The 2026 Housing Market is Here: 3 New Moves We’re Making This Year

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

Episode: The 2026 Housing Market is Here: 3 New Moves We’re Making This Year
Date: January 2, 2026
Host: Dave Meyer
Guests: Kathy Fecke, Henry Washington

---

Overview

In this special New Year's episode, Dave Meyer and his “On the Market” co-hosts, Kathy Fecke and Henry Washington, lay out their real estate resolutions for 2026. The trio discusses how a challenging 2025 shifted their mindsets from aggressive growth to strategic optimization and asset protection. Each investor shares a peek into their portfolios, goals for the coming decade, and the specific moves they’re making as the 2026 market takes shape—highlighting the increasing role of AI, the benefits of stabilization over expansion, and the evolution of long-term strategies.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reflections on 2025 & Market Mindset for 2026

• The hosts agree that 2025 was a tough year for real estate (02:13).
• Optimism is growing for 2026, but strategies are shifting away from pure acquisition towards portfolio optimization and asset protection.

2. Kathy Fecke’s Resolution: Leaning into AI for Real Estate Optimization (02:39 – 09:01)

• Goal: To fully utilize AI to optimize her portfolio, both in property performance and business operations.
  • Her husband, Rich, implemented an AI system that consolidated bank statements, cash flow, and employee roles for deep analysis (03:25).
  • By uploading data (ex. insurance policies), AI helps quickly answer complex business questions and flag underperforming assets (04:34).
• Practical Impact: Already seeing business improvement in a slow market: “We had one of the best months ever for our company last month. ... At a time when real estate has been so slow. Sales have been slow. We had a really good month.” (04:07 — Kathy Fecke)
• Memorable Quote: “More isn’t always better. Look at what you have and make it better.” (07:57 — Kathy Fecke)
• Example: Transforming unused land into manufactured housing for cash flow, rather than letting it sit idle (07:25).
• AI Caveats: While enthusiastic, Kathy and Dave advise always double-checking AI’s findings, due to the potential for errors (06:45).
• Tool Recommendations: Claude (strong for business), Gemini, and anecdotal reports of a new real estate company releasing advanced AI analytics soon (05:54).

3. Henry Washington’s Resolution: Stabilization and Paying Off Debt (12:15 – 18:07)

• Goal: Shift focus from acquisition/growth to stabilizing troubled assets and paying off two properties in 2026.
• Three Investing Phases: Growth, Stabilization, Protection. He’s now moving from growth to a heavier emphasis on stabilization and protection (12:45).
• Portfolio Challenges:
  • Dealing with properties “bleeding” money, such as a duplex hit by flood and a $40k remediation bill (14:06).
  • Multifamily assets facing costly city-mandated repairs (14:44).
• Target: Pay off two properties and fully stabilize four underperforming assets.
• Reverse Engineering: Rather than setting an arbitrary number of flips, Henry figures out how many projects he needs (about 15 annually) to fund these goals (16:17).
• Long-Term Vision: Pay off one-third of his portfolio within ten years—“If I end up with half that paid off, that’s still going to put me in an extremely strong financial position in 10 years.” (17:20)

4. Dave Meyer’s Resolution: The “End Game” and Retiring on Rock-Solid Rentals (25:09 – 30:35)

• Goal: Begin repositioning his portfolio with a 10–15 year “end game,” transitioning back into carefully-selected, high-quality rentals (27:18).
  • Spent first decade buying and self-managing Denver rentals; next five years abroad, focused on passive investing and lending.
  • Now aims to build a “retirement-ready” portfolio: low or no debt, only assets he wants to hold long-term.
• Strategy Shifts:
  • Considering 15-year (vs. 30-year) notes to accelerate debt payoff.
  • Trading some passive investments for ownership of select rentals.
  • Targeting higher-quality assets and recognizing improved opportunities, especially in multifamily (29:19).
• Vision: “I want the portfolio that I can retire off of and that I wouldn’t need to touch if I didn’t want to for the rest of my life.” (27:35 — Dave Meyer)
• Acknowledge Longevity: Like Henry, sees this as a decadal plan, not a one-year fix.

5. The Case for Optimization Over Growth

• Both Kathy and Henry, along with Dave, articulate that their focus on optimizing and protecting what they own now is part market-driven and part a function of their maturity as investors (18:51 – 19:58, 21:26).
• Memorable Quote: “At some point, I have to get to a place where I am protecting the assets I have so that I have paid off assets to pass on to my children.” (20:43 — Henry Washington)

6. The “Why” of Real Estate Investing

• Hosts reflect on the bigger picture—real estate should enable a better life, whether through travel, time with family, or financial legacy (30:59 – 31:31).
• Closing humor about starting an Anthony Bourdain-style real estate & travel show (30:35).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI and Optimization:
  “Using AI to optimize our portfolio is my goal for real estate.”
  (Kathy Fecke, 03:25)

• On Paying Off Debt:
  “My goal for 2026...is more focused around stabilization, optimization, similar to Kathy, and paying off debt.”
  (Henry Washington, 12:56)

• On Strategic Reverse Engineering:
  “Thinking about it like what do I need to do and then sort of backing into the minimum amount of work.”
  (Kathy Fecke, 15:44)

• On Legacy:
  “The overarching goal for my real estate business is for my children to be able to be the people they’re called to be and not the people they have to be for money.”
  (Henry Washington, 20:57)

• On Longevity and Enjoyment:
  “If I can get myself to a point where I don’t ever have to flip another house if I don’t want to, but I can still choose to, like that’s ideal.”
  (Henry Washington, 28:59)

---

Timestamps of Key Segments

• 02:39 – Kathy’s AI optimization journey in real estate
• 04:34 – Using AI for insurance policy review
• 07:25 – Turning raw land into a cash-flowing asset
• 12:15 – Henry’s pivot from growth to stabilization and debt reduction
• 14:06 – Dealing with a flooded duplex and unexpected expenses
• 16:17 – Financial modeling: the number of flips/projects needed
• 17:20 – Ten-year goal: pay off a third of the portfolio
• 19:07 – Kathy and Henry reflect on optimization vs. growth
• 25:09 – Dave’s “end game” planning for retirement and recession-resilience
• 27:35 – Structuring a portfolio to be “retirement-ready”
• 30:35 – Dreaming of a real estate & travel show

---

Tone & Language

• Friendly, candid, and practical—full of shared laughs, honest admissions, and open talk about challenges and pivots.
• The hosts blend strategic talk with relatable reflections on why they invest in real estate, often bringing family and lifestyle to the fore.

---

Summary Table: 2026 Moves from the Hosts

| Host | Shift/Strategy | Main Actions | Ultimate Goal | |--------------|---------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------| | Kathy | Optimization via AI | Use AI to analyze, restructure, and improve holdings | +10% cash flow, maximize existing assets | | Henry | Stability & Protection | Stabilize underperformers, pay down debt, plan for legacy | Pay off 2 props in 2026, 1/3 by 10 years | | Dave | End Game Planning | Rebuild a long-term, resilient, low-debt rental portfolio | Achieve “retirement-ready” status in 10–15 years |

---

Conclusion

This episode offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how veteran real estate investors recalibrate after a challenging year—choosing optimization, stability, and legacy-building over unchecked expansion. Their candor about struggles and evolving priorities, as well as curiosity about new tools like AI, make this a resonant guide for real estate investors looking to set their own resolutions, with eyes on both profits and purpose.

Transcript

[Henry Washington]

Foreign.

[Dave Meyer]

Welcome to the BiggerPockets podcast. I'm Dave Meyer, head of real estate investing at BiggerPockets. I hope you all had a great holiday and are excited as I am to grow your portfolios this year. Today, we're kicking off the year with New Year's resolutions. And for that, I'm joined by my on the Market co hosts, Kathy Fecke and Henry Washington. We're going to share our goals for the year, the strategies we're planning to achieve those goals, and the risks we're avoiding in a changing market. A heads up that this show will also be published on the on the Market podcast feed over this New Year's break. And make sure to tune in next week for my annual State of Real.

[Kathy Fecke]

Estate Investing show and a huge announcement for the Bigger Pockets podcast. You're not going to want to miss with that.

[Dave Meyer]

Let's jump in. Kathy, Henry, how are you?

[Kathy Fecke]

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year to you.

[Henry Washington]

Happy Happy New Year.

[Kathy Fecke]

I am not gonna lie and pretend that we're recording this in the New Year. It's not really the New Year, but proactively to everyone. We're recording this in December, but Happy New Year to all of you. Kathy, you have some great holiday plans. Tell everyone what you're up to. You're always somewhere fun.

Well, yes, I am in Paris recording this from a cave.

You literally look like you're like a medieval wine cellar right now.

I'm pretty sure I am. I'm in the oldest part of Paris, but I am here for the Christmas markets and mainly because my daughter is getting married in France, so I had to come see the venue with her. And then it's also.

You had to.

I had to. And it's the last year of the northern lights being, like, really intense. So we're going to take a little trip up to the North Pole, to the north of Norway.

Oh, that's so great. Wow, what a fun trip. Henry, what were you up to in the holidays?

[Henry Washington]

Food.

[Kathy Fecke]

Enough said. Really?

[Henry Washington]

I mean, I have little kids, so I do get to enjoy, like, the joy of Christmas still, so that's fun. But mostly I'm eating my way through the holidays.

[Kathy Fecke]

Yeah, good for you.

[Dave Meyer]

All right, well, let's jump into the.

[Kathy Fecke]

Today'S episode because I really wanted to start looking forward. Last year was a. Interesting.

[Dave Meyer]

I wouldn't call it a great year.

[Kathy Fecke]

I was going to say it's a great year. I would not have called 2025 a great year. That would have been a straight up lie. I am feeling optimistic going into 2020, just about real estate in general. So let's talk about this in terms of what our New Year's resolutions are. We'll start with real estate, but if you want to throw a non real estate one in, I would love to hear them. But, Kathy, what's your real estate New Year's resolution?

Well, I have a few, but one is to really dive into AI because Rich actually bought a really expensive program and he's finished it. And I have not. I'm not even close, but it is. I know, it's so powerful. I mean, one of the things that Rich Rich did is he uploaded everything. Our bank statements, the cash flow. Our system knows everything about us, and when we upload it, we could know which properties are performing well, which are not. I mean, we should be knowing that anyway. But I feel like sometimes it's easy to get lazy or you've just owned properties for a while and haven't really taken a look. Like, how is this, Is this still a good performer? So using AI to optimize our portfolio is. Is my goal for real estate.

I like that a lot. I like this as a goal. It's not like, oh, I have to buy this property by this date. It's. This is more like a growth mindset kind of goal. Like, how do you just evolve as an investor generally so that you can make better decisions going forward? Is that program, is that real estate specific?

No, no, it was just a bunch of business owners. But I mean, it's like he's got a business consultant now. All of our business financials are in there and we had every employee detail what they do. Not in a doge kind of way, but I guess kind of like, what do you do all day? And so AI knows each employee and knows how to optimize for them. It's really been phenomenal.

Wow.

And we've already. We had one of the best months ever for our company last month. I don't know if it has to do with that or not, but that's strange, right? At a time when real estate has been so slow. Sales have been slow. We had a really good month.

[Dave Meyer]

That's awesome.

[Kathy Fecke]

So it sounds like you're using AI not just to identify properties or deals, but work on and in your business as well.

Yeah, I mean, how many times do you really know what your insurance covers?

Literally never.

So. So with, I'll say Claude, for example, we can upload our entire insurance thing. There's a word for it.

[Henry Washington]

Your insurance binder.

[Kathy Fecke]

Yeah, that thing. The binder to Just really know the details of your insurance policy and even ask it, hey, is this covering me for everything I need for my. For this investment property in this particular state? It's really phenomenal what's available to us, and it's only going to get better, so why not be on the cutting edge of it?

I love it. Henry, are you using AI regularly?

[Henry Washington]

The short answer is yes, but I'd be lying to you if I told you I was using it on a much deeper level than just the surface level, asking for help with certain items. Now, I did try to build something similar to what Kathy is talking about about two months ago, where I was uploading transaction data and information from my property manager because I wanted to see if AI could give me a sense of how well certain properties are performing. And I thought if I could upload the actual bank statements and marry that against the data from your property manager, who's actually going out to the properties doing the actual repairs. And then I wanted to marry that against what I'm spending with contractors on certain properties to get just like a bird's eye view of my portfolio. And it was very challenging in ChatGPT. And so I'm wondering if I should try, like Claudder or Gemini are one of those.

[Kathy Fecke]

Quad is so good for business.

[Dave Meyer]

Oh, really?

[Kathy Fecke]

I got to check that out. Henry and I were just in Seattle and people were raving about Gemini. Yeah, I feel like it's a horse race right now. Like, one releases a new one and it gets a little bit better, and then the other one gets a little bit better, but there's not a clear winner. I just have to tell you guys, I got a little bit of a behind the scenes look at a big real estate company's new AI tool. It's not BiggerPockets, but there's another one that's going to release one soon. I got to do the beta. It is so cool. I like. It's unbelievable how good the analysis and information about properties and markets for a data analyst. This thing is so cool. I am super excited to start using these kinds of tools in my own analysis. But I have to ask you guys, like, I am, maybe I'm just a complete control freak, but, like, I use this for research, but I double check everything.

Oh, you have to.

I does still. Right, okay.

Because it still makes lots of errors. It's not there yet, but it will be. It will be. So learning the things that we're learning and, you know, bottom line, the goal for me for doing all this is I Want to see if I can wait? Let me say that in a more powerful way. I'm going to increase cash flow by 10% by optimizing our portfolio. Whether that means taking some older properties that aren't really performing and 1031, exchanging them into better ones, or just looking at things like we bought a lot of 10 years ago because we were living at a house where someone was going to build this mega box property that block our view. And so we bought the lot so they wouldn't do it and now we don't live there anymore and we just kind of haven't done anything with it. We tried to sell it, nobody wanted just a lot. So that's one thing. It's like, how do I optimize this piece of land that's just been sitting there and we're paying taxes on. And so I've been working with a manufactured housing company and we're going to put manufactured housing on that lot. And so I'm doing a whole new thing and it's actually going to cash flow in California. Yeah. And if my daughter ever decides she wants to move down the street from us, there'll be a house for their 400. But yeah, it's kind of just stuff like that. Just kind of looking at what we have. Kind of the theme is more isn't always better. Look at what you have and make it better.

That's great. Well, I think this is an awesome New Year's resolution. I really like this idea of getting better at AI because I will admit I am simultaneously excited by AI and very, very scared of it and terrified of it. And so sometimes I just like choose to ignore it because I'll see these deep fake videos online and I'm like, AI is evil. But then you talk about all these things that AI is amazing for. I just need to figure out the right way to use it for my business that makes sense and not be overwhelmed by the societal implications that might be coming with AI at the same time.

For sure. I mean, an example just I've been working a lot with Claude. That's what I use. That's. And asking for LA county, you know, what do I need to know about manufactured housing? Tell me the step by step process and it's not 100%, you know, it's not easy, but it helps it feel not as daunting.

[Dave Meyer]

All right, well, I love this.

[Kathy Fecke]

This is a great New Year's resolution. Thanks for bringing this one, Kathy.

[Dave Meyer]

We got to take a quick break.

[Kathy Fecke]

But we'll be back with Henry's New Year's resolution right after this.

[Dave Meyer]

Want to invest in real estate but don't have the time or know the best local markets? Rent to Retirement has got you covered. Here's the deal. They've helped thousands of investors just like you find turnkey homes across the best US Markets. And best of all, they do all the heavy lifting for you. With over 255 star ratings on bigger pockets, Rent to Retirement experts help you build strategies to retire early through real estate. And right now, Rent to Retirement offers some amazing incentives on turnkey new construction properties. Just for example, you can get up to 30% off new build prices or you can get 0% down down loan options or interest rates available as low as 3.99%. So don't miss out. These deals will not last. Text REI to 33777 or visit biggerpockets.com retirement to start investing in top cash flow markets today. Some real estate sites tell you what's for sale. Propstream tells you what will be. Finding the right deals used to mean hours of guessing. Now Propstream gives you the data edge access to over 160 million properties, 165 filters and 20 lead lists that spot motivated sellers before anyone else. Plus, with batch leads and batch dialer you get data comps at a 99% accuracy rate and outreach in one seamless workflow. Use free skip tracing on selected plans, reach out instantly and let AI insights tell you which properties actually make sense. Try a free seven day trial and get 50 leads [e-mail] BP that's propstream.com BP do you want to invest in cash flowing rentals but don't have the time to manage the properties? Is your local market too competitive or expensive to invest in? Rent to Retirement offers new construction turnkey investment properties that you can buy with as little as 5% down and rates as low as 3.99%. Their team handles everything from financing, management, insurance and more so you can live where you want and invest in the markets that offer the best returns. Rent to Retirement has the best reputation in the industry with more five star reviews than any other company on the BiggerPockets website. To learn more, visit biggerpockets.com retirement or just text REI233 777 to start investing in the best markets today.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

My assistant's great. He's also terrible because he's me. Turns out multitasking isn't a great business model. Belay knows real estate investors grow faster when they spend time closing deals. Not Buried in admin work. That's why they built the Executive Assistant Task Calculator, a free tool that reveals how much valuable time and money you're losing every week. Once you know your number, Belay can match you with a US based executive assistant to take those tasks off your plate so you can get back to building wealth. You're just one assistant away from doubling your deal flow. Text bigger pockets. No space to 55123 to download the free calculator today.

[Dave Meyer]

Welcome back. I'm here with Kathy and Henry, sharing.

[Kathy Fecke]

Our goals, New year's resolutions for 2026. We heard Kathy's, which I love about getting better at using AI. Henry, what is your New Year's resolution? Even though you don't like them?

[Henry Washington]

No, I don't like them. And I always feel awkward when people ask questions like this because of the kind of investor I am. Like, I'm in. I just do old boring real estate, Dave. Like, I just buy distressed properties, I fix them up and then I rent them out or I sell them. And I think when people ask about resolutions, they expect to hear some, like, super, you know, ambitious, creative like, thing that you're doing, like a big pivot.

[Kathy Fecke]

Like you're making some change.

[Henry Washington]

Yeah, and I'm not. My goals are very similar each year because I just want to continue to do what works and what's worked for generations, which is another iteration of the same thing. But now that I've placed that caveat, essentially, I think of investing in three buckets where you're either growing, you're stabilizing, or you're protecting. And we as investors operate in typically two of those buckets at a time, heavily weighted, more so on one than the other. And so as I started in 2017, I've been a lot more focused on growth. So my goals each year were always around, how many more assets do I need to acquire? Right. How many more projects do I need to flip to give me the funding to acquire those assets? But now I'm in a place where I'm more focused on stabilization and protection. And to me, protection is paying off. And so my goals for 2026, or my resolution, if you want to call it that, is more focused around stabilization, optimization, similar to Kathy, and paying off debt. So I have a stretch goal of paying off two properties in 2026. And I know two doesn't sound like a lot, but we're talking about completely clearing the debt on two assets and which I think is a big deal. So I want to pay off 2 of my assets, and there's about 4 assets that I need to stabilize because I'm bleeding money in them right now. Some of them my own fault, some of them no fault of my own. One in particular, I bought a duplex not in a flood zone. And we had a crazy flash flood, and it tore through both units of the duplex. And then on top of that, a big mistake happened with one of the remediation companies where they did some work unauthorized to the tune of $40,000. So I have about a $40,000 bill that we're fighting because they weren't supposed to do the work. And I have about a $50,000 renovation I'm going to have to fund out of pocket. Right. So these are big ticket items. They don't just come very easy. So that property right now is a duplex that I pay monthly, all the expenses on, but has no income. Right. So stabilization is a big deal for me in 2026. I also have some multifamily assets I bought in 2023. Again, no fault of. Of. Of my own. The city has come in and is requiring me to do some work that we didn't plan on doing, that where you can't really fight. So there's just. There's a lot that happens in a real estate portfolio that I just, I think, requires you to take a step back and evaluate. So, 2026, stabilizing the assets that are bleeding money and paying off two properties. And so those lead me to my other goals, which is I need money to do those things. Right. So that guides me to how many projects I need to take on throughout the year to generate the income I need to solve those problems, live my life. Makes sense.

[Kathy Fecke]

It does make sense. I love the. The way of thinking backwards. Like, a lot of people would be like, how many flips can I do? Maximize, and then take that money and be like, what am I going to do with it? But I really like thinking about it, like, what do I need to do? And then sort of backing into the minimum amount of work that you can do. That doesn't mean you might not take on more deals if you find opportunity. But, like, just having a good sense, like, okay, I need to do two a quarter or one a year. Like, I need to do that. Make sure I'm hustling on that, and then I'll take everything else that comes from there.

[Henry Washington]

Yep. I average probably around like $45,000 net profit on a flip. And I would estimate that I need to do about 15 projects to be able to pay off the properties that I'm looking to pay off and to be able to have the income necessary to continue to live and be able to stabilize the four assets I need to stabilize. So that's my goals.

[Dave Meyer]

I love it.

[Kathy Fecke]

I guess I understand maybe why you don't love a New Year's resolution because this sounds like it's a multi year project too. It's not like, you know, this is something you do in 2026. This is a piece of a larger goal that you have been working for and will probably need to keep working towards beyond 2026.

[Henry Washington]

Yeah, my larger goal, like ideally like this is now they say your, your goals are supposed to be like big and scary. Right. Like in corporate world they call them stretch goals. The big scary stretch goal is to have a third of my portfolio paid off 10 years from now.

[Kathy Fecke]

And I like that.

[Henry Washington]

That's a lot. It's a lot of money.

[Kathy Fecke]

Yeah, yeah.

[Henry Washington]

But I feel like if you don't set a big scary, like, you know, shoot for the moon, land on the stars. Right. If I end up with half of that paid off, that's still going to put me in an extremely strong financial position in 10 years. So the larger goal is that. And then what I do each year is tying into that and then I have to adjust each year because yeah, I have a goal of two this year, but what if I only get one? Right. So then I need to take what happens in 2026 in terms of the economic outlook and make new goals. Maybe 10 might be too far out. Maybe I need to change it. So, you know, I think I'm not afraid to reevaluate my goals based on what's happening. But I try to make it all tie together.

[Kathy Fecke]

I love that it sounds like you're also looking at the protection side of it because if you, as you start paying off properties, there's such relief knowing that if, if there's any, anything goes wrong and, and you just can't predict, you can't predict things like 2020 coming along. That wasn't. That turned out not to be bad for real estate at all. Ended up being a pretty good time for real estate, but could have gone the other direction.

[Henry Washington]

Yeah.

[Kathy Fecke]

And when you've got paid off properties, boy, you, all you have to do is sell a couple and it'll help pay for the other ones that you've maybe over leveraged. And I know that you have way over leveraged to get to where you are now. And that has worked. But at some point you're like, okay, it's time to turn the ship and pay some of this off. That's great.

It's interesting to hear both of you are focusing on optimization instead of growth. Is that a reflection of the market or just where you are in your personal investing journey?

That's a good question. It was just the first thing that came to mind because it's what I've been doing and excited about, you know, just taking a look at some of these properties that, you know, like about 10 or 15 years ago and really haven't paid any attention to them. You know, for example one, it just vacated and I talked to the property manager and she goes, you know, if you update this by about $20,000, you'll get about a hundred thousand extra in equity. Like yeah, I hadn't even thought about it.

Easy, you know.

Right. So that's exciting. And what if I do that? Then we can sell that or, or keep it, take the money out. And so it's almost like an after the fact burr, you know.

[Henry Washington]

Yeah.

[Kathy Fecke]

Ten years later, down the road, slow burn.

It just doesn't matter. Just keep optimizing things over the long run. This is the way to do it. Yeah, it's absolutely right.

[Dave Meyer]

I love that.

[Henry Washington]

For, for me, Dave, it is more a function of where I am as an investor because I'm a deal junkie and I love the process of finding deals. I love buying a great deal and I love operating assets in, you know, great parts of the community. Like, it's just, it all is so fun for me. But at some point I have to get to a place where I am protecting the assets I have so that I have paid off assets to pass on to my children. The overarching goal for my real estate business is for my children to be able to be the people they're called to be and not the people they have to be for money. Right. So if they need or want to do something that isn't going to pay them a ton of money, at least I have these assets that will be paid off that can provide income for them. And so to get there, I have to pay off properties. And so I have to draw a line in the sand somewhere and start paying down these assets. And so that's why I have the 10 year goal trying to get some of these paid off so that I have those to pass. Now when I get to that point, Dave, I may just start doing more deals again, but I will always have.

[Kathy Fecke]

Right.

[Henry Washington]

And I'll probably still do deals that, that are like home run deals along the way. I'm not saying I'll never buy another rental property between now and ten years from now.

[Kathy Fecke]

Right.

[Henry Washington]

I'm just saying I'm not in aggressive growth mode. So optimization is more important to me right now than growth was. And growth was more important to me when I first got started. It's just a shift in where I am as an investor.

[Dave Meyer]

All right, well, these are great resolutions.

[Kathy Fecke]

Thank you. I really think these are. Obviously they're not just resolutions, but just goals and good perspective on where you both are in your investing journey.

[Dave Meyer]

We are going to take a quick.

[Kathy Fecke]

Break, but we'll come back with my New Year's resolution right after this.

[Dave Meyer]

The cashflow roadshow is back.

[Kathy Fecke]

Me, Henry and other BiggerPockets personalities are.

[Dave Meyer]

Coming to the Texas area from January 13th to 16th.

[Kathy Fecke]

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. We're definitely going to have meetups.

[Dave Meyer]

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.

[Kathy Fecke]

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

[Dave Meyer]

You can get all the information and tickets there. Do you want to invest in cash flowing rentals but don't have the time to manage the properties? Is your local market too competitive or expensive to invest in? Rent to Retirement offers new construction turnkey investment properties that you can buy with as little as 5% down and rates as low as 3.99%. Their team handles everything from financing, management, insurance and more so you can live where you want and invest in the markets that offer the best returns. Rent to Retirement has the best reputation in the industry with more five star reviews than any other company on the BiggerPockets website. To learn more, visit biggerpockets.com retirement or just text REI 233777 to start investing in the best markets today. Deals don't just fall in your lap anymore, you've got to hunt them. PropStream is the secret weapon. 160 million properties, 165 plus search filters and 20 lead lists like vacant homes and pre foreclosures. Their AI powered insights even score property condition and wholesale potential so you know where the real opportunities are hiding. And now that PropStream's acquired batch leads and batch dialer data and outreach finally live together. You can skip trace for free, hit leads with a power dialer and close before your competition even blinks. Try it free for 7 days and get 50 leads [e-mail] BP that's propstream.com BP want to invest in real estate but don't have the time or know the best local markets? Rent to Retirement has got you covered. Here's the deal. They've helped thousands of investors just like you find turnkey homes across the best US Markets. And best of all, they do all the heavy lifting for you. With over 255 star ratings on bigger pockets, Rent to Retirement experts help you build strategies to retire early through real estate. And right now, Rent to Retirement offers some amazing incentives on turnkey new construction properties. Just for example, you can get up to 30% off new build prices or you can get 0% down loan options or interest rates available as low as 3.99%. So don't miss out. These deals will not last. Text REI 233777 or visit biggerpockets.com retirement to start investing in top cash flow markets today.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

You know you're in trouble when your assistant is also you imagine getting hours back each week so you can focus on growing your portfolio, not managing busy work. That's the reality with Belay. They match real estate investors like you with remote staffing solutions that save time and help you scale faster. Because the truth is, you're just one assistant away from spending your time where it matters, finding deals, funding opportunities and closing contracts. Belay even created a free tool that shows you how much time and money you're leaving on the table by not delegating. Want to see Your number? Text BiggerPockets no space to 55123 to get Belay's free executive assistant task calculator.

[Dave Meyer]

Welcome back. I am here with Henry and Kathy.

[Kathy Fecke]

Talking about our New Year's resolution. Kathy shared that she's looking to optimize.

[Dave Meyer]

Your portfolio and learn more about AI.

[Kathy Fecke]

Henry is going to be trying to pay down some of his debt and stabilize some of his assets. My New year's resolution for 2026 and I'm with you on this, Henry. This is something I've been thinking about for at least six months and is going to take me 10 years. But my plan right now and the thing that I'm focusing on is enacting what I'm calling my my end game. Hopefully not going anywhere. But I've been investing for 15 years now and I feel like I've had these like two different eras of my own investing. My first 10 years I bought rental properties. I self managed them, all of them locally in Denver. Those are the first 10 years, the last five years. Then I moved abroad, I was living in Europe. I sold some rentals. I got pretty into passive investing. I got into lending. I do, I do syndications. I still own rental properties. But I've kind of had this second era and now I want to move. I'm back in the United States. I want to move into my, my third act as a real estate investor. And I call it my end game because I want to spend the next 10 to 15 years putting myself into retirement. I am in a fortunate position where I do feel like I have enough capital to do it, but I need to rearrange my portfolio into an optimized way so that 10, 15 years from now I'm going to have a portfolio that is just rock solid. It's only assets that I really like. Ideally they are paid off or have a very low debt on my overall portfolio. And I actually think it's like a good time to start acquiring rental properties right now. And so I'm seeing opportunities sort of like trade out of some of my.

[Dave Meyer]

More passive options or lending and start.

[Kathy Fecke]

Acquiring the assets that I want to own ideally for the rest of my life like that. That's kind of what I'm starting to think about and I'm even considering. Henry and I were just together in Seattle. We were talking about this, thinking about putting things on 15 year notes, for example, instead of going to the 30 year fix that I've always really used and just start thinking I'm 38 years old. Like at 53, I probably still won't retire, but I want the portfolio that I can retire off of and that I wouldn't need to touch if I didn't want to for the rest of my life to be in place. That's not going to happen in 2026. This is going to take me probably at least five years to reposition things, do some different projects, learn a little bit. But that's my goal. That's the thing I'm really working on.

Love it.

[Henry Washington]

Yeah. No, I think that that's just smart financial planning. Right? Like it's similar to what I'm thinking about because I enjoy what I do now. Like I like chasing deals, I like flipping houses. It's still fun and exciting and is there annoying parts of it? Sure, but I enjoy it. But will I still enjoy it in 10 years? Right? Will I just be tired of the chase. I've talked to a lot of seasoned investors in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, and the one theme across all of them is at some point, they got tired of chasing deals. Right? They got tired of churning houses and flipping houses. And so if I can get myself to a point where I don't ever have to flip another house if I don't want to, but I can still choose to, like, that's ideal. And it sounds like that's what you're trying to get to. Like, how do I get to the point where if I just want to sit down and do nothing, I can. I'm taking care of, my family's taken care of, my legacy is taken care of. But if I want to go do some cockamamie crazy deal, I can also go do that. Right? Like, just get. Definitely getting yourself to retirement doesn't mean you have to retire.

[Kathy Fecke]

First of all, I got tired of flipping houses before I even got started. So good for you.

[Dave Meyer]

I did one.

[Kathy Fecke]

That's all I needed. I'm at 2 right now, and I'm tired. And I didn't even do the gc.

[Henry Washington]

You didn't do the hard part?

[Kathy Fecke]

I didn't even do the hard part. I'm tired of it. No, I signed it. I signed last night, though.

[Dave Meyer]

Wow.

[Kathy Fecke]

So that's great. No, I. That's exactly right. It's like, I. It's not for me. It's not even like the flipping. I'm always tinkering. I'm just like an optimizer. I'm like, always moving money from here to there. And, like, I got to stop doing that, too. Like, I just. It's. I will do some of it. I will keep some of my money for fun. Because for me, that's fun. Like you were talking about, Henry, you like looking at deals. For me, I like investing in passive deals. I like underwriting deals and like figuring them out and looking for different opportunities. But I need to put sort of like the rock solid thing back in place because I had a lot of great rentals. I'm not. I don't regret selling any of them. But I have not rebuilt my active portfolio in the way I want to yet. And so. So that's really what I'm going to be focusing on. And like I said, there's better and better deals. Like, it's not even that prices have gone down that much. It's just the asset quality is so much better, in my opinion. And you're seeing high quality properties come on the market. I think multifamily is looking more and more attractive right now. And so that's. That's the plan for 2026. My other resolution, just so you know, as always, is to go on as many vacations as humanly possible.

[Henry Washington]

Yeah.

[Dave Meyer]

How.

[Kathy Fecke]

How do I travel all the time?

[Henry Washington]

Can we go on record, Dave, and set a stretch resolution? You and I, can we set a resolution that within five years we land an Anthony Bourdain style TV show where we travel around, eat food, talk about real estate?

[Kathy Fecke]

This is our dream in life. Yes, let's. We need a new vision board, you and I. All right, well, this was a lot of fun. Thank you, guys. I would love to hear your New Year's resolutions. Right?

[Dave Meyer]

We want to hear them.

[Kathy Fecke]

Share them with us in the comments. We want to hear what your New Year's resolutions are. Real estate wise, fun wise, lifestyle wise. Because at the end of the day in real estate, we're doing this usually not because we just want to own or acquire assets for something because it frees up something else in our lives. Spending more times with our friends, family, traveling, eating disgusting amounts of food. This is why we're actually here. So tell us what your resolutions are. Kathy, Happy New Year. Thanks for being here.

Thank you.

You too, Henry. Happy New Year. Excited for another year doing on the market with you both. And James, of course, when he decides to grace us with his presence.

Yes, absolutely.

[Dave Meyer]

Thank you.

[Kathy Fecke]

Thanks, everyone. We'll see you next time.

[Dave Meyer]

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 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 indic 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.