You Don’t Need 100 Doors: Rachel Allen’s 3-Property Portfolio
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Adam Tafel – Investor, Realtor, and host of Twin Cities Real Estate Investing. Adam has helped hundreds of clients buy, sell, and analyze investment properties across the metro. He works daily with local investors and is passionate about building wealth through smart real estate strategies.
📩 adam@UpsidePropertySales.com
Tim Swierczek – Local investor and host of TCREI. Mortgage lender and experienced investor who helps clients structure financing to maximize returns and long-term wealth. Tim brings a practical, numbers-first approach that makes deals work in the real world.
📩 tim@timswierczek.com
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This week we sit down with Rachel Allen, whose real estate story started almost by accident back in 2012. Rachel had just landed her dream job as a counselor in a St. Paul school. She loved the work, but the job paid pennies, and when she decided she wanted to become a homeowner in a nicer neighborhood, the only thing she could qualify for was a duplex. Rachel came from humble beginnings on the East Side of St. Paul, no one in her family invested in real estate, and the entire concept was completely foreign to her. She bought a duplex in Como Park, lived in one unit and rented the other, and still owns it today. That first property lowered her living expenses, helped her save money, and eventually gave her the flexibility to spend years traveling the world.
When Rachel returned stateside around 2020, she bought another duplex on the same street—a huge, unique side-by-side she first heard might be for sale at a neighborhood block party. She spent time “courting” the owner and eventually bought it off market when they were ready to sell. Her next deal was a Plymouth townhome that started as her primary residence, although she always knew it would eventually become a rental. Today it operates with a mix of short- and medium-term bookings after Rachel bootstrapped a simple cosmetic renovation herself. What makes Rachel’s story so interesting is that her life has never revolved around real estate. We have plenty of guests whose lives are completely consumed by it. Rachel is a great example of someone who has used real estate to enhance her life—giving her more flexibility, opportunities, and long-term wealth—without ever needing to make real estate the center of it.
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