Real Estate Side Hustles

What types of real estate side hustles do people have? My intention is to work in real estate in a full-time capacity, but also have a side hustle like owning my own commercial properties or being a broker. I would like to hear of anyone's experiences with their real estate side hustles and if it is actually feasible while working full-time. Feel free to share both success and failures.

52 Comments
 

Depends. Where are you working, and what is your "side hustle"? Being a broker while being a full time analyst for a REPE shop isn't feasible. Owning a small multifamily building on the side, and even self-managing it? Much easier.

A lot of it comes down to corporate culture. Lots of place won't mind if you're running a couple units on the side, in a certain light it can be accretive to your skill set as a developer/acquisitions employee.

I owned a couple small multifamily buildings while working for a developer, and it was fine as long as it didn't interfere with getting my shit done for my job. Was also a great launching pad, as it gave me the small amount of income and security to go out on my own

 

What was your first deal? Owner occupied duplex or something similar? I’m looking at doing this but finding deals that CFADS positive at 3.5%-5% down is impossible right now. Would almost prefer a correction to reset seller expectations.

 
Best Response

I sold weed for a couple years while I was an analyst. Really helped bridge the gap when I was making a small salary with no bonus

Fuckin my way thru nyc one chick at a time
 
"Stoo" What area are you doing this in? Also, what type of house are you building (normal sfh or larger custom sfh)?

Northern Virginia for all of the ground up builds and District of Columbia for the condo units. The ground up builds have averaged under 2,500 sf but one was, like, 3,500 sf and one was less than 2,000 sf.

I want to get into building really space efficient homes that are in the 1,500-2,000 sf range. Target audience is middle and upper-middle class people. I think people with honest, gainful employment should be able to afford a nice home in America. That's my passion.

Array
 

This is going to sound difficult, but “Easiest” side hustle would be buying a 60+ unit multi with 90%+ occupancy where you can hire on-site third party management. Freddie Mac small balance would finance 80% of purchase price + rehab with 3 yrs of IO at 5.15% (give or take 20bps) on a 10/30. Freddie Small balance doesn’t require ownership experience however you or you and your partners need to have net worth equal to 100% of the loan amount and post closing liquidity equal to 10% of the loan amount. Hardest part of pulling this off is 1- finding a deal, 2- finding a high net worth person that will sign non-recourse carve outs, and 3- raising the equity via 506 d syndication. 1- Cap rates are too tight to qualify for 80% in most markets (Freddie is constrained at a 1.25x dscr), so your deal needs to be either off market (truly off market) or in a secondary or tertiary market (Albany, Greensboro, Tulsa, Spokane, etc). 2- people will sign carveouts if you find the deal and/or raise some of the equity. Their share of economics is totally dependent on what you negotiate. 3- raising equity. Network with hnw individuals interested in investing in real estate. Don’t wait until you have a deal under contract to close this. Hire a good securities lawyer.

That’s the “easy” way to buy small multi. Finding the deal, raising the equity, etc is painful but once you close it’s very little work. 2nd deal and all deals after this will also be a lot easier to close.

The alternative is flipping single family, buying a 2-4 house hack 3% down deal with no cash flow, wholesaling, etc. All these strategies can make money and are easier to get into, but in the long run, less passive, less money and not as scalable.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (68) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”