Why One Rental at a Time Works So Well

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By Michael Zuber, Author of 15 Conversations with Real Estate Millionaires: Presented by One Rental At A Time 

For hundreds of years owning real estate has been the path to building a better financial future for the average American. You can look at all the charts and see that owning assets beats renting someone else’s asset long term. Frankly, you can look at owning a fixed rate 30-year mortgage as an asset compared to rent as one is generally fixed and the other always seems to go up. 

If getting on the property ladder is the first step to better financial future what would happen if you owned 1 or 2 rental properties? Assuming it was a good purchase, was well-maintained, and the mortgage was paid down, both your personal balance sheet and income statement would improve seemingly every year. 

Before we dive into why one rental at a time works so well, I want to dispel two myths I see preached by the social media types. 

1. Bigger is not better all the time. I have been buying real estate for 22 years and I’ve found that the number of units might pump up your ego, but it does nothing for you if it is a bad deal. 
2. You can go broke buying cheap. If I hear one more person tell me they can buy a house in some city they have never been to for less than the cost of their Tesla I am going to scream! A cheap price on a house means nothing regarding the return or quality of deal. 

One rental at a time works in any market and any time because it is built on a simple framework of “doing the work”. 

Following this strategy starts with understanding you are committed to a simple process that will help you learn what an average deal is in your “buy box”.  The power behind learning what average is, is that you can focus on writing great offers and you have insurance against making bad deals. 

But how do you do it? 

Step 1) Create a “buy box” that produces an active list of 20-40 listings in your target area today. Too few and you learn nothing, too many and you get lost. I find about 30 to be a great number. 

Step 2) Once you have that framework you look at your “buy box” every day for 60-90 days. Every day things will be changing, and it is your job to document them. As you document your “buy box” you will start to see patterns, you will start to understand what you don’t know, and you will start to learn what kind of return comes from your chosen “buy box”. 

That’s it! It is simple, but most people will never commit to the process as it is too much work (only 20 minutes a day), it can be boring and repetitive, and people try and cheat the process by looking at multiple markets. 

One rental at a time works because it is simple and repeatable. It has helped thousands move forward and get their first great deal. I know it can help you if you are ready to dive in and follow the framework. 

You can read the books One Rental at a Time or 15 Conversations with Real Estate Millionaires by going to Amazon or Audible.  

Owning real estate and assets sets you on an amazing financial path. I think only owning 4 rentals is life-changing, but heck one is better than zero.  

About the Author 

One Rental at a Time was never intended to be a book or YouTube channel but simply was how I had to build our portfolio as I was too busy at work and with family to think about anything except finding the next rental.  

I now focus on helping people believe they can get to “4 Rentals” as that can change your family’s life in a huge way. If you chose to go past 4 rentals great but simply getting to 4 is a great goal. I also believe we need to help the next generation believe that they don’t have to work in a job they don’t like for 40 years hoping for a good retirement. Real Estate is a Path that offers so much to so many.