448: The Lazy Person’s Guide to Financial Freedom in Less Than 10 Years with Dion Mcneeley

Mar 4, 2021

Dion Mcneeley, a former police officer and single dad, transformed his life from $89,000 in debt to financial freedom through real estate in under 10 years. He shares his 'lazy' strategy for investing while juggling work and family. Dion discusses his initial mistakes, the power of house hacking with duplexes, and the importance of treating rental properties like a business. Listeners can learn how to optimize tenant leases and discover practical ways to manage properties efficiently, all while maintaining a disciplined, balanced life.

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ANECDOTE

Early Real Estate Struggles

Dion McNeeley, a former Marine and single father, struggled with debt while working a low-paying job.
He rented out his house, but the tenant moved out without notice, leaving him underwater on the mortgage.

ADVICE

Learning and Small Multifamily

Treat real estate investing like any other profession and seek education before starting.
Explore small multifamily properties as they often have similar lending structures to single-family homes.

INSIGHT

Income Snowball

The "income snowball" effect helps accelerate financial freedom.
Every cash-flowing property purchase increases savings rate, leading to faster accumulation of wealth.

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Busy people tend to be...busy, and often, real estate investing is one of the things that they “just don’t have time for”. If you feel that way, listen to today’s guest, Dion Mcneeley as he describes his own system for buying real estate the “lazy” way.

Dion was a police officer and a truck driving instructor, taking care of his kids as a single parent, and struggling to get ahead. He went from $89,000 in debt to becoming debt free and financially free, thanks to the help of rental properties, in just 10 years.

After buying his primary home, Dion heard of success in owning rental properties, so he decided to move out of his house and into an apartment to see if he fit as a landlord. He rented the house to his friend, who later moved out without notifying him. Dion tried to make landlording work with another tenant, but ended up being underwater on the house payments. This is when he found BiggerPockets and read Rich Dad Poor Dad.

What was Dion’s mistake? He wasn’t running his rental properties like a business. After upgrading his processes, he went on to buy and house hack a duplex. Then he bought another duplex as an investment, and another one, then another house hack duplex. Within just 6 years, he had 7 units and was raking in $2,700 a month in pure cash flow!

Dion talks about the mistakes he made, why he prefers side-by-side duplexes, how he’s located his properties for maximum asset protection, and goes into his amazing strategy for getting tenants to sign longer leases and raise their own rents. You can check out Dion’s Youtube channel or find him on the Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group!

In This Episode We Cover:

Why being lazy can be a benefit when building systems for real estate
How to use your job and your rentals to achieve a 100% savings rate
The benefit of side-by-side duplexes as opposed to two-story duplexes
Making sure that your procedures are easy so they can be repeatable
Getting tenants on longer leases and higher rents with the “Binder Strategy”
Spacing out rentals so you have a large pool of tenants to choose from
And SO much more!

Links from the Show

Check the full show notes here: http://biggerpockets.com/show448

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