From a $55K Rental to BiggerPockets CEO and Financial Freedom

Dave Meyer (0:00)

Before real estate, Eric Augustyn had the same fear that keeps us all up at night. What happens if I get fired? He had just survived the 2008 financial crisis, and luckily, he still had a job. But he knew it wasn't a guaranteed path to financial freedom. If he wanted to control his own destiny, he needed to do something different. He needed real estate. And even though everyone told him that buying rentals in that market was a mistake, he did it anyway. Eric saved up 20% down, bought one of the cheapest properties he could find, and spent nights fixing up the property after 12-hour corporate workdays. After that first deal, he was hooked. He hired a property manager, he joined the BiggerPockets community in 2017, and 16 years later, that nervous newbie investor has an expansive portfolio of single-family rentals and small multi-families across multiple states. This journey and his experience in the corporate world is why Eric is BiggerPockets' new CEO. Today on the show, we'll go in depth on Eric's own rental property portfolio and the lessons he's learned along the way. And then Eric is going to reveal what the team at BiggerPockets is building to make your real estate investing journey much easier than his own.

What's up, everyone? I'm Dave Meyer, Chief Investment Officer at BiggerPockets. And today, we've got a super special episode for you.

I am joined today by Eric Augustyn, who is a member of the BiggerPockets community, longtime real estate investor and now the new CEO of BiggerPockets.

Eric and I got together and recorded this show last week at BPCon in Orlando. And I can't wait for you to hear about his story and his vision for the next chapter of BiggerPockets. Let's bring him on.

Eric, welcome to the BiggerPockets podcast. So fun to be here with you.

Eric Augustyn (1:56)

Yeah, Dave, thanks so much for having me. It's actually really funny to be across from you because usually I'm at the gym listening to you.

Dave Meyer (2:03)

Well, this is going to be a fun episode. Eric is the new CEO of BiggerPockets. So really interested to hear about what the vision is for BiggerPockets and for you to share that with the audience. But you're also a real estate investor yourself. So tell us a little bit about how you got started.

Eric Augustyn (2:17)

Yeah, absolutely. So I started in 2010 In my story kind of is two different tales. One is the W-2 path that I took, and another one is what I would say kind of the path to financial freedom or what BiggerPockets offers. So my W-2, I started as a mechanical engineer. I went into finance at Goldman Sachs, was on the operational side of that. And after the financial crisis, I moved out to Salt Lake City to help build out that office. Now, like a lot of people in the W-2 world, sometimes the amount you put into work, the compensation expectation doesn't come out of that.

And Goldman Sachs is a fantastic company. If anybody has a chance to work there, absolutely take it.

They're wonderful. The people there are wonderful. But after 08, it was really anyone's game on what was going to happen. So my expectation was slightly different. And I said, okay, well, what I realized at that moment was, if I really wanted to be financially independent and not be in a situation where a crisis or a company could dictate what my financial status would look like, I needed an alternative path. And at the time, I chose real estate. And the funny part is, we've talked about this. The funny part is, if you chose real estate in 2010, you looked crazy.

Dave Meyer (3:29)

You're a psychopath.

Eric Augustyn (3:30)

Absolute psychopath. People are like, what are you doing? This literally people blamed real estate for bringing down the retirement, the economy, everything. Right. So in 2010, I bought my first town home. It was in Magna, Utah.

I bought a foreclosure. It was on the market probably for two years. And I bought it really not knowing anything about real estate.

Dave Meyer (3:52)

Why did you pick real estate if it was so crazy to do it in 2010? And you were looking for stability outside of your W-2. What about real estate attracted you?

Eric Augustyn (4:02)

I was living in New York City at the time. And when you live in New York in your early 20s, purchasing a home isn't even really a factor. You just don't think about it. You're going to rent and maybe rent into your 30s. And that's just natural. And I'd say it's the same today.