This woman in San Francisco earns $10K/month by buying and selling fixer-uppers — and she’s only 25. Here's how she made her real-estate riches — and how you can get in on the action

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Soli Cayetano has built a real estate portfolio that would make most seasoned investors do a double take.

A native of San Francisco, Cayetano got a taste for real estate in college. While studying finance, she began a budding career as a broker working in commercial real estate. Then things changed.

“Long story short, the pandemic hit and nobody was leasing office space, and so my whole world just went black,” she told Marketwatch. “I needed to figure out how to build passive income streams for myself.”

That’s when Cayetano decided to buy her first investment property at 22, and the rest is history.

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Fresh out of college, Cayetano didn’t have the capital or income to qualify for a mortgage on a house close to home. The median sale price of a home in San Francisco is $1.33 million, according to Redfin.

So instead, she settled on the thriving city of Cincinnati, Ohio, where home prices were lower and cash-flow opportunities were better.

The young investor bought a two-bedroom, one-bathroom single-family home for $98,000 with a $20,000 down payment.

Within two years, she’d bought 27 units that brought in around $10,000 per month. Since filming with Marketwatch, she’s invested in another 12 houses, an office building and an apartment block.

Cayetano has since amassed 140K followers on Instagram and appeared on Good Morning America and Business Insider to talk real estate investing through a Gen Z lens.

If you’re inspired by Cayetano, but the costs and hassles associated with buying a physical property, maintaining it and possibly even renting it out don’t appeal to you, there are other ways you can invest in real estate.

Read more: Generating 'passive income' through real estate is the biggest myth in investing — here’s how you can do it in as little as 5 minutes

Low-overhead ways to invest in real estate

If you don’t want to make investment decisions on your own, investing apps and online platforms can help you invest in diversified real estate portfolios that will maximize your returns while keeping your fees low.

For instance, First National Realty Partners (FNRP) — a private equity firm — has an online platform that gives accredited investors the chance to diversify their portfolio with necessity-based real estate.

FNRP offers grocery-anchored investment opportunities without the effort it takes to find the deals yourself — they vet every deal against a set of rigorous investment criteria.

In other words, you could have a piece of Whole Foods and enjoy quarterly distributions without worrying about the quality of your investment.

If you’re not an accredited investor but still want to get in on real estate cash flow, don’t worry. If residential properties are more your style, you can use Arrived — an online platform where you can invest in shares of rental homes and even vacation rentals — to get into real estate without taking on the responsibilities of property management.

Getting started is simple. Begin by browsing a curated selection of homes, vetted for their appreciation and income potential. Once you find a property you like, you can choose the number of shares you want to buy. With Arrived, you can start investing in real estate with just $100.

If you're looking to invest in real estate like a mogul, check out RealtyMogul. The crowdfunding platform lets you explore institutional-quality real estate opportunities and review their performance history before deciding where to invest your money.

RealtyMogul also offers REIT options that focus on income and appreciation, so you can take advantage of these vehicles known for generating steady returns.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.