From a $35K Salary to Owning 3 Rentals (Starting in 2024!)

From a $35,000 a year salary to owning three investment properties in just two years, that's Investor Flo Jacques' story. And it started with a simple decision at age 22 to buy a home instead of renting. Most people wait for the perfect time. Flo did not wait at all. Fresh out of college, working as a college admissions counselor, Flo had saved $15,000 and instead of letting it sit in the bank, she used it to buy her first home in North Carolina. That purchase wasn't her endgame. It was just the beginning. Over the next few years, Flo educated herself about investing and networked relentlessly. When she finally felt ready, she jumped in with a full gut rehab on a roach-infested property in a flood zone. That first deal tested everything. Almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong. But Flo didn't quit. She didn't even slow down. She adapted, problem solved, and a month later, she bought a duplex. Then another property shortly after that. Today, Flo is building a portfolio focused on multifamily properties and has her sights set on real estate development. This episode isn't about waiting for the perfect moment or having a six-figure income. It's about taking action with what you have, learning fast, and refusing to settle for 40 years of a typical nine-to-five career. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the BiggerPockets podcast. I'm Henry Washington. I've been investing in real estate in Arkansas and Missouri since 2017. And my co-host, Dave Meyer, is here with me. It's still weird saying that. My co-host, Dave Meyer, is here with me. What's up, Dave? I love it. You have to do all the reading. I just get to sit here. This is the best. Today's guest is Flo Jacques, an investor from North Carolina who went from a $35,000 a year job to managing and growing a rental property portfolio in just a few years. Flo's story is all about taking action fast, so let's jump right in. Flo, welcome to the show. I'm so psyched to be here. That's awesome. I'm glad you are here. Sounds like you've got a pretty interesting story. So why don't you start and tell us about your background and what you were doing just before you got into real estate. Just before I got into real estate, I was actually a college admissions counselor. So I was blessed and fortunate to purchase my first home at 22 years old. Oh, wow. I remember being in my senior semester, like my last semester of college, and I had a good bit of money that I had saved from working multiple jobs. And something clicked and it was like, I wonder if I could buy instead of rent. And I remember at that period in time, I was also considering renovating homes. You know, I wanted to flip homes, build wealth through real estate. What year was this? This was actually 2021. Okay. Okay. So you were curious about investing, curious about doing renovations. So how long was it between when you purchased a home to live in to when you actually decided to buy an investment property? It was another three years. Oh, wow. Yeah. And honestly, during that time period, I was, you know, figuring it out. You were 22. Fair enough. You don't need an excuse to take three years to buy a property. Well, somebody told me, you should probably get your real estate license, start there. And so I said, okay, sure. You know, I'll start with my getting that, learn the ropes of the business and stuff, and then build the funds to be able to buy, you know, because college admissions education just doesn't really pay. Like, we know that. You weren't making $700,000 a year in college admissions? actually, I purchased my first home on a $35,000 annual salary. So yeah, during that period, after I became licensed, I, you know, joined organizations, started building relationships with other professionals in the real estate industry. And through that, I also, you know, was attending some sessions that were investor focused. And I knew I wanted to build, you know, a portfolio and not work to the day I die. And so it was like, some spaces I was in was giving me the information. But 2024 was really when I was having some dreams that I was buying investment properties. Oh, man. When you start having real estate dreams, that's how you know you're in. My real estate dreams are never happy dreams. No, mine aren't either. Mine are always scary dreams. I have this recurring dream that I forgot about a property. Oh, all the time. I have it all the time. Like someone calls me and they're like, oh, there's a rental that you haven't been to in three years, I have that recurring dream and I wake up terrified every time. Oh my God. Sounds like yours were more positive flow at least. Yeah. At that time they were. At that time it became very clear to me that I was being called to make a move. And a month later, I purchased my first rehab. That's super cool. Cause I feel like a lot of people are probably resonating with this story where it's like education, education. When do I jump off the cliff and what does that look like? So you bought your first deal. How did you find this deal? It was on the MLS. I mean, I'm a realtor, so I'm not opposed to the MLS. I know people hear off-market, off-market. But the thing is, just like off-market, you can negotiate too. You can just make offers. Make offers, exactly. You can just do stuff. It's pretty cool. Yeah. I mean, yes, the sellers are often delusional. And yes, you are dealing with a realtor in the way of that. But yeah, so the funny thing is I had an investor client at that time who I was helping her purchase some investment properties. And she targeted cheap rehabs in the outer skirts of the Raleigh-Durham area, like Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, Henderson, you know, those areas. She was interested about this property and another. So I called the listing agent and the listing agent said, yeah, we just listed like 19 of them. So he had an investor who's in his 70s letting go of his portfolio, you know. And so I said, oh, where can I find the list of these properties so I can send it to my client? At that time, I wasn't even thinking for myself. I was just like, yeah, I want to send these to her because she wants to browse through and make a decision on maybe a package deal. And so I sent her the options and I thought, Flo, make an offer on one or two of these too. And I was like, oh, okay. You have a whole conversation with yourself in your head. Literally. And so when I sent her the list, I said, okay, whatever she doesn't offer on, I will offer on one or two of these. Like I had already selected. So I submitted her package for three properties, right? And then I submitted on two. That's how I found that first deal. On the MLS package deal, same thing with another client I jumped into. And what did you like about these deals? What was different about these than everything else out there on the MLS? us? Well, number one, it was $90,000, $60,000. The price. So you can afford it. The price. Got it. Yeah, exactly. So if you've ever heard of Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, people call that area murder city. I don't want to say it's a dead town, but it's a very large renter population. But a lot of investors target it because real estate is cheap there. What really stood out to me was getting a single family home for under a hundred thousand. And what was the rehab budget for this? Yeah. So the rehab budget for this, we originally had it for 75,000. So you paid 90, is that what you said? So we went under contract for 90, but we actually ended up closing it at 70,000 because I found out that it was in a flood zone, which the listing agent did not disclose, you know, and I was ballsy enough to still move forward with it, you know? So my first property was in a flood zone. I didn't do my due diligence, nor was it disclosed. And that's a material fact that was supposed to be disclosed. So you bought the single family home. You're working on the renovation. You said you did go a little bit over budget. This was a fix and flip or were you planning to keep this one as a rental? Keep, because my whole goal was to build a portfolio. So my mindset was buy and hold, you know, BRRRR method. So you're working on this project and the renovation. And then I'd like to know what happens next, but we'll talk about that when we come back. As a real estate investor, the last thing I want to do or have time for is to play accountant, banker, and debt collector. 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Ready to simplify your workflow? Book your free demo at bill.com slash biggerpockets and get a $100 Amazon gift card. That's bill.com slash biggerpockets. All right, we're back on the Bigger Pockets podcast with Flo Jacques, and we're talking about her first investment property and transitioning to her second. So what was next? So, you know, I closed on that. I knew that the rehab budget was assigned that was being worked on. And then I had like another burst of this duplex downtown Durham. I'd love to have it, you know. And so I'm like, I have the funds I can take on another project. That couldn't have been $90,000. No. Downtown Durham duplex? No, not at all. I saw it, prayed about it. And I took a minute. You know, I took a couple of days and then everything started feeling right. And so I went and put an offer on it. That one was, I closed it at $287,000. Oh, that's way cheaper than I thought you were going to say. Yeah. Where were you getting the money from at this point? Were you working in admissions or were you making money as an agent? I was doing both. I was a college admissions counselor up until early 2025, as well as I did real estate. I wasn't like the top producer agent killing it with deals, really. But my mortgage on my first home was like $700 a month, you know. So I saved. I was, I mean, just like at 21, I decided to buy a house. It's because I had 15K saved. You know, I've just been a saver. I think that that's just a good habit to have, the fact that you're a saver. because it helps you to be prepared when opportunities arise. And it sounds like you have no problem capitalizing on opportunities when they arise. But still, you had a job, you had to scrounge up the money in order to save up. So what did the financing look like, both on the first one and then on the duplex? Were these conventional loans? Were they construction loans? What I did was hard money. All of my deals actually so far have been hard money. And so from a lot of communication, asking who people know, who do you recommend? I landed with this lender, this hard money lender, and their terms were great. 100% financing of the purchase and rehab up to 75% of the ARV. And so I was like, oh, so you'll fund the rehab and the purchase 100% so long as it meets the 75% or 70% formula. Perfect. So once I found that lender, all I had to do was pay origination fees, closing costs, that sort of stuff. And so that's really what empowered me to do that multifamily a month after closing on the first one, because so long as you have liquid cash, you're like, I could do two at the same time. They're taking care of the purchase and rehab. Well, I love the way that you're approaching this. I am sure there are people listening to this who want to do the exact same thing, get a hundred percent financing on a duplex or reno. How did you approach lenders with no offense? Like you didn't have any experience either. So like, how did you get people to lend to you in that for these deals? I think this lender is a gem, to be honest, because they don't have a experience requirement, actually. But most other lenders did. They, in order to lend to you at a hundred percent, they need you to show five deals or something like that. They have a loyalty program though. Your first three deals, you know, you pay, it's like 12.99%, 2.99% origination fee or something like that, after your first three deals with them, then it goes down to 10.99% interest rate and 1.99 origination fees. Good for you for finding that. Honestly, just doing that little bit of legwork sounds like enabled you to really start your portfolio quickly. Exactly. Yeah. I just needed the financing and then I was ready to go. Yeah. I have a very similar situation. I found a lender when I first got started that was basically telling me how they could fund all my deals without me having to spend a ton of money. And so the goal became to figure out how to go bring in more deals so that I could get them financed. And so I understand going shopping because you're like, hey, I got a checkbook. I'm going to go shopping. But with hard money, it's a short-term loan. And you said these were rental properties. So I'm assuming you had to refinance out of this short-term loan at some point. Correct. The duplex finished first, which was funny. Even Even though I bought it second, it finished first. That was also a six-figure rehab tube that was supposed to be 65. I think it came out to like 130,000 or something. Oh, wow. That was, I mean. That's a mess. That one's a mess. Yeah. That's okay. I mean, it happens. Yeah. I mean, maybe it was slightly undergranted. I did account for like, I had to furnish it because that one I made it into like an Airbnb mid-term. Oh, okay. How are you managing this? You were working full-time. You said you didn't even have that much time necessarily to be an agent. Then you're managing two construction projects at the same time. How were you going about that? So I actually had contractors doing the work. And so I will be honest, I was not visiting those properties, which was a mistake I made. You know, when I look back, you know, weeks going by, not paying attention, just trusting. I'm like, just send me pictures, you know, that sort of stuff. So, you know, whenever I could, I would, but I really wasn't. So, yeah, I mean, I went forward with just having them pay for like materials and labor. And so all I'm doing is wiring or whatever the costs. So this, I assume it was a general contractor. They brought in all their own subs. They were sending you pictures, communicating each week, and you were just wiring money saying, oh, yeah, that's great. Yeah, pretty much. So went OK on the first one, went slightly over budget on the second one. But with the overages, were you able to go ahead and pull off the refinance? Yes, I was able to pull off both refinances. I will say that these stories are this is a little wonky. Like, you know, for the first property, I had a contractor. He was licensed and everything. Really sweet guy. He didn't have the crew to handle that scope. We had to like rehab the entire foundation. That was like literally full gut. We tore down the foundation, rebuilt it. That was like, we rebuilt every single thing in that house, like roach infested and everything. He didn't have the scope to do that level of work. I ended up firing him and having the guy that was doing my duplex to come and kind of step in. Then things went off with him where he was a greedy gouger and was insane with his prices. So I got rid of him. And then the third contractor is who really finished that job. They weren't licensed, but they had they worked under licensed people, had their subs and whatnot. So that's for that first house in the flood zone. Before we move on to talking about what came next for you, given the situation with these contractors and given the situation with how you found these properties and the size of renovations you took on. What advice do you have for people who are maybe considering buying a property in that same price point who had that have a heavy renovation? Because I think people often forget that, yes, you can buy cheap houses, but a lot of the times they are tied to large renovations. And it not necessarily a bad thing but it sounds like you learned a lot of lessons So what did you learn or what would you do different if you were brand new again looking at properties like this I would definitely structure the deal a lot more conservatively than I did because I structured it initially at 75 And in a market where homes are dirt cheap, a highly renter market, which meant there were a lack of sales and comps to justify this new completely renovated home to be $230,000, which is what it appraised to be. But because there were some challenges with comps, when I went to refinance, the underwriter asked, hey, can you tell me why you use these comps instead of this? Even though the appraiser was like, well, this is pretty much new construction. Like you didn't have to replace the roof or the exterior, but you did everything brand new inside, new electrical, new everything, you know? And so that question ended up bringing the appraisal price down $26,000. So that's the lesson that I learned there. structure deals more conservatively, especially if you're targeting those cheaper housing markets. Those are great lessons. Thank you, Flo, and lessons we unfortunately all sometimes have to figure out. But now that you're now a year and a half or so into this, where did these two rental properties net you at the end of the day after you refinancing? Are they cash flowing for you? How are they performing? Yes, they're doing pretty good. So for that first one, we had that one rented out to a group home tenant. There's a lot of interest for some reason in that market for group homes. I had that rented out for $15.95. So I was cash flowing very minimal. I'm telling you that flood zone insurance is really eating into it. But I was just happy that the mortgage was being covered. And sometimes that's all you can be happy with. As far as the duplex, both are Airbnb, on VRBO, Furnished Finder, that sort of stuff. So yeah, they've been, that one's cash flowing between 800 to a thousand per month. Wow. On a $200,000 purchase, right? Yeah. 287. Yes. That one appraised for 460 to 5. So that one turned out pretty well. Yeah. That was, that's a lesson I learned for targeting slightly more expensive markets, right? Because then they have more crops. And when you did the refi for just for that example on the duplex, you built a ton of equity. That's awesome. When you did the refi, did you pull cash out to use for your next deal like a burr? Or did you keep cash in to preserve your cash flow? So I actually did pull cash out of that one. I actually pulled cash out of the other one too, like 2000. That was like 2000. To be honest, I was like, I mean, I know this, this is something very real out there. I was also drowning in the losses of these going over budget. So I needed cash out to recover a little bit. There's no right answer. I'm just curious because I think people say, you know, you can't do a burr, but clearly you created a deal that you could pull substantial amounts of cash out of. It's up to you whether you want to keep money in that improves your cashflow because you're borrowing less money, but then you, you know, have to save up to buy your next deal. So I think it sounds like you're only at the beginning of your career here. So pulling money out and focusing on a next acquisition, doing more burr kind of deals where you can build equity. Makes sense to me that you would prioritize that over cash flow right now. Right. Exactly. So yeah, that one turned out well. Well, Flo, it sounds like you became a real life real estate investor. You went through the ropes of buying cheap property. You went through the ropes of $100,000 renovation. You went through the ropes of contractors not doing what you wanted them to do, spending too much of your money. I mean, you got put through the ringer, but at the end of the day, you have a couple of properties. So I'd love to transition and talk to you about what you did next, but I'd like to do that right after this break. Are you interested in effortlessly growing your Bitcoin portfolio? I am, but I don't really know where to start. So the Bitcoin credit card by Gemini earns you Bitcoin back on every purchase. Use it like any credit card. Buy lunch, gas, or your weekly groceries. and you'll earn up to 4% back instantly in Bitcoin, or one of over 50 other cryptos straight to your account. All that with no annual fee. And right now, you can grab a $200 Bitcoin welcome bonus. It's the easiest way to start building your Bitcoin stack. Go to Gemini.com slash card to learn more. Issued by WebBank. To qualify for the $200 crypto intro bonus, you must spend $3,000 in your first 90 days. Some exclusions to instant rewards apply. This is not investment advice, and trading crypto involves risk. 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All right, we are back again with Flo Jacques talking about how she has been through the real estate investment ringer, but has come out clean on the other side. So Flo, after these two deals, So you bought a single family and now a duplex. First, do you still own the single family? I still own both. Yes. Okay. Okay. So you still own the properties. And have you purchased anything else since then? Yes. So right before the year ended, December 1st, 2025, I closed on a single family half acre lot in Raleigh, North Carolina. I love Raleigh. Okay. And is this a home you're going to live in? Is this a rental? Is it a flip? Tell us about it. So actually, I decided I wanted this one to be a flip. Although I in my mind, initially, when I started this journey, I thought I would just for the rest of my life, you know, literally, but I, you know, I'm like, you know, I could use some I could use some extra capital right now, especially after those two rehabs, honestly. So this one, I actually found off market. That's my first off market deal. Oh, okay. Off market. So tell us about that. How did it come to pass? You know, I attended a private money lending conference back in October after BP Con. So I was at BP Con and I flew back from Vegas on a red eye and literally headed to Atlantic Beach, North Carolina for this private money lending conference. And that kind of reignited this like, okay, Flo, get back on the saddle, you know? And so I think a month after that conference, I landed, you know, this deal, I found InvestorLift, you know, that off market platform, wholesalers are on there, you know, and so I was just browsing and working out the deals, you still got to do your own calculations, because those are liars. Yes. And so that one, it seems like a lot of investors were passing on it, because the ceiling doesn't meet code, it's under seven feet, and Raleigh requires a minimum of seven feet. And so to me, the strategy is when others are not buying it, that's your opportunity to negotiate and win it. That's absolutely true. I think everybody should have a buy box and should have some sort of deal breaker And it different for every person and it different in every market I heard people like Laka who on this show frequently who said she will never buy a property to flip that on a double yellow line road because the houses on busy roads don sell I flip those houses all the time. It's different in different markets, but I pay a lot less for them because I underwrite them extremely conservatively. So everything that you need to fix on a house, no matter how catastrophic, is just a dollar amount. And so it tells you how much you need to pay in order to fix the problem. So I'm assuming that's the lens you were looking through. Can I fix this problem if I get it cheap enough? Correct. Exactly. So how'd you do it? Yeah. So this time I was much better. At this point, I'm a full-time real estate professional. I no longer work. You might as well get your contractor's license now. Exactly. Well, I've thought about that. I have really thought about that. But yeah, now that I'm a full-time real estate professional, I don't work that job anymore. And so I have more time to take my time and do my due diligence. So I invited the contractor, walked it through with him. He gave me a budget. And so hopefully he doesn't listen to this episode, but the budget I felt the contractor is very different than what I actually borrow from the lender. That's just called being a smart investor, dear. Especially after the lessons I learned, right? Going over budget and stuff. So once I was clear on how much he was going to do it for, I budgeted for contingencies a very good bit. Also paying myself. I also started budgeting to pay myself for my time and energy for these projects. And so I worked backwards from there. This is the rehab budget. I actually structured it at 65% ARV for this one. So I purchased it for 120 and the ARV on it is 337. And that is actually a conservative appraisal. That's a stellar deal. That's almost a six-figure net profit. Yes, that's correct. That's a stellar deal. So did you have to pop the top and raise the roof? We are literally doing that right now. I've been back and forth on the phone with the power company, turn the meter off, install a temporary meter pole. We are actively working on this right now. We are actually a little two months behind the ball thanks to that contractor who I really wanted to fire. But I'm like, you know what? I've worked with him. So just to be clear, it had lower than seven foot ceilings. And so for you to be able to sell this property, you've got to get to at least seven foot ceilings on your renovation. So you're raising the ceiling height, but all the same level. You're not adding a second story to the literally raising the roof, literally raising the roof. All right. So Flo, we're 18 months into your investing career, Flo. Can you just like summarize what your portfolio looks like today? Yeah. So currently I do include my primary home because I bought it to be an investment property three months after, but that didn't work out. I'm still here. But I am very proud of it because it's hard to find a home in Cary, North Carolina. It's one of the more expensive places to live in North Carolina. So I consider this condo as well as the single family in Rocky Mount, the duplex in Durham and this single family half acre lot in Raleigh. So that is my portfolio two years from 2024 to date. Nice. Good for you. I mean, it's a really well diversified first couple of deals, right? Like you've done a little bit of everything, but it sounds like the goal is still long-term cashflow. Maybe you like do some flips opportunistically, but still want to be a buy and hold kind of investor. Yes, my goal is to continue to build the portfolio. I haven't exactly figured out my freedom number. I think maybe when I figure that I don't know exactly how many properties I want to have. But I will tell you this, though, my life as a licensed real estate broker investor, the goal is to eventually develop. I love that goal. That's awesome. What about development appeals to you? Because I'm terrified of it. So I want to be a developer because I want to build communities. I spoke to somebody this morning about her son is special needs. She wants to build a community for special needs families. It's just thinking about providing solutions to communities and things like that. So I don't have it all figured out, but I do know I want to build. All right, Flo. Well, this is an incredible story. Before we get out of here, is there anything you want to share with us? Maybe something that real estate allows you to be able to do now? Yeah, I think my life is like full circle, right? Like I got my background, like my education, you know, social studies, teaching license, my master's in school counseling. So this kind of like education thing that I thought I did just to not ever actually do is now fully present in my real estate investing career where I help other people get the information I was desperately seeking when I wanted this information. So I've been teaching real estate investing classes, just free, just like inviting people and that sort of stuff. So it's been phenomenal just bringing that to the community. I love that. I love that you're now able to provide help to your community through your experiences. And that's something that real estate allows us to do because when we have something that we know is going to bring us income, then it allows us to be able to focus on things, especially like people who want to start businesses, first couple of years in business is hard. You may not make money. And so being able to lean on your real estate and start a business or start a passion project or a nonprofit is super cool. So I'm glad you're able to give back to your community. Totally. And I just love that it's kind of like an intersection marrying like two different parts of your life. Like for you, teaching and real estate, you found a way to incorporate both of those. I've done that. I know Henry's done that as well. It's really cool that you don't just have to be a real estate investor. There are ways that you can use this industry to pursue things that you really like as well. It's awesome to hear that you're doing that flow so early in your real estate investing career. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Well, we'll have to have you back so you can tell us all about the flow estates after you get finished developing those. And then I'm sure you'll be teaching people how to be a real estate developer. Yeah. Well, we'll see. Never know, right? All right. I think that was fun. That was a cool story to listen to. I think we often hear the opposite from people where it's, I just researched for years and then I finally took some action and Flo was like, I'm just going to go buy something. I'm diving in right now. I'm just going to buy something. I love it. It's a great approach. I think it shows that creativity and just determination still net good deals in 2024. She started in a difficult time. 2024 is maybe the hardest market in the last seven or eight years, you know, and she just went for it, found great deals, educated herself and pulled it off. And think about the confidence she now has. Because if you were able to successfully invest in 2024 and 2025, whether you got beat up along the way or not, she's still here now talking about deals that are positive in a lot of ways. Like that breeds a lot of confidence. As the market shifts to a more favorable real estate market, like you got to be feeling good. I hope everyone listening listens to Flo's story and realize that deals still can be done. This is someone who started with very little experience, very little capital in a super expensive market and pulled off three deals in 18 months. If Flo can do it, everyone out there, if you educate yourself, you can do it as well. I mean, she did several things that people say you can't do. She went and she got 100% financing on her first deal. That's true. And yeah, she went over budget on her renovation. She had to fire three contractors, But who hasn't had to go through some of those things? I think we're all going to go through some of those things. What I think is a good part about this story is single family real estate. Yes, you can have challenges, but no one's going to die if it doesn't go perfectly. Right. Like you're not going to go bankrupt if you feel like you have enough of a financial backing to take a couple of lumps along the way. Like taking the action and learning the lessons can be far more valuable than trying to learn all the lessons up front and then getting into a deal where you're still going to take some lumps. All right, folks, we're going to get out of here. But if you enjoyed Flow Story, I recommend that you check out the BiggerPockets podcast episode 1105 with DeAndre McDonald. It's another investor story and one of our most popular episodes from the last few years. That's episode 1105 from last April. And we'll link it right here on YouTube as well. Thank you so much for watching. We'll see you on the next episode of the BiggerPockets podcast. Thank you all for listening to the BiggerPockets real estate podcast. Make sure you get all our new episodes by subscribing on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Our new episodes come out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm the host and executive producer of the show, Dave Meyer. The show is produced by Ian Kay. 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