Insider spoke with individuals who started with nothing before building successful real-estate portfolios.Another bought cheap foreclosures in Detroit with her tax returns.Insider has spoken to individuals who started with zero savings or low-paying jobs and managed to build income-producing, real-estate portfolios that, ultimately, have granted them financial independence.Here are the strategies they used.
Doing this didn't necessarily help McNeeley save on his housing costs, as he now owed rent, he said. However, he was able to point to rental income generated from his home, which increased his total annual earnings and improved his debt-to-income ratio. "I was instantly able to add $1,200 a month to my savings rate," he said, and was already thinking about his next property.
After deciding he wanted to buy a home, Newton took two immediate steps: He shopped around for a mortgage lender and he started saving for a down payment. He closed on a $450,000 duplex outside of Seattle in November 2018 and moved into one of the units. The other unit was already filled with a tenant, meaning he immediately started earning $1,600 a month in rental income, he said. Plus, a childhood friend moved into one of the three bedrooms in Newton's half of the duplex and paid $500 a month in rent.