BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast - From Waiting Tables to $13,000+/Month in Just 3 Years (Thanks to Rentals)

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

Three years ago, Andres Martinez was waiting tables. Today, he owns 10 rental properties, manages another four, and has a rental portfolio that brings in over $13,000 in monthly cash flow. He’s even been able to quit his job and focus on his rentals full-time. But how did he pull all of this off—and in such little time? Early on, Andres had one goal: maximize the cash flow on every property he bought. This led him to co-living, an investing strategy where you have multiple tenants under the same roof. The cash flow was so strong that he has deployed this strategy across his entire portfolio. But the journey hasn’t been easy. In today’s episode, Andres shares all the growing pains—from making 200 cold calls a day to find off-market deals to working with shady contractors and navigating difficult tenant disputes. Through it all, his pure hustle and grit have paid off. Whether you’re looking for creative ways to scale your real estate portfolio or create enough cash flow to replace your salary, Andres has a blueprint that works—even here in 2026! In This Episode We Cover How Andres went from waiting tables to making $13,000+/month with rentals How to scale your real estate portfolio faster using other people’s money (OPM) The biggest myths (and truths) surrounding the co-living strategy The number one thing you must get right when operating a co-living property The real estate markets where the co-living strategy works best And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠h⁠⁠t⁠t⁠ps://www⁠.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1321⁠⁠⁠. 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

Three years ago, Andres Martinez was waiting tables. Today, he owns 10 rental properties, manages another four, and has a rental portfolio that brings in over $13,000 in monthly cash flow. He's even been able to quit his job and focus on his rentals full time. So how did he pull all this off starting in 2024? Early on, Andres had one goal. Maximize the cash flow on every property he bought. This led him to co-living, a strategy where you have multiple.

multiple tenants living under the same roof. The cash flow was so strong that he deployed this strategy across his entire portfolio. But the journey hasn't been easy. In today's episode, Andre shares all the growing pains, from making 200 cold calls a day to find off-market deals, to working with shady contractors and navigating difficult tenant disputes. Through it all, his pure hustle and grit have paid off, whether you're looking for creative ways to scale your portfolio or create enough cash flow to replace your

salary. Andres has the blueprint that works, even here in 2026. What's going on, everybody? I am Henry Washington. And today on the Bigger Pockets podcast, we're bringing you an investor story with Andres Martinez from Dallas, Texas. Let's jump right in. Mr. Andres Martinez, welcome to the Bigger Pockets podcast. How you do, Henry? Thanks so much for hiring me. Glad to have you, man. Excited for you to be here. Now, I understand you've been on the rookie podcast before, but for those who haven't heard your story, why don't you give us a little bit of your background and how you first got into real estate? I've been doing real estate since January 2023. I was working full time as a waiter.

I went to college for music. I studied jazz, as you can tell for my audience here. That didn't not go well. Every other starving artist, I was working as a full time in a restaurant business. And then I started making pretty good money as a waiter. I was very close to the six figures on the years. And then I got married. My wife is like, you need to buy a house. house. So perfect, we need to buy a house. And even though I was reporting all my income because it was cash, we couldn't really qualify for the house that we wanted. This is the time where the interest rates are just starting to go high. So we miss the three or four percent, but now there are seven and a half. So this was like 2023, late 2023. Exactly, like November, December. And we missed it because

we couldn't find the right lender. So now when we find the lender in December, he's like, well, sorry, now it's, you know, it's 7%. Oh, wow. So I was okay. How do you buy? my house without a mortgage. So I fell into the rapid hole of creative finance. I jumped into there. I didn't know what wholesaling was back then. I just started making calls. I found my first deal in two weeks. Take my wife to see the house. She's like, absolutely not. So I was like, okay. So I told that, look, it didn't work for us. Thank you. So now I was part of a real estate mastermind. So I go to our local meetup and I tell the guys like, yeah, I found this deal. I just didn't know what to do with it. And this guy is like, why don't you wholesale it? And I said, why don't you whole sell it?

And I said, what do you mean? It's like, you can make money just by flipping the contract. And I was like, teach me. So we go call the agent again. That's same, on that same meetup, call the agent. I was like, we'll see the property again tomorrow. We go, he runs the numbers. He's like, this is a good deal, man.

We can make some money here. You get under contract and he showed me how to flip that paper. And I was like, we just make $10,000 in a few phone calls. Yeah. At that time, when I was doing the waiter stuff, I was flipping furniture online. I was trying to start any type of side hassle. flipping phones, washers, dryers, clothing on eBay. Anything I could get my hands off to make money. But I never really thought I could make money on real estate because, you know, I don't come from a

family with money. I'm an immigrant. I've been here since I was 18 only. So when that happened, and I was like, okay, this is, this is it. You know, I saw Dr. Strange and the Marvel movies, you know, this is the one. And I just, I went straight ahead, start calling nonstop. Okay, so you said you found that first deal in two weeks that you ended up eventually wholesaling. How did you find that deal? Just calling agents on the MLS? Holy agents in the LMS. Imagine, dude, three days in the real, says, yeah, do you want to sell our finance or sub two? No, like I get him 500 calls every day. And then eventually these girls like, yeah, we had this property on a contract with somebody else, but they couldn't perform.

Do you want to come see it? And she sends me the terms. She sends me the mortgage sheet. I got lucky. You know, after 500, 600, 600 calls, somebody said yes. You called 500 to 600 people? Every single listing in Cilo. Folks, if you are listening right now, that is absolutely not luck.

That is hard work paying off. Yes, that seems like a long shot. Sure. if you sit down and you put effort in and you call 600 people determined to get a deal, you're probably going to get a deal. And that goes for almost anyone. If you are in a market and you call the right list and you have that much dedication, you're going to stumble across a deal. So no, that's not luck. I call that positioning, right? You put yourself in the position to be ready to capitalize on a deal. You got paid to get an education and how.

to do a wholesale deal. So how long did it take you to land your next one? Nine months. Nine months. I didn't know that you can pull lists of low equity or seller finance. I was just calling every single listing. Yeah. So now I'm pulling lists. I'm making calls. I'm getting better at sales. I'm getting better at my pitch. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nine months later. It was a very humbling lesson because I was about to give up. Actually, I had given up two weeks prior that because we went to the doctor with my wife and we found out she was having some hell leisure. So I need a lot of money. I was about to sell the house. All my servants were about to go there. No more wholesale. I was like, because at this point, in these nine months, I got fired for my

job twice. Because every time a seller calls me back on a Friday night, instead of having fajitas on my hand, I have my phone. And my manager is generally. I was like, hold on. If this is the 10-k call, I'm about to walk out, right? This is my real proof of concept. It never happened. So we're driving back from the doctor's appointment. And I'm just like, okay, I tried. I tried. I made two, 300 calls every day, manually, until somebody pick up the phone, right? It didn't work. Like, I really did my best. I didn't take a day off, money to Sunday. Like, it's not for me. And then on that drive home, I get a text message back. Hey, Andres, this is Andre. You called me a few months ago. You explained me about the seller finance thing, and you were right. The person who got in

their contract for this price, they couldn't close. Can you help me out? Because now I already moved out of the house, and I am behind one month of the payments. And I'm a human person. And we got under contract and that was my first wholesale assignment for you of $10,000. A week later, I get another message back, hey, do you still want to buy this house? And then, you know, the cycle of wholesaling, you need to build the pipeline. The pilot came back to me. So I start making money now. This is how direct to seller marketing typically works for anything, whether you're going to wholesale it, whether you're going to keep them for yourself. When you're doing direct to seller marketing, sometimes what you're doing is you're starting to roll that snowball, right? Because you're putting

an effort and people are saying no, but you're also giving them the idea that working with you or your creative strategy or even the idea to think about selling is just now popped in their head because they weren't thinking about it before until you called. And so they said no, maybe because I didn't understand it, maybe because it wasn't the right time. But once you plant that seed, it starts to grow. And then at some point, they may decide, oh, let me call Andreas. He called. He said he could do this. Now, now I'm in the right space. So you got to get the snowball started. And where people fail with direct-to-selling marketing is they quit before their snowball gets big enough to start producing results for them. And so they say it doesn't work and they're done. And then they miss their

opportunity because maybe somebody else starts marketing in the meantime to that same list. And then those leads that they started to foster end up going to somebody else, man. So that's super cool. So your wholesaling, your proof of concept worked. Then you start popping up. off $10,000 checks, $7,000 checks, $9,000 checks. So it's working. What did you move into after that? When I got started, even before real estate, the reason I was doing the side hassles is because I've always wanted to achieve the point that I achieve now where, like, I have enough cash flow I don't have to leave my house. I leave my house right now once or twice a month. I don't pick up the phone for anybody except if it's an emergency for my tenants because now I have AI running everything.

That level of freedom for somebody like me who had to start working at 14, right, who has always, depending on somebody else, I wanted to flavor that. And once I did, I realized I really like it and I don't want to go back to being on the hustle. A lot of people think because I hustle hard is because I have the, you know, the alpha type that I want to be the big CEO. I want to make the billion dollars. I am very okay making my, you know, 20, 30K a month passive income, working maybe 20, 30 hours a month, not having to do. talk to anybody in the phone. I don't have to talk to sellers. I don't have to talk to agents. But the transition was, it's very interesting. So going back to the beginning, on that deal with the real estate investor, we went to the home and he's like, okay, I will make this work,

but I need to put 10 rooms. I was like, absolutely not. You're going to raise money for that. You're going to abort from somebody money. You're going to steal it. Then you're going to walk away. No, I pass on that deal. But I got me thinking, hold on. Maybe there is something here I don't know about room rentals. And, you know, I'm already part of a mastermind. So I start talking with people, have you heard of this? I was like, oh yeah, I've heard about this, I've heard about this, I'm like, oh, this, and that. I was like, oh, okay, that's it. That's the end goal of cash flow. So I have several more questions about how you transition from this, but I want to get into those right after this break. 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 in the best markets across the country without making real estate your second job. That's exactly what rent to retirement does. They're a full service, turnkey investment company, handling everything for you. In some cases, investors get 50 to 75% of our down payment back at closing, plus interest rates as low as 3.75%. They've partnered with Bigger Pockets for over a decade, helping thousands invest smarter. If you want to do the same, visit BiggerPockets.com slash retirement to learn more. Quick word about a new pro perk you'll want to know about.

Avin, if you're a homeowner, there's a good chance you're sitting on equity that you're not using. The problem is tapping into that usually means a cash out refi, a traditional second mortgage, or weeks of paperwork just to get approved. Avin built something different. It's a credit card, but it's backed by your home equity. So you get a lot of the rate benefits of a he lock with the flexibility of a card you can use anywhere. Rates are typically well below a standard credit card. Approval is fast and mostly online. and you can use it for anything, a renovation, paying down high-interest debt, or just have more

breathing room in your budget. And if you're a BiggerPockets Pro member, there's an extra reason to check it out. Get approved for the Aven card, and you'll get a $400 statement credit after spending $400 on your Aven card. Enough to cover your entire annual pro membership. Head over to Aven.com slash Bigger Pockets to see if you qualify. Aven Financial Inc. NMLS. Number 2,024345. Cards issued for a 2028 license from Visa, U.S.A. Inc. by coastal community bank. NMLS. Number 4-62289. FDIC, Equal Housing Lender, subject to approval, terms apply, visit AVEN.com for details. You know what changed the way I invest?

Realizing that scaling rentals shouldn't mean creating more work for yourself. If you're trying to build that kind of system, Baseline is giving away $10,000 to help investors build rentals that run themselves. I own and manage dozens of properties. I travel a lot and I still work a W-2 job. And there was a point where I was checking multiple bank accounts, chasing rents and updating spreadsheets just trying to stay organized. Even on vacation, I was constantly checking if rank came in.

Now, everything runs through baseline. It's Bigger Pocket's official banking platform that automates my rental cash flow. Rents get deposited into dedicated property accounts. Transactions get automatically categorized and everything stays organized without me constantly managing it. That's the difference the right systems make. You can finally step away mentally without feeling like something's going to fall apart. Now my rentals practically run in the background, and yours could too. Deposit qualifying rental income into Baselaine for a chance to win $10,000.

Investing in real estate has always been smart, but it hasn't always been simple. Now, it's both thanks to the Fundrise Flagship Fund. The Fundrise Flagship Fund launched more than five years ago with a mission of delivering low-fee access to Blue Chip private market real estate. Today, the Fundrise Flagship Fund has grown to manage more. more than a billion dollars of real estate on behalf of hundreds of thousands of investors, making it one of the largest funds of its kind. For those who believe real estate has an important role to play in their portfolio strategy, the Fundrise flagship fund has positioned

itself as both a simple and a smart option. Whether you're starting with $10,000 or $10,000, the Fundrise flagship fund makes adding real estate's unique potential for both passive income and consistent growth. Just visit fundrise.com slash pockets to make your first investment today. Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fundrise flagship fund before investing. This and other information can be found in the fund's prospectus at fundrise.com slash flagship.

This is a paid advertisement. All right. We are back on the Bigger Pockets podcast with investor Andreas Martinez. Andre started off wholesaling, did several wholesale deals, made good money, and then decided you know what, I'm not going to do that anymore because I want to try this co-living thing. So you started to research. You learned about co-living. Did that deal that you were trying to wholesale become your first co-living property or did you end up wholesaling that? No. That same meetup that I went where I made my first wholesale deal for $500, it happens

every Saturday of the first month. I was on the way there and I get a call for my boss because I'm still working at a restaurant. I was like, I need you. And I was like, you know, it was like, January 2nd, brand new year. Like, you know, I walk up early, I shave, a workout. I was like, I'm going to go meet a lot of people. This is my year. And I miss a meetup. And I get a text message from another guy that I was kind of coaching, teaching how to do wholesale.

He was like, hey, this agent was walking around the meetup. This is a creative finance meetup full of creative finance investors. He was describing this property, these five rooms, three bedrooms, and the seller is in pre-foreclosure, and he doesn't really want to make a lot of money. He just wants to help the seller. But nobody else pay attention to it. And I automatically, nobody pay attention because they don't know co-living. Text the agent, I was like, I'll call you as soon as I get out of work.

I was supposed to get out of four. I didn't get out until 11. I gave him a call. He was like, I was waiting for your call. I was like, can we jump on a soon? Saturday at 11.30 at night, we're on a call for an hour. The next morning, we're meeting at the property with the seller before I go to work. Property under contract.

$3,000 down. I got a 2019 house, corner lot, five bedrooms, three bathrooms, ready to go for co-living. And so you essentially take over payments on this property. and you convert it to co-living. Did you have to add any bedrooms or did you just do it co-living as it sat? So I bring the deal to my mastermind and to make sure that even though I already knew

it was a good deal, I just needed, you know, I was about to put a lot of money in the conversion. It was about $40,000 to add three more rooms. We needed to redo the flooring because it was carpet. I need to put now LVP paint and I don't know anything about construction yet. And the guy who's hosting those mastermind,

he's like, Andres, do you want to sell me this? And I was like, oh, I really got a deal. Yeah, you know, I really got a deal. And he was like, these works long-term rental, section A, meantime rental, Airbnb, and you're going to go for the worst strategy called living. I was like, that's what I want to try, because it's in a great area. He has already five rooms, but I need to put three more to make, you know, maximum profit. And on that call, I was like, you know, it's going to be a lot of money, but I wish a good partner with somebody, you know, I don't have to use my money. So the money you were raising was the money for the renovation because you bought it sub two. But when you buy it sub-two,

that just gives you the money to buy it. You don't. If you're going to renovate it, that's got to come out of your pocket. You need the renovation. You need the furniture. You need the refrigerator, is the stove, holding costs. So about how much were you trying to raise to get all this done? 58,000. And on that Zoom chat, somebody texts me. He says, hey, Andres, we have money. Can we partner? That's okay. Let's talk about it. You bring all the money. I'll bring everything else. I'll manage it. And then we'll go from there. We go under contract. We close. We start renovations. My contractors end up stealing a lot money, not performing. I lost at that point because it was my responsibility, $40,000 out of my pocket to rebate all the flooring. The guys who were doing the work at the house, she never paid

them. So they were trying to come back and to destroy the bathrooms that they had built. I had to stay at the property. Oh, my goodness. Heart attack after heart attack. I was going to home depot in the morning, doing the renovation of myself at the end, going back to work all day, double shift because now I needed money. Everything that I made from all selling was kind of gone. Going back at night, anyways, we went live on March 1st. I was fooled in two weeks. Oh, my goodness. And how much were you renting each bedroom for? At the beginning, it was between 8 and 850. The private bathroom was for $1,000. So the total income was somewhere around $6,500. $6,500 a month. And what was your mortgage taxes insurance? $2,100. Oh, my goodness. After expenses and everything, the net was

at the beginning, like somewhere around $27, $2, $2,800. Yeah, man, that's a phenomenal cash flowing deal. What area of the country or what city are these deals being done in? mainly forward Texas. Now I'm in DFW, but at that point, I started mainly in Forward, Texas. So what did the next deal look like? And how long did it take you to get that? Well, I was finished during the renovation. I contacted everybody that I knew. Like, I need help. And I mean, this investor who already had another property coming up. And he was like, hey, since you know how to operate, right, you can get the properties. You can find the tenants. Let's partner up because I'm already partners with a contractor. And I was like, okay, perfect. That's the second property. We just,

jump into it, turns out the contractor ends up scamming him and scanning me. Boy, oh for two on contractors. The main guy who was working for the contractor ends up renting a room in the second house. Oh. So I'm walking through the house. I was like, hey, bro, like, you're still missing trim here and there and there. Eventually three days later, I was like, hey, rent is due. And then he explodes. Like, you haven't paid my boss. She said you haven't paid her for a month. That's why she doesn't have money, blah, blah, blah. And I showed him in the receipts. Like, we already pay her.

She was gone. So he was like, I don't have money. And I was like, okay, let's get to work and then I started just asking people, do you need a contract? He did a good job. And he's the main guy. Find him a job. Find him a second one. I was like, okay, can you find better? You find bigger houses.

Like, yeah, let me keep buying them. So now I was doing my food renovation. I learned a lot of construction there because he's been doing construction for 20 years. So we start doing more co-living for me, colliving for other investors, working with quarterfors, we learning how to do permits. Now I had an already on the contract that was a fixed on flip. We did the flip. We did another flip.

I bought another co-living. So now, instead of doing the wholesaling, now the contractor gig took up. And if you ask me between being a contractor and a wholesaler, I would take being the contractor. So that first co-living deal, you had a partner. So because the partner gave you the money for the renovation, the furniture, and then you guys were 50-50. Second deal was a different investor than who you were partnered with before? Yes, it was a different investor. He already wanted to invest in co-living, but he was missing the operations because

operations is very heavy in co-living. So it was the same deal, 50-50. But he was like, since you are messing up on the contractor stuff, let me bring my partner. Because she's the contractor and then the whole thing. Got it. So that ended up being a debacle from the contractor side. But it sounds like you were still able to get the house fixed up. And then were you able to get that one rented out?

And how many bedrooms were in that one? That one was eight bedrooms with an ADU in the back. And you were renting the rooms in that one for about how much? A little bit less, like between $750 and $800. So give us the breakdown on that. What was your mortgage taxes, insurance? and what were you bringing in a month? Gross income was around 64, 6,500 as well, pretty similar,

because we didn't have the ADU fully functional yet. That would have been an extra 1,000. Wow. We would kill it. PITI on that one was like 2,300, but we had a heat lock that we also took on second position because the start had a CILOC, so it was like an extra 300. But the net was still around the same, 22, 2300 at that time.

Yes, that's super cool. You're finding the people who either have the deals or can find the deals, And you bring the operations and the experience. And then you're typically 50-50 in those deals. So either somebody brings the money or the deal, you bring the operations, the experience, and then you 50-50. But it sounds like you've realized after two failed renovation projects with contractors running off with some money that you were like, this is a gap that I need to fill. So tell me about that. Did you go out and hire guys that you keep in-house? or do you have just like other GCs that you work with that mainly only work for you?

Like, what does that structure look like? So what I realized at that point was this contractor, she did not anything of a contractor. She just happened to find her main guy and his team was doing the stuff. So I was like, I can do the same. I can find the deals. I can find the houses. With the difference, I can work because I already did finish my house. I did the floor.

I did the tile. I did drive. I have a better understanding of that. So I was like, look, if you help me learn this more, I can get you jobs, right? because as a wholesaler, if I come with a contractor, at that point, I was still thinking about wholesaling. Like, it's a double win. So we started doing that. So this was the guy who was living in the place. You said he did good work. So you said, I'll be your new GC if you start working for me. And so you kept him busy. So now you're able to manage the renovation and then manage operating the property. So that's the value that you bring to the deal.

And then somebody else either brings the deal or brings the money and then you 50-50 on the co-living. Yes. So we did. did that one month after I did one more because I still had the leads coming from wholesale so I bought one more house I raise the money I did my own construction usually contractors contractors you know six to eight weeks I was able to do it in two weeks and I started realizing like okay all these people are just talking bullshit because they need to split their teams here and you split their them if you keep a group in one house framing takes one or two days drive will takes two more then you put the texture it dries it paints that's done because the

electrician can come in the morning a come at nine the AC so it doesn't take unless you're doing I mean electrical, of course, all of that. So I started keeping the guys busy. I started making money there. Slowly fade away from wholesaling. So you're GCing for other investors, either on flips or other co-living properties? Mainly co-living. I've done 29 now. That's really cool, man. I love to see that transition. So that's on the GC side. Would you mind just giving us a total breakdown of your portfolio as a whole to get an idea of what your business looks like? Yes. So I have right now 14 properties. I own 10 of them and I have four under management. On average, each one net's $192,000 right now. All right. So across that portfolio, Andreas, what is the net cash flow? What are you

put in your pocket every month? So all the properties net around $26,000, $28,000 a month, depending, you know, on the vacancies and all of that. And I take 50% of that. So I take home myself, $12,000 to $14,000 a month. Man, that's super cool. Congrats on building that. I do have some more questions because I know there's people listening who are very curious about co-living. So I'd love to get some of your thoughts around best practices things people should avoid if they're getting into this business. And also just thoughts around the management because it is a very management heavy business. Leases are a big thing and making sure all that's sorted out. And so I'd like to dive into that. But first, I want to take a quick break. Most investors only think about insurance when something goes wrong, a tenant injury,

storm damage, loss of rent. Then suddenly, the cheapest policy doesn't feel like the best one anymore. That's why a lot of BiggerPockets investors use steadily for landlord insurance designed specifically for rental properties. Whether you own one property or growing portfolio, they make it simple to get covered properly. And BiggerPockets Pro members get an extra 5% off their landlord insurance premiums. Visit biggerpockets.com slash landlord insurance to get a quote today. 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 in the best markets

across the country, without making real estate your second job? That's exactly what rent-to-retirement does. They're a full-service, turnkey investment company handling everything for you. In some cases, investors get 50 to 75% of our down payment back at closing, plus interest rates as low as 3.75%. They've partnered with Bigger Pockets for over a decade, helping thousands invest smarter. If you want to do the same, visit BiggerPockets.com slash retirement to learn more. A few weeks ago, I took a trip down to Pensacola, Florida with my dad and my kids. We spent our days at the beach and the pool. We cooked dinner together one night, and I got to experience the simple joy of just

watching my dad suck up time with his grandkids. We played around a mini golf that ended up being the best part of the whole trip. And it was one of those visits where you just slow down with the people you love and realize how much these ordinary days together actually mean. But while I was gone, my house was just sitting there empty. That got me thinking about something I hadn't really considered before. What if I could actually put that space to use while I'm away? That's what got my attention about Airbnb's co-host network.

If you've ever thought about listing your space on Airbnb but felt overwhelmed, a co-host can help. They're experienced locals who can create your listing, manage your reservations, message guests, handle on-site support, and even take care of design and styling. It makes the whole thing feel realistic and not like a full-time job. Instead of your home sitting empty, you could be earning a little extra cash to put towards your next trip or whatever else you're saving for. Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. Buying real estate has a funny way of making the future feel very real. You start thinking about mortgages, cash flow, tenants, and suddenly you realize if something happened to me, would the people I love be okay?

That's why life insurance is one of those things that's easy to put off, but is super important to actually deal with. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy, 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in minutes, and potentially get same-day coverage. There's no medical exam. You just answer a few simple health questions online. You can get up to $3 million in coverage, and some policies are as low as $30 a month. Ethos helps provide financial security and helps protect the people who depend on you. Take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through ethos.

Get your free quote at ethos.com slash real estate. That's ETHOS.com slash real estate. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Quick note before we dive back in. This episode is brought to you by Cash App. I've been using Cash App for years to send and receive money. Sometimes I need to pay someone who doesn't take credit.

cards, or if I want to split a check, or just to pay back a friend for a shared cost. Cash app also helps me online shop safely. More investors are thinking about where Bitcoin fits into a broader portfolio, not as a short-term trade, but as long-term exposure to an asset that behaves differently from traditional markets. Cash app makes that kind of Bitcoin strategy more straightforward. You can buy Bitcoin directly in the app, set up recurring purchases, or make larger buys when it makes sense for you.

And with zero fees and zero spread on automatic purchases like auto invest, roundups, and paid in Bitcoin, more of your money goes toward Bitcoin. Download Cash App today. Visit our link in bio. Bitcoin services by Block Inc. See the Bitcoin Disclosures at Cash App slash legal slash podcast. All right. We are back on the Bigger Pockets podcast with investor Andreas Martinez, who started off in this business wholesaling, but transitioned into a new. niche called co-living. Now, co-living has been a buzzword for the past couple of years. It's really started to pick up steam. More people are getting into the space, mostly because affordability of housing is tough, especially in larger metro areas where real estate prices are higher. And so for people who are interested, what are some of the most important things they need to be thinking about when

operating a co-living business. This is not a passive strategy at all. You're having the complexity of having multiple personalities living under one building. So everything that you're thinking right on your head that is a red flag, it is a red flag. But there are ways to go around it. There are ways to fix it. There are ways to manage it. So you need to develop a lot of systems to be able to run this because for people who are starting it out,

if you've never run a side hustle, if you've never run a business on the side, if you've never had that mentality, it could be overwhelming for you if you start growing your portfolio a lot. So just to start with one, start with two, give it a few months, see if you like it, and then decide to move forward. Okay. Let's play a game of Mythbusters because there's a lot of assumptions that people make with co-living. Myth number one or truth is that co-living is going to have high turnover. So you're going to have people moving in and out all the time, short leases. It depends. What type of business you want to run. If you allow some to come for three months in your house because they are on an internship or just because they're

getting divorced, then yes, you're going to have turnovers. And this is what I try to explain people when they come to my groups and want to learn about co-living. I am focused on colliving because of the affordability issue. I don't want to have people out of state coming here for a month or two. I am targeting the guy that works at the gas station, the lady that works down at the McDonald's. They don't make enough to rent their own studio, but they have a job here. They have their family here, but they want to be independent. So they come to my house. I always start me on a month-to-month lease, because in Texas, if I don't like them, I can let them go. If they don't like me, we can just part away

amicably. And I always tell them, it's a month, maybe two months, make sure you like it. And at that point, either you saw a 12-month-list or you out. So once you stabilize the property, you don't have turnovers. And it's 107 rooms that I have. It will be impossible for me to run all of these by myself with no BAs if I had high turnover. The problem, the, the problem, of the, you know, the weekly rental and all of that, that's, imagine you have to move so many people weekly. Like, you need a big team. And every time you bring a personnel into the house, like, oh my God, who's coming now? Right. It's, it's a big gamble. Given this method, do you find that you usually have people that stay their entire term and then release up with you?

I find people that I've had since my first house. Actually, three of them on my first house just signed in January another one you release. Oh, man. That's really cool. You have to think about it. And so that's right people, why would they leave? They have the same job. They haven't gotten a pay race. They are not going to college. They're not going to get a higher paying job. They have not find a partner yet. And this is, you know, people between 25 and 35. We're not talking about elderly or any people disabled. The house runs well. The house is clean. The house is safe. They know that management is on top of everything. Why would they leave? All right. Myth number two, or truth, is that there's too many people issues and my phone is going to be going off all day

along with tenants complaining about their housemates. Yes, if you don't know what you're doing. For example, a lot of people don't want to talk to them up front. They want to have, you know, a message and auto approval ratings, like no background checks. If you allow that type of people in your house and then you get mad because they didn't wash the dishes, that's on you. You're a terrible operator. You're a terrible manager because you have to realize everybody comes from a different background,

right? For this person, that means clean. If you rent the same house and you have somebody else who comes. from a different background who they know what clean is and they come in and they see dishes all the time I'm out of here bro the model that we run is we are very upfront before they even come to the city house like there's eight people here you're going to have to be extremely clean especially in the bathrooms if you don't like it just let me know cancel the showing and a lot of people do that's good go leave somewhere else I want to have people here who need it in my houses and and

when they come they follow the rules like I really have almost no problems with with dirty dishes or like people fighting in the house or that they don't take the trash. It's all about pre-screening, man. It's every landlord's secret is pre-screening. We as landlords have to stop putting off our failures on our tenants. Our job as landlords, no matter what type of landlord, is to be great at tenant selection. The better we are at tenant selection,

the more profitable that we're going to be. All right. Here's one that you may not have had to accept. experience yet, but it is one that people think about. When going to sell a property, do you have to un-renovate and put it back in its original condition? You can sell it as a living to another investor, but you heard me say, I bought a five-bedroom house and I added three rooms. That's only two-by-fourths on drive-wall that can be taken out in one day. Maybe it's going to cost me three to four thousand to report a house and put it back to normal. Now I can resell my property to the normal world. I don't have to

wait for a col-lidian investor to come and buy this house. Because if you're buying a house that is already renovated, if the investment was so good, why are you selling? On top of that, an appraiser walks into the house, and they don't see a living room. They're like, what is this? How do I compensate? So there are very few lenders who will help you finance

already converted coll-living. But as an investor, I want to keep my options open. The other myth, last truth, is parking is going to be an issue. Everybody's going to fight over parking spots. The neighbors are going to complain. because there's cars on the street. Yes, that's true. And how do we deal with it?

My first house, my neighbor, he wanted to call the city of me. He was very mad that we were going to rent. And I was like, I have my own parking in my corner lot, bro. And all my houses are at the corner lot. I have parking in my backyard. So there is absolutely no reason why my tenants would park against their houses. In fact, it is in my lease. If you're going into any more houses, we have parking pictures there,

like where they're supposed to park. I check the cameras once a week at the beginning. Once the tenants are on the behavior, like, okay, we only parking in our house. They stick to it, right? So I don't have parking issues after that. But it's true. If I didn't buy the right house with parking, I would be struggling. All right, Andreas.

Thank you so much for playing that game. I know a lot of people have similar questions. There's probably even more questions. So if you're listening and you've got questions, drop a comment below. And maybe we can help you get some answers to those questions. Or check out the bigger pockets forums and make a post in there. and there will be tons of investors who can help you with some of these ideas. Andreas, is there a way people can find you if they want to learn more about co-living or just learn more about you in general?

Yes. My name is Andreas Martinez R.I on YouTube and Instagram. I have a lot of free content on YouTube. So for people who are curious and want to hear more about the actual Collebian, you can go in there. If you want to message me, you can find me on Instagram, and Red Martinez R-EI'd. And also, I have a school group now that is free to join. We meet once a week and I hold two or three-hour calls. for people to come ask me because my inbox is full of like the same questions over and over and over. And it's not I don't want to answer, but I don't, I don't have time. So I just, if you want to get free game, I host a call once a week, come in, ask me, I'm live for two or three hours. And then after that, you know, go, go home.

Awesome. Thank you so much, Andreas. Thank you for sharing your journey. Thank you for the lessons and being open and honest with us. And thank you so much to the bigger pockets community for listening. We'll see everybody on the next episode of Bigger Pockets. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters.

On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca.