Went from $13/hr at US Airways to owning a duplex in 2017. Now helping 1,000 renters become homeowners through house hacking. Founder, ShiftRich Community.
Rockville, MD
Joined March 2009
- Tweets25.8K
- Following1.2K
- Followers1.2K
- Likes43.1K
Pinned Tweet
The 20% down payment "rule" is a myth that keeps people renting forever.
I bought my first duplex with 3.5% down on an FHA loan. The rental income covered the PMI and then some.
Stop waiting for perfect. Start building equity.
Get the full playbook: f.mtr.cool/nbjtffcdic
Saving the down payment feels like the finish line. It's really the starting line.
Closing costs, the repairs from the inspection, and the first thing that breaks all show up in year one. Save for the house, then save for owning it.
Nobody says your first house has to be the median house.
Smaller place, cheaper area, a fixer, or one with a unit you can rent out. The first one's job is to get you in and building equity. It doesn't have to be the forever home. nitter.cf/jonbrooks/status/21195…
This might be the most terrifying chart in real estate.
Median household income: $85,000.
Income needed to buy the median-priced home: $123,000.
That's a $38,000 gap - 45% MORE than the median household.
For decades, home prices and incomes moved together. Then we broke the housing market.
Now we're expecting the next generation to buy homes their incomes can't support.
Who exactly is supposed to buy all these houses?
The math doesn't work. And math always wins.
For a lot of people the first money lesson is watching most of their paycheck go to a landlord.
The second lesson should be that it doesn't have to stay that way. Buy a small multi-unit, live in one side, rent the other. Same rent check, except now it helps pay your mortgage.
Nasdaq futures lost $250B and got $300B back in about 7 minutes tonight.
Anyone who panic sold in that window locked in a loss that was gone a few minutes later. Headlines move fast. Your plan shouldn't. nitter.cf/KobeissiLetter/status/…
I can't afford to buy a home."
You can't afford NOT to.
Every month you rent, you're paying a mortgage — just not yours.
I'm giving away the exact tools I used to house hack my way out of that cycle.
Free bundle → f.mtr.cool/vrj22iqk40
The biggest single-family rental manager in the US just agreed to pay $49.75M to settle FTC charges over hidden fees renters found on their first bill.
Before you sign a lease, get the total monthly cost in writing. Every surprise fee is money not going to your own down payment.
Every company has key-person risk. For Nvidia it's the CEO. For most families it's one paycheck.
That's the one I'd fix first. Get some income coming in that doesn't depend on one person showing up every day. nitter.cf/TheStalwart/status/211…
"Nvidia Corp.’s board is launching an investigation into whether Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign espionage plot after he admitted to employees that he was unfaithful to his wife." bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Urgency gets you out of renting. You stop waiting for the perfect house and the perfect rate.
Patience is what makes the first place worth it. You live there, let the other unit help with the note, and give it years instead of months.
Most people have one and not the other.
Housing costs don't just keep people from buying. They eat everything else first. The season tickets, the dinners out, the extra money you meant to save.
Get the housing piece right and a lot of other money problems get smaller. nitter.cf/ShaziGoalie/status/211…
🚨 This is what happens when you price out your own fan base.
Toronto is getting crushed by housing costs, job losses, unemployment and a struggling economy. Discretionary spending is taking a hit.
Meanwhile, MLSE expects @MapleLeafs fans to keep shelling out $400, $500 or more for a Saturday night ticket.
The lower bowl has become a corporate playground while ordinary fans are being pushed out.
And now @CanadiensMTL fans are filling the seats in Toronto.
MLSE better wake up. Even a winning team won't save you when your own fans can no longer afford to show up.
The economy is changing. The @NHL isn't immune.
Working a second job to cover rent keeps you afloat. It doesn't get you out.
The way out is something that pays you even when you're not working. For a lot of people that's a duplex where the other unit covers a big chunk of the note.
Hours run out. Assets don't.
Same deal with owning a rental. Nobody else fixes the toilet on Christmas Eve. That's you.
Worth it, though. The owner who actually shows up is the one who keeps good tenants and builds something that lasts. nitter.cf/Codie_Sanchez/status/2…
Every person in the ShiftRich Community has one thing in common:
They refused to stay stuck.
Some are closing their first deal.
Some are scaling their portfolio.
All of them decided to start.
f.mtr.cool/velaoyeovk
What are you refusing to accept anymore?
When headlines say apartment buildings are going delinquent, buying a rental can feel like a trap.
Most of those stories are about big commercial loans, not a duplex you'd live in.
A house hack lives or dies on whether you can carry the note if a unit sits empty.
Headlines about apartment buildings going delinquent can sound like rentals are dying.
That's commercial paper on big buildings. A duplex you live in, with someone next door helping with the note, is a different animal.
Read the headline. Then run your own numbers. nitter.cf/KobeissiLetter/status/…
BREAKING: The delinquency rate on multifamily Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) rose +5 basis points in October, to 8.1%, its highest since 2016.
This figure has more than quadrupled since 2024.
Furthermore, the delinquency rate on CMBS for offices jumped +17 basis points last month, to 12.3%, matching the all-time high set in January 2026.
To put this into perspective, this percentage peaked at ~10.8% in 2012, following the 2008 Financial Crisis.
The commercial real estate crisis is still worsening.
Real estate has the same problem. People spend five years saving and five minutes talking to a lender.
Whatever you're building, a house fund or an app, put the people who'd say yes in front of it way earlier than feels comfortable. nitter.cf/agazdecki/status/21191…
Before you fall in love with a house, read this.
When I bought my duplex in 2017, the walkthrough felt exciting. The stuff that actually costs you money doesn't show up in the listing photos.
So I put together a free guide: Don't Buy That House: 12 Costly Mistakes First-Time Buyers Make.
Inside:
- The foundation crack patterns that signal expensive damage
- Why that "charming" musty smell could mean mold
- How fresh paint in weird spots can hide water damage
- Electrical red flags insurers use to deny coverage
- The simple marble test for floor problems
- And 7 more mistakes first-time buyers make every day
8 pages. Free, or pay what you want.
Walk into your next showing with your eyes open: thomasceo.gumroad.com/l/frvf…
Nobody warns you about the empty month.
Rent stops. The mortgage doesn't. Neither do the utilities.
If you're buying a rental, have a few months of the note sitting in the bank before you close. That cushion is the difference between a bad month and a panic.
Mortgage demand at historic lows sounds like bad news. If your money is together, it's the opposite.
Fewer people bidding. More room to negotiate and ask for help with closing costs.
Everybody buys when it's crowded. Different game when it's quiet. nitter.cf/KobeissiLetter/status/…
US mortgage demand is down to historic lows:
US purchase mortgage applications index fell -2% last week, to 131 points, its 2nd-lowest since January 2025.
This also marks the 6th-lowest weekly reading since 1995, down -32% since January.
As a result, US mortgage applications are now -50% below the pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019.
This comes as the 30Y fixed mortgage rate has risen +120 basis points since February, to 7.18%, near its highest since November 2023.
Rates have now been above 7.0% for 7 consecutive weeks.
The US housing market is frozen.
