10 Exit Strategies from One Real Estate Deal (The Horseshoe Bay Haven Example)

Most investors see only two exits: rent it out or flip it. That narrow view leaves a lot of potential on the table. When your financial freedom depends on a single path, you’re building fragility. One bad tenant, one market swing, or one interest-rate jump—and the whole plan crumbles.

That’s why I build every deal using what I call the Exit Strategy Stack™. Instead of one way to win, I design multiple exits. Optionality is durability.

One of the best real-world examples is a limestone duplex I bought in 2018 in Horseshoe Bay, Texas.

The Setup

This was an off-market deal I sourced directly with the seller—no agents, no commissions. Just me and a California investor who wanted to roll his profits into a 1031 exchange closer to home.

The purchase price: $270,000. That was below tax appraisal and about 20% under what it would have listed for on the open market.

It came with long-term tenants, day-one cash flow, and professional management already in place.

Fast forward to today: the property is still professionally managed and still paying me two rent checks every month—$1,950 and $1,850. Quiet, consistent, durable. That’s what I mean by ROH™—Return on Headache.

But here’s what really made the deal stand out.

During due diligence, I noticed several nearby duplexes had been legally subdivided into two separate homes. That one observation unlocked an entire stack of potential exits.

Why? Because duplexes sell to investors based on income and cap rates. Single-family homes sell to homeowners based on square footage and comps. The same “bricks and mortar” (in this case, Texas limestone) could be valued two completely different ways.

That’s the power of spotting inefficiencies in real estate—an edge you’ll never find in the stock market.

Ten Different Exits From One Duplex

Here’s how this single deal created ten distinct ways to profit:

1. Keep it as-is.
   Collect rent from long-term tenants, professionally managed, steady income.
2. Raise rents.
   Light renovations and re-tenanting lift income, strengthen cash flow, and improve valuation.
3. Renovate and sell to an investor.
   Stabilize at higher rents, then sell as a stronger income property to another landlord.
4. Owner-finance the duplex.
   Sell the entire property with owner financing, hold the note, and convert equity into monthly payments.
5. Subdivide and sell separately.
   Legally split the duplex into two homes and sell into the broader homeowner market—no longer capped by investor math.
6. Subdivide and owner-finance.
   Same as #5, but sell each unit with seller financing. Two separate notes, two streams of income.
7. Short-term rentals.
   Renovate and furnish, then operate as Airbnb/VRBO units to capture higher gross yields.
8. Rehab and refinance.
   As tenants turn over, complete targeted renovations, then refinance at a higher valuation to pull equity tax-free.
9. Sell and 1031 exchange.
   Hold for a year, sell, and roll gains into another property tax-deferred. Scale without triggering capital gains.
10. The live-in flip.
    Subdivide, move into one side for two years, sell tax-free under Section 121, then repeat with the other. Bonus: add owner financing and keep the income streams while still using the tax-free gain.

One property. Ten exits. That’s what the Exit Strategy Stack™ looks like in practice.

Real-World Flexibility

This wasn’t just theory. I’ve already used multiple strategies on this very deal.

After thoroughly renovating both units, I converted the duplex into short-term rentals and ran them as Airbnbs for several years. Horseshoe Bay’s lake and golf traffic made it an excellent market for that strategy.

Later, as my own goals shifted, I pivoted back to long-term tenants with professional management. Today it pays me two reliable rent checks every month without stealing a minute of my time.

Along the way, I executed a cash-out refinance. It didn’t return 100% of my capital at closing, but combined with the years of rent I’ve collected, I’m now fully cashed out of my original investment.

That means today, I own this duplex with none of my own money left in the deal. It pays me $3,800 a month, fully managed. That’s infinite ROI—a system that keeps paying even after your seed capital is back in your pocket.

That’s the bigger point: you must be flexible. A single deal can move through different seasons of your portfolio. If you’ve built in multiple exits, you can pivot as markets shift—while still compounding your freedom.

The Lesson

Traditional real estate advice often centers on buy-and-hold or fix-and-flip. Both can work—but relying on only one or two exits leaves you exposed.

The Passive Income Entrepreneur™ sees ten. That’s antifragile.

The Horseshoe Bay Haven duplex proves it:

• It was sourced off-market, directly from the seller.
• It’s professionally managed for high ROH™.
• It’s still producing strong cash flow today.
• It’s already cycled through multiple strategies—Airbnb and long-term rental.
• It has ten built-in exits that could be activated anytime.

Takeaway

The next time you evaluate a deal, don’t just ask: “Will this rent?”

Ask instead: “How many ways could I win here?”

If the answer is one, the deal is fragile.
If it’s three or four, you’ve got flexibility.
If it’s ten? You’ve built freedom.

That’s not just a duplex. That’s a chicken (asset) in the coop that keeps laying eggs (cash flow) every month. And because my seed capital has already been recovered, every egg from here forward is pure freedom.

Go deeper with the full system.
This is one example from Built for Freedom™. Inside, I break down the Chicken Coop Portfolio™, the Exit Strategy Stack™, and the Cash Flow Creator System™ so you can design durable income on your terms.
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Pull Quote

“Most investors look for one way to make money. A Passive Income Entrepreneur™ designs ten.”