You don’t have to race to financial independence to get there. Dave Meyer, VP of Market Intelligence at BiggerPockets, took his time building up passive income, and years later, it’s what has allowed him to amass impressive wealth all while living abroad, working where he wants, and securing a very stable retirement. But Dave wasn’t always some housing market genius who knew every statistic and metric about real estate investing. He started as a broke college student with no job prospects, struggling to pay his own rent. After graduating college during one of the worst recessions America had ever experienced, Dave was waiting tables to keep the lights on. He realized that he needed a different way to get ahead, and just getting a job wasn’t going to be enough. So, even with no money, Dave convinced a few friends to buy a house together while he borrowed money for his share of the down payment. Dave managed the property, took the tenant phone calls, and did what he had to do to learn the real estate ropes. And…it worked! Now, a decade and a half later, Dave has an entire real estate portfolio of long-term and short-term rentals and passive income streams from syndication investments, but this all started with one small deal he took a chance on. Today, Dave shares every part of his story, from finding the first deal to moving abroad, pausing buying rentals, and why he’s getting BACK in the game now and doing deals again! In This Episode We Cover How to invest in real estate even if you’re starting from zero with NO money The power of house hacking and how this strategy can explode your real estate portfolio  Optimizing your portfolio and how to systematize your rentals so YOU don’t do all the work Investing during a housing crash and why most Americans were running from rental properties  Passive investing through real estate syndications and the pros and cons of putting your money in one  Why Dave is finally getting back into the rental property game after years on the sidelines  And So Much More! (00:00) Intro (01:08) First Rental with NO Money (12:25) Optimizing His Portfolio (18:30) Investing During the Crash (19:46) Moving Abroad (21:45) Passive vs. Active Investments (30:59) Dave’s Current Portfolio Check out more resources from this show on BiggerPockets.com and  https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-952 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email advertise@biggerpockets.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices