Among the main reasons that individuals end up being interested in property investing is the appeal of monetary liberty. Purchase enough genuine estate to cover your individual expenses and voilà, you're financially independent. For some, one of the hardest parts may be finding out how to determine whether the rental residential or commercial property in concern is excellent investment.
There are lots of methods and tactics to carry out in order to achieve the task of financial independence, like Josh Sheets' integration of individual and expert funding, Fernando Aires' 3 concepts to attaining monetary independence, dedicating to this simple 4 step process, and passively purchasing apartment syndications, among lots of others.
However, the fastest monetary freedom method I have actually ever discovered is Andrew Holmes' 2-5-7 technique. He has successfully executed this strategy, which is a variation of the renowned BRRRR method (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) on over 160 residential or commercial properties. In our current discussion, he lays out, in extreme detail, his exact detailed 2-5-7 formula for how he buys a minimum of 5 residential or commercial properties every 2 years and pays them off in 7.
What is the 2-5-7 Investment Formula?
Andrew's investment method complies with what he calls the "2-5-7" formula. In 2 years, the goal is to collect a minimum of 5 residential or commercial properties and utilizing the capital pay them off in 7 years. Andrew stated, "The formula doesn't alter, it's simply the number of residential or commercial properties, just how much cash circulation you wish to create, and you scale based on that."
In order to accomplish his particular financial investment goals, Andrew has the following 4 additional requirements at are not necessarily included in the original BRRRR Strategy:

1. Deal Location - "Most individuals, whenever they own rental residential or commercial properties, they tend to buy ... in locations that are rather challenging. We have a various philosophy, which is we tend to buy in bread and butter areas, right next to what we would call premium areas. Basically, if premium areas are A, we tend to purchase B- or C+." Click here for my supreme guide on picking a target financial investment market.
2. Minimum 25% equity- "Whenever we're buying a residential or commercial property, after rehab, it should have a minimum of 25% equity."
3. Small Ranches- "We focus on purchasing little, three-bedroom, one and one-and-a-half bath ranches."
4. $400 to $450 cash circulation- "They should cash flow to the tune of $400 to $450 per residential or commercial property after all expenses, including management."
Similar to the BRRRR Strategy, you begin with completion goal, which will likely be the quantity of money circulation required to cover your personal costs, your present wage, or your ideal lifestyle, and then reverse engineer your 2-5-7 method to identify what market to invest in, how much equity you require (more on that later), the residential or commercial property type, and the month-to-month capital requirement for each offer.
Related: How to Find a Capital Friendly Real Estate Market
Example Deal
Here's an example offer Andrew provided to see the 2-5-7 formula in action:
" Let's state you're purchasing a bread and butter residential or commercial property: three-bedroom, one bath cattle ranch for $65,000. You're going to put $20,000 to $25,000 into rehabbing the residential or commercial property. You have a carrying cost of another $5,000 to $6,000, so you're all in cost into the residential or commercial property is somewhere around $90,000."
" This is the most critical part, which to me [distinguishes] investing versus what a lot of individuals do, and that is the residential or commercial property needs to appraise on a conservative re-finance appraisal for $120,000 to $130,000. That's the crucial thing - that's the only method you're going to be able to get all the capital that you put into the residential or commercial property out, so that you can effectively recycle the exact same money over and over and over."
" So the residential or commercial property appraises for about $125,000. The lending institution is going to offer you about 75% of evaluated value ... That's the crucial thing. That's the benchmark individuals have to take a look at. If the residential or commercial property appraises for $120,000 to $135,000, now they'll offer you the $90,000 to $95,000 re-financed."
" So you take that loan, you pay your first loan provider off - the loan you used to purchase the residential or commercial property and to do the rehab - and then you simply recycle the very same funds. Or if it's your own money, that's fine likewise, but you just duplicate that process over and over and over, [with the] goal being you need to get to a minimum of 5."
Related: How to Secure a Supplemental Multifamily Loan
How to Finance the Properties, Completing the "Buy" Step of the well-known BRRRR Strategy?
On the front-end, Andrew explained that there are 3 major ways he funds his offers:

1. Partnership- "Number one, you can partner with someone that has the capital and do a 50/50 joint venture. They purchase the residential or commercial property, they put up the money for capital [and] you're the driving force. You're doing all the work, however you're quiting 50% of the returns. That's where I began at first"
2. Hard Money Lender- "The 2nd way to do it is the standard path, which is you obtain cash from a difficult cash loan provider, and put in some of your own cash."

3. Private Money- "The third path, which we tend to utilize the most [is] private money ... Join your regional REIOs, sign up with the local groups; whichever town you're in, there are heaps of them. There are individuals that are prepared to make loans out of their IRAs, they have personal cash, and you wind up paying anywhere from 8% to 12% which's what we tend to do and that's what we always attempt to get people to understand - there's a great deal of cash out there where individuals want to loan for the front end of the deal."
As a house syndicator who in some cases uses the BRRRR Strategy myself, this last choice - private cash - is my support. Here are posts on the most effective techniques for raising capital from personal investors:
My Four-Step Apartment Syndication Money-Raising Process
3 Ways to Raise Over $1 Million for Your 1st Apartment Syndication
A 5-Step Process for Raising BIG Capital For Multifamily Syndication
4 Principles to Source Capital from High Net-Worth Individuals
4 Non-Obvious Ways to Raise Private Money for Apartment Deals
How to Overcome Objections When Raising Money for Multifamily Investing

On the back-end re-finance, the biggest difficulty Andrew faced in regards to following this handle the BRRRR Strategy and purchasing 5 residential or commercial properties in 2 years is that many property lenders will generally just offer as much as 4 loans. However, he has discovered an option to his issue: commercial loans at little, regional banks.
"Basically, a five-year balloon with a 25-year amortization. It's a commercial loan at 5, 5 and a half percent," Andrew discussed. "The speed at which you can scale and grow is much quicker."
Related: How a Home Syndicator Secures Financing for a Multifamily Deal
"We tend to go to the small banks that are in town. Typically, they'll loan on anywhere from one to 5, 10, fifteen, twenty cattle ranches. We're not going to go to Chase Bank and we're not going to go to the big lenders, because they don't really provide these programs for little investors."
Related: Pay Attention to These Five Loan Components to Maximize Your Apartment Returns
Meet the Bank's VP
When Andrew strolls into a little bank to get a loan and execute his BRRRR Strategy, his goal isn't to speak with a teller or a manager or a loan officer. He wants to go directly for the bank's Vice-President. "You always wish to go and straight speak with the VP. Typically, at these little banks, the VP is pretty much the primary guy there, which's the person you wish to technique."
When approaching a conversation with a bank VP, the very first thing Andrew does is discusses, in two minutes or less, his business plan. A condensed variation of his two-minute elevator pitch is, "Hey, we're buying foreclosure type of residential or commercial properties or investment residential or commercial properties that are rentals. When we come to you, they're going to be bought, they're going to be currently supported (they like that word) and there's currently an existing occupant. We do two-year to three-year (minimum) leases only; we do not do short-term leases."
Next, Andrew discusses he has his variation of the BRRRR Strategy, the 2-5-7 formula, along with his philosophy of strongly paying for the residential or commercial properties in 7 years. Then, he goes into more details and shows the VP a number of successful past offers. However, if you're brand name new, simply show them a residential or commercial property or 2 that you have in the works.
How to Find Local Banks
A terrific resource for finding a local bank in your target audience is https://www.bauerfinancial.com/home.html. Also, Andrew recommends, "whatever neighborhood you live in, I would draw a 10 to 15 mile radius around it, and after that begin with the ones that are closest to any place you're going to purchase residential or commercial properties. Especially if it's in a B-market, a C+ kind of market, then the banks that are local because location, they have depositors from that specific area and they need to make a specific quantity of loans because specific market. So that's the top place to begin."
Advantages of Local Banks
Besides the ability to offer more loans than a basic bank, Andrew stated local banks have 3 additional advantages:
Building Relationship- "As you start establishing relations, as you start having credibility with a particular bank, they'll scratch their arms a little bit, however in general, the location to start always is the community banks - they wish to have a relationship; it's a relationship sort of loaning, and they really like that word. If you enter and say, 'hey, we wish to establish a relationship with you' and you tell them that you're going to put your rental deposits in their bank, they're all over that since that's truly what in the long run they're looking for."
Flexible Loan Qualifications- "They do not have strict criteria. For people who may not have a W-2 income, they'll work with 1099. If someone doesn't have a W-2 or 1099, but has retirement earnings, they'll work with. If someone doesn't even that however has some assets, an excellent portfolio in the stock market, or simply cash, they're much more flexible and they're not as delicate, even in the department of credit ratings."
Loans to Business Entity- "As you deal with these business banks, you can buy residential or commercial properties in your LLCs, you can purchase residential or commercial properties in your S Corps, you can purchase companies under a trust."
Related: How a "Rich Dad Advisor" Directs Investors to Transfer Title to an LLC
Conclusion
Andrew follows the 2-5-7 investment formula (which is comparable to the BRRRR Strategy): acquire a minimum of 5 residential or commercial properties in 2 years and pay them off in 7 years.
The three methods Andrew finances his deals on the front-end are partnerships, hard money, or personal cash loans. On the back-end, he refinances the residential or commercial properties with a business loan from a small regional bank. When walking into a bank, Andrew goes straight to the Vice-President and discusses his business strategy.

For those interested in following this method or simply wish to find a small regional bank, visit: https://www.bauerfinancial.com/home.html. The three primary benefits, amongst many others, of using a little local bank is the ability to form relationships, flexible loan qualifications, and loaning to your organization entity.
Are you a beginner or a seasoned financier who desires to take their real estate investing to the next level? The 10-Week Apartment Syndication Mastery Program is for you. Joe Fairless and Trevor McGregor are prepared to pull back the drape to show you how to enter the game of home syndication. Click on this link to discover how to start today.
