Benzinga - A driven woman who lost her parents as a child went from living without running water or electricity in Africa to living in her dream home in the U.S. in just a few years' time.
What To Know: Yamundow Camara grew up in West Africa, living in a home without running water or electricity. Now she's a millionaire managing more than $2 million in real estate, according to a MarketWatch report.
Camara made her way to the U.S. in 2016 through a fellowship program. She studied at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois before landing a job in 2019. One year later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and she started looking for properties to buy.
She got the idea to start investing in real estate by reading books, listening to podcasts and watching Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) YouTube videos in her free time.
She was motivated to do all she could to "change her life."
She had an entrepreneurial mindset since her childhood. She used to sell fruit and African fabrics as a kid. In 2020, she bought her first rental property (a triplex) for $52,000.
She had $8,000 in savings and after cold-calling several banks, she was able to land a loan to cover the rest of the cost. After putting in a lot of work, the property started generating income.
When the bank that gave her the first loan saw she had turned the property into a significant source of cash flow, they were willing to give her another mortgage.
This time around she bought a duplex for $68,000 and she was able to replicate her success, so she kept at it.
Camara wasn't scared off by rundown properties. Her current real estate portfolio includes a $41,000 home she had to spend close to $50,000 renovating and a fire-damaged home she acquired for $15,000.
She buys the properties and rents them out in several different ways. Some of her tenants are in 12-month leases, others are renting with Section 8 government assistance and some are even travel nurses who rent for about a month at a time.
She furnishes the locations with relatively cheap furniture that she finds on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and sometimes even decor that she makes herself.
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She hired a team to do a lot of the maintenance work so she just focuses on investing in new properties. In total, her properties have the potential to generate up to $80,000 per month.
Camara continued to save a lot of money by living well below her means and she just closed on her dream house in November. With a net worth of more than $1 million, she is also able to give back. She takes care of some of her family members and she donates to orphanages in Africa.
She attributes her success to God, but also to the resources she was able to access in the U.S. including various social media sites and YouTube.
"There’s so many people you can follow and learn from," Camara said.
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This story is part of a series of features on the subject of success, Benzinga Inspire.
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