I Went from $1,000 to 100 Rentals in 8 Years (+ BIG Announcement)

0:00Today on the BiggerPockets podcast, I have a big, exciting announcement. Yes, you do have a big, exciting announcement.

0:11Hey, everyone. I'm Dave Meyer, head of real estate investing at BiggerPockets and the co-host of the BiggerPockets podcast. And I'm saying co-host because after a year and a half of doing this thing solo, we are finally having a co-host join the show. And it is none other than Mr. Henry Washington. Henry, thank you so much for joining the show and welcome and congratulations on officially being the co-host. Thank you so much. I am so excited to be able to be the official co-host. You finally made an honest man out of me. We have been talking about this for a very long time. So I am excited to make this official.

0:49And I couldn't be more excited because you are obviously one of the best investors out there. I think we have really complementary skill sets and can bring different things to the audience. And you're just a good dude and someone I like hanging out with. So I think this is going to be a lot of fun. I also know it's going to be a lot of fun. And I mean, I'm just blessed. I've been fortunate enough to be around BiggerPockets over the past few years. But even when I first got started with my journey, like BiggerPockets is where I turn to to learn how to do this. And so to be able to now go from that to being the co-host and being able to be a voice for more people to learn, like this is a dream come true.

1:26Well, I'm super excited. We have a lot of fun shows and content planned for all of you in 2026 here on the Bigger Pockets podcast. So today on the show, we are going to give you a little behind the scenes about how we made this decision. Then we'll talk about what you can expect from the Bigger Pockets podcast going forward in 2026. And then we're going to get into Henry's incredible investor story. You may have heard bits and pieces of it on the show because Henry's been on the show before, but we're going to go into it because it's super motivational. It's inspiring. It's relatable. And I think it's a great way to kick off our official partnership and for all of you to kick off the year in 2026, because there's so much good information that you all can take with you for your own investing strategy heading into this year.

2:08So I have been hosting the show for a year and a half now, and I have always been wanted a co-host, but that's a big decision. That's a big commitment. And we took some time, and obviously you've been on the show, but it just has become more and more clear. Every time you come on the show, I have more fun hosting the show when you're there. I think the audience has more fun. The guests have more fun. And so it's just become really obvious that you are the right person to be on the show right now in 2026. Yeah, man, it's been super cool just to go on this journey of growing as a podcast host. because this is my, I believe, third going on fourth year, just being involved with BiggerPockets in some capacity.

2:49When I was first asked to co-host some episodes back when Brandon left, I just remember how nervous I was. And I remember thinking, like, why would anybody want to listen to anything I have to say on this show? And I've had to grow a lot as a co-host and a personality. And I think the timing is just kind of perfect. I, in addition to everything you said, really feel confident that you and I, although we have sort of the same long term vision and sort of big picture philosophy about real estate investing, the stuff we do day to day is pretty different. It's really different. And I think that's a great perspective to bring to the audience because I am much more analytical.

3:32I do I do a combination of different types of investing. I have my hands in a lot of different pots. You are like all in, doing the thing every single day. And I think both are really important, and both approaches are representative of the BiggerPockets audience. Like, this is what most of the people listening to this podcast right now are doing. And so, I think joining forces, we are really bringing that level of expertise for pretty much the whole BP community. Yeah, no, I agree with you. I think most people are in a position similar to either you or I. And if they aren't now, they probably were when they got started.

4:09And so having a couple of hosts that are representative of the majority of your community, I think, can only be helpful because people can learn from our successes, but also learn from our mistakes. I make a lot of mistakes. And I want to be transparent with the audience. Like, I want to talk to you about the things that I screw up. And I want people to just know that we're just a couple of dudes who happened to buy some houses and they turn out usually to be pretty decent investments and it changed our lives. And I know that people can learn a lot from hearing about our experiences. If we can do it anyway.

4:50You darn right, buddy. Well, again, man, super excited to have you. I think this is going to be great for the whole BiggerPockets community. Just so you all know what you can expect, we're not changing up the shows or anything. We're still going to have three shows a week. We're still going to be doing investor stories once a week. We're going to bring you tactics, strategies, conversations, debates once a week. We'll also be doing economics, market data at least once a week as well. Most of those are going to be Henry and I together. Some of them will be Henry alone. I'll probably do most of that economic stuff alone to spare you from having to do all that stuff.

5:26But you'll basically just see a lot more of Henry in the same kind of formats that we've been sharing with you for the last year and a half. We're going to go into Henry's story. You've probably heard bits and pieces about it as he's been on the show a lot, but I think we should just start from the beginning and talk about where you were in life, sort of like mentally and financially when you decided to get into this business. Mentally, I was immature. Financially, I was immature. I didn't have any financial background. So like we didn't talk about money in my household. Like as a kid or even with your wife?

6:03As a kid. When I got married, that came up. But prior to me getting married, I worked a corporate gig for Walmart. I was designing software. I had a great job. I made six figures. And because I had no financial education, I was just bad with the money. And so I spent it. I had a bigger apartment than I needed, right? I had a nicer car than I needed. And so I spent more money than I made, essentially. Really? Were you, like, putting on credit cards? I was. I was. I would, you know, spend most of my money every couple of weeks. And if I needed more, I'd put it on credit cards or I would, you know, eat ramen noodles and McDonald's dollar menu food until I got paid again.

6:45And, um, I didn't contribute to my 401k. I had no savings. I had about a thousand dollars in my savings account. And I was fine living like that. But as you mentioned, I got married. And what I quickly learned when I got married was that my wife, Jessica, did not want to eat off the dollar menu toward the end of the pay period until we got paid again. She thought that that was something we shouldn't do. That was the first time in my life where I started to realize that my poor financial decisions were now impacting somebody other than myself. And it all came to a head when we tried to buy a house together, right?

7:25with the American dream, get married, buy a house, you know, have kids. Like, we were gonna go down that path. And during the loan process, the banker called me and said, hey, if you want your wife to be able to buy a house, you can't be on the loan. Your credit is bringing down her ability to own a home. And it was, I literally remember that conversation. It was like a punch in the gut, man. I just, I remember feeling nauseated. I remember just thinking like, I'm screwing this up for us. Um, and even though I made more money, and I wanted to be this provider, like, I had this urge to provide for my now new wife, and I couldn't.

8:07But you could have. Like, you had the resources to be able to do it. Yeah. Like, I mean, no offense, but like, it was your decision you're making. It wasn't like your circumstances. That's what made it feel worse, right? That's what made it feel terrible, is that it was no one to blame but me. I was just, you know, my ignorance about financial education was now costing us the life that I wanted us to have and that she wanted. And so, I did remove myself from the loan. She did buy the house, and luckily, she allowed me to live with her, and I thought that was very kind. And not long after that, we're sitting in bed one night, having a conversation about our future, right?

8:44And this is what all young married couples do. You talk about, you know, how many kids you want to have and places you want to go on vacation and just visualizing your future life together. And we were talking about, you know, our dream home and what that looks like and where that would be. And I just remember thinking, while we were talking, like, I can't afford any of that, like, a dream home. I can't. I wasn't on the loan for this home. Right. Now we're talking about dream homes. And I didn't want to let her know how scared I was during that conversation, but I was terrified because I was just like, at some point, she's gonna realize that I can't provide her this life.

9:23And she's gonna be out the door. And like, none of that is true. Like, that's where your brain goes. Yeah, you're like, can imagine you just feel like, you know, you want to make your wife's dreams come true. And you didn't have the maturity, like you said, to provide at the point. And so that night, I had a literal panic attack. Because I just couldn't stop thinking about these things. You know, people say the word panic attack or the phrase panic attack all the time. I'm like, this was legitimate. I woke up just sweating and couldn't breathe. And I felt like the walls were closing in on me. And I didn't know what else to do.

9:59So I just started Googling on my phone, like how to make extra money. I remember I started Googling side hustles. I started Googling how to make extra money. Because in my head, I was like, the problem is I don't have enough money. So if I get more money, then everything will be okay. And so I was just like, I'll just do anything on the side to start making money. and I started finding articles about real estate investing on BiggerPockets. Like, those were all the search results, where just people were investing in real estate. And I started to read through some of the posts and started to watch YouTube videos of people investing in real estate.

10:33And I just realized that, like, normal people owned real estate. And before that, I'd never thought about it. Like, I just assumed super rich people or corporations owned real estate. Like, I'd never had to think about real estate before. but something about it just gave me a piece. Like I was like, oh, if all these people have figured out how to own real estate and change their financial future, like I'll just do that. Like I felt so comfortable with that decision, which in hindsight is silly. Yeah, that is, it's wild because there are easier sidehomes. Yes, I see. There's easier things to start off.

11:11Like you could go buy for Uber or something, but like what was it about this? Is it kind of like the long-term benefit? Or like what about real estate hooked you? I don't know. It almost felt like I was supposed to do it. Because it's silly to think about. I had$1 ,000 in my savings account. I had sub-600 credit score. And I was sitting in a house that I couldn't afford to be on the loan for. And I thought my solution to my money problems would be to buy more houses. Let me go get more loans. This is a perfect time to go apply for a loan. But honestly, sometimes it takes a little bit of naivete to get into this.

11:47You don't know what you don't know. You just throw yourself into it. Clearly, something about it inspired you. That is, as your story is evidence of, sometimes the inspiration and the motivation matters more than the facts on the ground of what your financial situation looks like. Yeah, and I'm not telling people to just go do something stupid. I didn't do this in a stupid way. what I did at that time at three in the morning was I made a decision. Like I remember deciding, I was like, Oh, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to figure it out. And I like had this piece and I went to sleep and I woke up the next morning and I told Jessica, I was like, we're going to be real estate investors.

12:29And she did that. Well, you just did. That's what she did. But in all seriousness, I think that she thought anything that it was better than the directory that we were on. And she was like, all right, well, you know, I had a grandfather on some rental properties like this. You know, I think this is something that we could do if we put our minds to it." And then I started to just surround myself with investors. I didn't know how to do it. And so, like, in my brain, all I could think was, like, there's gotta be people locally doing it. I'll find who they are, and I'll see if I could just spend time around them.

13:03And so that's when I found real estate meetups. I didn't know meetups were a thing, but I was just Googling real estate investors in Northwest Arkansas. I found the meetups, I would go to the meetups, and I found this community of people who just wanted to help you. Which is so weird because most industries like this, people are competitive and they play everything close to the vest and they don't want to share. But when I went to the first real estate meetup, everybody was like, well, how can we help you? It's like, what do you need? Do you need money? Do you need deals? Like, it was just, I just never expected that.

13:32It is unusual. Like, it is unexpected. That's a good way to think about it. Even on BiggerPockets, like you go on the website, people are just sharing ideas, sharing contacts. It's a very collaborative community. It was one of the, I think, the most underrated parts of real estate. Obviously, the financial returns are great, but it's fun. You meet people and you make friends. It gives you a sense of community that in other industries I've worked in has been completely, it's just total opposite. I just remember coming home from that first meetup and just feeling even more reinforced that this was going to happen because now it wasn't just me anymore.

14:07All these people were wanting to help. And so I started to just make all these friends with these seasoned investors. And I went to every meetup I could. Like, I just wanted more and more of that, like, community. Like, I just, it was intoxicating almost. It was like, I just want to be around this. And that turned out to be super helpful for me because 60 days after that, I got a lead for my first deal. And I had no idea how to do it. This story is, I think, very inspiring. You started where a lot of people are, whether it's exact same situation but no experience yeah not a good financial position like this is where a lot of people in the bigger pockets community start that enthusiasm i think ramps up quickly because there's so many just positive proof points but you so many people have done it so you know you can do it but then there's this hard gap to cross where you translate the excitement enthusiasm long-term goal into like all right now i gotta go do something like I still got the sub 600 credit score.

15:09I still don't have money. So like, how do you go from enthusiasm to actually getting in the game? That is a great question, which I will be happy to answer right after this break. I love having you here. This is great. I don't have to even think about it. We'll be right back. The Cashflow Roadshow is back. Me, Henry, and other BiggerPockets personalities are coming to the Texas area from January 13th to 16th. We're gonna be in Dallas. We're gonna be in Austin. We're going to Houston and we have a whole slate of events. We're definitely gonna have meetups. We're doing our first ever live podcast recording of the BiggerPockets podcast.

15:48And we're also doing our first ever one day workshop where Henry and I and other experts are gonna be giving you hands-on advice on your personalized strategy. So if you wanna join us, which I hope you will, go to biggerpockets.com slash Texas. You can get all the information and tickets there. Running your real estate business doesn't have to feel like juggling five different tools. With ReSimply, you can pull motivated seller lists. You can skip trace them instantly for free and reach out with calls or texts all from one streamlined platform. And the real magic? AI agents that answer inbound calls.

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20:39something, you need to put it out there that that's what you want. And so I would just tell people I was a real estate investor, even though I'd never done a deal. Because I felt like if I didn't believe this was going to work, then why would anybody else believe it? And so I got a phone call one day when I was at work from a buddy of mine, good friends with this guy. And he says, hey, I heard you're buying houses. And I was like, yes, something's working. Yes, I am. And he said, I've got to sell my house and I got to sell it in the next 30 days. He was like, I'm buying some land for my church and I need X amount of dollars to do that.

21:12And I need this loan to be off my record to do that. And I have a drop dead window. So in 30 days, I need this much money. So I'll sell you my house for$116 ,000. It's probably worth 160 to 170 ,000. I don't care. As long as I sell it for this, I get the exact amount of money I need to go buy this land for my church, but I need it in 30 days. Can you close in 30 days? And I, like, I've been to this guy's house. Like, I know his house. I know the neighborhood. And so I go, yeah. Just blind confidence. Yeah. Then you go Google, how do I close in 30 days? Literally what I did. This is 100 % what I did.

21:52He was like, all right, well, what do we do? And I was like, hold on. And I literally had to Google, how do you buy a house without a real estate agent? And it was like, well, you need to put it under contract. And then after I Googled what under contract meant, it told me I needed to sign a real estate contract. So then I had to find a real estate contract online. I downloaded it. We signed it. And I was under contract for this house. That's terrible legal advice. Don't do that. Don't do that. But like, how did you, where did the money come from? So we signed the real estate contract and he's like, okay, what do we do now?

22:25And I said, I don't know, but I'll go find out. And so we have the contract and it says I'm going to close in 30 days. And I go, all right, well, I need$116 ,000. Where am I going to get$116 ,000? And I said, I'll call a bank. Banks give loans for homes. I'll just go to a bank and I'll ask them, what's the process to get a loan to buy this home? So that was my thought process. So on my lunch break at work, I took that contract to one of the closest banks to my office. I figured I'd just start there. I walked in with the contract. I had$1 ,000 in my savings account. So I walked in needing$115 ,000.

23:06I walked into this bank, and it happened to be a community bank, which I didn't know, walking into it. And the guy standing in the lobby happened to be the commercial loan officer. He was just standing there. Like, I didn't ask for him, but when I walked in, he asked if he helped me, and I was like, yes, I'm looking for somebody to help me purchase this home. And I literally handed him the contract. He looked at the address, and he was like, come back to my office, and he put it in his computer, and he was like, this house is probably worth a lot more than this. And I was like, yes. Yes, it is.

23:37That's why. That's why I would like to buy it. And he was like, well, what we do is commercial loans. Does it need work? And I was like, yeah, I think it needs some work. There's somebody living in it, but I don't think it's in the best shape. And he was like, well, the way our loans would work is we would loan you 85 % of the purchase price, you would have to bring a 15 % down payment, and we'd give you 100 % of the renovation costs. And I was like, oh, that's awesome. He was like, so you have the 15 % down payment? And I was like, yes, I do. I did not have the money, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

24:07And most people would have seen that as, you know, a stopping point to say, okay, well, I don't have. It was like 20 grand at that time, right? But I was excited. Because I walked in the bank needing$115 ,000, and I walked out only needing about$19 ,000. Yeah, you just got$95 ,000. So I am almost there. Plus, I have renovation money that I didn't think I would get, right? And so I then had to figure out where to get the rest of this$19 ,000 from. And so I leaned on this community of investors who I'd been building a relationship with over the past 60 days. We're going to these meetups. And I called like three or four different ones and brainstormed all these ideas to get the down payment.