He Bought His FIRST Rental 6 Years Ago: Now He Does 24 Deals a YEAR

TL;DR

Former NFL quarterback Brett Hunley scaled from one rental to 24 deals a year by applying team-leadership skills and a flexible buy-box to Arizona flipping.

Key Points

• 1.Brett Hunley's real estate journey started with NFL teammates. While playing for the Arizona Cardinals, he learned from Prince Mukamara (short-term rentals), Devin Canard (long-term holds), and Larry Fitzgerald, buying his first STR right next to Prince's property at 2–3% interest rates.
• 2.His early strategy spanned multiple strategies before finding his niche. He started with short-term rentals, then tried a new build in the Arcadia area during COVID (a 2–3 year process), then flipped a $1.5M home buying at $900K and selling at $1.45M, before working down to smaller price points.
• 3.Mentor Zachary Keeps convinced him that lower-priced flips offer better risk-adjusted returns. One quick flip on a $300–400K home generated ~$100K profit with far less capital at risk than seven-figure projects, teaching Brett the math of risk versus reward.
• 4.A wide buy-box is his competitive edge in a saturated Phoenix market. Rather than locking into a narrow price range, Brett stays open to deals from $300K to $2M+, evaluating each purely on whether returns outweigh risk — similar to the approach used by James Dainard.
• 5.NFL quarterback experience directly translates to running a renovation team. Brett acts as the project manager — scheduling deliveries, coordinating contractors, setting a performance culture with music and energy on job sites, inspired by coaches like Pete Carroll and John Harbaugh.
• 6.His business is a family operation with built-in talent. His mother, an interior designer by training, handles design for flips and STRs; his wife is a real estate agent — a team structure he says he didn't plan but that emerged organically.
• 7.His 2024 goal is 24 deals, including flips and wholesale transactions. He set the target specifically to stay uncomfortable and push growth; he's on track, calling the pace intense but energizing, framing it as 'I get to do this' rather than 'I have to.'
• 8.Long-term vision is passive income through multifamily, not endless flipping. Brett plans to use flip profits and his renovation crews to acquire and reposition distressed 8–32 unit properties, while also doing one large luxury live-in flip per year to exploit the married capital-gains exclusion.