North Carolina investors Sam and Marlene enjoy their new career.

Who says that retirement means retirement? According to investors Sam and Marlene, it’s just another word for career change!
After “retiring” from government work, Sam and Marlene moved from Maryland to North Carolina. Then Marlene saw Carleton Sheets’ infomercial and thought that the No Down Payment program looked interesting, so she ordered it—and also enrolled in the Personal Coaching program.
In one short year from the time that they started Carleton’s No Down Payment Personal Coaching program, they owned seven properties.
Change in strategy
Their first two purchases were bought by using an equity line of credit from their home. But then they met a loan officer—a fellow real estate investor—whose input changed their strategy.
“It’s a small local bank. We had a good rapport with him, plus we had good records,” Marlene says. Based on his recommendation, they looked at a model home that was for sale.
“We checked it out and, of course, we purchased it,” Marlene smiles.
Includes upgrades
And what is their model home strategy? “You get the model home, and you get it early because generally that is the first house built. They [the contractors] put all of the upgrades into the model home,” Marlene points out. “Then, the developer will rent it back from us, generally at 1 percent [per month].”
“What that means to us is we get far more money from the developer in rent than we would ever get from an average individual renting,” she adds.

No advertising needed
When the development is sold out, then the model is sold. Oftentimes, the Realtor® has taken names of people who are interested in buying the model, so no advertising is needed because everyone has seen it. Plus, the value of the home has appreciated while the rest of the subdivision is being built.
The situation is a good one for a builder, too. “Those builders want to get all the models off their books. It’s a tax thing,” Marlene relates.
For Sam, getting his PhD and teaching at a university was his retirement plan. But he found that he enjoys investing in real estate as much as Marlene.
Sam and Marlene have recently moved into a larger home with two offices. They have sold a few of their properties since they started investing, but their portfolio still includes 10 investment properties with approximately $850,000 in equity and a positive cash flow of $81,272 a year.
Enjoying retirement
“I love what I am doing!” Marlene shares. “Sam and I are really enjoying this.”