We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rachel Grunn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rachel below.

Rachel, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

My journey to where I am now is colored with lots of little risks and leaps of faith I took along the way. Some risks were “rolled ankle risks” – meaning they were about as dangerous as stepping on a loose rock, hoping it doesn’t rattle you off; perhaps the worst injury being a “rolled ankle” or bruised ego. Other risks were giant leaps across gaping crevasses, where much more serious outcomes were at stake. My “loose rock” risk was dropping out of college. It was the second semester of my Freshman year at the University of Arkansas and I took a flyer on my blossoming career as a model and real estate investor to skip the student debt (and degree) and try life in the “real” world instead (at the ripe age of 18!). This risk didn’t have huge implications, because if all else failed, I could always return to school. But, as it turns out, I made the right move and got three extra years added onto my “adult” life in the workforce and had a huge head start compared to my friends, as I was already running two successful businesses – earning me six figures at age 21.

My “giant crevasse” risk was putting nearly every dime of my money into multifamily real estate back in 2015. I would NEVER recommend any one do this! It was so stressful! Multifamily syndication has been wildly lucrative for me and my family, but I always advise my passive investors to never give anyone their last few dollars – that is not smart investing. Make sure you still have an emergency fund in case life throws curveballs. It panned out well for me, though! That deal got me over double my investment in just a few short years, but boy was it scary!

Rachel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Rachel Grunn and I’m from Dallas, Texas. I am the co-founder of GoodGood Investing, which is an education and opportunity platform for people interested in passively investing in large multifamily apartment complexes. I started in the multifamily industry as a passive investor in 2015, after I spent too much time and energy pounding the pavement in the single family space.

The first deal I did nearly blew my socks off and I was hooked. Not many people know that you can become a co-owner of a large $40MM apartment building for a relatively low buy-in ($50,000 is the minimum, generally) and you can do it totally passively. Which means no dealing with tenants, termites, toilets, construction, or contractors! So I made it my life’s mission to provide the general public with free education, through our podcast “GoodGood Investing”, and also provide passive investment opportunities for those ready to pull the trigger on passive income.

Multifamily investing has totally transformed my life and my family’s lives and we just want to spread the wealth!

We prefer multifamily to single family because it is historically recession proof and inflation resistant, you do not need to vouch for a loan with your own credit or income, entirely passive, fantastic returns, steep tax benefits, and the value is based on income – not comps, which helps to flip the property faster and get your return quicker.

We hope to educate seasoned and beginner investors, alike, to show them that there is a better way!

Have you ever had to pivot?

2020 was a year when a lot of pivoting happened for a lot of people. And I wasn’t immune. At the time, I was living and working in Los Angeles in the entertainment industry. I was still investing in real estate, but I was just doing it passively and not as my full-time gig. Once acting and modeling came to a screeching halt in 2020, I had to reassess all of my goals and ambitions. I ended up moving back to Dallas and decided to dive into real estate full-time as an active multifamily deal sponsor. I couldn’t be more grateful for the pressure cooker I was put in two and a half years ago. I am so grateful for the decisions it forced me to make!

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Andrea Cwik and I met at a networking event called the FIRE Summit. Her husband was dressed to the nines and my mom stopped him and said “you are the most well-dressed man at this event”. He laughed and said it was all credit to his “lovely wife Andrea”. Sure enough, an hour or two later he brings Andrea over to meet my mom and me. We soon realize we all live in DFW and I tell Andrea that we have to get together! We got a coffee and the rest is history. We really bonded over our joint mission of providing free education to the every day investor and leveling the playing field in commercial real estate investing. And thus GoodGood Investing was born!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.goodgoodinvesting.com
• Instagram: @goodgood.investing
• Facebook: GoodGood Investing
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3TqO860ZX0exSKCEpy3vfQ

Image Credits
Jennifer Compton Dylan Grunn