Advice From Real Estate Expert Donato Callahan

Advice From Real Estate Expert Donato Callahan

Welcome to RentRedi’s Investor Spotlight series! We’re highlighting investing experts & their real estate investing tips.

Our Investor Spotlight features real estate investing tips & quickfire questions about the tools, advice, routines, and strategies beginners & professionals use to grow their businesses and gain passive income.

Let’s dive in!

Real Estate Investing Tips from Donato Callahan

1. What’s your favorite app (real estate-related or not)? Brightinvestor.com

2. How many hours a night do you sleep? From 2021-2023, about 4-6 hours per night. Now I get about 7-8 consistently. 

3. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received (real estate-related or not)? You can do anything, but not everything. Pick a direction, dedicate yourself to it, and don’t stop. 

4. Do you invest out-of-state? Absolutely, I currently invest in Missouri & Texas. Oftentimes, the best deals are somewhere else. 

5. Have you ever house hacked? Yes! My second deal ever was a house hack in St. Louis. It lets me live for free and cashflow nearly $2,000/month. 

6. Do you have a go-to paint color for your rentals? I like cream-colored walls with hardwood floors and blue or green paint on the cabinets. 

7. How long does it take you to analyze a property for investment? About 2 minutes. After that, I know if I want to move forward and dive deeper or trash it. 

8. How old were you when you purchased your first rental property? I bought my first rental on my 22nd birthday. 

9. Hard money loan or conventional? Conventional as much as possible. 

10. What is the #1 piece of advice you would give a new real estate investor just starting out? Talk to people who have done it. 10 conversations with people who have 10 years of experience in real estate and you have 100 years of wisdom at your fingertips. It’s been done before, so leverage other people’s mistakes to avoid repeating them. 

11. What made you want to invest in real estate? Any retirement account that requires you to be a certain age to access your own money is for your employer’s benefit, not yours. True freedom and control in your life come from being unencumbered with the consequences of making a different choice. So, when you break out the math, real estate is the only thing that makes sense to start investing in. 

12. What’s a landlord “hack” you use to make your life easier? I use property management software, automated payments, and partner with other investors via arbitrage to off-load as much maintenance and work as possible. 

About Donato Callahan

Donato secured the prestigious Department of Defense SMART Scholarship following his high-school valedictorian success. He later graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boise State and dedicated time to wildlife conservation in South Africa and wildlife ecology studies in Montana.

Amidst the COVID-19 lockdown, Donato discovered real estate investing, leading to the establishment of his first wholesaling company and the acquisition of an astounding 176 residential and commercial multifamily units by the young age of 23. He’s on track to achieve nearly 400 units and $40M in real estate in 2024, speak at numerous universities, and empowers investors through his company BrightInvestor, a cutting-edge real estate market research tool getting results for investors to grow, scale, and profit.

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