In this week’s podcast, we talk to John T Griffith, who is the first person to ever tell us about Bigger Pockets and inspire us to get into property.
We share how the podcast started with a simple email from John, that led to him sharing his journey in the #MoneyMagic student group, which led to the Property Magicians Podcast. As part of the 100th episode, we thought it would be fun to have John come on the podcast to share his property investment and entrepreneurial journey.
John is based in Boston, MA and defines himself as an entrepreneur. He runs several businesses; real estate is one of them, the other is a coaching and healing business.
He got into property because he was tired of paying rent to his landlord who was chilling in Florida and collecting rent checks from his tenants.
He also had a job where he was paying US$50k (R767,000) in taxes a year, which upset him because when he ran his own business he barely paid tax.
So he started asking questions on how to pay less taxes and was told, by a friend, to get into property.
He bought his first property - 3 unit property (1 bedroom units) - in 2017 for US$540,000 (R8.282 million) for no money down (he got a VA Loan).
The property was positive cash flowing from the start - he and his wife decided to house hack; they lived in one of the units and converted the other two units into 2-bedroom units, which allowed them to pay zero rent and still increase their rental income.
When their daughter was born, they needed more space and decided to buy a new property. They used a home equity line of credit to borrow US$33k (R506k) in equity, which became the down payment for the next property.
The second property had 2 units - 1 top and 1 bottom unit. They AirBnB'd the lower level for a year and have now gotten a day-care license and will use that unit to run a day-care centre with 6 kids at US$2000 (R30,673) per kid per month.
This is another jam-packed episode.
Click play to listen to episode 100 and leave us a comment in the comments section below.
PS: To celebrate the 100th episode, we are running a series of live interviews with some guests that have been on the show on our Instagram profiles to hear how being on the podcast has influenced their journey as investors. The interviews are happening in the evenings this week; we will announce the guests and the time of the interview on the day of the interview. To get information on these follow us on Instagram: @VangileMakwakwa and @PropDocMom
Episode 61: How to do deal analysis and mitigate risk in real estate
Episode 60: Using village land to solve the problems of poverty
Episode 59: Using other people’s money to grow to 70 properties
Episode 58: Why you need a Quantity Surveyor on your next property investment project
Episode 57: From Fitness Trainer to negotiating a R1 billion (US$61 million) property deal
Episode 56: Profiting from rent to rent on the African continent
Episode 55: From a mud house to building dream houses
Episode 54: Overcoming addiction to own 35 properties
Episode 53: Why it is important to get your mindset right before you start off on your investment journey
Episode 52: How the #PropertyMagicians podcast has impacted listeners and guests
Episode 51: How to make a profit in 6 months flipping (buy, renovate and sell) houses using other people's money
Episode 50: Lessons learned from having your properties being auctioned and rebuilding a bigger portfolio during a recession
Episode 49: How to make money flipping properties and invest in property with your taxes
Episode 48: A high return property investment opportunity for the busy investor
Episode 47: Real Estate investing trends in Suriname
Episode 46: From growing up in a tin house to a 380 unit development by the age of 27
Episode 45: Exploring high cashflowing properties in the Cape Town ekasi market
Episode 44: From cleaner to building an international company
Episode 43: An inspirational 8 year journey to developing 14 units
Episode 42: Lessons learned from making R1 Million by 21
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