Replacing A Travel Nurse Income Through Real Estate w/ Hannah McCoy

[00:00:00] Intro: You're listening to the real fi podcast where we discuss time, tested tricks, techniques, and strategies for pursuing financial independence today, so that we can enjoy a better tomorrow financial independence. Isn't about getting rich quick. It's about cultivating a foundation to grow financially, mentally physic.

 And spiritually let's figure out how to kick the nine to five. Here are your hosts, Patrick and James.

[00:00:29] Patrick McGrath: How's it going everybody. And welcome back to the real fi podcast. I'm your host Patrick McGrath with my co-host James Ripon. How's it going today, James? 

[00:00:41] James Rippeon: It's going man. I'm excited to get into this interview.

[00:00:43] I think we're gonna get some good nuggets out of this one. So I think we should just kick it off. 

[00:00:49] Patrick McGrath: Let's go. 

[00:00:50] James Rippeon: So we're here with Hannah. Why don't you give us a little bit of background on yourself and some of your story leading up to where you are today. So just fill in our guest [00:01:00] with a little bit about yourself and your history.

[00:01:02] Hannah McCoy: Yeah hi, I'm Hannah. I started investing in real estate in 2020, March of 2020. I bought a duplex and actually just started house hacking in that. And from there I've bought couple other houses afterwards. My full-time job, my W2 is I'm a travel nurse right now. And I'm also in the air force.

[00:01:21] So pretty busy, but , it's been a wild couple of years, but yeah, just hit the ground running I think. And just trying to like, buy more and keep going towards the goal. 

[00:01:30] Patrick McGrath: Yeah. That's awesome. Take a little step back from there and tell us, what got you into real estate and really what you were doing before, travel nurse or while you were a travel nurse.

[00:01:42] Yeah. If you decided that you didn't wanna do this forever, like kind of wind the wheel back a little bit before the whole real estate thing and give us an idea of what led you to even thinking about doing this. 

[00:01:53] Hannah McCoy: Yeah. So I graduated in nursing school in 2019 and I started out and I was like, this is great.

[00:01:59] This is so [00:02:00] fun. I love this. I wanna do this forever. I moved outta my parents' house at the time. I was 21, 22 moved out, got an apartment and was renting for the first time. Cuz before I had just done like military stuff, they pay for your lodging. Totally different. So I was like paying for it.

[00:02:12] I was like, oh wow, like I'm a real adult. I have an apartment. And then. My boyfriend at the time I started to think oh, maybe I should buy a house. I just, it makes more sense, to be putting money into a house. And he actually was the one that brought up to me. Why don't you buy a duplex?

[00:02:26] And I was like, cause I don't want neighbors. Are you kidding? I don't wanna live in a duplex. That just sounds terrible. And he's no. There's nice duplexes. You You could live on one side, live for free, run out the other. And so that's what, gave me the idea.

[00:02:36] He brought up bigger pockets to me, he'd been like a long time listener and I was just like, mind blown instantly. I was like, oh my gosh, this is so crazy. There's a whole other world. And then when 2020 hit, I was yeah, I don't wanna do this forever. like nursing. So I was like, yeah, I'm gonna go more into this.

[00:02:52] So that's how it started, but I definitely didn't think I'd be like trying to get out of my W2, but that's what, 2020. [00:03:00] Really made me like ready to be. I feel like 

[00:03:02] James Rippeon: everybody had one of those realizations in,

[00:03:05] Industry that kind of, you wanna maybe step back and build up your real estate or business 

[00:03:11] Hannah McCoy: more. I, so I work three twelves a week, which a lot of people are like, oh my gosh, it's awesome. You work three days. It's the three twelves are, they're pretty exhausting. So right now, like I did end up switching to travel nursing just to like build my income, make more money so I can invest more.

[00:03:25] But I just, at the time I was working at a full-time job, I think I, I started out making $22 an hour and I was like, this I'm not going anywhere. Like I work in the. So it's a rough environment. People burn out quick from there. So I think it just kind. I burn out a little bit faster, just because 2020 people were very anxious all the time.

[00:03:45] Lots of mental health issues lots of violence. And it's just, got to the point where I'm like, I just know it's not something I always wanna do. And that's of where I had the realization, that like I wanted to start building something else for myself. On the side while I still [00:04:00] am able to 

[00:04:00] James Rippeon: do that.

[00:04:01] So being a meeting three hour or three day 12 hour shifts, did that kind of give you some time to be creative with real estate and get into other avenues of side hustles and building streams income? Or is it really, you're just too busy and like you're resting on the days that you're.

[00:04:19] Hannah McCoy: No, I, the four days off are awesome. Cuz honestly like even now that's what we joke about still. My, my boyfriend also works three twelves. He's a police officer. So it's like the days we have off, we spend at our properties. Like we're not super handy, but the things we can do, we do. So yeah. Even our days off, most of the time we are at the properties or, talking to people, going and looking at properties.

[00:04:40] So definitely, yeah, we definitely spend that time doing. 

[00:04:42] Patrick McGrath: I really feel like if you can handle the stresses and different things going on in the ER, or as a police officer, then handling some tenant issues and some property problems are like, you're like, oh, this is really not that [00:05:00] bad. I've seen worse.

[00:05:01] So 

[00:05:02] Hannah McCoy: I'm good. Yeah. And so far we've been so lucky with our tenants. Like we've had awesome tenants, like no issues, it's always everybody's first question like, oh my gosh. But what about, the horrible tenants and like all the horror stories, but we've been really lucky with that too.

[00:05:16] So I think that's also given me like a not a false sense of what it is, but it's been really great couple of years that way. 

[00:05:22] Patrick McGrath: So why don't you go ahead, James? No, you take. I was gonna say, so why don't you break it or why don't you break down for us like that first deal, tell us yeah.

[00:05:33] What it was, how you found it, how you funded it. There, we have so many listeners out there that. Have just getting started or haven't started. Break that down for us. 

[00:05:43] Hannah McCoy: Yeah. So he gave me the idea to get a duplex. And so I was like, I don't, I'm the kind of person, like when I have an idea, I'm like, I need to do it right now.

[00:05:51] Like I'm gonna do it right now. Like I don't even care. Like I'll figure out a way to do it. So I, yeah, so I went to a bank my dad was actually friends with a lender at a local bank. So [00:06:00] that kind of made it easier for me to go. I was like a little intimidated, you hear these people in bigger pockets and they're doing like 90 deals and all this stuff, but I'm like, I just need to start with one so I went to the lender and he explained to me how I could buy it.

[00:06:12] I wanted to do a. F a loan and they told me I couldn't. So I just accepted that and did a conventional on it, which looking back I totally regret, but I didn't know. So I did 20% down on that first duplex. It was 121,000. I found it on just on Zillow actually, but the owner was the realtor. So whenever I went, like the owners were the ones showing it to me and I think they like fell in love with me and my story. And they were investors, and they were just selling off all their properties. So they gave me a good deal. They brought it down like 10,000 for me. They're like, we really want you guys to be in here. So that was how I got that. And I had to put, I think it was $20,000 down initially for that one, like with the closing costs and everyth.

[00:06:57] So where exactly 

[00:06:58] James Rippeon: is your market, like where you're [00:07:00] investing? Are you investing locally to where you are living? Obviously with SAK kinda situation, but look, where is that market? 

[00:07:06] Hannah McCoy: Yeah, so it's about an hour north of Pittsburgh. I, all of my properties are within an hour of me, so yeah, just right in my area.

[00:07:14] That's exactly 

[00:07:15] Patrick McGrath: what, how I like to invest, within an hour outside of my market So you had to put, you had to put 20% down on your house hack, like you said, looking back, you were like, why the hell weren't they giving me the FHA? Yeah. You go back now and be able to go to another lender.

[00:07:31] You'd be like, eh, screw you. I'm going somewhere else. 

[00:07:33] Hannah McCoy: I think I was just so nervous too though. I was like, I was just like, oh my gosh I kind knew the lender. And so I was like I can't go talk to anybody else. I don't know how to talk to people about this stuff. So yeah.

[00:07:43] Looking back, I definitely, I tell everybody that's interested in getting FHA you're like, definitely 

[00:07:48] Patrick McGrath: that's my dad's buddy. Like he helping me out. I'm getting a good, yeah. This is really important information for people out there. Cuz when you're getting started, you're so nervous [00:08:00] and you're just taking.

[00:08:01] everybody's, word for it because you haven't done it. And I think that's extremely important, but the good thing is putting that 20% down and being able to come up with that money up front, you had enough cushion in there in case things didn't go the way they have over the last year.

[00:08:17] Yeah. So tell us about this duplex. So did it need some work? You said you got it for one 10 and I love the part that you said that the seller. Was sold on you wanting, like wanting you to buy the property? I think that's so important. Everybody tries to take the transaction and force it away from them personally and just make it a business transaction.

[00:08:40] I think it's really. To go into that a little bit as well. Yeah, 

[00:08:44] Hannah McCoy: no, actually. And all of the other houses, except the one single family I have the reason I got all of them was because I had a connection with the seller somehow. Even if I didn't lay other duplex, I ended up buying, I didn't know the sellers, but I reached out to them on Facebook and it was the same kind of start older [00:09:00] investors.

[00:09:00] They fell in love with our story. They loved, they were sold on my story and like what we were trying to do. So that's so important. Definitely. 

[00:09:07] James Rippeon: You probably saw a little bit of you in them too, so they're, I'm sure kinda live through you through that experience. Yeah. 

[00:09:13] Patrick McGrath: Yeah, definitely. So keep telling us the details on this first duplex one 10 duplex.

[00:09:19] Did it have tenants? Did it need work? Where's it at now? 

[00:09:24] Hannah McCoy: So it did not need any work. It was pretty much moved and ready. Just some like painting of walls and things like that. Really? Nothing at all. It was perfect. So yeah, moved in there. There was a tenant in place and he's still there to this day.

[00:09:37] He was there two years before single older man never made a peep. Like I was the loud one I was probably the annoying neighbor, but yeah, he's still there. He was awesome. It was awesome. It was a great first property. Definitely. 

[00:09:48] James Rippeon: Talk to us about rent a little bit. What was the rental rate at?

[00:09:51] And, you bought it, a couple, a little bit ago. Have you raised rent since then? Or have you kept him pretty steady? 

[00:09:57] Hannah McCoy: I've kept his rate steady. So he is at 6 [00:10:00] 75 right now and that more than covered the mortgage for me. So I just left him at that and I actually just moved out of there a couple of months ago and I haven't adjusted it yet.

[00:10:09] For him, I probably will keep it pretty reasonable just because he's been such a great tenant there. Yeah, we just moved out and I'm fixing up the other side now. So market rent for that will be about eight 50 on the other 

[00:10:19] Patrick McGrath: side. I think that makes a lot of sense too. Is the extra a hundred dollars, or maybe if you raise it a hundred, if he moves out, you could get 200, but you're gonna have to do all this work, lose a couple months rent.

[00:10:32] I think that's really important for a lot of people out there too, to understand is that for majority of investors, you're really happy just finding a really great tenant. Yeah. And. Having them stay there. It's not all about pushing and maximizing and squeezing every cent you can out of your property.

[00:10:51] Yeah, I love that. You've brought that up, like right here in the beginning, cuz people have a false sense of what, makes a landlord happy and it's not always [00:11:00] just, getting more money. And I think that's 

[00:11:02] James Rippeon: an important lesson for, new investors too. You don't have to be afraid of buying a property and inheriting a tenant especially if they've got a proven track record and you could substantiate that through your due diligence. Now there are, opportunities for you to get screwed over. In this process, if you're dealing with a seller that isn't gonna be upfront or honest about the rent rolls or the rent collections, and they're just trying to dump this property on, that happens all the time.

[00:11:27] It's also possible to inherit a really great tenant, not have to worry about leasing it up, not worrying how to having to worry about how to vet a tenant. And oh yeah. A lot of the multi-families I bought and other rentals, each almost every. Actually every single one of them has inherited 10 tenant has been great.

[00:11:45] And no problem, some of them might have wanted to be a little cleaner, but they always paid the rents on time and they're always respectful of properties and things like that. But definitely not something 

[00:11:53] Hannah McCoy: to be. Yeah, no, definitely. Cuz that's I think that's one of the biggest things that I try and focus on is keeping it [00:12:00] like people first, especially right now, while I still am working a W2, like I, of course, I wanna provide, I wanna make money, of course I wanna make money, but I also wanna provide a nice place for people to live and affordable place for people to live.

[00:12:12] And for somebody like him, who's been there now probably a total. Five or six years, I wanna keep him happy. I'd love for him to say, like that's more important to me than yeah. What you said, like making an extra hundred, $200. Definitely. 

[00:12:25] Patrick McGrath: That's fantastic. That's fantastic. All right.

[00:12:27] So you got this property, you're living on one side, you got your first new tenant and then where'd you go from there? Were you. Hey, it's time to buy another one. Tell us about that. 

[00:12:39] Hannah McCoy: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That's exactly what happened. So then was like, yeah, so then 2020 started to happen.

[00:12:44] I bought it in February and then I think it was October. I bought my second property, which was a single family property. I basically just saved all the money that I was. Spending on rent. And then my mortgage and I just put that all away. I put $10,000 down on my second [00:13:00] property. It was a $55,000 house.

[00:13:02] So not super expensive, but the. And that was a little bit further away from me, but the rent for that one was eight 50 and it's been that it's actually a section eight property. So that actually worked out pretty well. It was a good it's in a decent area. So that was like a couple things. There's a lot with that house, but yeah.

[00:13:19] So October, November bought that second property. Yeah, just with the money I had saved from just living, living for free. So that was definitely like. A motivation boost for sure. How was 

[00:13:30] James Rippeon: the condition of that property? I You're talking about a $55,000 property and that's just like blowing my mind.

[00:13:35] I'm from Maryland. Yeah. You're Maryland, right? DC sub I've since the North Carolina, it's a little cheaper Patrick's up in Maryland. So when I think of $55,000 house, I'm like, 

[00:13:45] Hannah McCoy: like the, yeah, the roof's falling in . 

[00:13:48] James Rippeon: Exactly. So tell us about the condition of the house. What kind of property are we talking about?

[00:13:52] Hannah McCoy: I would say it's probably like C classes. The condition to the house was good. Had new roof, like new siding. Like the foundation was good. All of that. Definitely in [00:14:00] a lower income area, but it's a it's a busy area though. Like lots of jobs there. So I, I felt like pretty confident investing there.

[00:14:08] Even though the properties are a little bit less expensive. The market there has actually gone up though, since I bought it in 2020, which was nice to see, but I was also very like anxious to buy another property too. Looking back, it may not have been like what I would do now, but it still helped me get going.

[00:14:24] And I still cash flow quite a good bit off of that. 

[00:14:29] Patrick McGrath: Tell us about that section eight, cuz I know like I inherited a tenant that was on section eight, but after I bought the property, they moved out. So I really haven't, I don't have any experience with that. I know we, the only other person that we've talked to on the podcast was Sasha invests with Sasha.

[00:14:47] So tell us about, Everybody has this misconception, I believe of section eight. Tell us a little bit about how that's been working out for you. 

[00:14:56] Hannah McCoy: Yeah. So it actually, I was really scared to invest with the section eight, not gonna lie, [00:15:00] like I was very nervous about it, but a couple things made me more confident in my decision.

[00:15:05] So the woman that was living there, she'd lived there for the last seven years. And there, we were able to walk through the property before we had, she took excellent care of it, very clean. She had a couple of kids and she did pay a small amount as well, like with the government assistance.

[00:15:20] And I think those. A couple of the things that made me like, okay, like she's been here for a while, she's not just like in and out. And I also liked that it is government income. So you get, just a check every single month. You don't have to worry about somebody paying, you're not getting tax middle month.

[00:15:35] Oh, I'm gonna be late. Nothing like that. Like you get paid. It is slightly above what market rent would be too. So I think in that area, it would've been closer to 7, 7 50. So I was making a hundred dollars more than normal for that area and yeah, I think it, it worked out great. The tenant actually this year, the same, one's still there too.

[00:15:56] So she's been also awesome as well. She was another inherited tenant. Been [00:16:00] awesome. She ended up getting married this past year. And she and her husband decided to go off of section eight and they've been paying the eight 50. They both got like better jobs. We're able to improve and they like make improvements on the house.

[00:16:12] They take care of the property. Cuz that's another thing you can like stipulate with the section eight. A lot of times they're in charge of taking care of the property. Cuz I think a lot of it's just trying to get them closer to being independent. Or trying to help them. And every year, like it's a reevaluation of their finances of the house of the condition of the property.

[00:16:33] And she did awesome, like every single time. So I was like happy for her whenever she was able to go off the section eight and she's been great, still paying every month. So that's been good. 

[00:16:44] James Rippeon: Long. That's fantastic. So you've got the section eight house and it's working great. Like what comes next?

[00:16:49] What's you know, where are you at now? 

[00:16:51] Hannah McCoy: So at that point, I was still working my full time, just as a regular ER, nurse. And I was this isn't going fast enough. Like I need to be able to [00:17:00] buy more properties. So the next year I actually switched to travel nursing and I travel. It's over 70 miles, but still like local.

[00:17:10] So around Pittsburgh, I've gone like to the middle of the state. So I started doing that and I bought a duplex the next year. So that was 2021. I bought a duplex. I did seller financing for that one. And. Yeah. In 2021, that's all I bought was just the duplex. 

[00:17:25] James Rippeon: Okay. Tell us about that seller financing.

[00:17:26] That always comes with an interesting story, whether it's how you arranged a deal. Yeah. Just came across it, and a lot of it has to do with relationship building. So that was, tell us about that seller finance deal a little bit. Yeah. 

[00:17:39] Hannah McCoy: So I had started, I had just started my travel job and I had saved up a bunch right.

[00:17:43] At the very beginning. And I was like, oh, perfect timing. I'm gonna start looking. So I was on Facebook marketplace one day and I saw this duplex. It was in a little town, like right near me. It's a little touristy area. It's like Amish country. Like they have a little bunch of stores and things like that.

[00:17:57] And I was like, oh, that would be perfect. So I found out it was a [00:18:00] duplex. I messaged the owner and over Facebook messenger, I was like, would you be interested in seller financing? and they were investors and she was like how much do you have to put down? And I was like I don't know, like how much do you want?

[00:18:11] I didn't know. I had just heard about solar financing on bigger pockets. And I was like, oh, I don't know. Like now she's asking me questions. Like usually I'd asked a couple other people and they were all like, no, not interested. So I was like, oh my gosh, like I gotta write this up. Figure something out.

[00:18:24] But it worked out. I put 19,000 down on that property. It was one 19. She had it listed for, and she took 19 down. We did a five year it's a five year until the balloon payment, a five year Le mortgage with them until the balloon payment, we said, and then I'll get conventional financing after that.

[00:18:44] What kind 

[00:18:44] James Rippeon: of interest rate did you have on that? 

[00:18:46] Hannah McCoy: 3.75. Nice. 

[00:18:48] Patrick McGrath: Very nice. Good. For very nice. Yeah. There is a lesson to be learned in the last two minutes of this podcast, because like you just said, [00:19:00] you've asked a ton of other people and everyone just said no. And then you asked one more person and they.

[00:19:06] They gave you a maybe and you were like, oh shit, what do I do? I didn't think 

[00:19:10] Hannah McCoy: this far, I was like, oh my God, I gotta figure this out now. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:19:13] Patrick McGrath: Same exact thing with me. Like I've got a couple not a hundred percent seller finance, but seller, carrybacks okay. On a, for the down payment and yeah, it was just, I'm just gonna ask every.

[00:19:26] And someone finally said yes. And I was like, oh crap. What do I do now? And now that I've done it that's my go to I'm gonna, I try to have every single property now have that on there. So that's fantastic, 20% down, 3.7, five balloon for five years. So hopefully interest rates at the, at when when that boom payment comes up is gonna be backed down.

[00:19:49] Hannah McCoy: Yeah, I know. That's what I'm hoping, but I'm also thinking we've been great ever since this too, like it's worked out awesome with this like couple, so I'm honestly thinking like in five years I may ask for a five year [00:20:00] extension just because and they like me, like they actually signed for a bank for another lease.

[00:20:04] I got afterwards like that. I pay on time, all this stuff. So I'm like, I'm hoping that they'll do it for longer, but we'll see. . 

[00:20:09] Patrick McGrath: That's very interesting. They might wanna they might wanna an interest increase on that next five years, but you never know. And I would definitely be willing to do something like that to keep it off the books.

[00:20:20] Yeah. Yeah. That's fantastic. So was this, and you said this was a duplex, right? 

[00:20:25] Hannah McCoy: It is a duplex. Yeah, it's an up down duplex. My, the rents were very low in it. There was one tenant in it at the time rents were very low. I think it was like five 50 up top. So like way below. I just think these people were just like done.

[00:20:38] They're like, just get somebody in there, like we're done with investing like retiring. Yeah, so I took over, I did increase the rent upstairs and then I actually remodeled the bottom. I turned it into an Airbnb on the bottom. 

[00:20:51] Patrick McGrath: Very cool. So yeah. How much is that Airbnb bringing in? 

[00:20:57] Hannah McCoy: So the Airbnb right now, it's [00:21:00] typically about 2000 a month just for that lower unit.

[00:21:04] Patrick McGrath: Wow. That's fantastic. And this is yeah. Is it, you said it's touristy. Yeah. And have you considered renting the top out on Airbnb as well? I 

[00:21:14] Hannah McCoy: have, I'm just waiting for like the people. I think they're like looking for a house I'm waiting for them. I don't, I don't wanna push them out, but I think that next year I probably will do another rent increase.

[00:21:24] And at that point, if they decide to leave, I switch the top one too. Gotcha. 

[00:21:28] James Rippeon: Let's talk a little bit more about that Airbnb and how you got that going. So can you tell us a little bit about the investment that you had to put into getting it furnished and like what that cost and all the whole process of getting everything up and running?

[00:21:41] Hannah McCoy: Yeah, so the bathroom needed a complete remodel. I completely redid the bathroom down there and that cost about $6,000 just for the bathroom. And then for furnishing and everything, I know I spent less than 2,500, so less than 10 grand total to make it into an Airbnb. So that was helpful too.

[00:21:57] So total about like 30,000 into that. 

[00:21:59] Patrick McGrath: [00:22:00] Where'd you get all the furniture and stuff from, were you like big lot shopping where marketplace Craigslist? Yeah. 

[00:22:08] Hannah McCoy: I found a brand new sectional couch on marketplace, so that was perfect. Cuz it was like, I don't wanna get like a used couch on there, but I found it was like brand new and just didn't want it.

[00:22:17] So that was awesome. And then everything else. I mostly Amazon, honestly, I found a bunch of great stuff on Amazon. 

[00:22:24] Patrick McGrath: That's fantastic. All right. So then once you listed it, how long did it take to get your first booking? 

[00:22:29] Hannah McCoy: I listed it and I was like, nobody's gonna book, like I just wanted it on there.

[00:22:33] Wanna see how it looks, somebody booked it for that night. And I was like, there's not even a lockbox. There's not even like a door. I, so I had to go buy a lockbox. I was like, oh my gosh. This is, yeah. So the first day, yeah, I think total it's only. I've actually. So like the nurses, my area, we have a couple local hospitals.

[00:22:50] It's in the middle of them. So I've rented out to a couple PA PA students and then some travel nurses as well. So it's only been, it's only been vacant probably about two [00:23:00] or three weeks, total since January. So that's been awesome. 

[00:23:03] Patrick McGrath: That's amazing. And yeah. You there's such a huge theme for every person that we talk to with their first Airbnb.

[00:23:13] It's we're just gonna post the photos. We're gonna see what happens. And then that day, or within 24 hours, they have a booking or a couple bookings. It's so amazing. Yeah. And I just, I really love. You are just willingness to just try things and just see what happens. You're like, ah, what's the worst that could happen.

[00:23:34] Someone's arm isn't completely off or whatever. Like it's not like a gunshot victim or anything like, you're like, it's just an Airbnb. Oh no, I gotta take of the lockbox and figure 

[00:23:45] Hannah McCoy: this out. Yeah. I will say that Airbnb has definitely been the biggest headache.

[00:23:49] I don't know if you guys like do the, I don't know, or like them I, I'm not sure. So I was like, I'll try this for a year. If it works out, I'm like, I'm still not sure. Like it's definitely a lot more. [00:24:00] Maintenance upkeep than, just your typical long term rental. But yeah, definitely. I just to throw stuff, see if it sticks, I'm like maybe, maybe it'll work out, but 

[00:24:07] James Rippeon: I think that's the huge trade off with Airbnb is you're gonna be able to maximize your income to an incredible extent. But it comes with that much more work. You gotta furnish these places. You gotta stay on top of the cleaning. Yeah.

[00:24:18] Coordinating with the, tenants and occupants. It becomes a, it needs to be a business. Unless yeah. Or else it's gonna turn into a full scale job. And that's the trade off between the long term short term rentals. Of course. 

[00:24:30] Patrick McGrath: Yeah, definitely. What would what would that unit rent for if it wasn't an Airbnb.

[00:24:35] Hannah McCoy: So right now, if it wasn't Airbnb, I would probably run it for about 800. 

[00:24:39] Patrick McGrath: You're getting an extra 1200. Yeah. I Me personally, I would go to the upstairs tenants and be like, Hey guys, you know what I'm gonna give you a 60 day notice. I'll give you your full security deposit back plus a month's rent.

[00:24:53] And your first month you would get all of that back. Yeah. And then you would have two units [00:25:00] that you'd have the same cleaning crew and all of. and it would be around the same time when people were becoming I'm sure. It would probably make a little bit more sense if there was, yeah.

[00:25:10] Two right there. And definitely, it sounds like you've definitely thought about it. All right. So we got, yeah. Two duplexes, a single family. Do you have anything else in that portfolio? 

[00:25:22] Hannah McCoy: Yeah. I just bought a single family house, like my own property. So that's what I bought. This year I was like we kinda outgrew the duplex a little bit and I was just like I just, I wanna be separate.

[00:25:32] That was the big thing. And I felt pretty bad about it for a while. I was like, I really should just keep house hacking, for my mental health, I think, and just for. For growing. I was like, it's not a bad thing to get my own house. I had to come to terms with that. And yeah, I brought my property.

[00:25:47] So now everything else is just of separate and I'm loving it. It's very nice. Did you buy 

[00:25:51] James Rippeon: just a turnkey property or did you plan on doing any renovations to it? Any improvements or anything like that? 

[00:25:57] Hannah McCoy: Yeah, so I actually bought it. It was a [00:26:00] on, on Facebook. It was. Some friends that I used to work with, like in high school was their mom was selling her property that she's own for 30 years.

[00:26:07] So as you can imagine, everything's like pretty outdated, so I am gonna improve it. And hopefully it's on five acres as well. So I get like mineral rights. So I am making some money on it which is nice. But but yeah, so just improving it hopefully, and then we'll see, maybe in a few years we'll sell.

[00:26:23] James Rippeon: So you you, you mentioned mineral rights and I don't know if it's because of where you're located in up in Pennsylvania, down here, North Carolina. Yeah. I'm real estate agent. Every transaction we do, we'll have a mineral, an oil, gas rights disclosure. But okay. You, no one ever really does anything with it.

[00:26:39] And you said you might have some like more associated with that because you have the mineral rights. Why don't you walk us through what your thoughts are with that and how that might be sign. 

[00:26:49] Hannah McCoy: Yeah. So it's through an oil company. Like I just had to call and set it up and basically they send me a check every month for the gas, I'm not really sure, honestly, [00:27:00] everything that goes into it, but. Yeah that's pretty much all it is. It just, I own the rights to the property. That was part of the seller. Like she could have sold me the property, but kept the mineral rights. So it's like a separate thing, but she sold it to me with the mineral rights.

[00:27:12] So honestly, I'm not totally sure how well that works, but it ended up working out. Cuz I think it's about $300 every month. 

[00:27:19] Patrick McGrath: I was just about to ask are you, yeah. Are you getting like taco bell with this check? 

[00:27:26] Hannah McCoy: No, like it's nice. Yeah. And yeah, definitely like pays for my insurance and all that.

[00:27:31] So that works out 

[00:27:33] Patrick McGrath: that sounds like a solid investment to me. Hey. Yeah. And do you think investing in, do you think investing in real estate before you bought your primary. Made you buy something that was a little outdated and maybe needed a little bit of work over just going for I've been working really hard, like I'm gonna buy that turnkey 

[00:27:55] Hannah McCoy: thing.

[00:27:55] Yeah. Yeah. Oh definitely. And I think just like I was raised, like my [00:28:00] parents are very practical, they always taught us like, never buy anything outside your means. And I'm, they probably they look at me and they're like, oh my gosh. But I do still try to. Look at something and think about what I could improve on it.

[00:28:11] Yeah. What I can add value to. It was definitely something that I 

[00:28:13] Patrick McGrath: looked at. That's fantastic. I think there's so many lessons to be learned here on this and I think this really goes into our next part of the conversation, James. I think you know where we're going. Let's get into that buddy.

[00:28:30] Which one are you looking? Talking about, I'm looking at your financial independence journey yeah. What are you really working towards? Right now you've got five units. You just bought your primary, you didn't go turnkey. You're trying to be practical. What's.

[00:28:46] Financial independence. Look for you. What's that rental portfolio look for you. Like where is your ultimate goal with all of this? 

[00:28:52] Hannah McCoy: Yeah, so my ultimate goal would definitely be to at least match what I was making like or what I would make as a staff [00:29:00] nurse. Because I know that's livable.

[00:29:01] So right now I'm pretty much paying for my mortgage. And I'm still like, living for free with my investments, which is nice, you can't just live on that. So I'm hoping to eventually like, Not my travel income probably right away, just what I would make as a staff nurse.

[00:29:15] And then at that point we could scale. So my boyfriend also has two rental properties as well, actually over in Ohio. Those are bringing in some additional and we're just trying to like, eventually merge our, our portfolio and then, go from there. So that's what I'm looking at now.

[00:29:30] And while I'm still able to travel and a lot more than I would as a staff nurse. I'm just trying to buy as many properties as I can until we get to that point. You gotta 

[00:29:38] James Rippeon: keep relying on that W2 income for as long as you keep qualifying for those loans and keep properties. For sure. So I think that's, I think that's a good good strategy.

[00:29:48] Do you have a number of doors or anything that you've calculated that would get you to that goal? 

[00:29:54] Hannah McCoy: I think if we have about 20 doors between us, we will be able to do it. So right now [00:30:00] we're halfway there. We've got nine rental doors. And I think once we get to 20, we should be able to be independent.

[00:30:06] Like at first I think it'll be a little Rocky, just trying to figure out, going. I think I think a lot of people understand too, whatever you go from your w two it's and then just rentals. It's it's a little scary and trying to figure out exactly what is cashflow and what we need to put away.

[00:30:18] But I think 20 doors would be the number for us. 

[00:30:22] James Rippeon: think that, highlights something important. Cause when you have all these properties, you have this income coming in. It's not just all. And there's a lot of things you have to mentally bookmark for future expenses, with CapEx and maintenance and taxes and all these other liabilities that come down the line.

[00:30:38] So it's really something that needs to be budgeted holistically for. , for the same reason, you don't wanna leave your job too early to lose out on the opportunity to have loans. You don't wanna jump too early before you have a full understanding of the expenses that might come down the road with relat to those properties.

[00:30:57] Hannah McCoy: Definitely. 

[00:30:58] Patrick McGrath: Definitely. [00:31:00] Now you're at nine doors. You're looking to get to 20 right now. It sounds like, your largest property is a duplex. . Have you thought about going the Plex fourplex, maybe a six or eight unit property. I In the area that you're in, it sounds the price per door price per.

[00:31:18] Isn't anything crazy. Yeah. So have you started looking at those, have you thought about, jumping to medium multi-families or anything like that? 

[00:31:26] Hannah McCoy: I have. Yeah. And I think that's what we're looking at next. That's what, after we got, this property, like our home, I was like, I want to, you.

[00:31:36] Try and put a lot away for now. And then eventually we're gonna get, I would like to get like an APL probably would be what I'm looking for next. So we wanna we've kept everything separate right now, my boyfriend and I think our next property will probably go in together. We wanna get something a little bit bigger.

[00:31:50] Yeah. Fourplex eight Plex, something of that nature. 

[00:31:54] Patrick McGrath: Yeah, I have to recommend going larger, really mine. My biggest one, we went from a [00:32:00] four to a 10 and oh, wow. Looking back at it now. And a lot of people say this, you want At the spa, at the space you're at now, that's where we were at eight or nine units.

[00:32:11] And then we just boom, all to 10, like really you're ready for it. Yeah. You're already managing nine units. Like you have it under control and it actually ends up being easier. I know it's resounding what you hear from people, but it definitely ends up being easier, having all of it right next to each other.

[00:32:29] And then you can exponentially increase your cash flow on that. Like probably more than double if not tripping, like right overnight. Yeah. Yeah. Overnight. That's crazy. And especially if it was in a decent area and you did two or three of 'em to nurses like yourselves or something like that, yeah.

[00:32:48] You You could make that happen with one purchase. 

[00:32:49] Hannah McCoy: Yeah, that would be awesome. That would definitely be something we'd be looking into. I think, cuz I think, yeah, that's like we could keep buying the duplexes, single family houses, but at some point it's [00:33:00] yeah, it's a lot of work.

[00:33:01] And when you could just get, yeah. An APL, 10 unit, something like that. And then it's just one building. . 

[00:33:08] James Rippeon: Exactly. It's a long game and you started in 2, 19, 20, 20. And as time goes on, you're gonna build so much more equity in those positions, in the properties you currently have.

[00:33:18] And then it's gonna become time to 10 31. It's just something new and taking down those mid to larger multifamilies it's just gonna be. That much easier, cuz you're gonna have the equity to just transition the capital over to down payment for the larger property. So it definitely comes with time and I know that's something that Patrick has been great at capitalizing on is just shuffling around money in equity between properties to get into the next deal.

[00:33:43] Patrick McGrath: Yeah. And what's really impressive is, let's not forget that you started at the end of 2019. So this is two years. In two years, you've got, you've got a do, you've got two duplexes, you've got an Airbnb, you've got a seller financing [00:34:00] deal where they're holding the note, that's off the books.

[00:34:03] Like you've done a lot, like you've accomplished a lot in two short years. I think this, whole story and everything is really amazing. And we have an idea of what motivates you in the short term and what that short term goal is. Yeah, but, tell us about what that, medium to long term goal is.

[00:34:19] Once you hit that 20 doors, are you just gonna, would hang up the scrubs and, chill on your chill, chill on your five acre farm, or different talk about having, like a 5,000 unit goal or anything like that, what's that look like? 

[00:34:36] Hannah McCoy: Yeah. I think like our main goal, like we would love to have yeah, 5,000 years.

[00:34:40] That would definitely be awesome. I think like our long term goal is honestly just to. To eventually make it all automated, give it over to like property management and then just be free. Like I there's, we have other interests, like that's, I would love to do nutrition and like nutrition coaching and that's a huge passion of mine.

[00:34:58] I actually I like to help people that wanna be [00:35:00] helped, like that sort of thing. So just being able to do things like that, where right now I don't have time, in the future. But definitely like scaling, once we get to the 20 units, I'm sure then we're gonna want 50, but long term, I think our biggest goal.

[00:35:11] Just to have yeah, just time freedom, like that's such a huge thing. 

[00:35:14] James Rippeon: Considering that, everyone's biggest goal and that's a common theme with a lot of people that we talk to is time. Freedom, quality. Yeah. What do you think would be your biggest obstacle to getting there?

[00:35:23] Cause you had mentioned you wanna build some systems and some processes to build that. Business so that you can step away and just enjoy some of the profits from your prior work. What would you identify some of the obstacles between where you are now and where you wanna go?

[00:35:35] Hannah McCoy: Some of the obstacles, I think. I think it's gonna be hard to give up the W2 initially. Like I'm not, I'm not gonna lie. It's definitely like it's a comfort blanket. It's definitely something that's gonna be hard to give up. I think for both of us just initially, cuz it is a little bit scary, so that's definitely an obstacle.

[00:35:51] But as far as property management, I think. We're really just waiting until we get to a point where it makes sense to do that and pay for that instead of just taking care of it [00:36:00] ourselves. Right now, when it's also small, I don't mind it. I actually enjoy it. I like dealing with stuff like that and finding, people to fix things like I enjoy that.

[00:36:07] Eventually it'll just be. Just finding like a good property management, but that's the biggest thing I think is just leaving the W2 S and getting to that point, but we're both ready. It's just, , it's just, the security blanket, 

[00:36:18] James Rippeon: if you had to look at your like week to week activities, how much time are you spending on your real estate management?

[00:36:25] Is it like a huge time suck or is it pretty, pretty easy to deal? 

[00:36:29] Hannah McCoy: Oh, it's very easy to deal with. I think whenever there's a turnover is just the biggest amount of time. Like just moving outta the duplex and, we have the new couple moving in next week, just trying to get that all fixed up.

[00:36:40] That's just, probably the biggest thing and the Airbnb, maybe an hour or two a week, it's really not, really not taxing. And I'd say that's typical, just an hour or two for everything. Honestly, once the, once the units are rented out, I feel like when they're not, when you're looking for somebody, it takes a little longer, cuz you're trying to like talk to people, do showings, things like that.

[00:36:58] But once that's all [00:37:00] set up, an hour, two. 

[00:37:03] Patrick McGrath: I couldn't agree more. That's one of the big things and one of the big reasons that, Danielle and I still self-manage is because it really doesn't take as much time as people think it's gonna take. And a lot of problems, can be solved with a phone call, a quick phone call or, Hey, this is not an emergency.

[00:37:20] We can get to it tomorrow or the next day. Yeah. I can thank you for making me aware of it and we're gonna get it handled, but not everything is emergency that needs to be handled like that second. And you start to realize that, and it is it's a relationship thing. And you, like you said, in the beginning of this podcast, it's about people first.

[00:37:44] So all of our tenants know us, know me personally, and. They know that if I say we're gonna get it done, it's gonna get fixed and all that it's gonna get fixed and it's gonna get fixed in the timeframe. It just, it doesn't need to be done right this second. I don't need to drop everything and do that.

[00:37:59] [00:38:00] And with. Comes. It really is not that hard to manage all of this stuff. I'm not willing to pay guys like James nine to 11, 12% to manage my rental property portfolio right now. But I will down the road, like you said, because of that time, because you have other hobbies, this is your, means to be able to do that right now.

[00:38:24] , yeah. Out. W2 that realize that you're, it's just not for you for the rest of your life and then give you the freedom to go help people in your own way. And real estate happens to be, that train, that's gonna get you there. So that's super, super exciting.

[00:38:40] James Rippeon: And I'll just throw this out there as the property manager of the group for third parties. A great strategy for any new investor. Who's starting to accumulate proper. Build up a portfolio and of course learn what you're doing, manage yourself. But if, and when you do become. An opportunity and, time in your investment career.

[00:38:57] Are you ready to throw that over to third party [00:39:00] management? You can get a discount on your management services too, cause you're throwing over bulk package for properties to manage. So don't be afraid to. Ask for a discount. If you're throwing them 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 properties to manage at the same time.

[00:39:13] Cause he might be doing it like 10, 11% for just one off properties. But when you sending everything over at once, it's consolidating a lot of headache for them as a property manager. So doesn't hurt to ask for a discount too. So that's a little pro tip for you guys. A great tip a little bit more. We finally transitioned also, a good way to think about self-managing.

[00:39:32] You're basically doubling the profit you would otherwise get with your properties. Like maybe you're getting a hundred bucks a door with a property manager. Now that you're not paying them a hundred bucks a month, you effectively a hundred percent increase your, profit per door. Yeah. So especially when you're getting started and you're trying to build up that cash cushion and you have the time to devote to it, like definitely a hundred percent like manager own properties.

[00:39:54] Cause you're gonna learn the ins and outs and know most importantly, how to discern a good [00:40:00] property manager from. Slow lazy, terrible one. 

[00:40:03] Patrick McGrath: Yeah, that is the key right there. That is the key. Cause you're turning over your babies, man. You're turning over your 

[00:40:08] Hannah McCoy: little money tree.

[00:40:09] Patrick McGrath: Look at property is like a money tree that, blossoms fruit on the first week of every month. So like I never thought about it that way. I never thought about it until two seconds as I was saying it, but yes, it's like a little money tree that blossoms fruit every, the first of every month.

[00:40:26] So that's awesome. Yeah. Turning over the keys to that is, is tough. Yeah. That's really fantastic. I love your journey. I love the. What you've been able to do in the last two years, your other hobbies, like just that whole thing. It, I think it's really inspiring because, James and I started this podcast to talk to real estate investors of all kinds.

[00:40:43] We've had people with, four or five doors. We've had people with a couple hundred and the biggest thing is all of 'em. Are getting outside of their comfort zone. They're taking that first step. They're putting themselves out there and they're [00:41:00] going after their goals. Not all of 'em is to just amass a shitload of properties.

[00:41:06] It really is that time. Freedom, like James said, it's the resounding thing is everyone's doing this for a reason. And the reason is to, buy back their own time. And that's exactly what you and your boyfriend. Are doing so I think that's fantastic. And James, I think that it's time to get into the next segment of the show.

[00:41:25] We call this one, the big four. So James, take 

[00:41:30] James Rippeon: it away. Hannah I want you to tell us something that you do your day to day, personal business, whatever might be a real estate related hack, like a financial independence, hack money building hack, something that you do that kind of just feels like a cheat.

[00:41:44] To building wealth and staying on the path that you are 

[00:41:49] Hannah McCoy: that's cheat code. I think something that really helps me is I have separate bank accounts for all of my properties. I don't know if everybody does that, but that's just something that we started doing and it helps. [00:42:00] So much, it helps like me keep an idea of what we're using for, cash flow.

[00:42:04] I take all of the repair money actually out of that same account. So it actually helps me see like every single month, just I'm a very visual person. So it helps me be like, okay, this is how much I have from this house. Every single month it just makes it a whole lot easier. 

[00:42:18] James Rippeon: I think that's a great idea.

[00:42:19] I think I think for anybody who wants to develop good financial habits, like even not just for your, for separate properties and bank accounts, like setting up separate accounts, designated for separate expenses, like personal expenses, and then investing accounts for where you're gonna save your money.

[00:42:35] It's that's 

[00:42:36] key. 

[00:42:37] Hannah McCoy: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It's probably not practical, as I get bigger, to have one for everything, but I think eventually it'll go into a business, type account, but that's what I'm doing right now while we're still smaller. 

[00:42:47] Patrick McGrath: I don't know. I think that kind of makes sense.

[00:42:49] I know I'm just lazy. So we've just always had, we have a checking and a savings for all of our rents and it all just comes in one account and gets divvied up savings and checking. And [00:43:00] that's awesome. If something happens at one property, we're just using the savings for it. And at the end of the year, I'm doing all this stuff for the taxes.

[00:43:08] That's when I find out we did on everything. Yeah, just in growth mode right now, but I think that's fantastic. Yeah. So we call this next question resources. So are there books. Podcast, people on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube that have really shaped, your investing style inspired you, that you would recommend our listeners go check out because they they tapped something inside of you that has helped you on where you're at.

[00:43:42] Hannah McCoy: Yeah. My favorite book, like in regards to real estate and it's not real about real estate, but just something that really helped me was extreme ownership by Joco Wilk. That really changed my whole perspective, I guess too. So that one, and then it's called the go giver is one of my other, favorite books about like business and [00:44:00] just how to make your business about people and be it's all about being a good leader in leadership.

[00:44:04] So I just, I absolutely love those two books, so everybody should definitely read those. 

[00:44:09] Patrick McGrath: That's fantastic. I absolutely love that. James, what do you got, 

[00:44:13] James Rippeon: so Hannah for the next one, it's the future, you it's five years in the future. Tell us what your kind of personal life looks like. Whether you're doing nutrition, coaching or something else your out of your travel nursing role or, five years in the future.

[00:44:27] How does your real estate portfolio look and what does your business look like? Kinda paint that picture of your future self for us. 

[00:44:34] Hannah McCoy: So five years in the future, I'd really like to, I think I would still like to be managing the properties. I would like to be financially free at that point, no longer do nursing.

[00:44:42] I'm really into body building as well. So I'd like to focus more on competing in body building and doing more of that. And yeah, nutrition, coaching, if I could, or, coaching that way. But yeah, just. Hanging out at home and getting to workout. Those are my favorite things to do. So I love it.

[00:44:56] That would definitely be five 

[00:44:57] James Rippeon: years from now. And you can tell that those are the things that [00:45:00] make you happy and, yeah. I just love that. You didn't say having 350 rental properties or syndicating, huge strip malls or something you just wanna do the things that are, bring joy to you.

[00:45:12] And that's what this is all about. 

[00:45:13] Hannah McCoy: Yeah. 

[00:45:15] Patrick McGrath: I love it. I love it. All right, Hannah, this has been fantastic. I know I'm inspired from your story. I'm sure our listeners are inspired from your story. So if they wanna reach out to you for any reason at all, check out your page, where's the best way for them to get in touch with you?

[00:45:32] Hannah McCoy: On Instagram, I'm at that scrappy investor, that's probably the best place for people to get a hold of. 

[00:45:39] Patrick McGrath: All right, everybody. Go. Follow Hannah on Instagram. If you're not already, you should be. Right after that, run on over to apple podcasts, leave us a review, then head over to Spotify, click that star five star subscribe, go to YouTube.

[00:45:56] We have 54 subscribers out of this point, which is abysmal. [00:46:00] So we need to at least hit a hundred people we need to at least hit a hundred and then yes. Make sure to go check. The real fi.com and we will catch you all next time. See you guys. 

[00:46:14] James Rippeon: Thank you. 

[00:46:16] Outro: Thank you for listening to the real fi podcast where you learn from the investors that have lived, the hard lessons for you to connect with us during your pursuit of financial independence.

Be sure to join our community by following us on Instagram or emailing us at info@therealfi.com. If this content made you financially, mentally, physically, or spiritually rich. Please make sure to leave us a positive review on your preferred content platform. Cheers to kicking the nine to five.