For Leon Orange, the first PadSplit wasn’t just about combating rising rents; it was a proof point.
As an Army veteran earning $60,000 a year from his job, Leon used his VA loan to buy his first home, add and rent out the extra bedrooms through PadSplit, live rent-free, and generate about $600 a month in cash flow. He did it with less than $10,000 out of pocket, spread out paycheck by paycheck.
But what makes Leon’s story truly powerful isn’t the first house. It’s what came next.
In Part 2 of Episode 04 of the One Room at a Time podcast, Leon walks through how he used that same VA loan benefit to purchase his second PadSplit home, why he needed to be an owner-occupant again, and the very real tradeoffs that came with scaling from one house to two.
How the VA loan made a second PadSplit possible
Using the VA loan is not just a one-time thing. Veterans actually receive a total entitlement amount, which can be split across multiple uses.
At the time Leon bought his first home, his entitlement was capped at $700,000. That meant he could use part of it to buy one home and still have the remaining entitlement to buy another, as long as both properties were owner-occupied and met VA guidelines.
For Leon, that meant:
- Using roughly half his entitlement for the first home
- Using the remaining entitlement for a second home
- Putting 0% down both times (!!!)
- Committing to live in each home as his primary residence
Since Leon had seen PadSplit work the first time around, his plan was to do the same thing. But now he wasn’t just taking a leap of faith. He had become a seasoned owner-occupied coliving host and could think about house no. two far more strategically.
Buying smarter the second time
Leon approached his second purchase very differently.
Instead of buying a standard home and retrofitting it later, he specifically searched for properties with room-count potential from the start. He focused on homes that were already configured to support more bedrooms, even if they cost slightly more upfront. He was also much more involved in the inspection process, ensuring the bones of the house were solid.
“Time is money,” Leon explains. “Paying a little more upfront saved me construction and stress.”
He ultimately purchased a five-bedroom, three-bathroom home, an upgrade from his first property, which had fewer bathrooms. It was a little further from downtown Orlando compared to his first property, but he leaned on PadSplit’s tools to set realistic pricing, knowing that homes farther from downtown wouldn’t command the same rents.
Why Leon had to move again
To remain compliant with VA loan rules, Leon couldn’t simply buy the second house as a rental. He had to move into it and make it his primary residence.
That meant:
- Living in the first home for a full year
- Moving into the second home and living there for another year
- Renting out only the remaining rooms while occupying one himself
This is where the real tradeoffs came in. This was definitely not a “passive income” approach. Leon gave up privacy, space, and comfort for an extended period of time.
“The fatigue definitely set in,” he says. “Being regulated to one room for that long is tough.”
But the payoff was significant. Once both homes were fully operating, each generated about $1,200 per month in profit, or roughly $2,400 total.
That income allowed Leon to live rent-free and replaced his living expenses, with additional savings to spare.
From PadSplit host to full-time entrepreneur
With two PadSplit homes producing consistent income, Leon was now ready to make a bold move: he quit his full-time job!
Using the income from his PadSplit homes, Leon became his own boss and pursued his passions, opening OIM Creative Studio, a photography and content studio.
“The income from my homes pay for this space,” Leon says. “That freedom was always the goal.”
Leon hasn’t ruled out buying another PadSplit in the future. Potential paths include refinancing into a different loan type to restore VA entitlement or increasing density on existing properties through options like container permits or accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
For now, his focus is balance and freedom, using housing income to support a life he actually wants to live.
Leon’s advice for getting started
Leon’s advice for others is simple and practical: be honest about what you can sacrifice in the short term to gain long-term leverage.
“If you can give up comfort for one year, you can own an asset for the next 30,” he says. “Five or ten years from now, it’s going to happen anyway. You might as well start now.”
Leon’s journey shows what’s possible when housing is treated not just as a place to live, but as a tool for financial independence — built one room at a time.
