BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast - Financial Freedom in 6 Years by Buying Rentals with Just $6,000 Down

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

This investor turned $6,000 into financial freedom in just six years. He did it in a major market and became a millionaire by age 28 simply by repeating this beginner-friendly rental property strategy over and over again. And, even though he started earlier, you can STILL buy properties like his, at affordable prices, that cash flow, in the same market today. Where is he investing, and how did he scale up so fast? We’re breaking it all down in today’s episode. Jeremy Taggart saved every dollar from his college internship, knowing he wanted to invest in real estate after graduation. He bought his first house, a small multifamily, for just $6,000 down, lived in it, did some DIY renovations, and increased the value. Thanks to the rent savings, he bought another property the following year—this time, making $50,000 (tax-free!) by fixing it up. This was just the start of the “rinse and repeat” strategy that would turn Jeremy into a millionaire before he was thirty. But it wasn’t easy. Jeremy was fired from his job, had to start working for himself, and did what many real estate investors won’t. The result? Complete financial independence less than a decade after graduating college. His strategy still works in 2025, but will you use it? In This Episode We Cover: The easiest way to buy your first property with low money down (only $6,000!) Making $50,000 tax-free using the “BRRRR strategy” (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) The affordable, cash-flowing, stable real estate market Jeremy invests in (you can, too!) Is becoming a real estate agent worth it as a real estate investor? Why Jeremy switched from “cash flow” to “equity” investing for long-term wealth And So Much More! Links from the Show Join BiggerPockets for FREE Let Us Know What You Thought of the Show! Ask Your Question on the BiggerPockets Forums BiggerPockets YouTube Apply to Be a BiggerPockets Real Estate Guest Rich Dad Poor Dad Try REsimpli, The Only All-In-One Real Estate Investor CRM Software That Helps You Manage Data, Marketing, Sales, and Operations Grab the Personal Finance Classic, “Rich Dad Poor Dad” Sign Up for the BiggerPockets Real Estate Newsletter Find an Investor-Friendly Agent in Your Area The BRRRR Method (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat) Connect with Jeremy Connect with Dave Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1117 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This investor bought his first property with only $6,000 in cash. Then he did that six more times. And now he owns more than 50 rental units. And there's no reason to think that you can't take your first steps today and get on a similar journey to financial freedom. Hey, everyone, Dave Meyer here. I've been buying rental properties myself for 15 years now. I've written two books about real estate investing, and I am the head of real estate investing at Bigger Pockets. And joining me today on the show is investor Jeremy Taggart.

Jeremy lives and invest in Pittsburgh where he's built a seriously impressive portfolio of rental properties and he has a thriving agent business. Jeremy is going to tell us how he has basically repeated the same low money down strategy for almost his entire 20s, how getting fired from his day job was actually a pivotal and beneficial moment in his life. and why Pittsburgh is a market anyone looking to invest long distance should consider exploring, especially in today's market. Let's bring on Jeremy.

Jeremy, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us. Hey, Dave. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Let's just start by hearing a little bit about your background. How did you come to be involved in real estate? Real estate kind of came into the picture for me a little over a decade now.

I was sophomore in college. Like many others, read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, That kind of light bulb went off at that moment in time. So really the next two years was just self-education on real estate investing, which was good because the fact that I couldn't jump in right away, it basically allowed me to know as much as I could possibly learn without actually doing it. So by the time I got to graduating basically, I felt very confident that I knew the general content. of real estate investing. At that point, did you have specific goals that you knew you were looking for? We were just trying to get into the game? Or what were you thinking about back then?

Because, you know, you were mostly just educating yourself and you weren't actually doing the real estate just yet. Yeah. So the fire movement was pretty big back then as well. I kind of caught the tail end of it. So I loved that concept. I think that was probably my goal. Like, I want to retire early. I want to live off my rentals, not have to work a W-2 job, have my own schedule.

So that, I think, was kind of what inspired it. And what year was this? I graduated college in May of 2016. So it was between 2014 and 2016. Kind of the tail end of when the fire movement was like real big. Sure, yeah. And if you are unfamiliar with the fire movement, fire is an acronym that stands for financial independence, retire early, basically just this concept of trying to generate

passive income in some way where you don't have to work that full-time W-2 job. Now, Jeremy, the interesting thing about fire, I think, at least for me, is that there's so many different versions of this. Like, for some people, they want to spend very little money, and then they're okay, just making a few grand a year. There's something people call fat fire, where you want to get to financial independence, but you still want to live, you know, high quality of life and be able to spend money pretty loosely.

Like, did you, did you have a goal within fire that you were shooting for? My goal is kind of formed over time, and they've changed since then as well. So I think initially it was more leaning towards the traditional fire, like maybe live a leaner lifestyle, but it was worth it for me for the flexibility. And that's changed since then. Now I'm definitely 100% fat fire. Like, it's definitely changed. Fat fire to a degree.

But yeah, that was kind of. of, I think, the initial goal and how things have transpired since then has kind of made me shift my mindset a bit as far as the actual long-term goal. You're learning about this. You want to go into fire. What happened when you graduated college? What were you, what was your first move? It was kind of a mindset shift from middle class to entrepreneur business ownership from that point. But like the time I graduated, I'm like, there's no way I'm working at the W-2 job. So that was kind of more viewed as a placeholder at that point. And first step was house hack. I got my first house hack in July of that year,

graduated in May. So jumped into that right away. Pittsburgh's cheap. So I only needed, I think, like six grand for to close on the thing. Yeah, it was a triplex for 125,000, which. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. What kind of condition was it in? It was good. It was a solid building. It just needed some cosmetic updates. Yeah. Wow. I'm sure people listening are salivism. to get that idea of 40 grand a unit right now, so it's pretty good. Yeah. And it was like a three-bedroom unit and two-two-bedroom unit. So this was a big building. I assume you financed it. How much did you put down? And where did you get that six grand from? Yep, FHA. That was kind of the only option at the time for low down payment two to four units. I knew about the sellers assist. I got the six percent

sellers assist. So I only needed essentially the down payment. I had saved up money from that internship. And then like I said, I was working full-time 40 hours. the last semester of college. So that's how I was able to get the six grand to put into it. I'd scraped together six grand, but I didn't have a ton of cash available after closing. So it was still, like, it was most of my money, basically. So I moved into the thing after. We actually had to get one of the tenants out of there.

So that was my first experience with landlording was she wouldn't leave. So I had to, like, hand deliver a letter to her saying, like, the banks making me move into this, like basically try to make it sound like she was not doing something illegal, but like, per the terms of the loan, she needed to move out kind of thing because her lease was up. So it actually, the first time we got in there, we were waiting for her to get picked up. She got picked up by a taxi and left a bunch of junk in the unit. So that was my welcome to landlording moment as far as the first house act. Right. And so what were you getting it cleaned out because you wanted to make improvements or what was the plan for the, you know, I assume you're living in one unit. What was the plan for the other two? It was nice because I was living for free right off the bat. Even at below market rents from the other two units, it covered my mortgage, and I think it was above my mortgage, about like 200 bucks. So good situation.

That was the goal from the start. I didn't do a lot of work to my unit just because I didn't have a ton of cash. I wanted to focus on the other unit. So one of the tenants actually passed away a few months after that. So that was my next, like, you want to do this thing, here you go type deal. So it was another kind of like clean out the unit. The family helped with that. And then a lot of DIYing at the beginning.

Like the first few properties, I didn't have a ton of cash. I was working like a job getting paid 40 grand a year. This was my first property. So we did, I'm not good at DIYing, but we did a lot of DIYing. So we just kind of made it happen. And I would do some stuff too, like get creative. Like I would buy kitchens off of Craigslist from like high end areas that they, they bought like a two year old home.

and they wanted a new kitchen. So people would list their kitchens on Craigslist with like the granite and stuff. So like the whole kitchen, just like all the cabinets, all the cabinets. Countertops, everything. So we would go to pick it up in a U-Haul to save money on the materials. Facebook Marketplace Craigslist. So funny. Do you have to like find ones that are oriented the right way?

Kind of. You know, the right shape of the unit. Because I'm sure some of them are like have islands or L-shaped or something like that. Yeah, we got creative with it for sure. sure, but I actually used like the same kitchen and multiple properties, like with apartments and stuff, because these kitchens were like almost million dollar houses. Oh, like there's enough cabinets for two or three different units. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So we did a lot of that at the beginning. It was just making do with what I had and saving, like saving money on the materials. And that was

kind of the first few. Probably a nicer kitchen than you would buy, like if you went to bought rental grade, you know, cabinets at Home Depot or whatever, it's probably nicer. what you bought on Facebook marketplace. Yeah, these are high-end, like, homes. So it was a way to kind of cheat the system, I guess. So once you got sort of these places stabilized, like, how did that impact your lifestyle? Because you're trying to get fire. You're working full-time.

Like, was this generating a lot of cash flow for you? Or, like, what did it do for you on a day-to-day basis? Yeah, so obviously living for free in having that extra on top of my mortgage from the other rents to basically pay for my utilities. So that's huge. Just having your housing covered at the beginning, it really allows you to start stacking some money just to live below your means in general. So that's a huge expense. That's the appeal of house hacking in the beginning to even make it to the point where you can start saving money and give yourself some runway. So after a year, like my plan was to house hack basically every year on the year. And I ended up doing seven of them

total because of that. So, wait, what? Seven house house. Yep. That's kind of my thing is the house hacks. Like I'm known as the house hacker, basically. Oh, my God. Okay.

But so just, I want to ask about that. But so basically you took the money that you were generating and you just started stocking it away with this idea that I'm going to go buy a house hack one year. And just for everyone to know, like when you buy, you know, with a lot of loans, you basically have to agree to live in the property for a year. So Jeremy's basically saying he's like, all right, I bought one. In one year I can move into a new one. And so you just started taking your cash flow and saving it up.

Is that right? Yeah. So saving up for the next one and you thought 125 was cheap. The next one was actually a single family because at the time it was just FHA for the two to four units. If I wanted another duplex, I needed at least 15% down. So this one was a single family that I did 5% down, conventional. Okay. And then same thing there.

I got the 3% sellers assist. So I didn't need much. It was 48,000 was the purchase price. Wow. And this thing only needed cosmetics. Like all we did was paint, refinished the hardwoods. It was generally livable outside of that. That was the second one.

It was me and my now wife, then girlfriend. We just split the mortgage basically, which was like $420 total. Like so when you moved out of the first one, you rented your old place, was that, you know, like the rent you basically generated from that, was that enough to cover your new mortgage, essentially? Yeah, basically. And then some. So you're still living for free, in essence, even though you're like are paying a mortgage, the rent more than made up for it.

Yeah, and like we were splitting it. So I think my portion was like 200, basically. Okay. Wow. And then this one was kind of the first burr, you could say. So as I was learning more about real estate investing, the concept of burr was starting to become more popular as well. So I'm like, okay, this one needs some more.

work. I know it's worth more fixed up. At the time, I think it was worth like $125,000 fixed up. Okay. Buying it for 48. I knew we could do a lot of the stuff ourselves. So I think I only ended up putting as far as cash out of my pocket like $25,000 into it. So I had a pretty good chunk of equity after doing that rehab. So I knew that at some point soon I could refinance that. And that's when I caught a good big chunk of money to then. continue to build the portfolio. Like, I think I refinanced that a couple years later after I had rented it out. And I got, like, my first big check, which was kind of cool feeling.

It was like 50,000 tax-free. So that was my like, okay, this- When you actually went to refinance the money. Yeah, yeah. So I'm like, all right, there's something, this could work. All right, so it sounds like you did two successful house hacks, but you've done seven. I want to hear about the other five. But we do have to take a quick break.

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I'm here with investor Jeremy Taggart, talking about how he's done not one or two, but seven different house hacks. We've got through the first two. First was a triple-ax. Second was a single-family home with the burr. You got a big check, Jeremy, 50 grand. What did you decide to do with it from there? Third one was actually at this point in time, a local bank here in Pittsburgh. they started offering 5% down owner occupant 2 to 4 unit loans.

And this was before like the Fannie Freddie even did it, which I think was like last year. I think that was kind of a game changer. I'm like, all right, they're going to give me as many of these as I want at 5% down. I'm doing this like there's no end to this basically. And just for everyone who knows, like lending rules change all the time. But for a lot of mortgages that investors use like a. FHA loan, you didn't used to be able to put 5% down on more than a single family. That has changed, but it sounds like Jeremy sort of beat the lenders to the punch and

used a local bank that would allow him to put just 5% down on a multifamily unit. Was it a similar profile of deal that you were looking for? Like, what was the third one? Like that similar to their first one? The beginning, I was focusing a lot more on cash flow. Like, that was my main metric. Like I wanted to find basically something that would maximize the cash flow side of things. I wasn't quite as concerned with like long term upside.

So I was looking for up-and-coming areas, properties that needed some cosmetic work. Maybe they were under-rented. So that third one, yeah, it was a duplex. And that this was interesting too because during this time, I think right after I closed on my second one, I was having issues with agents. I think went through like four or five of them to find one that even relatively was on the same page as me on the investing side of things. Yeah, it was a struggle for sure. Like I definitely knew more than all of them, which I thought was an issue because I was a new investor.

Totally. Yeah. That's frustrating. You want someone on your team who like can teach you something, especially when you're, you know, two or three deals into your career. This was when I'm like, all right, I think there's a need here for investor-friendly agents. So I got my license. I think it was end of 2017 is when I got it, my real estate license. And I was kind of frustrated at my job, too, because, like, most W-2 jobs, you're starting

out at a base salary. It was like $45,000. I wanted to make more money. And, like, I remember asking my boss, like, how can I make more money? And they're like, that's not how it works. So I'm just like, all right, I need to figure something out. That's a hard no. You're not getting a raise.

So they couldn't give me an answer. And I'm like, all right, this seems kind of like a dead end. So I got my license and I'm like, I'll do this on the side. There's a need for it. I think I could get clients relatively easily. Got that, did two of them at the same time. So it was kind of the same thing here. I was working a lot.

Like I was doing the agent thing, nights and weekends, even some at work, which they weren't a huge fan of. Oh, I'd imagine. Yeah. That's just moving you further away from your objective of getting a raise. I'm sure that's not a, you know, they frown upon that a little bit. It was kind of a slow death of me working at W2 job eventually to the point where they ended up firing me after I got the third house hack.

So that was a big turning point in my career. And I was fine with it because that first year part time I was making more. I actually made more as an agent part time than I did at my W2 job. Oh, really? Yeah. So it was like, all right, I'll just do this. full time. I already kind of have a decent client base. I can jump into it. And essentially, there's no ceiling on the income for the agent side of things. So that's when things really kind of

started to skyrocket on the active income for me. Like from that point on, it was just kind of my personality and just work ethic. It was a very good fit doing the agent side of things. So I'm still doing it now. Like I have a team at this point. Congratulations on, you know, going into being an agent. Sounds like you're really successful. I want to ask you more about that. I'm curious, like as your income started to increase, you said you doubled your active income, which is incredible. Did that start shifting your strategy? We already know you did seven house hacks, but did you start wanting to buy or do anything

outside of the house hack strategy as well? Yeah. So 2020, when I started to get a lot more active income coming in, in addition to obviously the first two properties cash flowing at that point, I had that $50,000 check I got from the first. the second one, which was kind of a burr, and then making the extra money on the agent side of things. So it was at that point, it was like, okay, I can start doing things in addition to the house hacks now and really start to scale this thing up. And I think at that point, I had solidified my kind of initial goals, which were 30 units by the time I turned 30. And I wanted to hit a million

dollars net worth by the time I turned 30. So those were kind of my two like goals that I set for myself in my 20s, basically. Did you back into those goals for like fire? Were you still thinking about that? Like, okay, if I had 30 units or a million dollar net worth, I could retire by X date? Or is it just kind of based on your momentum, it seems like a good goal to shoot for at that point? Yeah, it was kind of calculated to the point where I'm like, okay, this would be initial financial independence, especially in a lower cost of living area. So I'm like, at this point, I can essentially live off of this portfolio if I wanted to by the time I'm 30. By 30, that's a great goal. Yeah. So that was kind of like, I worked backwards from it and figured out basically what do I

need to do to get to this point? And I was deadlocked on that essentially throughout my 20s. So it was like everything revolved around me hitting that. And I'm very goal oriented. So like, I was making sure I was doing everything the right way. to make sure I hit that. That's when 2020 was a big year for me because, like I said, I started doing some BERS and I did a house flip that year as well in addition to the house hack. 2020, I bought another house hack that was a duplex, kind of the same concept, like all these house hacks were make sure it covers the mortgage, buy a 5% down, look for some stuff that needs cosmetic work. And the fourth house hack was cool because I bought that one off of Craigslist also.

Really? Craigslist was my go-to for a different time. Was you still? Or no? Not as much now. Yeah, it's saying. It kind of faded Facebook marketplace now, but I actually bought two properties off of Craigslist in 2020. Wow. So yeah, the big thing for me in March, I bought a single family house. And this is when I started using other people's money. This was the very first time, basically. So I borrowed hard money for actually from a client. So, just building the relationship. He lent me 80% of the purchase price and the full cost of the rehab. And then I had the seller hold a second mortgage for the down payment to the hard money lender.

So I was into this thing for like five grand just for closing costs, maybe like three grand. And that was my first big, big rehab. Like I think the rehab costs like 80 something thousand. Yeah, I mean, compared to your purchase price, that's serious. Yeah. And the purchase price was, I think, $55,000. on that. And so almost double the purchase price. So that was scary too because I bought it right before COVID lockdown. So I was kind of freaking out a little bit when things were shutting down and I had this dilapidated house that needs 80 grand in work and the contractors have to stop working. So we made it through that. As you know, the real estate market exploded after that, got through the rehab.

And this one actually was net profit when I sold it in July when the market blew up. Net profit of 93,000 on that flip. My very first house flip. So having that cash as well, in addition to like the agent side of things, like it was almost like rocket fuel at that point. So then it just became like, I'm all right, this thing's, I can use other people's money to make 93,000. Like this is pretty cool.

If you know what you're doing and buy good deals, have good margins on them, I can just rinse and repeat, do this over and over. So at that point, it was house hacks and burrs is how I'm going to get to my goals, essentially. Okay. Really from 2020 until now, it's just been house hacks and burrs. I got very good at finding good deals. I worked as an agent. I knew the market, like the back of my hand. You just don't need to do that much more. These are a proven business bottle that has clearly worked really well for you, Jeremy. It's worked well for so many investors that I know. So I know people out there, there are fun, exciting things to do, you know, short-term rentals or rent by the room.

All those things are great. But like you don't have to do all of them. If you can just pick one or two of them like Jeremy did, you can clearly get a lot of momentum and success. I want to hear more about the deals you're doing now, but we do need to take one more quick break. We'll be right back. Thinking about wholesaling or flipping your first property, but not sure where to start. The truth is, deals don't just fall into your lap anymore. you need to go out and create opportunities.

That's where PropStream comes in. With PropStream, you get instant access to over 160 million properties nationwide. Use 20 pre-built lead lists such as pre-foreclosures, tax delinquencies, and vacant homes to find motivated sellers fast. And now PropStream has integrated batch leads and batch dialer to provide you with a complete all-in-one solution. That means you can not only find motivated sellers, but you can also reach out right away. Skip trace phone numbers free on select plans, then send postcards, emails or call sellers directly. Don't worry if you're new. PropStream also gives you AI powered insights and comms that are over 99% accurate. So you know you're making smart

offers. Plus, you'll have access to PropStream Academy to guide you step by step. Start your seven-day free trial and get 50 free leads at Propstream.com slash BP. That's P-R-O-P-S-T-R-E-A-M. Don't just dream about real estate. Make it happen with PropStream. People love to call real estate passive income, which is interesting because most of the investors I know are very busy. Busy finding deals, busy managing teams, busy worrying they pick the wrong market. Rent to retirement flips that model. They help investors buy turnkey new construction homes, often 10% below market value in top rental markets across the country. Their local teams handle the build, the property management and the details, so you don't have to. In some cases,

investors even receive 50 to 75% of their down payment back at closing, and there are, interest rates as low as 3.75%. They've been trusted partners with Bigger Pockets for over a decade. And if you want to learn more, visit BiggerPockets.com slash retirement. People love to call real estate passive income, which is interesting because most of the investors I know are very busy. Busy finding deals, busy managing teams, busy worrying they pick the wrong market. Rent to retirement flips that model. They help investors buy turnkey new construction homes, often 10% below market value in top rental markets across the country. Their local teams handle the build,

the property management, and the details, so you don't have to. In some cases, investors even receive 50 to 75% of their down payment back at closing, and there are interest rates as low as 3.75%. They've been trusted partners with BiggerPockets for over a decade, and if you want to learn more, visit BiggerPockets.com slash retirement.

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Pennsylvania. Jeremy, you know, I'm sure you've seen that market change, both as an agent and as investor, a lot over the last couple of years. So tell me a little bit more about what's going on in your portfolio, how you're finding deals, and what the returns look like in today's market. As the market changed, my personal investment goals kind of changed as well. So it's shifted what I invested in, basically. So like I said, at the beginning, it was more cash flow focused, wanted to get that initial financial freedom chunk of cash flow coming in each month to reach that goal. And kind of once I was there, then it became still the Burr's concept. Like, I'll always do that by it undermarket value, rehab it, have it worth more after and utilize other

people's money to get to that point. But then it became kind of like higher end areas, higher-priced properties, higher-quality properties. I've bought a lot more like side-by-side townhomes rather than up-downs, stuff like that. And they're expensive properties by Pittsburgh standard. So like the house hacks then shifted to instead of maximizing cash flow, my house hack criteria turned into I want to buy the most expensive property I can purchase with this low-down payment that at least breaks even. Tell us a little just about that thought process.

It was the market shifting and just me becoming more knowledgeable as an investor, what builds more wealth over time. I started to look more at appreciation, rent growth, principal paydown, depreciation, which as an agent, I'm a real estate professional status. So I can use losses. You get that real good tax better. Yeah. So I'm definitely taking advantage of that now.

Like I just did my taxes this year. I had like ridiculous loss. on the tax return on paper that offset my agent income because of the depreciation. So then it became like, I'm looking at the overall ROI on this money that I'm putting into the house hack. And 5% of $200,000 versus 5% of $500,000 isn't that much more out of pocket to acquire it. So, but you're getting way more principal pay down. You're getting way more appreciation from a dollar amount standpoint. and you're getting way more depreciation for not much more money out of pocket.

So in terms of like overall ROI using all the factors rather than just cash flow, that's going to be your best bet on the house hacks at this point. So that's kind of what I've been focusing on as the market has shifted, as my overall financial picture shifted, to the point where I'm prioritizing year 15, year 20 from now to get to that point.

And I want to own nice properties, kind of when they're paid off at that point, the rents are going to be way higher. So that's kind of how it shifted for me personally and the market in general, I think. Yeah, I mean, I'm doing the same thing. I think like now when I buy properties, I'm like, you know, I used to buy properties that were built in 1890, you know, like 1910. It's like, you know, when I'm retired at 50, I don't want to be, I don't want to be taking care of that property.

You're just going to buy something. Maybe the cash flow is not as good now. But I know it's going to be in good shape, you know, like I'm not going to have. have to do these like huge renovations on them. And I, I really sort of just resonate with this idea of buying properties 15, 20 years from now. Like, it's so hard to guess what's going to happen between now and them. But real estate over those long time periods always performs. And I find that in these times of uncertainty like we're in right now, no one knows what's going to happen next year. You know, no one's going to know what's going to happen six months from now. But like

15, 20 years from now, I feel pretty good that real estate's going to do pretty well. And these properties are going to be cash flowing and they're going to be doing better. So buying assets with that mindset to me just makes so much sense. I do want to ask you, Jeremy, about Pittsburgh. I've always been curious because, you know, I do a lot of these analyses where I'm like just pulling data on markets and like, there's a lot on paper to like about Pittsburgh. Obviously, you're an agent there. So an investor there, you're buying there. But like, tell us a little bit about Pittsburgh and why you think it makes a good investing market.

Most areas are going to cash flow positive. Like we're hitting the 1% rule and like turn key or close to it. Yeah. Multi-family specifically, we have a pretty good amount of them. But except really the only areas that won't hit that are kind of the A class areas. Like those are kind of more owner occupant areas at this point. But I like it because I have a unique perspective too because I grew up here. So I kind of know the livability side of things.

I think it's a very good value for the amenities that we get are still the big city amenities, but it's super cheap to live here. You can buy a mansion in a good school district for like 600 grand as far as long-term, forever home type deal. But we have all the major sports teams. We have all the amenities. It's a good place to live in the average home price is like $220,000. So I just, I've been to a lot of other cities too.

recently like traveling more. I think that it's a good value. Like I think that is what appeals to me long term that if I know it's a good value now and every anytime everybody comes visits here, they're like, oh, this is actually kind of a cool city. Like I thought Pittsburgh was a run down old steel mill rust belt city that nobody even liked to to come to. And they kind of like it when they visit here. So seeing that perspective as well. So I kind of like to look at like the livability side of things, which plays a big role in the investment side of things as well, I think, because it's just spotting things that are undervalued, basically. And the nice thing here is it's still cash flows, but we have a lot of upside for that reason. And we kind of have a

diverse economy with employers like health care is real big. We have universities, a lot of hospitals. But the tech scene's kind of starting to pick up as well. And the fact that it's so cheap here, They don't have to pay their employees as much. Everything's cheaper. So it's, I'm liking what I'm seeing in terms of that sector. So this is a fun trivia question. I often ask people, but we're talking about Pittsburgh, so you already know the answer to that. The actually the most affordable housing market in any OECD country, which is just sort of the most, I think 38 most advanced economies in the country in the world.

Pittsburgh's the most affordable. And that's not saying it as the cheapest housing, but the ratio of incomes to housing and other costs is the best in Pittsburgh. So I've always just found that fascinating. And as everything in, you know, housing's getting more expensive, everything's getting more expensive. I just, I always think that cities that have that level of affordability,

that's a good marker for potential growth in the future. But I guess we'll have to see. But I think that there's a lot to like about it. Yeah, I think just all the Rust Belt cities, I think they're going to become cool here within the next five to 10 years because they're affordable, my opinion at least. I agree. I think there's a lot. I actually was looking at some population data this morning. And for years during the pandemic, you know, people are leaving the Midwest and the Northeast and the West and moving to the Southeast. And Southeast is still growing the fastest per capita. But a lot of the Midwest is starting to grow again, like population-wise. and net migration is going up in a lot of these areas.

And I don't know if that's return to work or some just like inevitable return to normal from the COVID years. But I think it's really interesting and we'll have an impact on the housing market that we're going to have to watch. So Jeremy, before we get out of here, I got to ask you, your goal, 30 units by 30. Did you get there? It was crazy too because I hit both of them at 28. Oh, no, good for you. The net worth goal and the 30 units goal. Yeah.

That's awesome. It's just funny how you set your mind on something, and then it just so happens to happen like that on the same property. But yeah, so we hit that a little early, and then I was planning on kind of stopping at 30 units at that point, but now we're almost at 50, so it's, I'm addicted to buying deals. So we'll see how it goes here in the future. Well, it sounds like you're good at it, and it's probably fun. Do you have a new goal in mind, or you're just kind of seeing where it takes you? I don't know. Yeah, we're kind of just, like, I'm still buying deals now, even though it necessarily.

need them. But at this point, it's, it's just kind of compounding us taking effect as far as cash flow and net worth and all that. So we're kind of just playing, playing it by year, continue to do what I enjoy doing with the agent side of things. And I do like kind of keeping it the small portfolio, though, kind of like the Chad Carson's small and mighty. Like, I don't ever foresee myself having hundreds of units just because I, I'm good with, like, where I'm at now, 50 units. If I have 50 units paid off, like, I don't really need much more money than that. That's amazing. I'm leaning more towards that, but it's still TBD, I guess, where we'll end up on that side of things. Well, congratulations on all your success, Jeremy, and thanks for coming on

and sharing your story with us. We appreciate it. Yeah, for sure. Thanks for having me. And thank you all so much for listening to this episode of the Bigger Pockets podcast. We'll see you next Do you ever notice how every passive investment somehow turns into a very active lifestyle, active spreadsheets, active phone calls, active stress? Here's a better question. What if you could buy brand new construction homes, 10% below market value, and the best markets across the country without making real estate your second job? That's exactly what rent to retirement does.

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