As we head into a new year, so many real estate entrepreneurs get swept up in predictions, market guesses, and the pressure to chase every strategy being hyped online. In this video, I step back from the noise and walk you through the exact investing plan I’m using for 2026. I share what I’m keeping, what I’m growing, what I’m intentionally not doing, and the principles behind each choice so you can create a plan that aligns with your goals, your season of life, and the business you want to build. If you’ve been craving clarity, focus, and a calmer way to scale, you’ll find it here.
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Hello, welcome back. I’m Adrienne Green. Right now it’s mid-December, the time of year when a lot of people are making predictions, talking about what the market might do next year, starting to show charts and guessing what interest rate trends are going to be. But here’s the thing, predictions aren’t plans. As much as I love data and analytics, the truth is that what we’ve seen in the past isn’t necessarily what we’re going to see in the future. I’ve learned that. The plans that we make are what actually create progress for us and our real estate investing.
So today, instead of giving you vague forecasts, I want to do something much more practical. I’m going to walk you through my actual investing plan for 2026, what I’m doing, what I’m not doing, and the lessons inside these decisions so that you can build your own plan for the new year with more clarity. This isn’t about hype or guessing the future. It’s about strategy, focus, and choosing the moves that make sense for your life, your goals, and your season.
I love doing this planning every December because it forces me to clarify what actually matters next year. What’s noise and what deserves my energy. Rebecca, I’m making a video. I need you to not be making those moves. Shh, let’s redo that. I love doing episodes like this because it forces me to clarify for myself what actually matters next year. What is noise that I need to ignore and what really deserves my time and energy.
Whether you’re buying your first property or you already have a portfolio, December is the best time to zoom out and choose your direction for the next year. Because here’s what happens in real estate. There are so many strategies, and at any given time, three or four of them are being hyped somewhere. Mobile home parks are being hyped, creative financing, flipping is hot, then it’s BRRR, then it’s short-term rentals, then it’s land, then it’s private lending, then it’s multifamily. It’s easy to start thinking, maybe I should be doing all of these things at once, or I’ll do one for a minute, and then when it doesn’t immediately work, move on to the next.
Because here’s what really happens in real estate. There are so many strategies, and at any given time, several are being hyped. Flipping is hot, then it’s BRRR, then it’s short-term rentals, then it’s land, and then it’s multifamily. It’s easy to start thinking, maybe I should be doing all of these things at once or maybe I’m failing because I only have one strategy. But the truth is, when you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing well.
So I’m going to share my plan for 2026 and pull out the principles behind each decision because the goal isn’t for you to copy my plan. The goal is to help you build yours with intention.
My first move is to keep all of my current rentals. This part of my plan is actually pretty quiet. I’m keeping all my rental properties in 2026. There’s no selling, no major repositioning, no big shuffling around. I’m just keeping them. Now why? There are a few reasons.
One, we’ve got great loans on them. In a world where interest rates are bouncing around and higher than they were when I bought a lot of these properties, having strong low-rate fixed mortgages is a major asset. These loans make the properties cash flow well, and they’re producing predictable returns.
Two, they’re appreciating steadily. Nothing in our portfolio is underperforming. Nothing has a giant repair looming. Nothing is causing headaches. Anyone who’s been a landlord knows that no headaches alone is a reason to celebrate and something to hold onto.
Another thing to keep in mind is that these properties have equity building up as we pay down the loans and as they appreciate. I’m able to get HELOCs on these rental properties so I can leverage the equity without selling the house. I can withdraw the capital and reinvest it where it’s going to grow faster, which is a big part of move number two.
Another big factor is that I have, or can get, HELOCs on these properties. They have equity sitting there because they’ve appreciated and because I’ve paid down the loans. I can leverage that equity without selling the house. I can withdraw that capital via a HELOC and reinvest it where it will grow faster. That’s a big part of strategy number two. These rentals give me stability, a bank of equity I can draw from, and they’re low maintenance. I don’t have any big upcoming expenses expected on them. So I’m going to keep them, let them appreciate, collect the cash flow, and let them ride for another year.
The lesson here is to protect your base. Before you chase new opportunities, protect the foundation of what’s already working. A lot of people start January thinking they need to jump into a brand new strategy. But most of the time, the highest ROI move isn’t something new. It’s optimizing or maintaining what’s already in place.
Some questions you might ask yourself as you plan your own 2026 are: Are your current properties performing? Are they cash flowing the way you want? Do they have any expensive surprises that might come up next year? Are any of them draining your time or energy, and can that be fixed? Is now a good time to refinance or add a HELOC? Your keep or sell decision can strengthen or distract from your 2026.
In 2026, my husband and I are planning to 5x our private money lending business. That’s the biggest move we’re making in 2026. It’s our focus. It’s our one thing for investing and where the majority of our energy and strategy will go. If you’re listening and you want a passive investing opportunity or you’re already in the private lending space or you’re doing flips and deals and need a reliable lender, feel free to reach out or visit investaway.co. I’d love to see if we can make a win-win.
Now, why is this our main thing for 2026? There are three reasons. First, it balances our portfolio with cash flow. I already have wonderful buy and hold rentals that are appreciating beautifully. The appreciation is slow and it’s not making a difference in my day-to-day life or my ability to buy what I need. Private lending adds monthly income or cash flow without tying up a lot of my time like a flip would.
Second, it fits my lifestyle. I love our full-time travel lifestyle as a family. I love that we can live in different places and different countries. Private lending isn’t tied to being in a specific city, walking properties, managing renovations, or doing the work ourselves. It’s portable, scalable, and low friction, so it’s a good fit for us.
Third, there’s a lot of opportunity in today’s market. Deals need funding. Flips, BRRR investors, small builders, they need capital, and banks are strict right now. Plus, there are people looking for ways to grow their money, and we’re able to give them an opportunity to partner with us and get that growth without having to make all the connections or underwrite deals themselves. Private lending fills a gap in the market for both borrowers and investors.
So how does this apply to you? You might not be interested in private money lending, but there is a principle here. You want to pick one primary growth strategy for 2026, not three, not five, not even two. You don’t want to dabble or run from one thing to the next. The reason I’m not aggressively buying a bunch of new rentals next year is because if I try to scale private lending and grow my rental portfolio at the same time, I won’t do either one well.
Your focus is your force multiplier. When you have one specific goal in mind, you reach it more effectively than when you’re divided by multiple goals. So ask yourself: What is your one main investing strategy in 2026? What moves you closest to your goals? What aligns with your capacity, your time, and the lifestyle you’d like to have? What is sustainable given your current season of life? If you can answer these clearly, you’re ahead of most investors starting the new year.
My final big strategy move for 2026 is that maybe I’ll buy one property in Q4. I’m not aggressively expanding my rental portfolio next year. I’m not chasing deals. I’m not buying just because it’s 2026 or because of an arbitrary door count goal. I’m not trying to juggle two major growth strategies at once.
What I might do is buy one property near the end of the year for a specific tax strategy reason. If I’m getting into Q4 and it looks like I’m going to have high taxable income and could benefit from buying an investment property to take advantage of depreciation, I will consider buying a short-term rental in a place I’d like to spend time, like Sedona or Flagstaff, or a long-term rental in markets I already know well, like Chattanooga or Myrtle Beach. But this is a conditional play, not a core strategy.
Why does this make sense? We already have steady appreciation in our existing portfolio. I don’t need to force growth in this area. I also know I can’t 5x our private lending business and massively expand our rental portfolio in the same year. I would have to sacrifice quality, focus, or sanity.
Not every good opportunity is a right-now opportunity. When you’re dealing with shiny object syndrome and hearing about the next hot thing, sometimes the smartest thing you can do is intentionally delay a strategy until you have more bandwidth, more capital, the right team, or the right season of life. One of the most underrated skills in real estate is strategic restraint. The ability to say no or wait. It’s something many of us do not do well. Think about where you might apply that in 2026.
If we zoom out, my 2026 investing plan is simple. One, protect the base by keeping the rentals. They’re stable, performing, and give me leverage and appreciation. Two, choose the main growth lever, which for me is private lending. It’s my focus and my one thing. Three, keep conditional plays in the maybe bucket so I can adapt as the year goes on if needed. A Q4 property purchase only makes sense for me from a tax perspective.
This is a framework you can copy word for word. One, your base. Two, your main growth lever. Three, your maybe bucket. If you want to use this to plan 2026, here’s your homework. Write three lines: My base for 2026 is… My number one growth strategy is… My conditional opportunities are… If you fill that out, you’ll have more clarity than most investors and you’ll have it all year.
If you are needing money as a flipper or a BRRR investor, or if you’re looking to do private investing with deals that are underwritten and ready, feel free to reach out or visit investaway.co. I love working with people who value reliability, fairness, and creating win-wins. If that’s a match for you, let’s talk.
All right, that’s my plan for 2026. It’s simple, it’s clear, and it reflects what I want next year to feel like and where I want to be for my goals. If this episode was helpful, please share it with someone who could use it. And if you’ve made it this far, I’d love to hear your growth goal for 2026. Drop it in the comments.