estate agent? And it was like, well, you need to put it under contract. And then after I Googled what under contract meant, it told me I needed to sign a real estate contract. So then I had to find a real estate contract online. I downloaded it, we signed it, and I was under contract for this house. That's terrible legal advice. Don't do that.

[B]

Don't do that. But, like, how did you. Where did the money come from?

[C]

So we signed the real estate contract, and he's like, okay, what do we do now? And I said, I don't know, but I'll go find out. And so we have the contract, and it says, I'm gonna close in 30 days. And I go, all right, well, I need $116,000. Where am I gonna get $116,000? And I said, I'll call a bank. Banks give loans for homes. I'll just go to a bank and I'll ask them, what's the process to get a loan to buy this home? So that was my thought process. So on my lunch break at work, I took that contract to one of the closest banks to my office. I figured I'd just start there. I walked in with the contract. I had $1,000 in my savings account. So I walked in needing $115,000. I walked into this bank, and it happened to be a community bank, which I didn't know walking into it. And the guy standing in the lobby happened to be the commercial loan officer. He was just standing, like. I didn't ask for him, but when I walked in, he asked, could he help me? And I was like, yes, I'm looking for somebody to help me purchase this home. He. And I literally handed him the contract. He looked at the address, and he was like, come back to my office. And he put it in his computer, and he was like, this house is probably worth a lot more than this. And I was like, yes, gotta do this. That's why. That's Why I would like to buy it. And he was like, well, what we do is commercial loans. Does it need work? And I was like, yeah, I think it needs some work. There's somebody living in it, but I don't think it's in the best shape. And he was like, well, the way our loans would work is we would lend you 85% of the purchase price. You would have to bring a 15% down payment, and we'd give you 100% of the renovation costs. And I was like, oh, that's awesome. He was like, so you have the 15% down payment? And I was like, yes, I do. I did not have the money, but I wasn't going to tell him that. And most people would have seen that as, you know, a stopping point to say, okay, well, I don't have. It was like, 20 grand at that time. Right. But I was excited. Yeah. Because I walked in the bank needing $115,000, and I walked out only needing about $19,000. So I am. I am almost there. Plus, I have renovation money that I didn't think I would get. Right. And so I then had to figure out where to get the rest of this $19,000 from. And so I leaned on this community of investors who I had been building a relationship with over the past 60 days. We're going to these meetups, and I called, like, three or four different ones and brainstormed all these ideas to get the payment. And I remember I finally called my buddy because I couldn't find the money after about, you know, a couple of weeks. And I said, hey, I have this deal. It's a good deal. I told my buddy I'd buy it. He's in a pinch. Can you buy it? Because it's a good deal, and I don't want to let him down.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And he was like, henry, I would buy this deal. I was like, but if you are going to be a successful investor, you need to figure it out. And he sat there on the phone with me and just rattled off ideas, and we ended up landing. He was like, dude, just. Just use your 401k. And I was like, how does that work? And he was like, well, yeah, you can borrow against your 401k. And I was like, well, what's. I don't want to cash out my 401k. You got to pay penalties, fees. I was like, no, no, you can borrow against it. Your employer will typically let you borrow a percentage of what you have saved up in your 401k. You pay it Back with interest, but the interest is yours because it's your money. So you're actually paying yourself back with interest. If you buy this, rent it out, technically your tenant's going to pay the mortgage and be paying back your 401k loan. And I was like, that's a brilliant idea. I didn't know that was an option available to me. I just got to find a 401k.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I thought you were saying that you had.

[C]

I did not have one.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

But my wife did.

[B]

Oh, nice.

[C]

Yes. And so I, I went to her and I said, I think we need to borrow 20 grand from your 401k for us to buy this rental property. And she said yes, almost immediately. Like without a, without a doubt, without a thought. She was like, yeah, let's do it. We had the money in a week and some change. We closed on the house, we kept the tenant in it, we put the rents closer to market rents, and it started to pay for itself and pay for the loan and pay us back and put a little bit of money, a cash flow in our pocket at the end of the month. And that was like the proof of concept that this worked. But right after that, the bank called me and they said, you should take out a line of credit on the equity for this.

[B]

You're walking into like 50 grand, right?

[C]

Yeah. And I was like, cool, what's that? And so he walked me through what the line of credit was. He walked me through that process. I got access. I ended up getting access to almost $30,000 on a line of credit. And not 90 days before that, I was having a panic attack about how I was going to take care of my family financially. And now I knew I had found the thing. I found the way that I was going to be able to take care of my family financial for the rest of my life. The banker literally told me, if you bring me another deal like this, use the line of credit for your down payment going forward. We'll finance the deal 85% plus the renovation. Line of credit's your down payment. And then when you sell that property, you pay back off the line of credit or if you keep it as a rental, then you'll refinance it on a 30 year fixed and you'll pull out the money that you use for your down payment and you'll pay off the line of credit. So he was explaining the brrrr method to me before there was a fancy term for it and like, that's how I learned to get started. And so at that Point I knew I've got money now. I've got money to buy deals. I just have to go figure out how to find more of these deals. And so that's why I became this, you know, deal finder. Everybody knows me as a guy who finds deals. Well, that's why because I had this banker who was giving me money to buy deals and I just had to learn how to find more of them if I wanted to grow. So I was able to solve those two problems early on and that's how I started to grow and scale my portfolio by leveraging that very first deal and by doing the either the Burr method or flipping and paying off those properties.

[B]

Amazing story. It's like such a great example of how just perseverance and a little bit of hustle can get you into this industry.

[C]

Well, we're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, we have more from your new co host Henry Washington where he'll be sharing some of his investor story with you. We'll be right back.

[B]

You're on the show once. You're talking about yourself in the third person already.

[C]

Oh, that's not what you do. I thought. Yeah, I thought that was what you do.

[B]

You are now.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'm the Henry Washington.

[D]

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[A]

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[B]

I am here with my co host host Henry Washington. All right, so super cool story. You've obviously established yourself as a deal junkie and great deal finders from the beginning, but where are you now? Like fast forward to today. Like how how is what does your portfolio and your business look like in 20, 26.

[C]

Yeah. I've got somewhere around 100 rental properties and I still flip anywhere between 10 and 20 houses a year, depending on the year. I think we're doing 12 this year. We did 19 the year before that. So I flip 10 to 20 houses a year. In terms of my portfolio size, I'm not aggressively growing my portfolio anymore. I'm pretty comfortable with the size of my portfolio. What I'm more focused on now is prioritizing the assets that I have into the ones that I know I want to keep forever and ever. Amen. And then the ones that would be nice to keep forever and ever, and then the ones that I sure would like to sell to somebody, but the goal is through selling those assets to pay off the ones that I know I want to keep forever. I'm in a mode where I'm more focused on stabilizing my assets and paying them off, protecting them. Because if you own real estate that's leveraged, it's not fully protected yet, you don't truly own it. A bank can take it from you. And I really want to get a certain percentage of my portfolio paid off so that, that's that true family generational wealth. Those assets are ours, they're in my family. And no one can take them from us unless we decide to sell them.

[B]

So obviously it's an incredible success story going from where you were to where you are owning hundreds of units, being this harvester stage. But what are some of the things that you've learned or maybe the principles that you've employed in real estate that have gotten you through that scaling phase and that you want to share with the audience as you're more and more involved in the show.

[C]

First and foremost, the thing that I've learned, and that is the most important to me me, is that this is a people first business for me. It's people over profits. I think that we as investors are in a unique position to be able to help people who might need some of the help. And sometimes we have to be willing to do that even if it costs us money or time.

[B]

Yeah, I think that's true in the short run. I guess the way I think about it is how do you create mutual benefit? Right? Like you're not. Not a charity, right. You're a for profit business. So you're not like going out there to just help people stay in their home. But it's like, how do you create a situation where everyone wins? And I think that's like the most important thing about real estate. Like in any transaction, like, how do you create a situation where you, as the investor can win? Yes, Tenants win, the real estate agent you work with wins, the lender wins, the property manager wins. Like this. That's the thing that you learn being part of these communities is that, that it's not a zero sum game where one person wins and then the other people have to lose. For real estate investing to be successful, like, everyone can benefit from these situations. I think that's such an important thing. And it might sound like you're giving up profit, but I promise you, in the long run, you will have a better, more sustainable business. If you think about it that way.

[C]

There'S enough deals and enough houses and enough opportunities to make money. Like, if you take care of the sellers you're encountering, if you take care of your tenants. Like, we don't have a business without tenants. They're customers. And I feel like they don't get treated like that by a lot of landlords. I feel like it's this weird customer service business where the customers don't actually get treated like they should be.

[B]

Yeah, it's your job to provide them with a good product.

[C]

And so if you, if you can be a, a landlord who treats your tenants with respect, then they reciprocate and treat your properties and investments with respect. The second principle that I operate by is this is a business where you make money by controlling a deal. It doesn't matter how you want to invest in this business. You need to be able to buy an asset at a discount. And so my principle is I want to walk into equity on day one. I may not always walk into cash flow on day one. And we can argue in the comments about whether that's right, wrong or indifferent, but I'm always going to walk into equity on day one.

[B]

I like that.

[C]

Got to be buying a deal at a discount. Own or else it doesn't make any sense. I'm not doing it. And the third principle is like, we've got to leverage our superpower. Everybody has a strategic advantage of some kind and it's our responsibility to know what it is. A lot of the times it's going to be like your understanding of whatever particular market you're investing in. Totally. And I think a lot of people sometimes throw that superpower out of the window because they want to go invest somewhere else where they think it might be easier, but they're not factoring in.

[B]

It's hard to learn another market.

[C]

What you're. Yeah, what your superpower is in your market.

[B]

I was talking about that at bpcon, actually, because I was saying to people, like, even newbies, like, you have something to offer to the community. And a lot of first timers, like, oh, what can I help with? It's like, you know your neighborhood, you know your area. Like, that is something that, yeah. You've rented in this neighborhood. You understand what it's like to be a tenant in that neighborhood. That's knowledge that helps you as an investor.

[C]

Yep. You might know about projects that are coming down the road in certain neighborhoods. And like, there's a strategic advantage that we all have and you need to be able to leverage it. And don't just like, don't just throw your strategic advantage out of the window because you think things will be easier in some other market or some other niche. Like, it's just learn what your strength is and leverage it. Real estate is a game.

[B]

What's yours? What's your superpower?

[C]

My superpower is a, for some reason, people just want to tell me things. And so I, I'm really good at building rapport with people and, and that helps me build trust with people. And this is a trust based business. And so I'm able to get great deals and people, people choose to work with me over people who might be willing to pay them more just because they trust me. And so, yeah, just, I, I think I have great people skills and that helps me in all areas of my business.

[B]

What's your non real estate superpower?

[C]

Non real estate superpower. I got in the gym range in basketball.

[B]

Oh, really, bro?

[C]

If I walk in the gym, I'm in range.

[B]

Oh, I. We got to see that. I won't play because. Awful passing point, but I want to see that. I thought you were going to say is that you don't get hangovers.

[C]

No, no, I don't get hangovers. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. Use skill. Give me a basketball and I'm in the gym. This lights out.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

All right.

[B]

We'll put that to the test. Well, love those principles.

[A]

They're great.

[B]

And I think we're going to hear.

[A]

A lot more about them and more.

[B]

With you now as a co host. So thank you so much for joining the show and for sharing your story. I guess I could stop thanking you now. It's your job. But I do appreciate you coming on and being vulnerable and sharing the story because I think this is the reality. You know, people see people like you and I who have social media accounts, who host podcasts and see sort of where you've gotten to, but we all start from the same place.

[C]

We all start from the same place.

[B]

You know, it's like everyone starts not knowing what to do, not having any clue if this is going to work out. It's not a lot of resources and you're a perfect example. It's a super motivating and I think, inspiring story showing that you can go from very little to being super successful and still being a great person and having a good business at the same time.

[C]

Thank you very much. I am more than thrilled to be here. I'm super excited to see where we take this show and I'm super, super blessed to be able to be here and share with all of you. And so thank you everybody for all the support that you've showed me in the comments over the past three or four years and and I just can't wait to bring you more.

[B]

All right, well, thank you all so much for listening to this episode of the Bigger Pockets podcast. In the comments, we want to know what shows you want Henry and I to come out with here in 2026. Like, we got a. We got a couple good shows planned for January and February, but we're not that far planned.

[A]

Tell us what kind of shows, what.

[B]

Guests you want, what topics you want to cover. Make sure to hit us in the comments.

[A]

Thanks again.

[B]

We'll see you next time.

[A]

Thank you all for listening to the BiggerPockets 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.