Shelby Osborne began her Army career as an officer in 2012. When she left the service in 2018, she went full-time as a real estate investor. Years later, Osborne is just 31 years old and owns 74 rental properties.
 
According to Osborne, military life was becoming increasingly frustrating. “It has so many pros for sure, but there are frustrations involved just probably like any job,” Osborne said. “And I could easily see what my future looked like for the next five, 10, 15 years in the military because of the job progression - and it was not something that I wanted to do for that long.” 
 
Osborne served for six years and then transitioned into full-time real estate investment and brokerage. She now owns 74 rental units, and her portfolio consists of single-family and multi-family homes and commercial properties. She also founded Five Pillars Realty, a company that assists real estate agents in connecting with investors. The company is primarily composed of veterans. 
 
Her first property was a condo in DuPont, Washington. At the time, she was serving in the military. She had lived there for more than three years when she was forced to relocate, so she kept the property and rented it out. Her extra $150 a month after the mortgage was paid was hers to tuck away in the bank. 
 
“It was cash flowing, even though I hadn’t run numbers. I was like, “wow, if I just keep buying properties that bring in more than my mortgage payment, maybe I can stop trading my time for money,” Osborne said.
 
In 2017, she purchased a duplex as her second property. This was her first deliberate investment. Then, she did not know real estate and had no idea how to maximize money. She used a conventional mortgage to pay the balance because she had saved up cash. She said the property cost her $75,000.
 
Two tenants were already in place when she purchased the property. It had a cash flow of about $1,000 after covering its mortgage immediately following purchase. Despite how difficult it was to get there, she kept going.  
 
Osborne wanted a life where he didn't have to ask permission to travel outside of a radius of 250 miles. "I wanted to live a life where I wasn’t living for the weekends, where I was happy every single day of my life and not just living for the couple hours that I had off."
 
What she did to scale 
Her only problem with these aspirations was a lack of capital. She put 0% down on the first property using a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loan, and a 25% down payment was required on the second property. 
 
It would mean taking up a lot of money to do that repeatedly, so Osborne quickly realized she couldn't do that. Instead, she did her research and learned about the BRRRR strategy she said.
 
This is a method in which an investor buys, rehabs, renovates, and rents a property. Then they contact a bank and request a refinance. After that, the money is used to make the next investment. 
 
As Osborne noted, it wasn't easy to access funds. It's been proven right as well due to the recent high home prices and low inventory. Osborne said whether you're in real estate, in life, or business, you're going to hear "no" a lot. Nevertheless, if you want it, you have to figure out how to make it happen.
 
In acquiring properties and completing BRRRR projects, she utilized every possible means and even used private funds. Demanding money was a necessity, and partnering was also an option. Local banks also offered her lines of credit.
 
As Osborne advised, "make sure that you are working closely with someone who has done this before or is familiar with the market. So for instance, it was super helpful that I was a real estate agent because I understood what a projected value would be after repair.”