This article is transcribed from Episode 25 of The Accidental Landlord. Listen to the full episode, here.
Welcome to the show, Ryan!
Thank you! I’m glad to be here.
I’m glad you're here, too! Take a minute to tell our listeners more about you. What brought you here?
I have been renting multi-family properties for many years now. Recently, I’ve been getting into the whole selling business. Also, now I have a successful home buying business in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This has been my bread and butter now. Fortunately, it has been really successful.
Tell us how you got into real estate.
I go back to 2015. I was working a full-time job for a number of years which was really just a dead-end job. Then, I got a letter in the mail saying that I was the recipient of this class act lawsuit that has been going on for over thirty years. And they gave me a check for a large amount of money, because I had breathing problems as a child. At the time, I did not know what to do with the money, but then my brother-in-law introduced me to the real estate business. I learned about the power of this sector, and how to grow your money, and from that moment on I focused on investing. My first investment was a tri-plex.
After you bought a triplex, did you quit your job?
I did not quit my job at the time, but I discovered that my bank account was going up. It was an eye-opening experience for me. I realized that I had to invest more in real estate. that was the beginning of my adventure.
So you got your first property in 2015. What happened after that?
Over a couple of years I got up to three properties. Then COVID-19 happened. That was a true game-changer in so many ways.
What was your experience during COVID?
The government came up with the eviction moratorium. It was a program where if you couldn’t pay rent they would protect you from being evicted. My tenants all had special situations. They all had employment, at no point did they lose their job. So, there shouldn’t be a problem. It should have been business as usual. Unfortunately, they decided not to pay rent and to use this eviction moratorium to their advantage.
Where you managing these properties on your own, or did you use a property management company?
It’s interesting that you mention this, because at the time, I was so green about this sector that I thought I had to manage my properties on my own. So, I kind of accidentally became my own property manager.
When COVID hit, were you still managing properties yourself?
Yes, I was managing the properties by myself. Everything was working pretty smoothly, until the eviction moratorium started. That’s when my tenants were done paying.
To learn more about what Ryan David’s experience was, listen to the full episode here.
