Building Wealth One Rental at a Time with Michael Zuber

Michael Zuber – the author of the book One Rental at a Time, talks to Neil Henderson and Brittany Henderson, the hosts of The Road to Family Freedom podcast. Michael talks to us about his journey, which started as being a full-time employee at 30 years old, working insane hours all over the world, and then growing his rental portfolio from a single house to currently about 175 doors. He talks about some of the hurdles many investors who work full-time encounter and the ways they can avoid them. 

Post-Interview Analysis 

• Key Lessons Learned: Pay attention to the affordability index in whatever market you are investing in. Is your market affordable for the average person who lives there? Also, if you are a high earner with a good-paying job that takes a lot of your time, leverage other people’s time and experience rather than trying to add the additional work of managing, marketing, and finding deals.
• How did they acquire their knowledge or what knowledge did they need to acquire? He read a lot of books and he had to learn how to evaluate his chosen market. 
• How much money did it take to get started? About $35,000 to purchase and rehab their first property.
• How much time does it take now? He spends a lot of time doing other things related to his real estate investment endeavors but most of the work is handled by property managers.
• Could they do this strategy from anywhere in the world? Mostly no. Michael Zuber’s strategy is predicated on choosing a nearby market that is within driving distance of where he lives and learning it well.

Episode Highlights: 

• Schedule a video chat with Neil Henderson at roadtofamilyfreedom.com/selfstoragecall
• How huge losses in the stock market led Michael to pursue an alternative wealth-building strategy with real estate
• How his days of working long hours and traveling led him to pursue building passive income sources to escape his W-2 job.
• How he chose Fresno, CA as his preferred market to begin investing in real estate
• Tips for finding and evaluating a potential property manager
• And much more…

Books and Resources Mentioned

• The Road to Family Freedom: roadtofamilyfreedom.com
• YouTube: One Rental at a Time
• One Rental at a Time by Michael Zuber