Episode 781
How to Make Your Assets Pay for Your Lifestyle | Thomas Collins
Thomas Collins explains house hacking, multifamily investing, and how to make your assets pay for your lifestyle—starting with your first property.
Full Description
In this episode of RealDealChat, Jack Hoss sits down with Thomas Collins, founder of Shift Rich Academy, to break down one of the most powerful entry points into real estate investing: house hacking.
Thomas shares how a single conversation at his day job sparked a mindset shift that led him from renting at $1,400/month to owning a duplex where his tenants paid nearly the entire mortgage. He explains why multifamily properties (especially duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes) are the smartest first move for new investors—and how FHA loans make it possible with just 3.5% down.
The conversation goes deep into:
- House hacking vs flips (and why HGTV gets it wrong)
- Establishing your buy box when you plan to live in the property
- Using short-term rentals to dramatically increase cash flow
- Costly mistakes with tenants, licenses, and partnerships
- Why systems, virtual assistants, and AI prevent real estate from becoming another job
- How confidence explodes after the first deal
- Why waiting for “perfect” kills momentum
This episode is packed with real-world lessons, beginner clarity, and systems thinking for anyone sitting on the sidelines.
👉 Join Thomas’ free community: Skool.com → Shift Rich Academy
👉 Build systems & scale smarter: https://realdealcrew.com
⏱️ Timestamps:
00:00 – Make your assets pay for your lifestyle
01:00 – The conversation that changed everything
03:00 – First duplex: living for $130/month
04:45 – Why house hacking beats flips for beginners
06:05 – FHA loans & buying up to four units
07:10 – Establishing your buy box when you’ll live there
08:40 – Long-term vs short-term rental hybrid strategy
10:30 – Parents, college kids & house hacking
11:45 – Managing tenants vs hiring property managers
13:45 – Renting to friends (and breaking the rules)
15:00 – COVID lesson: licenses, paperwork & bad tenants
17:45 – Why communities shorten the learning curve
20:15 – Most expensive mistake: bad partnerships
23:00 – Biggest win: Airbnb pivot = 3X income
25:30 – The confidence shift after the first deal
26:50 – Systems, VAs & avoiding another job
29:30 – AI, calculators & filtering deals faster
31:15 – Shift Rich Academy explained
34:00 – Rapid Fire: lies, books & time-saving tools
#HouseHacking #RealEstateInvesting #PassiveIncome #ThomasCollins #RealDealChat #MultifamilyInvesting #FHAloan #RentalProperties #FinancialFreedom #InvestorMindset
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