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Hey RE Rockstar,
Madusanka here from RE Riches.
For two years Joe Meehan coached college basketball for $10,000 a year, working about 90 hours a week. Then he bought a duplex with 5% down, and by his own count he now owns 11 rental units. What makes him worth your time isn't the number. It's that every deal paid for the next one, and he tells you where the math got thin. All figures are his, from one March 2026 interview, and we mark where we added things up ourselves.
WHAT WILL YOU GET TODAY?
✔️ How a $30,000 coach bought a duplex with 5% down — and took his own rent to zero
✔️ The $1 house that wasn't — what that number really is
✔️ The "infinite" BRRRR, added up — we checked his numbers against each other
✔️ What 9.25% does to a deal — and what he's waiting for
INVESTOR SPOTLIGHT OF THE DAY
Meet Joe Meehan.
Most investors ask what to buy next.
His question was what the last deal left behind…
A second tax parcel,
An extra lot,
A rent that was too low, on purpose.
HERE'S THE BREAKDOWN
2012 to 2019.
Joe graduated in 2012, played pro basketball in Switzerland, got hurt,
Then coached college ball for about nine years,
The first two at $10,000 a year and about 90 hours a week,
Then Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, at roughly $30,000.
He was paying about $900 a month in rent when a friend with rentals described a house hack:
Live in one unit, rent the other, let the tenant pay the mortgage.
August 2019.
A duplex that had sat on the market a long time, at $247,500,
5% down on a five-year adjustable-rate loan from a community bank,
Plus the seller's assist (a seller credit toward closing costs, up to about 3%),
From $15,000 to $20,000 of savings.
The other unit already paid $1,000, below market, and a roommate paid $500,
About what the mortgage cost,
Until that tenant left, the unit re-rented at $1,500, and his fiancée moved in.
His own words on the math: he did it on a sheet of paper he still has, and it didn't include capital expenditures, vacancies or maintenance. It just roughly covered the mortgage.
December 2020.
A 3,200-square-foot house plus a detached suite, on the market for about a year, listed near $400,000,
Two separate tax parcels: $360,000 for the house, $1 for the suite,
$25,000 to $30,000 of mostly paint and drywall after practice,
The suite rented at $1,100, then to travelling nurses, with a HELOC (a credit line secured on the property) taken against it,
And the house sold for $420,000 in mid-2022.
Then a fourplex at $260,000 with 20% down, drawn from that HELOC,
An extra lot beside it, sold for $35,000 to $40,000 to pay the credit line back,
Rents of about $4,100 a month against a mortgage of about $1,500,
And two long-time tenants paying about $350 that he chose not to raise.
The setback, honestly: we found no loss or collapse in his account. The thin spots are in the numbers: that first sheet of paper, rates of 8.25% and 9.25% on later deals, appraisals that went "up, down, up, down," and the burnout of the schedule itself.
JOE'S BLUEPRINT TO SUCCESS
Three ideas carry the story, and only the first needs a specific market.
Let the next deal be paid for by the last one. Each house hack left something behind: a paid-off suite he could borrow against, a lot he could sell, a unit he could rent out when he moved on. The HELOC from deal two became the 20% down payment on deal three. Use this only if you can carry the credit line's payments if the rent stops.
Ask what else is attached to the property. The house came with a second tax parcel and the fourplex with a buildable lot. In both cases the extra land was worth something the listing never advertised. Joe says to ask your agent to search for extra parcels or lots in the listing, because they can pay for part of your down payment.
Buy what the area is missing. At the Jersey Shore the supply was short-stay rentals, so the long-term rental was the gap. He chose a place he knew, bought on the market, and priced for a year-round tenant instead of a summer guest.
BACK TO JOE'S STORY
September 2022.
He left coaching in mid-2022, got his real estate licence,
And bought a bank-owned house in New Jersey for about $110,000,
Spent about $100,000 on the rehab, with a contractor for the serious work,
And did the rest himself over three to four months, driving about four hours each way.
It appraised at $290,000, with a loan of about $203,000 at 9.25%, and it rents for $2,600.
Two more in New Jersey, one bought at $190,000 with about $120,000 in work (appraised at $425,000, loan about $315,000, 8.25%), another in 2025 at $285,000 plus about $90,000 (appraised at $455,000, some cash left in),
And one in North Carolina, where he lives now.
11 units today. About five of the properties carry high rates but have equity, so the next step he describes is a refinance across the portfolio.
One disclosure. Joe now runs a health-consulting company, whose clients include real estate firms. We don't link to it or vouch for it. And we found no inheritance, gift or family loan in his account.
LESSONS FROM A SELF-MADE MILLIONAIRE
LESSON #1: ELIMINATE THE BIGGEST BILL FIRST
He was paying about $900 a month to rent,
The duplex's other rents roughly covered the mortgage,
His housing cost went to nearly zero on a $30,000 salary.
Your biggest bill is your best first target.
LESSON #2: THE $1 IS BOOKKEEPING, NOT A DISCOUNT
Splitting the price across two parcels put $1 on the suite,
But together they cost about $360,001 against a listing near $400,000,
The saving came from the negotiation, not the dollar.
Read what a number is made of.
LESSON #3: A BRRRR AT 9.25% IS A WAITING GAME
Rent of $2,600 against a payment of about $2,000,
Before maintenance, vacancies and management,
And a refinance he is still waiting for.
Underwrite the rate you can get, not the rate you hope for.
LESSON #4: "INFINITE" IS ROUNDED
His first New Jersey deal cost about $110,000 plus $100,000, which is $210,000,
The loan was about $203,000, so about $7,000 stayed in, before closing and holding costs,
The second one cleared by about $5,000 ($310,000 against a $315,000 loan), also before those costs.
Our arithmetic, on his rounded figures. He says the cash came out, and it's close, but the cost of getting a refinance is real too.
His record is unusual for the right reason: a coach on $10,000 a year who kept buying one deal at a time, and says plainly that the early maths was a guess. But the figures here are his, from one interview in 2026, rates have moved since several of these deals, and a credit line, an adjustable-rate loan or a 9% mortgage can each hurt you if the rent stops. Copy the order of operations, check every price yourself, and treat the totals as his.
How Did You Find Today's Edition?
💰💰💰💰💰 | Loved it |
💰💰💰 | It was fine |
💰 | Not for me |
So here's this week's question, and I want your real numbers.
Find one duplex, triplex or fourplex near you that has been listed for 90 days or more.
Hit reply with its asking price, days on the market and the monthly rent of each unit, if the listing shows them. You don't have to name the property.
I'll run the numbers on a few and show the working in a future edition, only if you tell me I can use yours, and without your name.
To your patient success ahead, — Madusanka, RE Riches
RE Riches is educational and informational only. It is not financial advice, it does not sell investments, and nothing in it is a prediction. Real estate carries risk, including the loss of the money you put in. House hacking, adjustable-rate loans, home-equity lines of credit and high-rate refinances can each increase your payments or put your home at risk if rents fall or rates change. Figures are as reported by the subject in one public interview and have not been independently audited; calculations marked as ours are our own arithmetic on his rounded figures. Do your own research or consult a qualified professional before investing.
