Erin Helle
Erin Helle has been a guest on Collecting Keys, the real estate investing podcast hosted by Mike DeHaan, Dan Austin and Dylan Koch.
Balancing Parenthood and Family While Building a 100-Unit Portfolio with Erin Helle
Erin Helle, a West Point graduate and former Army officer, describes leaving the military after her first child was born and building a nearly 100-door rental portfolio in about five years. She explains why she funds almost everything with private money instead of taking on equity partners, where her deals actually come from (mostly MLS, realtors and wholesalers), and how she has stopped trying to fit anyone else's definition of motherhood while running the business.
Key takeaways
- Erin funds deals with hard money on the front end and refinances with private money, then buys with 20-25% down using private money, because her tax returns don't fit conventional lending.
- She avoids equity partners on purpose: giving away 50% of a deal is expensive money, and partners mean asking permission on small decisions like repairing versus replacing a toilet.
- Most of her nearly 100 doors came from small multifamily (duplexes through quadplexes, plus a 10-unit and a 12-unit), mostly sourced on the MLS, from her realtor team, private money lenders and cold wholesaler emails.
- She self-directed her and her husband's Roth and traditional IRAs into syndications as limited partners.