Is property part of your portfolio in order to reach FI?

Maria and her husband own 9 rental properties, and have a net worth of over a million. They're aiming for a net worth of $3 million in order to reach FI, and have some pretty nifty real estate hacks to share with us.

You'll love that story.

We also chat about...

Maria's personal finance journey
Canada's maternity leave
Dealing with tenants
Future FI goals

Enjoy this chat with Maria, and please subscribe to us in iTunes if you enjoyed it!

Show notes and links from today's episode

Blog: Handful of Thoughts
Maria on Instagram
FI after 50
Camp Mustache

Key takeaways from our chat with Maria
1 - Canada's maternity leave is pretty sweet
In Canada, maternity leave can be 12 months or 18 months. Maria and her husband used up their maternity and were able to split it between the two quite evenly. This allows Maria as well as her husband to go back to work fully rested and with the right energy. Julie mentions she's able to get 8 month maternity leave.
2 - How they're investing in real estate to reach FI
Maria works as a teacher, and along with her husband they own 9 rental properties with a total net worth of $1.3 million. The first $1 million took them 8 years, and they're planning on the next one to take 5 years. They already have a pretty flexible lifestyle and plan in the future to homeschool their kids.
3 - A few tenant hacks
As a landlady, Maria has had to deal with a few difficult cases - she had to take one tenant to court because of the state in which they left the flat when they moved out. But she was still able to get her money back thanks to one good hack: asking for an emergency contact before the tenant moves in. The mother of the tenant was then able to represent the tenant in court. Other hacks include trusting your gut, and sending a birthday card on the tenant's birthday.
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