Unit Count is a Vanity Metric

A guy walks into a bar.

More specifically, he walks into a real estate meetup at a brewery. He starts networking and gets to know the other attendees. Once the niceties are out of the way, someone inevitably asks, “how many units do you have?”

Investors LOVE to talk about doors. It’s become the default measuring stick. Why? It’s an easy way to compare yourself to someone else in the room and an instant ego boost to those with more units. 

Meanwhile, those with fewer doors feel like they aren’t doing enough or aren’t worthy of being in the room. Or at least that’s how I felt when this topic came up in conversation. Then I realized that it’s not about more, it’s about living life on your own terms. 

Unit count is just a vanity metric.

Grant Cardone and the whole 10x mindset has done a lot of good for getting people to think bigger. I get the appeal. The problem is that it quietly assumes bigger is always better, and that more is always the answer.

More only works when it lines up with what you actually want. Otherwise, it just gives you a louder version of the same problems.

Most people don’t get into real estate because they want to run a massive operation. They do it because they want some version of financial freedom. More time. More flexibility. Less stress about money. Not because they want to say that they have 2,000 units. 

On paper, a large portfolio looks impressive. In real life, it can be fragile. Someone with one multi-family has one roof. Someone with 50 has 50. The same goes for water heaters, furnaces, tenants, and debt. Each unit adds another thing to manage and another thing that can break. 

If your goal is to be the next Brandon Turner or to run a nine figure real estate empire, that tradeoff might make sense. However, most people are not trying to become moguls. They just want options in life.

If that’s you, it’s worth thinking twice about how much complexity you’re signing up for. Chances are you’re not chasing more units, you’re chasing more freedom. And that opens the door to a different way to play this game.

Imposter syndrome is real.

While I could never boast hundreds or thousands of units, I did flip 20 houses in my first year as a full-time real estate investor (another vanity metric).

I wanted to keep up with the Joneses at every real estate meetup. I cared more about how I was perceived by others than how I felt, even though I hated my day to day life.

When I finally stepped back, I saw the truth. Being a full-time investor in the traditional sense wasn’t the right fit for me. So I pivoted and built a path that blends writing, house hacking, and sharing what I’m learning along the way.

The moment I stopped chasing numbers and started playing the game I actually wanted to play, a huge weight was lifted.

Would you rather have one fully paid off property or several properties that add up to the same amount of equity?

This is a real conversation I had with a close friend of mine who was deliberating whether to buy multiple properties with financing or just one rental in cash. “You could use leverage and buy so many units!” was my initial reaction.

When he explained his decision to buy a condo in cash, it completely shifted how I saw things. He said “ I don’t have a mortgage, I make $4,500 a month in rental income in a rapidly appreciating area, and I only have one tenant to manage.” His goal is to retire with three fully paid off properties.

While the spreadsheet nerds will note that having multiple units would make him richer in the long run, there’s something to be said for the simplicity of his plan. It doesn’t take much time to self-manage this unit, so he can keep working his day job and repeat this process again. That has to feel liberating.

The bottom line: a small portfolio can still be a powerful way to reach your goals. You don’t have to own hundreds of units to retire, it’s just one option. Sometimes small and simple beats scaling.

When you stop chasing more just because it looks impressive, you start asking better questions. What kind of day do I want? How much stress am I willing to carry? How much time do I want with my family, my work, and myself? Those answers matter more than any door count ever will.

Working towards what you actually want is freeing. It gives you permission to build on your own terms instead of trying to keep up with someone else’s scoreboard. You get to decide what success looks like, and that makes the whole game feel attainable.

At the end of the day, the goal isn’t to own the most units. The goal is to build a life you’re excited to wake up to.

Agree or disagree? Hit reply and tell me: is unit count overrated, or does it actually matter?