He Was Waiting Tables When a Mortgage Rejection Sent Him Into Real Estate — 3 Years Later He Owns 10 Rentals
4 min read · RealCase summary
Andres Martinez studied jazz in college and spent years waiting tables, never seriously considering real estate until late 2023, when a mortgage rate hike locked him and his wife out of buying a home of their own.
Determined to find another way in, he fell down a rabbit hole researching creative financing and started cold-calling every listing he could find on Zillow, sometimes 500 to 600 calls a day, eventually landing on a co-living strategy — renting out a single property to multiple tenants under one roof rather than to a single family.
Within three years of that first rejection, he had grown his portfolio to 10 owned rental properties (managing 14 total in his co-living business) generating more than $13,000 a month in cash flow, enough to leave his job and focus on the rentals full-time.
Key takeaways
- ›Got locked out of buying a home with his wife in late 2023 after a mortgage rate hike, and started cold-calling 500-600 property listings a day
- ›Built his portfolio around co-living — renting multiple tenants under the same roof — rather than traditional single-family rentals
- ›Within three years, grew to 10 owned rental properties (managing 14 total) generating over $13,000 a month in cash flow, enough to quit his day job
Original source
Read the original (BiggerPockets)
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