I Started Buying Rentals at 46. By 50, They’ll Replace My Salary.

0:00Kent Long bought his first rental property at 46 years old, just two years ago in 2024. By the time he's 50, he'll have a real estate portfolio that will retire him early. He did all this while working a 9-to-5, on the road 3-4 days per week, and without a ton of his own savings. Kent began looking for passive income streams, but all the internet gurus and guides turned out to be selling a fantasy. After hitting a breaking point, Kent saw a house on the market with enough square footage to convert it into two units. This would turn into the beginning of an investing career Kent never imagined.

0:34With just$14 ,000 down, Kent turned one down payment into four properties, making him$5 ,500 a month in cash flow. And he did it all in just two years. Now he's close to fully replacing his salary with rentals, allowing him to retire from his job at age 50, 15 years before traditional retirement age. He did it all starting in 2024. So if you think you're late to real estate, this is your sign to get in the game.

1:07What's going on, everybody? I am Henry Washington, co-host of the BiggerPockets podcast. And today we're bringing you an investor story with Kent Long from Altoona, Pennsylvania. Let's bring him on. Kent Long, welcome to the Bigger Pockets podcast.

1:22Kent Long:Henry, I'm honored to be here, honestly. Bigger Pockets has been a huge part of my real estate journey. Well, why don't you kind of start there? Tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into real estate in the first place. Starting off, I was always looking for passive income. So unfortunately, just life costs so much money. So to live normally, you have to have extra income coming in. So my initial thought process was I read Tim Ferriss, 4-Hour Workweek, and I started an Amazon business. So I made two products on Amazon and I had two different manufacturers in China that would send stuff directly to Amazon.

2:02Kent Long:So ideally, it makes sense. Then that's totally passive. You watch all the YouTubers, and they say how easy it is, and you can make extra thousand bucks per unit that you're selling. The kicker is it costs so much money to advertise on Amazon that you don't make any money. So then after that, I stumbled on bigger pockets and started listening to just real estate. I've always been like Mr. Fix-It at home and can fix things. And my dad's a union carpenter. So I've always had a background of building and fixing things. And then about two years ago, when I was going through kind of a bad divorce, I had an option and I could either rent because my wife was sleeping in the house, or I could look at either flipping a house, kind of live in flip or buy a property that I could fix up and then pull some equity out.

2:51Kent Long:So that's kind of my initial dive into it. About when did you start researching real estate? And then about when was it when you bought your first real estate deal? My job, my nine to five, I travel a lot. So I'm in the car between two and four hours, three to four days a week. So it would just be podcast after podcast, whether it was entrepreneurship. And then eventually about three years ago to two and a half years ago, really just diving into bigger pockets and just constantly listening to it in in the car. So in July of 2024, I was looking at my first property. My real estate agent at the time had a property that used to be a duplex and it was converted to a single family.

3:38Kent Long:But all I literally had to do is put a door on it. So you walk in, the first floor would have been one apartment and then there was another door that went upstairs for the second apartment. So literally just putting a door on it would make it a duplex. What city was this? At Altoona, PA. Altoona, Pennsylvania. And how much did you pay for this large single family home that was a duplex turned into a single that you wanted to turn back into a duplex? But I actually turned it into a trash. We'll get to that. So purchase price is$70 ,000. 70 grand? Was it just sticks? Like, was it livable? All new LVP in the first and second floor and the third floor, all LVP already done.

4:18Kent Long:And everything was freshly painted. Is this just prices in this market? How'd you find this deal? Was it on the market? Was it off market deal? It was on the market for a while. So that house fell through a couple of times. They sold it twice maybe and the loan didn't go through right or something happened. So then the seller just needed it kind of off his plate. But it was only at most it was on the market for 80 or 90. Wow. I just didn't realize the price points were that low. Well, the price points will get better and you're going to be, that's in the high end of what I pay. Okay. All right.

4:55All right. So you paid 70. It was a single that used to be a duplex. You ended up converting it back to a multifamily. How much did it cost you to renovate this property to get it turned into, I guess you said a triplex now.

5:09Kent Long:$10 ,000. Okay. Did it cost 10 grand because you have the skills to do all the work yourself or did it cost 10 grand just because it was in pristine condition and you didn't have to do much? So I didn't have to do a lot, but I do all of the work. So, you know, the idea is, you know, I have a background of, you know, redoing kitchens and redoing bathrooms and I can do flooring and painting and everything else. But that's all that I had to put into it to convert it into a try. I had a little bit of cabinets I had to add into the kitchen. And then there were some cabinets up on that second floor that I used in the third unit, which was in the back.

5:47Can you estimate what you think the renovation would have cost had you had to hire a contractor?

5:52Kent Long:I mean, I always double it. So it's 20 to 30, you know, 20 to 30 grand. That's fair. That's fair. Okay, cool. That paints a good picture of about the level of work that needed to be involved with this property. And so then you converted it to a triplex. I know I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but I'm so curious because of that price point. What are the rents for the individual units? So they basically added a business off the backside of this house. That unit, I furnished it. And then there's a makeshift kitchen back there too. And I get$850 for that little unit. And it's as big as a whatever hotel room.

6:28Okay. So you're cash flowing off one unit. All right. What else you got?

6:32Kent Long:Right. So then on the first floor, one bedroom, I get right around$900 a month for that. And the third unit? $1 ,250. What? Because it's three bedroom. And this is off of a$70 ,000. Crap. $70 ,000 single family,$10 ,000 renovation, which includes sweat equity, which is fine. And you're able to bring in$850 ,000,$900 ,000, and$1250 ,000 for a total of$3 ,000 a month in rent on an$80 ,000 all-in purchase? Right. That's a good stinking deal. Wow. Yeah. Congratulations on that. That's impressive. Thank you. Thank you. We always want to hit that home run in the first one. All right. So how did you structure the financing for this?

7:22Did you pay out of your pocket? Is it a conventional loan?

7:25Kent Long:It was a 30-year conventional loan. So you put down 20%, 25 %? Yeah,$14 ,000 to$20 ,000. What's your debt service? So what are you paying the mortgage on that property? Oh, I mean, so - It's so low, he doesn't even know, guys. He was like, I don't know, 50 bucks, I see. All of my loans are like between$400 and$600. $600 a month mortgage, bringing in$3 ,000 a month. Even you put$14 ,000 down after a few months, you got your money back. That's... Oh, yeah. What a deal. What a deal. Now, I'm very curious now as to what the numbers look like on this second deal. And we're going to dive into that after this quick break.

8:06Here's a strategy that most W-2 employees have never heard of. Normally, if you want to write off a rental property against your regular income, you need real estate professional status. That means tracking hundreds of hours a year. Rent to Retirement just launched a program that skips all of that. It's called the STR Loophole Tenant Placement Program. Here's how it works. You buy one of Rent to Retirement's Class A new construction investment properties. You set up an Airbnb listing and self-manage it for the remainder of the year. Rent to retirement, then rents the home as a short-term rental to establish it as an STR for the year.

8:42No furnishing required, making this the easy button to save five or six figures in taxes this year. And because you're the sole manager, there's no hourly minimum to meet. That lets you use a cost segregation study to accelerate the depreciation and potentially write off over$100 ,000 against your income, even on your first rental. Add in cash back up to 13 % of the home price, which exceeds$60 ,000 on some properties. With this massive cash back incentives, investors are seeing total returns up to 126%. New construction, A-class properties, and inventory is limited. Learn more at biggerpockets.com slash retirement or text REI to 33777.

9:26Again, text REI to 33777. Quick word about a new pro perk you'll want to know about. Avon. 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. Avon 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 HELOC 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.

10:01A 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 BiggerPockets to see if you qualify. AVEN Financial, Inc., NMLS number 2042345. Cards issued for swanity license from Visa, USA, Inc., by Coastal Community Bank. NMLS number 462289. Member FDIC, equal housing lender. Subject to approval, term supply.

10:31Visit avon.com for details. Trying to get started in real estate investing or wholesaling? The hardest part is finding and talking to motivated sellers before everyone else does. That's why new investors are using PropStream. PropStream gives you access to over 160 million properties nationwide, plus simple AI tools that help you find better deals faster. Use pre-built lead lists like pre-foreclosures, vacant homes, and cash buyers, then let the PropStream Intelligence Assistant help you analyze properties and estimate opportunities in seconds. And now with PropStream Connect, you can do more than just find leads.

11:10You can actually contact them. You get free skip tracing, including LLC and corporate contacts. You can launch dialer campaigns, use click-to-dial with AI prompts, automate follow-up marketing, and send postcards all from one platform. No experience needed. You'll also get accurate comps, built-in calculators, and step-by-step training through PropStream Academy so you know exactly what to do next. Start your free 7-day trial and get 50 free leads at www.propstream.com. That's www.propstream.com. If you own rental properties, you know the job does not stop at closing. There's tenant screening, rent collection, maintenance calls, and the paperwork that comes up with all of it.

11:58If you're managing more than one to two doors, that workload adds up fast. That's where Mind, BiggerPockets' preferred full-service property management partner, comes in. Mind is built specifically for real estate investors with experienced property management teams, local market expertise, and purpose-built technology. They support leasing, rent collection, maintenance coordination, and reporting. Whether you're managing one rental or scaling towards your 10th, Mind is built to grow with you. It frees up your time to focus on finding your next deal instead of fielding maintenance calls. And it's not just about time.

12:32If you're a BiggerPockets Pro member, Mind will save you$500 for every home you onboard, up to$10 ,000 in your first year. Check mind.co to save time, money, and frustration. That's M-Y-N-D dot C-O.

12:51All right, we are back on the BiggerPockets podcast. I am speaking with investor Kent Long, who has just shared his very first real estate deal with us, and it was a banger. So Kent, tell me about this next one.

13:05Kent Long:So first property, fix it up, basically added two units because it was a single family, turned it into a try. Because I turned it into a try, I got to be able to pull, I mean, it's 80 % of the appraised value. So then I was able to pull out a$78 ,000 HELOC. Well, I want to caveat one thing though, because I just want to make sure that we're clear on the terms. I love this strategy, by the way. So you essentially did a BRRRR, except I call it a modified BRRRR. It's a BRRRR. It's instead of a refinance at the end, it's a HELOC at the end. And so you actually didn't pull money out. You just got access to a line of credit.

13:44I like this strategy more than the BRRRR. And the reason I do is because when you refinance, you're getting a new loan at a higher amount, which then lessens your cash flow. But because you just pulled a line of credit, you gave yourself access to the equity, but you didn't get a new loan at a higher amount. Your loan stays the same and you only pay more when you borrow the money against the HELOC. So he was saying he pulled money out. He didn't necessarily pull it out. He got access to it. I think it's a fantastic strategy. I'm glad you went that route. So you've now got access to this$70 ,000 line of credit.

14:18And so that gives you buying power, right? So what did you do with that?

14:20Kent Long:I bought another single family right around 1 ,700 square feet, and I was going to turn it into a duplex, but I bought it for$30 ,000. So you paid cash from your line of credit. So you pulled out$35 ,000. Again, why I like this strategy, because he didn't refinance, he didn't get a new loan. He was able to use$35 ,000 of the 70 ,000 he had access to. So you're actually only paying interest only payments on 35 ,000 versus having if you did on a refinance, you're essentially paying for all the money at once. So you pull out 35 ,000, you pay cash for a house that you want to convert from a single to a multi.

14:57Now, were you specifically targeting single families that had the potential to be multis? Or was this just coincidence?

15:05Kent Long:Ideally, I wanted duplexes or tries. they're the easiest to renovate. I mean, that's, you know, the whole bird process is, it's easier for you, but the whole idea of duplexes and tries is I like one renter to pay the mortgage and one renter to pay me. So, you know, when you look at, when you look at multifamilies, it's just the cashflow. And that's ideally was always, there's always been my goal. So 35 ,000, how much did it cost you to renovate this one? 20 ,000 all in. What are you getting in rents on those units? $1 ,000 for the two-bedroom on the upstairs and then$900 for the one-bedroom. So$30 ,000 purchase,$20 ,000 rehab, all in for$50, bringing in$1 ,900 a month.

15:51Again, that is a fantastic cash-flowing deal. Did you finance this one the same way or did you do it a little different?

15:58Kent Long:So when I went to get that refinance, that's when I went the commercial, like the commercial loan route, which I really, I just, I love it. It's just so much simpler, so much quicker. So then it got reappraised at 110. So I pulled like an$85 ,000 loan out on that and was able to pay off$20 ,000 of credit card debt and pay down that$30 ,000 that I initial investment. Okay. Cause you paid cash, right? And you probably funded the renovation out of your own pocket. So you're all in 50, but it's 50 cash. So then you went and you got a loan on the property itself for 80. That gives you some cash in your pocket to pay off your debts.

16:46And an $80 ,000 loan bringing in$1 ,900 a month is still phenomenal cash flow. Plus you were able to pay off credit card debt, which essentially increases cash flow too, right? Because now you're not paying You're not paying those credit card bills. That's awesome, man. And I know a lot of people are listening and they're thinking, man, well, I can't buy$30 ,000 houses. Well, A, you can because you can invest out of state if you want to. And B, there's markets like this all over the country. So don't just believe the lie of if you're paying less than$100 ,000 that you're getting some piece of crap that is going to cost you more to fix it up than it is to sell it.

17:22There are plenty of markets where the price points are lower. There's obviously risk to those things. Usually markets with lower price points like this don't have a ton of appreciation. So I'm curious, is that what it's like in your market? Do these properties appreciate with the national average, or do they kind of just sit flat?

17:38Kent Long:It would sit flat. I mean, when it comes to risk, I like to think of it as lower risk than anything else because the money that I'm putting into it, The amount of money that I would invest into a$30 ,000 house compared to a$300 ,000 house, I'm just mitigating risk just in the initial price point. It's a sliding scale, right? It's a seesaw. Typically, if you're in a market where you're getting tons of appreciation, cash flow is none, negative, hard to find. Inversely, when you're in a market where you can get phenomenal cash flow. I mean, we're talking a debt service of$600 bringing in$3 ,000. That is phenomenal cash flow, but you're not going to get a ton of appreciation, right?

18:21That's just how real estate tends to work. So you need to figure out if you're listening to the show to figure out what your strategy is, you have to set your own goals and then buy properties in a market that allow you to meet those goals, right? There's going to be ups and there's going to be downs. There's going to be risks and you want to be rewarded for the risk. I think that this is a decent strategy if you're trying to build up cash flow, heavy cash flow market. Before we move on to this next deal, Kent mentioned that he used a HELOC on his first house to fund his second property. And if you're a BiggerPockets Pro member, we have a new perk with our HELOC partner, Avon, that can get you a$400 statement credit.

18:59So go and check that out if you're a BiggerPockets Pro member. All right, Kent, I love these deals. I think this is a good strategy in what seems to be a very highly cash flow heavy market. You're from the market. You live in the market. So you understand that market. I think that that's a smart investment plan. Paint us a picture here in terms of time. The first deal was 2024 in July. How long was it between that one and this deal?

19:27Kent Long:I got this deal done in February of 2025. So about seven months later, you did this next deal. Okay, that's a reasonable timeframe. You did one deal, you learned some lessons, you go and do another deal, that's great. Okay, and how long did it take you from deal two to deal three? It took a little bit longer because, That's when I got my son involved into this real estate journey. First one was a home run. The second one was going really well. And I knew that it was going to work out because I already had the cash. And another duplex. While I was working on my second property, another duplex came up for$44 ,000.

20:05Okay. This was on the market listed?