Episode 569: How to Turn $3,000 Into a Seven Figure Return featuring Chris Larsen

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July 22, 2026•4 min read
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In this episode, I sit down with Chris Larsen, founder of Next-Level Income and someone with over 20 years and nearly three decades in real estate. What I love about Chris's story is where it started: he bought his first rental property at age 21, while he was still a college student at Virginia Tech studying biomechanical engineering. From there he has been involved in around $2 billion in acquisitions across development, private lending, distressed debt, commercial offices, and multifamily syndication.

Before real estate, Chris was chasing a very different dream. He was a competitive cyclist with hopes of going pro, until the sudden loss of his best friend at a bike race forced him to ask what he was really doing it all for. That moment set him on a search for financial freedom, and after five years of reading everything he could get his hands on, he landed on real estate as his path. He walks us through the mindset shift from day trading and stress to building something with control, leverage, income, and long term certainty.

We get practical about why now is a great time for W-2 earners to move off the sidelines. Chris shares the story of his very first deal, $3,000 down on a townhouse that he house hacked with two roommates, and how a 1031 exchange years later turned that tiny investment into a seven figure return. He is a big believer that real estate is a get rich slow game, and he makes the case for doing even one creative deal a year and letting time, rents, and inflation do the heavy lifting.

We also dig into where we are in the real estate cycle. Chris breaks down the roughly 18.5 year cycle, why he thinks we are in the second half where it pays to be the bank, and why keeping some dry powder on the sidelines makes sense right now. Toward the end he shares the two free tools his team built, an interactive book and a Chris Larsen AI coaching assistant, for anyone who wants to go deeper. If you have been waiting for a sign to start building passive income, this conversation is it.

Key Talking Points of the Episode

00:00 Introduction and the three paydays philosophy

00:23 Meet Chris Larsen: 20+ years and roughly $2 billion in acquisitions

00:52 Buying his first rental at 21 as a college student

02:32 Why he wrote his latest book to help people engineer freedom

03:04 Starting a nonprofit after Hurricane Helene hit Asheville

03:52 The cyclist dream and why pro cycling rarely pays

04:51 Losing his best friend at a bike race and the emptiness that followed

06:35 The discipline and structure cycling taught him

06:51 Deciding he wanted to live life on his own terms

07:48 From day trading stress to realizing that is not investing

08:46 Why real estate: control, leverage, income, and depreciation

09:37 The 15 year plan to reach ten grand a month in income

09:52 Why creative deals beat the old way of getting paid once

12:05 What Chris is working on now and his latest book

12:48 Moving from residential to commercial and multifamily

14:13 Why now is a great time for W-2 earners to get in

15:20 Real estate as a get rich slow game and the one deal a year approach

16:02 The $3,000 first deal that became a seven figure return through a 1031

17:55 The 18.5 year real estate cycle explained

20:09 Why it is a good time to be the bank

20:31 Keeping cash on the sidelines and staying selective

21:43 The two free tools: the interactive book and Chris Larsen AI

22:42 How high income earners can start investing passively

23:20 Why finding someone who made the mistake first shortens your curve

Quotables

“Real estate is a get rich slow game.”

“During the second half of the cycle, it's a great time to be the bank.”

“You don't have to time the market, but be very selective right now.”

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