Right now, my dad is at a closing on the last two of the 5 rental apartments he owns with my mom. These were all purchased over last 10+ years.
They bought them all for cash, and rented them straight away. After all the expenses, most made around $500 or a bit more profit per month, after crazy steep HOA bills, insurance, taxes and maintenance costs.
Apartment #1 was purchased for $30k. He just sold for $123k with close to no investments, new tub and a new fridge I think. It rented for $950.
Apartment #2 was purchased for $37k, and we invested around $10k in fixing it up. It just sold for $155k to a cash buyer. It rented for $1100 I think?
Apartments #3,#4 and #5 were in the same complex. He bought them for $40k, $60k and $80k, and they just sold for ~ $162k each, and none had any upgrades I can think of other than an appliance or two that died during renting. All of these rented for $1100-ish or so.
So, they made out like banshees on this. They used the proceeds to buy a brand new $400k house next to us - which they will rent for two years so they can avoid a hefty tax bill, they paid off another rental property and they paid off the house that they are living in, and had some cash leftover. Bought for cash with the proceeds from the sale of the last three apartments, with some leftover.
Other properties which they aren’t selling - when we first moved to states, we bought a house in a blue collar neighborhood for $156k. Over the years, we invested a lot, but we also have been renting it for years, and it is worth close to $350k. It currently rents for $2000.
One property that hasn’t increased a lot was purchased for $270, we invested around $30k in a remodel and finishing the basement, and it should sell for $350k if we wanted it to. It is paid off and renting for $2300 per month. It was purchased in 2017, so still time to grow.
Lastly - the house my parents live in now. Bought some 8-10 years ago for $205k, worth around $365k. Once the two years are up and they want to move next to us in Fort Collins area, they can sell this tax free because it was their primary residence.
So, nothing quite like quadruple increase in Seattle area (close enough), but still pretty insane. Anyone buying now...man, I guess the market is still going up and is predicted to go up for foreseeable future, but these prices are insane.
20 years and 45 days ago, we landed into this country as refugees with 6 bags, one guitar, and a total of $8800 in our pockets. I had $800 of those, and my folks had $8000, and we promptly spent $5600 on a 1996 Ford Escort station wagon with low miles and a salvage title. Now my folks - who still struggle a lot with English - are millionaires in equity.
My dad has been working 70 hour weeks for last 20 years also, and he has been bringing home more money than me with a masters degree and “senior” in my job title. Mom never said to no to a babysitting job either, and she makes over $20 per hour for those as well.
‘Murica, fuck yeah.