Who says you can’t have it all? The career, the love, the wealth—it can all be yours if you want it and work for it. Today’s guest, Mackenzie Grate, works hard so she can have it all. Working full-time as an assistant middle school principal, Mackenzie spends her nights and weekends as a real estate investor and agent. She owns two single-family homes, a fourplex, a duplex, a short-term rental, and her primary residence.
Mackenzie’s real estate investing journey started in 2017. While living in her apartment, she rented out her extra room and decided to buy a home once rent prices became a little too high to handle. From there, she started looking for her first deal by googling the three fastest-growing job markets in New York. She then chose the market she wanted to invest in, asked a friend to go upstate with her, and started driving for dollars. She put in an offer on the first house she saw and closed on the home. But was she doing it alone?
There is a common misconception that when you invest with a significant other, they have to be involved to be on board. Mackenzie’s relationship with her husband proves that involvement doesn’t equate to support. He supports what she’s doing, but he isn’t an active part of her investing journey, and for them, that works. He shows support by doing other everyday tasks at home, giving Mackenzie more time to work and pursue real estate. This freed-up time is essential for Mackenzie as she juggles all her endeavors and earns her nickname, the “Mack of All Trades.”
Askley:
This is Real Estate Rookie episode 227.
Mackenzie:
I was living in apartment, a two bedroom apartment for many years in East Williamsburg. And although I didn’t own the apartment, I guess I was kind of house hacking in a sense that me and my husband, boyfriend at the time, would live in one room and we would rent out the other room. We were there for a very long time. And there just came a point where I was like,…