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At 19 years old, Cody Davis purchased his first rental property. Before turning 22, his portfolio included 81 units.<\/span><\/p>\n In an interview with David Greene and Henry Washington on the\u00a0<\/span>BiggerPockets Podcast<\/span><\/a>, Davis walked us through the steps he took as a bold 19-year-old real estate agent with little to no income and not a single W-2 form, to owning 81 units across eight deals within three years.<\/span><\/p>\n Davis started work as a real estate agent in the Seattle, Washington region after he turned 18 years old. As an agent, he wasn\u2019t successful and rarely made sales.<\/span><\/p>\n However, he was good at staying connected with the other agents at his brokerage. A deal for a seller-financed 22-unit apartment complex came across his desk one morning after it fell through with another buyer. The head of his brokerage pushed him to pursue it, despite lacking the financials, experience, and know-how. They assured Davis that other agents at the office would help fund the deal if he could get the seller to leave the table happy.<\/span><\/p>\n When Davis approached the seller, he was flat-out rejected. The seller felt they were being dragged along for far too long and pulled the listing altogether.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Davis was crushed and frustrated. But he had caught a virus: the investing virus.<\/span><\/p>\n As a real estate agent, Davis had access to the multiple listing service (MLS). After getting shoved away from the last deal, he filtered listings with \u201cseller financing\u201d and found several properties. One, in particular, was a ~$1.2 million 12-unit apartment complex that had been on the market for 560 days.<\/span><\/p>\n Davis contacted the listing agent, cunningly explained that he just had another deal fall through and was looking to make a purchase, asked how they wanted to write up the contract, and began the purchase. The original asking was 20% down with 80% seller financing. Davis came in at 15%, went back and forth, and finally went under contract.<\/span><\/p>\n While under contract, Davis negotiated his way to a 10% downpayment. The downpayment now totaled roughly $125,000.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cody put on an impressive feat up to this point, but the biggest challenge had not started yet. How does a 19-year-old with hardly any income, assets, or experience negotiate a 12-unit complex with seller financing and fund his end of the deal?<\/span><\/p>\n For Davis, it comes down to mindset.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was going around and asking everybody for help in the office,\u201d Davis explained. \u201c[I asked] \u2018who has a client that is liquid $125,000?\u2019 I don\u2019t need to be the one-man show, so [I asked] for help. I got a lot of help, not just with connecting with people. A lot of people I connected with, I botched the meeting on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But botched meetings didn\u2019t deter Davis. He needed to raise $125,000 before closing, and he was determined to do so. Finally, after raising a few bucks from other agents in his office, his mentor<\/a> helped seal the deal.<\/span><\/p>\n By the end, Davis had a secured the property with a non-ballooning, 12% interest note from the seller that covered 90% of nearly $1.2 million, raised $125,000 in equity, and generated net cash flow that equated to over $1,000 by the end of the first month. All at 19-years-old.<\/span><\/p>\nHow He Purchased His First Apartment Complex<\/h2>\n
A Seller Financed Investing Strategy<\/span><\/h2>\n