My Sister Got A $10k House Down Payment. I Got “Maybe Start Small For Now?” I Smiled And Left. I Didn’t Tell Them When I Bought My First Property. Or My Second. Or My Fifth. Then Mom Looked Up My Name Online AND SUDDENLY…

When I was 12, I built a model city for a science fair. Each building had lights I wired from a kit I begged for. I won first place.

Dad peered over it and said, “Well, at least you’re good with your hands.”

Two months later, Kayla placed at a swim meet. Dad bought her a new laptop and tickets to Disneyland. I drove home to my third floor walk up.

520 square ft of cozy and a drummer next door who practiced at 2 a.m. My couch had a constellation of stains I didn’t investigate. My car, a 2008 sedan, carried a chronic check engine light and grudges.

I opened my laptop. For 6 months, I’d been studying real estate. Not just binge watching gurus—real classes, real books, real math.

I joined forums where people actually discussed cap rates and cash on cash returns. I paid $300 for a weekend seminar and saved like I was hiding from the world. No trips, no restaurants unless it was two for one, no new anything.

$22,000 in 3 years built from nothing but stubbornness. There was a duplex I couldn’t stop thinking about. Bankowned.

The listing photos look like crime scene stills. Peeling paint, overgrown lawn, a window boarded with a faded campaign sign from 2012. But the bones were good.

Two units on month-to-month leases asking $89,000. With $20,000 down at 6.5%, the mortgage would be roughly $550. Combined rent, $1,400.

After taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, I’d clear around $400 a month. I’d memorize those numbers the way other people memorize siblings favorite cakes. I’d already gotten preapproved, scheduled an inspection.

All that was left was the part where I believed in myself louder than my father’s laugh. I hovered over my agents email, Lisa, and clicked send. Full asking.

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