Darius' a Zero Start to a Million Dollar Portfolio in 8 Years!

[Darius Kellar]

Hey Everyone,

I hope you enjoy the story and find it useful in your journey.

This past week I was a guest on the Million Podcast with Todd Capital. I shared a little bit about myself and my journey in real estate investing since 2014. It is was an interesting story because in 2014 I was just a 24 year old janitor living in a 2 bedroom house with 6 people. There was also other things that made life difficult during that time. I had no credit, I totaled my car, still in college and with a baby girl on the way. Wow, talk about tough times! While just looking for a place to live in and to cut living expenses, in mid 2014 I purchased my home in Pontiac, MI. Which is just a city 35 minutes from Detroit. During that time Pontiac was very distressed but it had all the right things in place to bring in big name companies that are here today which is why I saw it as a great place to call home long term.

After moving in my first property in 2014 and getting my second property in 2015 for just $2,500.00 (a condemned property) I gained the idea that I could potentially make money from real estate. In 2015 home values in my area were still distressed. It was still known to by a home for less than 10K. In 2015 I tried to do the Dave Ramsey trick and live on little and avoid debt by rehabbing my second home with little resources. I did most of the work myself and it cost me roughly 20K in repairs and 2 years of time. By 2017 I was in a better job, and I refinanced my first home and used the cash to be the winning bid for my 3rd home on a website called Auction.com, which cost 35K. On Auction.com at the time I over paid for the property. I paid over 10k above the reserve amount because I did not know the bank has the right to bid against bidders. In 2017 the market was doing a lot better but what I learned was that the market changed in price by 5X from 2015 to 2017. For example, those same 10K homes would have been listed on the market for 50K each. By 2018 I had finally figured out how to perform the BRRRR strategy the proper way. So, I refinanced my 3rd home and was able to pocket around 60K to obtain a condo that I bought in late 2018 for 52K. The condo was a rental just like the other properties. However after being a landlord in a HOA I learned that its not for everyone. So I refinanced the condo into a HELOC and used the money to buy another single family home in 2019 of October. Keep in mind, the moment I purchased the 5th property Amazon had announced that they were officially coming to the area. The single-family home that I bought was a house very close to Amazon for 42K. The home values and perceptive of the real estate changed very quickly during that period.

By 2020 I was already convinced that the property values are too high and I was not willing to pay 100K+ for a investment property. So I tried going to Flint and picking up affordable real estate there. Before my search in 2021 in Flint I did manage to sell my condo and refinance my 1st and 5th properties. I also acquired a 30K credit card as well. Between the 2 refinances, the credit card, and condo sell I accumulated about 180K. So at the very beginning in January of 2021 I purchased my first Flint rental at a price point of 35K which was already fully remodeled and turn key. After having an open house and understanding how Flint demand is for rentals. I decided to buy 3 more properties all at the same time. 1 property was from MLS and 2 more were from the Genesee County Landbank Auction. Today, 1 of the 3 is rehabbed and rented. The other 2 are vacant.

Going into 2022 I did not think I would run into another good deal in the Pontiac area. However, I did find a deal on the MLS that I could not pass up, which is now my 10th property. This single-family property cost about 54K. It was heck of a deal with comps between 125K and 170K. The owner was looking to quickly get rid of this property because the tenant was causing problems and the main owner had passed away.

This is a just brief breakdown of my story on how I built my million dollar portfolio from a zero start over 8 years. I also answered many questions in detail on the Millionaire Podcast show.

Below is a snapshot of the home I won in the Genesee county Landbank Auction for 20K its property Property Number 8.

Here is a snapshot of my 2,500 dollar house in Pontiac. The lot in between both houses is also mine. I purchased the lot for 255 bucks in a 3 day auction.

[Kass Farran]

Quote from @Darius Kellar:

Quote from @David Bilandzija:

@Darius Kellar Great success story and well detailed.  The $2,500 house you pictured in Pontiac looks really well done.  Besides the podcast, are you sharing your knowledge, through meetups/networking, with others in your area looking to get into real estate? 

 Thanks and Yes! Lately I have been providing live scheduled video calls to discuss and share my knowledge directly to inspiring investors. I have an open network, everyone is welcome to connect with me here and DM me directly. 

I met with Darius after reading this thread as I'm fairly new to RE investing. 

He had a lot of great knowledge that you'll only find with experience. Would highly recommend connecting with him if you are able to. 

[Osazee Edebiri]

Quote from @Darius Kellar:

Hey Everyone,

I hope you enjoy the story and find it useful in your journey.

This past week I was a guest on the Million Podcast with Todd Capital. I shared a little bit about myself and my journey in real estate investing since 2014. It is was an interesting story because in 2014 I was just a 24 year old janitor living in a 2 bedroom house with 6 people. There was also other things that made life difficult during that time. I had no credit, I totaled my car, still in college and with a baby girl on the way. Wow, talk about tough times! While just looking for a place to live in and to cut living expenses, in mid 2014 I purchased my home in Pontiac, MI. Which is just a city 35 minutes from Detroit. During that time Pontiac was very distressed but it had all the right things in place to bring in big name companies that are here today which is why I saw it as a great place to call home long term.

After moving in my first property in 2014 and getting my second property in 2015 for just $2,500.00 (a condemned property) I gained the idea that I could potentially make money from real estate. In 2015 home values in my area were still distressed. It was still known to by a home for less than 10K. In 2015 I tried to do the Dave Ramsey trick and live on little and avoid debt by rehabbing my second home with little resources. I did most of the work myself and it cost me roughly 20K in repairs and 2 years of time. By 2017 I was in a better job, and I refinanced my first home and used the cash to be the winning bid for my 3rd home on a website called Auction.com, which cost 35K. On Auction.com at the time I over paid for the property. I paid over 10k above the reserve amount because I did not know the bank has the right to bid against bidders. In 2017 the market was doing a lot better but what I learned was that the market changed in price by 5X from 2015 to 2017. For example, those same 10K homes would have been listed on the market for 50K each. By 2018 I had finally figured out how to perform the BRRRR strategy the proper way. So, I refinanced my 3rd home and was able to pocket around 60K to obtain a condo that I bought in late 2018 for 52K. The condo was a rental just like the other properties. However after being a landlord in a HOA I learned that its not for everyone. So I refinanced the condo into a HELOC and used the money to buy another single family home in 2019 of October. Keep in mind, the moment I purchased the 5th property Amazon had announced that they were officially coming to the area. The single-family home that I bought was a house very close to Amazon for 42K. The home values and perceptive of the real estate changed very quickly during that period.

By 2020 I was already convinced that the property values are too high and I was not willing to pay 100K+ for a investment property. So I tried going to Flint and picking up affordable real estate there. Before my search in 2021 in Flint I did manage to sell my condo and refinance my 1st and 5th properties. I also acquired a 30K credit card as well. Between the 2 refinances, the credit card, and condo sell I accumulated about 180K. So at the very beginning in January of 2021 I purchased my first Flint rental at a price point of 35K which was already fully remodeled and turn key. After having an open house and understanding how Flint demand is for rentals. I decided to buy 3 more properties all at the same time. 1 property was from MLS and 2 more were from the Genesee County Landbank Auction. Today, 1 of the 3 is rehabbed and rented. The other 2 are vacant.

Going into 2022 I did not think I would run into another good deal in the Pontiac area. However, I did find a deal on the MLS that I could not pass up, which is now my 10th property. This single-family property cost about 54K. It was heck of a deal with comps between 125K and 170K. The owner was looking to quickly get rid of this property because the tenant was causing problems and the main owner had passed away.

This is a just brief breakdown of my story on how I built my million dollar portfolio from a zero start over 8 years. I also answered many questions in detail on the Millionaire Podcast show.

Below is a snapshot of the home I won in the Genesee county Landbank Auction for 20K its property Property Number 8.

Here is a snapshot of my 2,500 dollar house in Pontiac. The lot in between both houses is also mine. I purchased the lot for 255 bucks in a 3 day auction.

 Way to crush it! Definitely sharing this.

[Darius Kellar]

@Osazee Edebiri 

Thank you and for sharing!