A Real Estate Investor Says He’s Not Worried About a Recession

• Adam Masato earns $8,400 per month in passive income from a short-term rental property.
• He also earns $1,100 from renting out his condo in Los Angeles.
• Because his overhead for the short-term rental is only $1,100, he says his investments are recession-proof.

Adam Masato is a self-described “regular millennial with a W-2 job,” who learned how to make $8,400 a month in passive income from a YouTube video.

Masato and his wife, Diana Hernandez, live in Los Angeles and earn a combined $150,000 a year from their day jobs; Masato works as a manager for a healthcare IT company, while Hernandez is a therapist with her own private practice. The couple own a condo in Los Angeles, but they decided to move back into Hernandez’s parents’ house 2019 to save and invest 100% of their income in hopes of building wealth for their family’s future.

They built a custom rental home in Joshua Tree

While living with Hernandez’s parents, Masato bought a piece of land in Joshua Tree, California, after watching a YouTube video by Robuilt, a creator who teaches people how to make passive income through short-term rental properties.

According to records reviewed by Insider, Masato purchased the land in Joshua Tree for $39,806, using his family’s savings.

He then commissioned a 935-square-foot pre-fabricated home from Orbit Homes at an additional cost of $300,466, which he paid for using two bitcoin-backed personal loans, a traditional personal loan, a home equity line of credit, cashing out his Roth IRA, and additional cash savings. The personal loan, bitcoin-backed loans, and HELOC add up to a total of $165,000 in loans.

Because Masato paid for most of the property in cash, his monthly expenses on the Joshua Tree house — including his loan payments and payment to a property manager — add up to roughly $1,100, only a small fraction of the more than $12,000 average gross monthly income the rental generates.

On top of that, Masato and Hernandez also rent out their LA condo to a long-term tenant, which nets an extra $1,100 per month in passive rental income. 

He’s not worried about a recession

When asked whether or not he’s concerned about his real estate investments weathering a possible

recession

, Masato told Insider, “I’m not worried about what happens in the next year or two if the market crashes by 20%.”

Instead of selling his properties when the market rises, Masato plans to hold onto his real estate investments and pass them down to future generations. He says, “I don’t plan on selling my assets, probably ever.”

According to Redfin, home prices in Los Angeles were up 12.8% between April 2021 and April 2022. Even with a 17% monthly slowdown in homebuying across the country between April and May of 2022, Masato still feels confident that his investments will grow in the long run. “I’m not worried because I’m never going to sell it at a loss,” he says.

He only needs to book 7 nights a month for his short-term rental to break even

When it comes to his short-term rental home in Joshua Tree, Masato is confident his income will remain steady regardless of what happens with the economy. The Airbnb is booked solid until July, according to the Airbnb listing, and even if things slow down, it doesn’t take much for the property to break even.

When asked if the recession will affect his Airbnb listing, he said, “It probably will in some respect, but again, my mortgage is so low that I can effectively cover what I owe if I can rent the place for like, seven or eight nights.”