PadSplit salutes our vets
Here at PadSplit, our company values are to simply care, show it, and prove it. We espouse these principles daily with our Members, Hosts, neighbors, and each other, and on this Veteran’s Day, we especially want to show our gratitude for those in the PadSplit community who have served our country and fought for the freedoms we enjoy as Americans.
We’re proud to work with organizations who support Veterans, including the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (VASH), which works with eligible vets and their families to find housing.
Today, we’re announcing a new promotion – any Veteran may use the code VETERANS on their PadSplit application through Nov. 15th to waive their application fee.
Below are some of the stories of the Veterans we’ve worked with. If you know of a Veteran who is looking for quality housing, we’d be honored to speak with them.
PadSplit Member: Chris
Our PadSplit member, Chris is an Army veteran of 12 years. He served as an Infantryman and a Combat Engineer while defending U.S. interests around the globe. In these roles, Chris’ duties included field and combat training with a specialization in weapons and tanks. His time in the military was the best of his life, he says, and he appreciates all the great medical and financial benefits provided to him, alongside learning valuable lessons and discipline that he’s carried over into his civilian life.
Chris found PadSplit when his roommates decided they wanted to move further away from Atlanta. Without a car, the trek would add 13 miles to his existing work commute, and with MARTA’s bus service being what it is, it would take an additional 2-3 hours just to get to and from his job as an essential worker stocking shelves at a large department and grocery store.
With his full-time, steady employment of three years and his military service, Chris was approved immediately and was able to find a PadSplit that was close to his work.
With everything included in his PadSplit weekly rent payments, Chris is actually paying less than what he was paying when living with his roommates in a traditional apartment. He’s happy to add these extra savings toward his longer-term financial goals, of becoming a homeowner once again.
PadSplit Team Member: Frank Furman, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer
Frank was a junior in high school when the nation was attacked on 9/11. Along with so many others, his life was forever changed, and he set out for a career of service to the country and others. Although no one in his family had served in the military, he applied to the United States Naval Academy and graduated with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and a commission in the United States Marine Corps. After a quick stint in graduate school at Johns Hopkins University he went on to Quantico, Virginia for The Basic School and Infantry Officer’s Course.
Frank’s first fleet duty station was as a Weapons Platoon Commander in 3d Battalion, 4th Marines. His battalion deployed twice to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and was engaged in combat in both Helmand and Farah provinces. Frank led Marines into combat on four heliborne assaults and later commanded the Weapons Company.
Along the way, he married his wife Caelyn, who also attended the Naval Academy and served as a Marine Corps Officer. In 2012 he crossed the globe again, trading the foothills of the Hindu Kush and the expansive deserts of the Mojave for the endless hallways of the Pentagon. He spent the next two years working as a Portfolio Manager at the Office of Naval Research (ONR), funding a series of R&D programs. With his first child on the way, Frank accepted a corporate job and eventually landed in Atlanta, where he and Atticus LeBlanc, his brother-in-law, would start PadSplit.
Although it wasn’t clear to him at the time, Frank’s military service prepared him for PadSplit in many ways, from his dedication to the idea of serving a greater mission and to help create opportunities for others, at home and abroad. Today, Frank is PadSplit’s CGO and is responsible for growing the company’s footprint so it can create more opportunities for people in search of them.
PadSplit Host: Frank Morales
Like many of his peers, PadSplit Host Frank Morales joined the military to see the world and get an education. In 1987, he enlisted in the Navy and became an Operations Specialist. He was predominantly stationed on the West Coast and would eventually be deployed to the Western Pacific and the Persian Gulf.
While on his aircraft carrier, Frank jokes that he shared a room with 76 other men. They slept on bunk beds that were four beds high, and he says that they actually had it good, since on other ships there could be up to 300 people in your “bedroom.”
After a decade in the Navy, Frank went on to various local and federal government jobs, including time with the VA. He stumbled into real estate, realizing that he needed to find roommates to live in his home so he could get into a better position financially.
These experiences all made Frank an early believer in PadSplit, where he currently hosts 13 units. He deeply believes in PadSplit’s mission of creating opportunities for others to become more financially empowered, and he hopes to one day be able to open homes specifically catering to military veterans.
