From $12/Hour to 3 Rental Properties and Traveling the World

Henry Washington (0:00)

Anyone can invest in real estate. You don't need a fancy degree, a big bank account, or a high-paying job to get started. Arden Williams and his wife were both making just $12 an hour when they bought their first house. So how did they do it? They got uncomfortable. They slashed their expenses, and they threw every extra dollar to water down payment. Then they brought that same approach to real estate investing, jumping from one house hack to the next and sharing space with multiple tenants. But these small sacrifices paid off in a big way.

Today, Arden owns three rental properties, and he just broke ground on his first ADU. But that's not even the best part. With this simple strategy, Arden and his wife quit their jobs and used their rental income to fund a year-long trip around the world. Whatever financial freedom means to you, retiring early, spending more time with family, or following your passion, real estate can make that possible. And in this episode, Arden will give you a repeatable blueprint for building the life you've always wanted.

What's going on, everybody? I'm Henry Washington, co-host of the BiggerPockets Podcast. And today, we're bringing you an investor story with Arden Williams from Wilmington, North Carolina. So let's jump in.

Mr. Arden Williams, welcome to the BiggerPockets Podcast.

Arden Williams (1:18)

Thank you. Thank you. I'm honored to be here, honestly.

Henry Washington (1:20)

Why don't you tell us a little bit about your background and how the heck you got into real estate in the first place.

Arden Williams (1:25)

Back in 2017, I graduated college.

And after college, I didn't really have much of a plan. Besides, all I wanted to do was travel and be outside. Still something I do today. So I ended up getting a job out in Hawaii and worked there for about six months. And then somehow found my way to the US Virgin Islands, where I ended up moving there with my now wife. And then after COVID, we decided we needed some stability. And I ended up getting a job as a firefighter in Wilmington, North Carolina, where I am today. So November of 2021, I was finishing up the fire academy. And at the time, we were both making like $13, $14 an hour, if that. And me and my wife ended up getting a house and ended up house hacking it with two of my fellow firefighters.

Henry Washington (2:09)

Did you purposefully buy that deal as a house hack investment because you had been, you know, researching real estate or did you buy a single family and house hack it because that's what you needed to do to be able to afford a place?

Arden Williams (2:25)

Maybe a little bit of both back in Hawaii. I found a YouTube video of Brandon writing out like, buy a house every 10 years, one house every year and ended up just kind of having it in the back of my mind. Like, that's a great idea. She probably look at doing that. I remember telling my wife about it. It's like, hey, we could just get roommates and we'll save a bunch of money. And if we want to like rinse and repeat this, we could and hopefully continue to go and travel and do all the things we love to do. We were basically breaking even on our mortgage with just our two roommates. And it worked out great for us.

Henry Washington (2:56)

So there was some intentionality in like the kind of home you selected, because I assume you planned on keeping it after you moved out.

Arden Williams (3:05)

Yeah, so we pretty much only look at three bed, two bath, single family homes in our area. For our price point, that's kind of all we could afford. So we ended up getting it for 285, which was 20K over asking at the time, which we thought we were absolutely insane.

But it was 2021

Henry Washington (3:22)

It was 2021, that was the game we had to play.

Arden Williams (3:24)

Yeah, it was the game we had to play.

Henry Washington (3:25)

What's your interest rate, though?

Arden Williams (3:27)

We got 3%.

Henry Washington (3:28)

Okay, that's awesome. So 285, paid over asking was a little scary. Got a 3% interest rate. Boo, yeah, that's amazing. What was your mortgage payment?

Arden Williams (3:38)

So at the time, I think it was like 1300 something.

Henry Washington (3:41)

Did you put 5% down or did you put 20% down?

Arden Williams (3:44)

So when we left the US Virgin Islands, we had saved up a good amount for our down payment. So it wasn't our plan to save it. Both me and my wife are really frugal.