I’m a huge proponent of finding an investment strategy that combines two things.

1. Something you are passionate about.

2. Something that makes outsized returns.

It’s hard to grow real wealth by just purchasing turn-key properties at average rent rates.  It takes a really long time.

On top of that, if you don’t enjoy the strategy that you have chosen, then after a long day of work, it will feel painful to work on your investing business, rather than an exciting opportunity.

In 2014, after investing in real estate for several years full-time, I got involved with a non-profit that helps veterans start businesses.  Through this organization I discovered my passion for working with veterans and searched for a way to combine my desire to assist vets with my love of real estate.

I soon discovered a program called HUD/VASH that provides homeless veterans a voucher through the VA.

Homeless veterans can use this voucher to rent a home that matches the number of bedrooms on the voucher, and the VA will cover all, or a portion, of the rent.

After realizing that this was a way to potentially combine my affinity for cash flowing real estate with a cause that motivates me everyday, I was hooked on building a new business around this investing strategy.

I researched the details of the HUD/VASH program, and launched my new business called Green Vet Homes in 2016.

Green Vet Homes is my real estate investment business founded by veterans for the purpose of buying, rehabbing, and renting great homes to other veterans.

After researching the program, I found that many traditional landlords will not participate in the program out of fear. 

Many landlords hear that the program participant is a homeless veteran and envision issues like drug and alcohol abuse, PTSD, and damage to their property.  Beyond this, all of my tenants in the program would not pass traditional tenant screening based on typical rental standards (credit score, income, etc).

However, if a landlord buys in the right location, it is possible to get higher rental income through the program than they if they were to rent to a traditional tenant.

I view this as a great opportunity, and through some risk mitigating measures, have had an excellent experience providing HUD/VASH participants the assistance they need to get back on their feet, while still being able to create incredible cash flow.

I selected a few areas in the south suburbs of Chicago where housing is affordable and HUD/VASH rent is high.  You can google HUD/VASH payment standards to find what they are in the area you are looking to invest.

In addition to selecting areas that work really well for the program, I established a few other practices that helped boost the bottom line and provide a better quality home for the veterans we serve:

1. Target off-market homes that need rehab

You can typically buy these homes at a substantial discount due to the condition and build quite a bit of equity through renovation. This also provides the veteran tenant with a top notch property that they will have a higher propensity to keep in great condition due to the standard upon move in.

2. I initially manage all of the properties myself

This allows me to build a relationship with each tenant and let them know that I am not a nameless and faceless corporation, but rather another veteran, with shared experiences, who wants to see them get back on their feet.  As a result, my maintenance costs stay lower than usual, and my tenants have a higher level of respect for the property.

3. I built a relationship with the team that administers the vouchers at the VA and try to be as easy to work with as possible

Housing the homeless is not an easy mission, so by learning the way the program works and tailoring my business to work hand in hand with it, allows more veterans to get housed, while also increasing my ability to get a vacancy filled when I have one.

When people think about running a business that is mission oriented, they automatically assume it has to be a non-profit, but I would argue that much of the time, a company is able to do substantially more good in the world by successfully operating as a for-profit.  Many times it’s much more sustainable as well.

By combining the two factors mentioned above, a business owner never runs out of motivation to continue to grow their business and realize a greater level of success because they know as their business grows, so does the number of people they are helping.

This doesn’t mean that the business has to involve housing homeless veterans, but could provide a great vacation experience, or housing for the elderly, or a group home for people recovering from addiction or a medical procedure.

Any of these are much needed causes that a person could get excited about, build a real estate investing business around, and make an incredible return doing.

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