Dave

Real estate investor Dave is no stranger to working hard. When Dave was younger, his father purchased a cleaning company and Dave spent his teenage years cleaning toilets and doing grunt work, which paid off when he pursued his college degree and moved to New York City. 

In 2019, Dave, his wife, and their two kids made a life-changing decision. Their family of four decided to move to a growing city with a lower cost of living to pursue financial freedom and real estate investing. They said goodbye to their home in New York and headed to Houston, Texas, the 13th fastest-growing large metro in the United States.

Dave bought his first rental property a few months later and after a few renovations, he found the perfect tenant — at least on paper. 

“This tenant checked all the boxes. She had a good credit score. She paid on time. There really weren’t any red flags.”

Or so Dave thought. When the tenant moved out at the end of her lease in December, Dave realized he’d been very wrong.

“I’ll spare you the details, but it involved a lot of glitter.”

Each time his team tried to get access to the property over the past year, the tenant would claim someone in her family had Covid-19 and it wasn’t safe to come in. When they finally got inside, Dave says the place was trashed. Almost ready to throw in the towel, Dave sold that property and lost money in the process. Then he heard PadSplit CEO and founder, Atticus LeBlanc, on a Millionacres podcast episode.

“I thought ‘well this solves my problem’. Renting by the room, I could have multiple tenants at the cost of a single-family rental. With PadSplit handling the people, I could focus on what I was good at: the house itself. I’m a numbers and systems guy.”

He closed on his first PadSplit property in February 2021 and started the renovation process soon after. A data analyst by day, Dave’s degree is in marketing, which has proven to be incredibly helpful as he plans his renovations.

“When I first moved to New York City, I was living in a filthy apartment above an adult video store, surrounded by cockroaches and trash. And that’s why I don’t just go the cheapest route in my renovations. I renovate in a way that would make me want to buy a house.”

That philosophy is paying off. With a great contractor on his side, Dave’s house was listed on the platform two months later and was fully booked in a matter of weeks. He consistently hears from Members who tell him they chose his PadSplit for the beautifully-renovated kitchen and bathrooms. 

“It’s incredibly fulfilling to provide something significantly better than the status quo for PadSplit Members. It makes their PadSplit experience an unrivaled one, which means Members stay longer and take better care of the place because they have a sense of pride in their home.”

As PadSplit’s first Houston Host, Dave has been dubbed the “room rental guy” in the Houston real estate market scene. 

“I’m always out recruiting other Hosts. I’ll speak at meet-ups and answer questions in local real estate Facebook groups.”

Dave says it’s easy to champion PadSplit. Not only is Dave PadSplit’s first Houston Host, but he’s also one of the most successful in this market. He’s even used his PadSplit earnings to surprise his wife with a Tesla. 

“I cashflow about $2,000 a month per property compared to the average $200 a month in traditional rentals. From a financial standpoint, that’s fantastic. And there’s no glitter involved.”

“With traditional rentals, if I have a vacancy, I’m 100% out of pocket. The benefit of PadSplit is the same as the benefit of renting multi-family units. I have greater security because even with lower occupancy, I’m still not out of pocket.”

Today, Dave has one PadSplit property and two others currently being renovated. With his earnings, Dave says his family is on track to reach Level 1 financial independence by the end of 2022. 

“I’m not looking to leave my day job any time soon, but I want to set my family up where I can work because I want to, not because I have to.”

PadSplit Hosts do good and do well in their community. PadSplit’s award-winning model aligns incentives for property owners, cities, businesses, and workers.

Want to learn more about if PadSplit is the right fit for your properties? Our team is happy to answer your questions — no obligation required. Schedule a call today.