I met 2,000+ real estate investors—here’s what I learned

This was my first time at BPCon, and I didn’t know what to expect: Investor pep rally? Spreadsheet cult? After three days of panels, networking, and (very) animated cap-rate talk, here’s what stood out.

There’s no one way to invest

The sheer variety of investing methods I discovered was mind-boggling. Besides garden-variety house flippers, I met live-in flippers who move into the homes they demo to reap the tax benefits. Landlords are experimenting with a new sweet spot between long- and short-term rentals called (drumroll) mid-term rentals, which offer higher ROI with fewer headaches. Meanwhile, Airbnb hosts sick of fielding 2am texts from guests are outsourcing to cohosts. House hacking has evolved into land hacking, coliving, and glampgrounds galore.

Then there was Super Bowl–winning former NFL placekicker Doug Brien, who took his portfolio of 17,000 properties public as one of the first single-family rental REITs. His advice stuck with me: “If you guys take away one thing, don’t be Babe Ruth,” he said. “People like to glorify home runs, but they strike out. Just keep hitting doubles and you’ll create wealth.”

The rules of investing have changed

While the investor excitement was so thick you could underwrite it, Dave Meyer, BiggerPockets’ head of real estate investing, didn’t sugarcoat the challenges: He kicked off his keynote by saying, “Real estate isn’t as good as it used to be.” When interest rates hit historic lows back in 2021, he explained, “Even a reasonably intelligent poodle could succeed.” Now, he thinks we’ve entered a new era he calls “The Great Stall,” a stretch of flat home prices and stubbornly high rates. “Jerome Powell is not coming to save you,” he joked. Still, with homes sitting longer and sellers more desperate, Meyer argues it’s actually a good time to buy.

Other investors I met agreed. “A lot of people lean into the notion that real estate is unaffordable and impossible, but I think it’s the best time to buy in 12 years,” said California-based investor Michael Zuber, whose workshop had me hooked at the title: “It Took Your Parents 40 Years to Retire, You Can Do It in 10.” His top advice? “Look for properties on the market for 90 days and write them a disrespectful offer 25% under list price.”

Real estate = freedom

Many investors I met turned to real estate to break free from the weekly paycheck grind. Take Washington-based Dion McNeeley, a divorced single dad with three kids, who was earning $17 per hour teaching truck driving. At age 40, he turned his home into his first rental. Today, he owns 18 rentals that allowed him to retire at 52. He now spends his days scuba diving and teaching others about the life-changing powers of real estate. He closed BPCon with a message that summed things up: “When you finally make it to the top, turn around and help someone else climb.”

Find out where next year’s BPCon will be.