From Waiting Tables to $13,000+/Month in Just 3 Years (Thanks to Rentals)

August 24, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Three years ago, Andreas Martinez was waiting tables. Today he owns ten rental properties, manages four more, and brings in over $13,000 a month in cash flow from his portfolio—enough to quit his job entirely. His path from cold-calling 500 people a day to a seven-figure portfolio in just three years was built on a single strategic choice: maximizing cash flow on every property by converting them into co-living rentals, where multiple tenants live under one roof.

From 500 Cold Calls a Day to a First Deal

Martinez entered real estate in January 2023 after hitting a wall trying to buy a primary residence. He and his wife couldn't qualify for a mortgage because his waiter income, though close to six figures, was largely cash. With interest rates at 7%, he started researching creative finance. He began cold-calling agents from the MLS, making 500 to 600 calls a day. "I got lucky," he says. "After 500, 600 calls, somebody says yes." That first deal—a property someone else couldn't close on—he wholesaled for $10,000 after a mentor at a local meetup showed him how to flip the contract.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Introduction: From Waiter to $13k/Month Cash Flow** - Henry Washington introduces Andreas Martinez, who went from waiting tables to owning ten rental properties and managing four more, generating over $13,000 in monthly cash flow within three years.
2 (01:36) **Background: Why He Started in Real Estate** - Andreas explains his start as a waiter and jazz musician, and how a failed attempt to buy a primary residence led him to creative finance.
3 (03:59) **First Deal: 600 Cold Calls and a $10k Wholesale** - Andreas shares how he found his first deal by making hundreds of cold calls to agents on the MLS, eventually wholesaling it for $10,000.
4 (06:54) **The Snowball Effect of Direct-to-Seller Marketing** - Henry explains why Andreas's long dry spell was actually a necessary part of building a pipeline.
5 (08:05) **Transition from Wholesaling to Co-Living** - Andreas realized wholesaling was a means to an end (financial freedom), and a failed wholesale deal introduced him to the co-living strategy.
6 (13:22) **First Co-Living Deal: From Meetup to Disaster** - Andreas gets a lead on a pre-foreclosure property at a meetup and gets it under contract for $3,000 via subject-to, but the renovation becomes a nightmare.
7 (17:10) **Second Deal & Learning to Be a GC** - Andreas partners with another investor, but the same contractor scam happens again, teaching him a crucial lesson about construction management.

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Show Notes

Three years ago, Andres Martinez was waiting tables. Today, he owns 10 rental properties, manages another four, and has a rental portfolio that brings in over $13,000 in monthly cash flow. He’s even been able to quit his job and focus on his rentals full-time. But how did he pull all of this off—and in such little time?

Early on, Andres had one goal: maximize the cash flow on every property he bought. This led him to co-living, an investing strategy where you have multiple tenants under the same roof. The cash flow was so strong that he has deployed this strategy across his entire portfolio.

But the journey hasn’t been easy. In today’s episode, Andres shares all the growing pains—from making 200 cold calls a day to find off-market deals to working with shady contractors and navigating difficult tenant disputes.

Through it all, his pure hustle and grit have paid off. Whether you’re looking for creative ways to scale your real estate portfolio or create enough cash flow to replace your salary, Andres has a blueprint that works—even here in 2026!

In This Episode We Cover

How Andres went from waiting tables to making $13,000+/month with rentals

How to scale your real estate portfolio faster using other people’s money (OPM)

The biggest myths (and truths) surrounding the co-living strategy

The number one thing you must get right when operating a co-living property

The real estate markets where the co-living strategy works best

And So Much More!

Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠