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.

This was my plan at the time of the source. Some jobs were done in part. Some were stuck. Some had not begun. A goal is not a win. A bid is not a cost. A refi plan is not cash in the bank. I list each item so I can see what needs my time. I also leave room for the old homes I own. A turn, leak, loan date, or city issue can take the week. That is why the plan has less new work than you may expect. The list can change. That is not a fail. It means the facts changed and the work had to move with them.

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
• What the Year Really Looks Like
• FAQ

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.

That creates eight projects of the type I have been doing for 15 years, with both the property company and operating companies involved.

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.

The source’s point is that four flips and four BRRRRs also create paid work for the operating companies. This is Ross’s setup, not a ready-made tax plan. Before copying it, have the right pros check the contracts, books, licenses, fees, and tax treatment.

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.

Treat the Turn as a Project

Some tenant turns are so large that Ross runs them like a new rehab job. In this plan, two were about $20,000 to $30,000 each. That is his example, not a fixed cost for every turn.

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. In the source I estimated roughly $170,000 to build each house and roughly $200,000 as the project price or charge for each one.

In the plan, the roughly $60,000 total difference across the two builds would be Opco construction margin. That was a project estimate, not a promised sale price or realized profit.

I don’t do a lot of new construction. This case came from land Holdco already owned around an existing BRRRR house, with two permitted lots that could support identical builds.

Commercial Development and the Next Project

Holdco owns a lot that used to have a house on it. We tore the house down and planned two simple metal commercial buildings at a total project cost around $400,000.

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.

The source also covers a separate partnership’s 21,000-square-foot commercial renovation next to my office. We renovated one space, leased it, and were finishing city-required parking-lot work after putting a few hundred thousand dollars into the project. The goal was to stabilize it and refinance, not to pretend the work was already complete.

That partnership also had a six-unit refi tied to an agreed partner buyout. Two other refis belonged to another group. On one bad BRRRR, patch led to patch until I saw that we should have gutted the house at the start. We planned to refi a long-held home to bring cash into that closing instead of making a capital call. I call that equity looting elsewhere and said it was not ideal here. It was this group’s choice, not a rule for other deals.

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 work, with its inspections
3. hvac, plumbing, electrical, and gas rough work, with its inspections

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

Ross’s point is that this rough-work and inspection stretch takes a long time. After it, the source moves to floors, paint, installs, and final inspections, which he says are less complex than the rough inspections.

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 to tell me what work or proof was needed. At the time, I hoped the city would accept the engineer’s finding. The case was still open and had been a long process.

I was trying to get through the rough building inspection on that one. The total project cost was heading toward $100,000.

An Engineer Does Not Cancel an Order

This was still an open dispute. The source does not say the city must back down. An engineer can supply technical proof, but the owner still has to meet each order, appeal, hearing, permit, and court deadline. Use the engineer and local counsel in that process. Do not ignore it.

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 above falls under Finance. Business for 2026 is the digital community and content. Personal and family are private.

The source simply shows the four buckets Ross uses. It does not claim that he tried and failed by neglecting the other three.

What the Year Really Looks Like

The pattern Ross names is qualitative: not a lot of new acquisitions, and a lot of taking care of what is already there. That includes refinances, turnovers, partnership work, balloon deadlines, and capital recycling.

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?

This lesson does not explain the tracking system or give an active-project threshold. It does show the consequence: with 17 live jobs, one tenant turnover sat on the back burner because Opco did not have the bandwidth to push everything at once.

Why are balloons bad?

They force action at the maturity date even when the properties are otherwise paying as planned. In this portfolio, the choice was to refinance or sell; the source does not give a universal replacement-loan term.

What’s a capital call?

It is a request for the partners to bring more cash into the deal. The source does not state how a particular agreement allocates that request.

Why pull equity from one property to fund another?

In this specific partnership, the other property had equity and the alternative was asking the partners for more cash. Ross still called the move equity looting and said the result would be tight and not ideal.

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

Do not copy the project count. Ross opens by saying his 15 years and large portfolio make his goals different. Use the lesson to separate finance, business, personal, and family goals, then leave room for the assets and obligations you already have.