How I Invested in Real Estate With My Boyfriend
Photo: Riley Blanks
Allegra Brantly is an incredibly impressive person. She founded Factora Wealth, a company that’s mission is to help women level-up their earning and investing potential so they can achieve financial freedom. Allegra found that investing in real estate was a great step in achieving financial freedom, and has purchased numerous properties in Austin since 2018!
We asked Allegra a couple questions about her life in Austin, her home purchases, and what it was like partnering with her significant other to buy their investment properties. Thanks Allegra for taking the time to chat with us!
Interested in learning more about buying your own house in Austin? We’d love to see you at one of our workshops or let’s set up a call!
How long have you lived in Austin? I've lived in Austin since the end of 2017. I moved here after ~8 years in NYC.
When did you buy your home and how old were you? I bought my first house on my 32nd birthday in June 2018! Since then, I've bought 2 more.
Was this your first home purchase? The first house was bought when I was a w2 employee. I'm now a business owner of a women's wealth building company & community called Factora.
What industry do you work in? I work in education teaching women personal finance fundamentals and wealth-building principles we weren't taught elsewhere in an online course called Factora Wealth Circles. There are 60+ women going through one right now!
What do you love about living in Austin? I love everything about living in Austin. The sun, the outdoors, the friendly people. Don't even get me started on how I wish I moved here sooner from NYC!!
What is your current income? In my second full year of being an entrepreneur I expect to bring in ~70k
What part of town did you buy your home in and why? All 3 of our properties are in East Austin: 78702, 78725 & 78721.
What type of property did you buy?
Property 1: 2/2.5 Condo built 2008 (It's basically a split floor townhouse with 2 masters, one upstairs and one down with private yard entrance. We house hacked when we lived there and rented out the bottom half to cover half our mortgage).
Property 2: 5/3 Duplex built 1971 (Technically it's a SFH, but we bought a particular layout with a two car garage that we converted into a studio apt with its own bathroom & kitchenette).
Property 3: 3/1 SFH built 1952 (We bought this house with a .13 lot so we can add an ADU which we're in the process of building!). When that's complete it will be a 3/1 SFH + 1/1 ADU.
Who did you partner with to purchase your home? I partnered with my boyfriend (excuse me, FIANCE) on all 3. The first one we bought as our primary and split everything 50/50 with an operating agreement stating what would happen if we broke up, etc. The second, house we bought with a partner and split it with the partner 50/50 so we only own half. The third, my boyfriend bought (as in, he's the only one on the mortgage bc I was not "mortgage worthy" since I didn't have a w2 anymore and had started my own company) and I put down the down payment.
Tell us about your experience and why you chose to partner: My partner and I were more excited to lay a solid financial foundation for our future than we were to get married, so we started with buying real estate which I know a lot of people think should come second. Obviously it really worked for us but I also love challenging societal norms and think more people should too. It's hard to get started with wealth building when you're only working with one income, so it's a great idea to partner with your significant other, a family member or friend to be able to take action sooner. Our strategy is to long term hold these properties and continue buying additional ones in Austin and surrounding areas in the next few years.
