Hipster is an all-in-one partner for those seeking effortless investment properties.
We coach beginner investors through their start in real estate, offering best practices and guidelines to increase your chances of success. We also help more experienced investors navigate emerging challenges and problems hindering your growth.
Our 1-on-1 support is tailored to your investing goals across turnkey rentals, real estate investing, and business consulting.
Our approach makes real estate investing stupidly simple with personalized support, attention to detail, and access to resources that further simplify the investing journey.
Hipster’s secret is Ali’s focus on investing psychology which, whether we like it or not, plays a critical role in real estate. We address every issue across investing psychology, getting the right mindset, and addressing your biggest fears to provide the easiest and simplest path to investing success.
Hipster began as little more than a side project for Ali Boone, an Aerospace Engineer who dabbled in real estate investing on the side. While Ali thought she was just investing for herself at the time, she didn’t realize that many others were watching what she was doing and getting curious about her success.
These viewers would become Ali’s first clients, reaching out for advice on what kinds of rental properties she was buying and how she was buying them.
As Ali began connecting these people to the companies she worked with for her properties, the momentum pick up to the point where Ali began providing direct support for clients interested in buying their own properties.
The secret was Ali’s commitment to transparency and 100% realness. Ali isn’t afraid to tell it like it is, being just as willing to offer tough love as she is to offer support. This runs in stark contrast to the hard sales pitches given by others in the industry more focused on their own bottom line.
The response to this realness was so positive that Ali began to see an opportunity in a system that provides genuine support and mentorship for new investors. Next thing she knew, she was offering to help with real estate investing at the level that it became a full-time job – and Hipster Investments was born!
Other companies may offer turnkey rental property services and real estate investment opportunities, but how many offer a mix of strategies to support a completely personalized investment experience?
Hipster offers a coordination of strategies that no other company can match. With Hipster, the real estate investing world is at your fingertips with a variety of rental property strategies to suit different goals, experience levels, and interests.
But wait, there’s more!
Aside from offering properties, Hipster goes one step beyond to provide something even harder to find – help with the psychological side of investing. No matter how much we try to deny it, investing success lives and dies by your mindset. You might be surprised to learn that effective investing is more driven by these psychological elements than the numbers in your bank account! Ali’s focus on big-picture psychology addresses this essential need, allowing all Hipster clients to benefit from a coordination of property selection and psychological support that makes real estate easier – and more accessible – than ever before.
As of now, Hipster doesn’t offer short-term rental property opportunities. A long-term rental property can of course be used as a short-term rental if you choose to switch your strategy with a property you buy through us, but long-term rental properties don’t always make for good short-term rentals, so we can’t guarantee it would work well. If you ever want to explore that option with a property you’re considering, send us an email or contact us on Facebook and we’ll be happy to talk through the option with you!
(If you want to learn more about considerations for short-term rentals, [check out this video!])
Real estate investing can be as safe or as risky as you make it. Certain strategies are inherently less (or more) risky, meaning that the name of the game is risk reduction. The most effective way to minimize risk as a real estate investor is to get educated. The more knowledge you have, the more control you have over your investments as well as the fate of your investing journey.
The investment strategies prioritized by Hipster stay on the lesser end of risk. Does that mean there’s no risk in the properties we offer? No way! There’s always risk in real estate investing, especially when you’re purchasing actual properties. What we hope to help you with is offering a combination of available investment properties that offer lower risk and giving you the tools, through education, to help you better understand investing so that you lower your risk as an investor.
If anyone ever tells you that a real estate investment is no-risk, they’re lying! Risk is part of the real estate industry. But have no fear; we have your back to help you through it!
Nosey, aren’t you? Just kidding! Given that transparency is one of our core values, Hipster makes money directly through certain services we offer (coaching, books, products, etc.), and we also make money on property sales through referral fees from the brokers we work with.
Our investors don’t pay us anything to buy a property! You get all the support you want through the buying process at no cost to you. And in case you didn’t know, Ali’s a licensed real estate agent! [licnsing information available here].
Everyone starts somewhere! The best thing you can do is to dive in headfirst and get all the education you can get your hands on. One of the things that get people in the most trouble early on is choosing a strategy that “feels right” rather than taking the time to learn more about all of the options and finding the strategy that is the best fit for them.
And as if that weren’t bad enough, people tend to overcommit to strategies they’re unfamiliar with and pull the trigger properties they don’t know how to operate successfully. Both of these issues can be solved with just a little education.
Take the time to sit down, open some books, troll through some websites, and find out not only what the best strategy for you will be but how to set yourself up so that you’ll be as successful as you can be with it (and not lose your shirt!).
One of the best ways to get started as an investor is to let Ali’s book help you: [NOT Your How-To Guide to Real Estate Investing: Life Lessons on Hacking Your Mind Before You Hack Your Wallet] This book will give you step-by-step instructions for how to get started as an investor while providing critical education and some fun laughs along the way.
That’s a great question! The best way to figure out which investing strategy might be the best fit for you is with a little exploration focused on two things: (1) Learning more about the real estate investing industry as a whole, and (2) Learning more about each strategy within real estate investing and yourself.
You can learn about the strategy options all day long, but if you don’t take into consideration your strengths, interests, and resources, you could end up making a strategy selection that proves to be more challenging than it needs to be.
We can’t tell you what strategy is right for you, but we can help you figure it out!
Check out Ali’s book [NOT Your How-To Guide to Real Estate Investing: Life Lessons on Hacking Your Mind Before You Hack Your Wallet], a guide that provides exact information about the real estate investing industry, possible strategies, and how to get in touch with your strengths so that you can put it all together and select the perfect strategy for your needs.
Not that into reading books, or do you want to figure it out faster? [Book a coaching call] with Ali and let her help you figure it out!
Absolutely. Aside from our free online resources, Ali has written extensively on real estate investing to help investors like you take your skills to the next level. We’d recommend the following:
We’d also suggest checking out BiggerPockets, where Ali is regularly featured as a guest contributor on some of the industry’s biggest podcasts. These resources offer a vital competitive edge over others who try to invest without them!
So much! But the good news is that it’s simple when you know what you’re looking for. If you can answer the following questions, you’ll be in an amazing position to excel as an investor:
It will take some time to learn the answers to all those questions, but at least you know what information you’re looking for now! If you learn about these things, and you’re willing to learn from your mistakes as you go along (this is an on-the-job training industry!), you’re going to be miles ahead of most investors getting started.
It’s never too early, and in fact, the earlier the better! Why waste time spinning your wheels (or reinventing any wheels) if you can jump onto a more direct path towards accomplishing what you’re wanting to achieve as an investor?
Don’t believe us? Try it for yourself! Book a coaching call with Ali and give it a try and see how much faster you can leap towards your goals.
Absolutely! Guru seminars often get a bad rap. Sure, they can be a weekend full of sales pitches, but in no way does that mean that the information presented in between sales pitches can’t be what makes your investing career a success.
With that said, we do believe there are smart ways to navigate the guru seminars. The first step, of course, is to make sure the “guru” is legit! After verifying that the guru/seminar is legit, [check out this video] that explains some easy ways to get the most bang for your buck!
If it makes you feel better, feeling overwhelmed is the most common frustration for new investors trying to get started! We recommend three things to help with overwhelm:
You never know! But what we can say is that after getting familiar with Ali through our website, her videos, and her blogs, there may be a voice inside of you telling you Ali’s the one for you. If so, we encourage you to schedule a coaching session now to get started!
On the other hand, maybe you haven’t heard that voice and you don’t know. If you’re unsure, you’re always welcome to [contact us] and let Ali determine the best way to help!
You’ll get the laid-back, casual, fun, and helpful Ali that you’ve seen in all of her videos. This is your chance to interact with her 1-on-1 and let her work with you on your specific situation rather than just listening to her on videos!
In a typical coaching session, you’ll present your challenge or what it is you’d like guidance on to Ali. She’ll pull out all the stops she can to try to help you out, which may include:
The tone of the coaching calls is very conversational and tailored to you and whatever it is you’re looking for help with. There are no sales pitches or gimmicky narratives—you’re only going to get the 100% realness and transparency from Ali that you see in her videos. You might even get some laughs!
Think of it like a friendly, yet effective, mentoring conversation you’d have with a friend!
Ready to try it out? [Schedule a coaching call now!]
Ali will be the first one to tell you that she wouldn’t be where she is today without the coaches and mentors she’s had along the way. Not just in real estate investing, but in all aspects of life! Working with a coach in real estate investing can accomplish some huge things! Here are just a few:
Why go at what can be a very challenging industry all by yourself? Let Ali help you!
It completely depends on what you want help with. Some people prefer longer-term support as they go through a journey, and some people just need help over one obstacle and then they’re good. Whatever you need or want, Ali’s at your service!
Absolutely. Just because you’re already investing doesn’t mean you’re hitting your goals in the way you would like to be or investing as efficiently as you could be. If you’re running around like your hair’s on fire trying to keep up with your investment projects when you’d rather be sipping on a pina colada in Bora Bora, let Ali help you adjust your investing to be more supportive of that goal!
Alternatively, maybe it’s not that it’s your general investing that’s got you down, but rather you’ve butted up against a specific challenge that you haven’t found a way around yet. Ali can provide that outsider insight into your situation and help you figure out the best path around that challenge and offer resources accordingly to help.
No worries! She can still help! It all depends on what you’re looking for help with.
For example, say you’re interested in flipping houses. If you want a step-by-step guide on exactly how to flip a house, Ali won’t be the right coach for you because she’s never flipped a house. But if you’re wanting to get into flipping houses and need guidance on how to do that, Ali can help you identify everything you need to learn to be successful at flipping.
The way she does this is by developing exactly what she would learn if it were her wanting to learn to flip properties. Because Ali has so much experience in real estate investing, she knows what’s required to succeed at any strategy and can help lead you into understanding that as well so that you know exactly what you need to learn before you dive in.
The term “turnkey” technically refers to the condition of the property. It means a property that all you have to do is metaphorically put the key in the door and turn it and you’re making money on day one. What is required for this to happen? The property needs to be in rent-ready condition (in most turnkey cases this means freshly rehabbed, not just rent-ready), with tenants in place, and property management on standby to manage the property for you once you purchase it.
Most of the time when you hear someone talking about turnkey rental properties, they’re specifically referring to properties in turnkey condition that are sold by turnkey provider companies. These companies go out, buy distressed properties in bulk, rehab them, place tenants, and they have property management set up. When you then buy the property from this company, you’re getting a fully turnkey property that will hopefully be making cash flow on day one. This allows you to be as hands-off as you can be with a rental property! There’s no tricky or advanced stuff, like rehabbing that you have to do. The companies do all the hard stuff for you!
For more information on turnkey rental properties, check out the video [What is a Turnkey Rental Property?] in our Video Gallery.
We wish! The way turnkeys are marketed often gives the impression that they’re too good to be true. That would only be accurate if they were perfect!
Here are two main reasons why turnkeys aren’t too good to be true:
Buying a turnkey rental property comes with the same risks as any rental property. Ali often argues that turnkeys can be riskier than regular rental properties. Don’t assume that turnkeys should be perfect and neglect proper due diligence; this is a surefire way to get any investor in trouble!
A lot of investors refuse to buy an investment property that they can’t add immediate value to. When you can add immediate value to a property, such as by rehabbing a distressed property, all of the equity you get through that forced appreciation is yours to keep.
You really can’t force appreciation on turnkey properties because: (1) You’re buying it at market value (not discounted), and (2) The property is already improved so there’s nothing left for you to improve on your own. This is a deal-breaker for some.
Turnkeys are great for people who don’t have time to deal with value-add properties or have the interest to deal with them, new investors who want a chance to learn the fundamentals of investing before they start into more advanced strategies, and those who need a more hands-off option of somewhere to put their money while they focus their time on more active strategies. Not everybody fits into these categories!
Turnkey providers do keep some properties for themselves. The reason they don’t keep all of them is that their business model is based on recycling cash. If they kept everything they bought, they’d run out of money at some point.
Turnkey providers are essentially property flippers. The same reason turnkey providers don’t keep all of their inventory is the same reason flippers don’t keep the properties they rehab—the profits are based on selling the properties.
Flipping is an active income strategy that makes bigger amounts of money more quickly, whereas owning rental properties is a long-term passive income strategy. Turnkey providers are flippers who are selling properties to the buy-and-hold investors (you!). They could only sell so many properties before they run out of money!
Turnkeys make money in the same way as any rental property makes money: cash flow, appreciation, tax benefits, the equity built via mortgage pay down and acting as a hedge against inflation.
For more information on these profit centers, watch [The 5 Profit Centers of a Rental Property] in our Video Gallery!
That’s the million-dollar question! It’s a tough one to answer because while some factors about a turnkey provider can be obvious (how’s their rehab quality, how are the numbers on the property, etc.?), a lot of factors aren’t at all obvious and tend to only come with experience in dealing with them.
That’s where we come in! Not only does Ali directly vet turnkey providers herself before recommending any of their properties to investors, but Ali also has over a decade of experience working with turnkey providers (both good and bad!) and can help guide you as you meet with different turnkey provider companies. Ali will help you identify both the positive aspects as well as any red flags that you might want to be cautious about.
Another great way to figure out who the good turnkey providers are is by talking to other turnkey investors and finding out who they’ve had good luck buying through! One of the main reasons Ali started the Turnkey Rental Properties Facebook group was for exactly this reason—so turnkey investors can meet each other and share both their good and bad experiences with various turnkey providers! Join us on Facebook so you can start getting the inside scoop on which turnkey providers are the best ones to work with!
There are several ways to find good turnkey providers:
While this process can vary depending on where you are in the process (have you selected a market and provider to work with yet? Have you selected a property yet?), here’s the most basic outline of how a turnkey rental property purchase goes when you buy from a turnkey provider:
Once you close on the property, it’s just like owning any other rental property. You want to ensure the property management company is managing the property in such a way that will give you the maximum chance of success!
If the process sounds full of lots of things you don’t know how to do, don’t worry, [reach out to us] and we can help!
Turnkey rental properties come with the same risks as rental properties in general. The advantage to turnkeys, though, is that you have the chance to verify most of the major risk factors before you close on the property! When you do properties such as value-adds where you must rehab the property, there are a lot of unknowns that can’t necessarily be verified before you own it, which means you’re the one at risk. There will still be risk with turnkeys, as there will be with any investment property, but if you learn how to do thorough due diligence on your turnkey rental property, you’ll substantially lower your overall risk.
The term BRRRRkey is shorthand for BRRRR + turnkey. BRRRR = buy-rehab-rent-refinance-repeat. This is the standard value-add strategy where you buy a distressed property, rehab it to improve the value and force appreciation, then rent it out to tenants and refinance it at the now-higher value of the property. Then you rinse and repeat! Who gave that strategy such a painful acronym, we don’t know.
Interested in taking a deep dive into BRRRR key strategy? [Check out our video on the t.]
The biggest downside to turnkeys is that you don’t have the option to improve the property and therefore increase its value by forcing appreciation. You can’t do this because you’re paying market value already for the property and the property has already been improved.
The only way to add that value is by buying value-add properties and doing the BRRRR model on them. The potential challenges with this are two-fold:
BRRRRkeys combine the best of both the turnkey and BRRRR worlds. You’re buying the distressed property and doing the rehab on it to force appreciation, but the turnkey provider is doing the work for you and overseeing that rehab. So, you’re getting the more hands-off component of turnkey in combination with being able to add value.
The two primary ways that BRRRRkeys make money are:
BRRRRkeys are absolutely riskier than turnkeys! The specific reason is that with turnkeys, you can verify all of the major risk points of the property before you buy it.
With BRRRRkeys, you’re buying the property before all the major work is done. So, at any time, it’s possible some of the financial projections you had on the property don’t pan out as assumed. This could be to any number of issues: rehab overages (cost and time), the property not appraising for the expected market value after rehab, not being able to get as high of rents as estimated, etc.
We strongly recommend that new investors start with turnkeys rather than BRRRRkeys. While BRRRRkeys are incredibly exciting, you must have a solid handle on rental property investing before attempting it.
While we always hope that all properties we work with go as planned, things don’t always go that smoothly. And, while due diligence is critically important on turnkeys as well, it’s doubly as important with BRRRRkeys! The necessary due diligence is tough to learn and is something that comes with more experience.
Unfortunately, most turnkey providers don’t offer BRRRRkeys. Only specific ones offer it, so either check out our [BRRRRkey properties available] page or [contact us] with questions on how to find BRRRRkeys.
BRRRRkey properties must be purchased with either all cash or hard money. If you use a hard money lender, pre-approval from the lender is required before you’ll be able to move forward on the property. Once the rehab is complete, you’ll be able to refinance the property into a traditional mortgage!
The two biggest things you should watch out for with BRRRRkeys are:
With any investment strategy, the most important thing is to not go into it completely blind. There’s not always an option to know everything you need to prevent any possible problem, but you should at least have some working knowledge about what you’re doing.
Clueless on what that would be? Let us help! [reach out]
Ali specializes in helping business owners and small-to-medium-sized businesses that need help in specific areas. Maybe the business is running and making money, but it’s not operating as efficiently as it could be. Or maybe things are efficient, but the business owner is overwhelmed, stressed, and not accomplishing his/her goals.
If you’re an entrepreneur, you probably know this feeling! There’s so much happening with running a business, it’s easy to feel off-kilter and feel like you’re swimming upstream. This is where Ali can help!
All of Ali’s consulting projects are customized to fit the exact needs of the company she’s working with. Generally, consulting will follow this process:
The normal business consulting project is simply advisory and it’s up to the business owner to implement the recommendations. However, in many instances, there are recommendations that Ali is willing to do the work for. If the business owner prefers this approach, we’ll work out a quote to be included in the detailed solutions report for the optional work.
Some of the most common issues business owners ask Ali for help on are:
Ali’s work will be presented to the business owner in the form of a detailed report that includes:
After the initial free phone consultation where you describe your situation to Ali, she will be very honest and transparent, not only if she thinks she can help your company, but also in exactly how she thinks she can help. This way, you’ll be clear on what you can expect to achieve through working with her. While there is not a specific money-back guarantee offered with the work, if you ever feel that you haven’t gotten your money’s worth, Ali is always open to having that conversation to see what can be done to assist in the situation.
Ali’s business consulting work is not at all limited to real estate businesses. While real estate businesses do reach out to Ali a lot given her presence and experience in the industry, Ali has also consulted with several non-real estate companies and has no trouble doing so. If you are looking for specific help with your real estate investing or property inquiries, that will be better suited for Ali’s coaching services.
Whereas Ali’s coaching services are broken down into hourly sessions, her business consulting projects are done on a per-project basis, rather than through a certain number of sessions.
This usually involves an in-person visit with the company (although not required), and some number of days for Ali to collect her findings and recommendations for solutions. The breakdown of exactly how many days it’s likely to take will be given in the quote for the project.
Note: Half or more of the included days don’t require input from the business owner; they’re time for Ali to do her work behind the scenes.
Turnkey rental properties can be purchased with residential loans. There are two types of residential loans:
The mortgage you can get for a turnkey rental property will be for an “investment property”, not an “owner-occupied” property, as the lender speak goes, so they will require a minimum of 20% down payments for single-family houses and 25% for multi-family houses. While FHA and VA loans are conventional mortgages, those are not available for use on investment properties that you aren’t living in.
Note: “Gifts” are not allowed on investment property loans (per the lender, not us!) Meaning, you can’t accept a “gift” of down payment money for these properties.
We work with lenders for both conventional mortgages and non-QM loans. Check out the lenders we work with on our My Network page!
BRRRRkey properties must be paid for in cash, as well as cash for the rehab. Alternatively, you can use hard money (though we don’t recommend this if you’re a newer investor as it adds risk!). If you decide to use a hard money loan, a pre-approval from the hard money lender is required before you’ll be able to move forward on a property. Once the rehab is complete, you’ll be able to refinance the property into a conventional mortgage.
Commercial financing must be used for commercial properties (multi-family properties 5+ units). Reach out to us if you’re looking for a commercial loan!
You can only use FHA or VA loans if you’ll be an owner-occupant in the property. While you can live in any property you buy with our help, that isn’t something most investors do on these properties so we don’t typically work with investors using FHA or VA loans. But we can if you need us to!
Check out our My Network page for conventional loan lenders who can advise you on your FHA or VA options if applicable to a property you’re investing in.
Note: another reason we tend to stay away from mortgages with less than 20% down is that Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) will be an added monthly fee to your mortgage payment. We think this eats into cash flow! Make sure on any low-money down loans that you run all the numbers and ensure the numbers still pencil out with the added fees.
No, they don’t. Sorry, we wish they did!
At a minimum, you’ll need 20% of the purchase price of the property if you plan to get a traditional loan for a single-family property, or 25% of the purchase price if it’s a multi-family property. In addition to the money for the down payment, you’ll need an additional amount for closing costs (assume something like 3% of the purchase price).
If you’re doing the BRRRRkey model, you’ll need to have the all-in cost available in cash, unless you’re using a hard money loan, at which point you should assume 20-25% down available.
A real estate fund is like investing in a mutual fund (if you’re familiar with how those work). It’s a collection of capital used to make real estate investments, whether directly or indirectly. These real estate funds may be mutual funds, private equity funds, or exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
You can be hands-off! All you have to do is put your investment in, and then you get to kick back and let other people handle it. Funds also allow for added flexibility and diversification in your portfolio.
No. While they operate similarly in terms of how you invest in them, you are investing in something different. A real estate fund is pooled money from investors, while investing in a REIT is buying stock in a corporation that invests in income-generating real estate. So you’re investing in the corporation rather than the real estate assets directly. Fun fact: a real estate fund can be invested in a REIT!
When you invest in a syndication, you’re pooling your money alongside money from other investors to, jointly, invest in a larger property (one you wouldn’t normally afford on your own). There’s a syndicator—the person who finds the deals and handles everything involved with the transactions—and there’s the investors. Oftentimes investing in syndications is referred to as “crowdfunding”.
Syndications allow an investor access to larger-scale properties that they may not otherwise have been able to invest in on their own (hotels, large apartment buildings, etc.) Another related advantage is not needing to have the specific skillset to handle that level of property—you’re just a passive investor while someone more experienced manages the entire transaction. Investing in syndications is about as hands-off as it can get.
Yes. Similar to investing in real estate properties directly, you can get pass-through tax benefits when investing in syndications. Some of the specific tax benefits you can experience are: depreciation, lower capital gains tax rates, mortgage interest deductions, 1031 exchanges, and carryover losses.
Per the SEC, an Accredited Investor has to meet one or more of the following criteria year over year:
In many cases, yes, you have to be an Accredited Investor to invest passively. Some exceptions to this are if you’re investing in privately-held syndications, REITs, or are an international (from outside the U.S.) investor.
It’s completely up to you, your comfort levels, and your preferences. For example, some people are just too nervous to own real estate directly and prefer passive options where someone else manages the investment, whereas other people are uncomfortable when someone else is in charge and prefer to own properties directly so they can be in control of everything that happens. If you aren’t sure what option is best for you, let Ali help! Check out our Coaching page and get scheduled for a session!