Key facts
- Mike Savage built a real estate portfolio with an estimated net worth of $2 million.
- He used a $10,000 loan against his truck for a down payment on his first investment property in 2015.
- Savage utilized home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) to finance additional property purchases.
- He cofounded SynergyStays, a short-term rental revenue management business.
- Savage left his firefighter job after a change in the department's pay structure.
- An accessory dwelling unit generated $35,000 in gross income in its first year.
Mike Savage, a former firefighter and EMT from South Carolina, has built a real estate portfolio with an estimated net worth of $2 million, enabling him to leave his full-time job. He and his wife, a teacher, initially had limited savings but managed to buy their first home in Massachusetts in 2010 with a 0% down payment USDA loan and a first-time homebuyer credit.
After moving to South Carolina, they converted their first home into a rental and purchased another primary residence. As their family grew, Savage sought to build wealth beyond their combined incomes. His first investment property was a $49,000 house in Charleston, South Carolina, purchased in 2015. With no savings, he took out a $10,000 loan against his paid-off truck for the down payment.
Savage later leveraged home equity, taking out a $30,000 home equity line of credit (HELOC) against their primary residence to help purchase a $250,000 townhouse. This property was initially a primary residence but was converted into a short-term rental. He repeated this strategy, using a HELOC on the townhouse to buy their current home and converting the townhouse to a long-term rental after local regulations changed.
Around 2018, Savage began attending real estate investor meetups, learning about financing options like hard-money lending and the BRRRR method, which accelerated his acquisitions. He bought three long-term rentals in 2020 and six more in 2021. Property tax records reviewed by Business Insider confirmed his ownership of several properties.
Savage decided to pursue real estate full-time after a change in the fire department's pay structure reduced his compensation, making him feel financially vulnerable. He cofounded SynergyStays, a short-term rental revenue management business, which grew from his own experiences as an Airbnb host. His investment strategy has shifted from accumulating units to maximizing income per unit. This year, he sold four long-term rentals, generating about $450,000 in cash, which he plans to invest in a single, high-income short-term rental property.
In his final full year with the fire department in 2021, Savage's take-home pay was about $40,000. The following year, a single accessory dwelling unit he built generated nearly the same amount in gross income. With income from rentals and SynergyStays, which he said contribute roughly equally to his total income, Savage felt comfortable leaving his employer.