In this YouTube tutorial, Christian Osgood walks beginners through a five‑step framework for purchasing their first rental property and building a real‑estate portfolio. He begins by urging viewers to map their personal goals, quantify the monthly cost of those goals, and set a clear timeline and compelling “why” (e.g., financial freedom, retiring a spouse). The second step is an all‑or‑nothing commitment to the timeline, refusing to let money, a 9‑to‑5 job, or relationships become excuses. The third step challenges conventional advice to chase brokers or online listings; instead Osgood recommends networking directly with existing multifamily owners in the target market, having weekly coffee‑style conversations to learn their story and subtly share one’s own goals. The fourth step stresses patience and disciplined cash‑flow analysis: every prospective deal must generate positive cash flow on a conservative basis, ensuring the property adds income rather than drains it. Finally, the fifth step is the hardest—pulling the trigger on the first deal despite imperfections. Osgood shares his own first purchase (a duplex in Bremerton, WA) bought with 5 % down, minor repairs, and immediate $800/month cash flow, illustrating how momentum builds from a “base hit” to larger multifamily acquisitions (12‑plex, 38‑plex, etc.). Throughout, he downplays complex metrics (IRR, cap rate) for beginners, focusing on cash flow, ownership, and loss‑prevention. The video ends with a call to action to like, subscribe, and apply the steps, promising that disciplined execution can lead to retirement within five years.
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Hey YouTube, it's Christian Osgood and I am back to share with you step-by-step how you buy your first deal. We're going to break this down into 5 very simple steps. If you are new to this channel and new to real estate, like and subscribe below. If you're a veteran, please give us your feedback. Comment below, let me know what you think. If you agree, great. If you disagree, even better. I'd love to hear your thoughts because what we're going to share is going to be different than what you typically hear. If you have been following BiggerPockets, other podcasts, reading real estate books, this is going to go a little bit against the grain, and I'm glad it does, because between Cody and I, we've picked up just about 100 units faster than anyone I've ever seen in our space. We did it no to low money down. So how did we do it? Well, first of all, if you're new to this, you haven't bought your first property yet, you need to map your own personal story. This means taking inventory of your goals what it actually costs on a monthly basis to reach your goals, and you need to set a timeline to that. Very, very simple, but if you have your goal clearly lined out and a timeline in which you're going to reach it, you start to build a roadmap to get you exactly there. And everyone's goal is going to be different. You have to make sure you know it. Most importantly with your goals, you have your target, you have your timeline, and you have the reason behind it for myself, it was retiring my wife, and having the freedom to live anywhere I want. Full ownership of my time. I reached that goal, it took me about 18 months from when I committed to where I'm at today. Set your targets, set your timeline, make sure you have a big enough why, because real estate is simple, but it's not always easy, and when it gets difficult, you need to have a big enough reason. That's your first step, very simple. Just set up those metrics. Step number 2 is going to be the full commitment. Little backstory on me: worked the 9-to-5 for 7 years before buying anything. When I did, I ran out of money again. We had the option: do we go back to the 9-to-5, or do I figure out how to operate with what I have and move faster? If you're committed to your goal, creativity follows commitment. So step 2 is simple: commit to yourself, I'm going to do this in this timeline, and I'm not going to let things like money or schedule or my existing relationships— I'm not going to let any of those things stand in my way. Now you're ready for the actual actionable steps. So traditionally, for number 3, if you're listening to other channels or you've read any books, they start recommend networking with brokers and looking online at LoopNet, Zillow, CREXi. There's lots of different sites out there, but they recommend you start looking at on-market deals and getting connected with brokers. I recommend staying away from that because that is what literally everyone else is doing. You want to change the script here a little bit. There is no one— this is a fact— there is no one in your market who is better qualified to teach you how to buy in your market than people who've already done that. That means the existing owners in your market. If you're like us and you're going after multifamily as the most efficient way to financial freedom for yourself, you need to start calling all the multifamily owners in your area. You're not going to ask them for a deal, you're not going to be transactional, you're going to make this very simple. That story that you mapped originally and that goal, well, you're going to tell them that goal. If you don't own any real estate, you reach out to someone who owns a 12-plex. Hi, my name is Christian Osgood. I don't live in your area, but I made the decision to invest here. They'll probably answer, well, I'm not selling. Well, that's good because I don't have any money. What I do have is a target. I want to retire my wife, and I was originally going to do it in single-family and realized that's going to take too long. I don't know how you've done what you've done, but I'd love to learn how you got started in real estate and how you ended up with this 12-plex. A conversation like that is going to get buy-in, and throughout the conversation, you're going to weave in your story. Keep it very, very simple, but all you're doing in this call is you're mapping out how they did what they did, where they're going, what their goal is, and if you can, the significance behind that goal, and that's it. You're going to do this for one person a week, one owner. That's all you have to do. If you need help on this, we have a video on how to find every owner ever. It's going to show right here. I'll shoot you a link to that video. But very, very simple. Find owners, commit to coffee with one person every week. In a year, that's 52 owners in your area who know you, know your goals, and can help move you forward. Which brings us to number 4. There's going to be some patience. If you're just grinding after deals and trying to compete with everyone, you'll likely end up doing a bad deal as your first deal. Have patience. Just meet people, network, keep learning, and then applying that knowledge. There's two rules that we always reference on this channel. It's how do we buy and how do we never lose it. If you can buy the property in your market, that's your first step. You've done it, but you need to make sure you never lose it. There's a few things that we look at for that, but primarily, does it cash flow? Are the expenses less than the total income on a monthly basis? Every time you buy a property, it should increase your income, and every time your income goes up, you should be able to afford more properties. If you follow this rule, you can buy infinite deals. If you buy properties that lose money day one, well, now you're going to get stuck. You can't move forward losing money, and if market conditions shift, it's a good way to lose the property. So on a very, very basic level, You just need to be able to factor for what are the expenses, what is the income on a conservative basis, do I know how I'm going to keep the property once I buy it, and that's it. Step 5, you have to pull the trigger, and this is the hardest part. For myself, my first property was a little duplex in a city that I had been to twice in my life, just about an hour south of me called Bremerton, Washington. Everything seemed scary to me. I got the inspection report. There was a minor, minor, minor issue with the roof. The deck apparently wasn't built exactly correctly because it was really old, and there was a minor problem with the ductwork in that it was about 100 years old and needed to be replaced. It was so intimidating for me to pull the trigger on that, knowing that everything wasn't going to be perfect and It'd be a few thousand dollars, but ultimately I stuck through it. I closed the deal, and it turns out those weren't big problems. I bought the building very, very low down, 5% down, and it cost me $3,000 in total repairs to do the little roof repair, do some landscaping, and get the ductwork partially replaced, partially patched. And that's it. It's a building that cash flowed day one for me $800 a month, and that's where I learned that, oh my gosh, $800 a month helps. We call that a base hit. It's not a home run. It's not going to retire me, but I make more every month than I did last month. And I quickly did another duplex because it felt great, and I realized I can do this. My next deal was a 38-plex, then a 7-plex, then an 8-plex, then a 12-plex, then another 6-plex, and we just kept rolling from there. But momentum matters. You need the momentum going, and that is why step 5 is both the hardest and the most important step. You have to be able to pull the trigger. Now, if you want to learn analytics, there's— we share on this channel and it's all over the place. But if you're looking at a deal and you have this alphabet soup of things you're looking for— the IRR, the COC ROI, you have all these measures, what is the cap rate— don't worry about those at this step. It does not matter yet. And You're going to hear different advice on a lot of channels. You just need to answer: What is the cash flow? How do I own it? And how do I never lose it? If you can answer those, you're good. Again, follow this channel for more of the math, and I'll also link below one of our videos. It's a quick video on how to do the math. We have a longer one that's an hour. They're simple. Don't overcomplicate this. Your mission, if you're getting started, is to buy the first property. Michael Blank calls this the Law of the First Deal. He's a real estate syndicator. It's not a strategy we use, but I love this rule that he put in his book. Once you buy that first deal, you tend to be able to retire in real estate within 5 years. It feels so good when you finally pull the trigger, you see the cash flow came in, you used conservative numbers, so you cash flow higher than you even estimated, and it just starts snowballing. This is a very, very fun game. The hardest part is going to be pulling the trigger. So in summary, master your story and your goals. Commit to yourself. It can also help to have an accountability partner on that. Meet the owners in your market. Don't go after the deals, don't be transactional, just meet people, one person a week. 4 is patience. This doesn't happen instantly. For Cody, it took 9 months. For myself, it took about 6 from when I committed. I also started with a little bit more money. And 5, when the opportunity comes, don't miss it. Pull the trigger because you committed, because you're ready. Apply the information you've gotten. Buy your first real estate. So step by step, those are the 5 steps we use to get started in real estate. Following this, I have retired. My wife has 4 days left to work before she retires. This works. I promise you this works. We keep it very, very simple all the time. If you haven't yet, like and subscribe below, and we will see you on Monday.
