My Real Estate Investing Plan for 2026

TLDR

A mature portfolio year isn’t flashy. Four flips, four BRRRRs, a handful of refinances to free up capital, a couple of new builds, one commercial project, and partnership work running in the background. Most of the activity is maintenance and capital recycling, not new acquisitions.

Table of Contents

• Four Flips, Four BRRRRs
• The Holdco and Opco Structure
• Refinancing the Rental Turnovers
• Two New Builds
• Commercial Development and the Next Project
• Partnership Holdcos and the Burn-Down Quadplex
• The Fund Projects
• Goal Categories: Finance, Business, Personal, Family
• FAQ
• Related

Four Flips, Four BRRRRs

My main 2026 activity is modest on paper: four flips and four BRRRRs. That’s eight projects through my core operating company.

One flip per quarter. BRRRRs are buy, renovate, refinance, rent. Same renovation work as a flip, but instead of selling I get the property appraised, refinance, and put a tenant in.

Eight projects of the exact type I’ve been doing for 15 years. That’s enough. Over-ambition is how portfolios break.

The Holdco and Opco Structure

Here’s the unlock that makes the math work. I have a Holdco and an Opco. Actually more than one of each, but start with the basics.

Holdco owns the property. When Holdco needs renovation work done, Holdco hires Opco. Opco is my construction and operations company. Opco takes that work, hires subs, does the renovation, and gets paid.

So on any given flip or BRRRR, there are multiple points of income:

Four flips plus four BRRRRs through this structure means I’m generating work for Opco on eight projects. Opco carries a lot of my income even when Holdco isn’t selling anything.

This is why I can do a modest number of deals and still have real income. The corporate structure multiplies earning events per deal.

Refinancing the Rental Turnovers

Three houses came back as rental turnovers. They’re mid-renovation right now. As soon as they’re done, I’m refinancing all three.

Two were bought with seller financing at 3% interest, which means current payments are great. But when tenants turn over, the renovation costs real money. On those two, I’m probably into each one for $20-30K in renovation costs. So I have $50-60K tied up in the deals that I don’t want tied up.

Refinancing pulls those funds back out. I still own the property. The mortgage payment goes up because I’m pulling cash. But I have the cash deployed in the next deal.

The third refinance is a house nobody’s lived in yet. I bought it and have been rehabbing from the start. Should be done at the same time as the turnovers.

Pro Tip

Rental turnovers are expensive. Budget for a significant refi or a real cash outlay every time a long-term tenant moves out. The renovation to get a house rent-ready after a five-year tenant is often bigger than first-time renovation.

Two New Builds

I have two new builds permitted and ready. I don’t usually do new construction, but one of my BRRRR rentals sat on a large lot that could be subdivided. I split it into multiple lots:

• Lot 1: existing house (the one getting refinanced)
• Lots 2 and 3: new builds, two identical houses going up
• Lot 4: not building on (too expensive to get off the road, awkward access)

Holdco owns the land outright. I’m getting a loan for the construction. Each house will cost me around $170K to build. Loan will cover most of that.

After they’re done, Holdco refinances or sells at around $200K each. Profit margin per house goes to Opco as construction earnings.

Subdividing a large lot with an existing BRRRR house on it is the kind of opportunity I never planned for but took when the zoning allowed. I don’t do a lot of new construction. This is the exception because the lots were basically free.

Commercial Development and the Next Project

Hold a lot that used to have a house on it. Tore the house down. Building two simple metal commercial buildings. Total project cost around $400K.

Originally this was going to be my new office. Then I looked at rental rates in the area and did the math. The rent it’ll generate is worth more than using it myself. So I’ll rent it out, probably around $4,000/month.

My plan is to keep a couple of new builds and one commercial project going each year in the background. Flips and BRRRRs stay my primary. New builds and commercial are diversifiers.

Partnership Holdcos and the Burn-Down Quadplex

I have multiple Holdcos because I have different partnerships. Each partnership is its own Holdco with its own deals.

One partnership has a quadplex that burned down. I’ve been rebuilding it. Roof’s back on. Most mechanical, electrical, plumbing rough inspections are done. We borrowed a few hundred thousand to do this.

It’s at the end of the gauntlet, which is my term for the long stretch of rough inspections on a major renovation:

1. Pre-construction: permits and plans
2. Framing and structural
3. hvac, plumbing, electrical, and gas rough
4. Insulation inspection
5. Rough building inspection

After that, you’re in the easy lane: floors, paint, installs (cabinets, countertops, appliances), final inspections. Finals are almost never as complex as rough.

The gauntlet is where most major renovations die on the vine. Push through it and the rest is downhill.

Same partnership has another duplex on the back burner after a renter turnover. I haven’t had bandwidth to push it because Opco already has 17 live projects. Sometimes the right move is to accept you can’t do everything this quarter.

The City Dispute

Same partnership has another duplex that became a legal issue. The city wants to tear it down. They claim structural issues. That got into legal proceedings.

I hired a third-party structural engineer. Now the engineer tells me what to do, and if the engineer confirms the building is sound, the city has to back off. That’s how you handle a municipality claiming structural issues: you bring in a credentialed third party.

Almost through rough building inspection on that one. Total project cost going to land around $100K, which is huge. But these are the deals you take through because walking away costs the partnership more than finishing.

Never accept a municipal order to tear down a building without a third-party structural engineer’s opinion first. Cities sometimes push demolitions they can’t technically justify. A good engineer is cheap insurance.

The Fund Projects

I also have two funds. They operate like partnerships.

12-Unit Apartment Renovation

12-unit apartment complex. Plan was to buy it with most tenants on month-to-month, move out a few at a time, renovate, re-rent at higher rates. Rinse and repeat.

The market’s been harder than expected. We’ve had to lower rates, and the first renovated units aren’t renting as fast as planned. So we’ve stopped pushing people out. You can’t renovate units aggressively if the ones you already renovated aren’t filling.

It’s a timing tension. If I finish all the units, the building itself looks nicer and rents better. But finishing all the units means more money out with less income coming in until it absorbs.

Goal for the year: complete the project, one way or another.

The Sinking Duplex

A duplex on a slab foundation is sinking. I hired a structural company to fix it. Now we have a dispute about what “done” means.

Likely outcome: finish the project, maybe sell rather than hold. Sometimes rentals don’t pencil after the structural work gets priced correctly.

Balloon Loan Portfolio

Four properties bought on seller financing with a balloon. Balloons are why I don’t love seller financing for long holds. They force action.

These mortgages get paid by tenants. Cash flow is fine. But the balloon matures this year, so refinance or sell. Most likely refinance on three. One just turned over, so renovation is happening first before refi.

Goal Categories: Finance, Business, Personal, Family

I set goals in four categories every year:

Everything in this article falls under Finance. Business for 2026 is the digital community and content. Personal and family are private.

You can’t run the finance side well for long without running the other three. I’ve tried. It falls apart.

What the Year Really Looks Like

The pattern that emerges from all this: a mature real estate year is 80% maintenance and 20% new acquisitions. Refinances, turnovers, pushing partnership deals through the gauntlet, managing balloons, recycling capital.

The sexy stuff (new builds, commercial development) is a small slice on top.

If you’re just starting out and thinking your year has to look like mine, it doesn’t. Four flips and four BRRRRs through a Holdco/Opco structure is an entire year of work for most people. Everything else I’m describing is what accumulates after 15 years of compounding.

Start with what your life can actually hold. Compound from there.

FAQ

How do you keep track of 17 live projects?

I don’t personally. Opco has systems. Project managers. Weekly walks. Scope trackers. The minute you have more than three active projects, you need systems or you’re living in chaos.

Why are balloons bad?

They force a decision. Interest rate could be anywhere when the balloon matures, and you’re forced to act regardless. Fixed long-term notes let you control timing. I prefer 15 or 30-year fixed when I can get it.

What’s a capital call?

When a partnership needs more money and each partner has to contribute their share based on their ownership percentage. It’s a shared cost. Not fun but sometimes necessary.

Why pull equity from one property to fund another?

When the alternative is a capital call. If a partnership needs money and one property has equity to pull out, pulling equity avoids having partners write checks. Not ideal, but better than bad alternatives.

I’m just starting out. How does this article help me?

It shows you what the back half of a real estate career looks like. The compounding. The partnership structure. The recycling. Your first few years are about getting your first few doors. This is the destination.