Wholesaling Real Estate Story Time: How I turned my basement into a rental and live mortgage free

What's going on, my good friends? Today is Nathan Payne's Wholesaling Real Estate Storytime, where I take you back in time to 2019 when I turned my basement into a rental so I could live mortgage-free. That was the goal. All right, so guys, if you've been tuning into, uh, Nathan Payne's Wholesaling Real Estate Storytime, I basically— I'm talking about how I started my journey in real estate, how it was bumpy, How I went from making, you know, $96,000 in the first 6 months to freaking getting going broke and then going back up again by taking a gamble and a risk and rolling the dice on some marketing spend and it paying off to, uh, now today we're talking about when I built, uh, made a mother-in-law, uh, apartment in my basement so I could live mortgage-free. Okay. Um, again, this is not a flex. I don't flex because it's whatever, right? There's people that are billionaires, millionaires, money. It doesn't matter. And I'm just giving you my journey so you guys can see that in order to start this business, there's a lot of failures and there's a lot of wins. And a lot of people don't talk about their failures. They just talk about wins and show you big checks and stuff. And that's not what it's all about. It's about the journey. Okay? You got to enjoy the journey, not that end destination, because if all you're thinking about is, oh, I'm going to be happy when I get there at the end, you're wrong. You got to enjoy the journey. So I'm enjoying the journey and I'm letting you guys know about the journey on Nathan Payne's Wholesaling Real Estate Storytime. If you like these videos, subscribe to— go to painlessflipping.com, subscribe. Obviously you can join my academy where I show you guys that mentorships suck and that there's a different way to learn, and I'm showing you exactly how to do it with our done-for-you service. If you just go and check it out, if you try to— if you go to painlessflipping.com, you can just get our email on our email list and subscribe, and we'll I'll send you all these stories that I got. They're also on my YouTube channel. But today we're talking about how I turned my basement in 2019 in my journal. Guys, I'm telling you, this is the truth. I'm not, I'm not playing with you guys. I actually kept a journal. I've been keeping a journal for a long time. 2019. Let's talk about it. Okay. So, uh, my last video, we were talking about how I rolled the dice. I was broke again because I had spent all my money on marketing, but I had taken a credit card out. And crossed my fingers and it worked. We started doing more deals. We were doing pay-per-click and we were doing well. And I'm talking to my wife at the time. We had bought a house in about 2017 and it was— it's 2,000 square feet up and down and like together, right? And we were— it's just me and my wife. So, you know, that's a— that's a lot for us. You know, I didn't really need that much. And I'm like, man, I don't want to have to have a mortgage. I'd like to rent this thing out. So what we did is our house is set up so where if you walk in, it's basically like a split entry, right? So I was like, hey, babe, my wife, I was like, hey, let's, let's just put a kitchen downstairs in the basement and, you know, and just rent it out. And that's really common in Utah. A lot of people rent out basements here. I don't know if that's super common in other states, but here in Utah, yeah, tons of mother-in-law basements, separate entries, people. Renting out other people's homes. So anyway, say, hey babe, let's do it. So that at the moment it's a split entry, but it's not like separate completely. Like, we had to put doors up. So we hire— I hired a guy, and I'm gonna tell you the exact process and the cost of doing this, because if you have a basement you're not really using, yeah, I highly recommend you rent it out so you can be mortgage-free. It's pretty cool if you can get your mortgage paid by by renters. That's sweet. So this is, this is the process, okay? This is how we were able to make a mother-in-law apartment out of our basement. So, okay, it was a split entry, but it was open. So we— I hired a guy named Jose to, uh, basically put two doors up and then put a wall so there were separate entries going upstairs and downstairs. Uh, the guy— I was— because I speak Spanish and I was able to negotiate, the guy was able to do it for like $1,000. Okay, so that wasn't bad. We were able to make a separate entry. Okay, and then all we really needed was a kitchen downstairs, plumbing in a kitchen, and electrical for the kitchen. Okay, because everything else it had— it's got 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, and a bonus room, and a living room, and laundry's down there. So we also had to put a laundry machine, washer and dryer machine combo upstairs in our— where we live, so we didn't have to go down and do laundry. So that required like some electrical We put that in the closet. Anyway, we wanted to keep it completely separate. So we're like, man, where are we going to find a kitchen? Where it's going to be expensive. We buy like a brand, a whole new kitchen with a countertop and all that stuff. What are we going to do? So what me and my wife did is we went on KSL here in Utah. KSL is like Craigslist or it's Facebook Marketplace. And what was happening was there's this guy named Miles. Miles was like a flipper and he bought this house that he was flipping and there was this whole kitchen and the whole countertop and everything together and he just put on KSL, he was like, hey, I'll sell, I'm selling my whole kitchen countertop and the cabinets for $1,000. And I was like, wow, a whole kitchen set, like a whole kitchen cabinets and countertop for $1,000. That's a freaking deal. Okay, so I'm in $2,000 to pretty much so far to make my house, my basement, a rental, right? A mother-in-law basement apartment. So we go, I go over there, we take a look at this, the cabinets there, they're kind of older looking in the sense of like they're brown and obviously they were nice, but they just weren't like updated, like the nice white cabinets that people do. So We went over there, but they looked good. So we're like, hey, man, we don't have a truck. Do you mind helping us out here? And he's like, yeah, I know, for sure. And he also had a washer, a dishwasher there. And I was like, hey, are you using that? And he's like, no, not really. I said, is it cool if you throw that in there? He's like, sure. So for $1,000, I got a dishwasher, a brand new cabinet set, and countertops. And this was a nice countertop. Okay, I know because I went to Jerry Norton's house, um, and he has a nice house and he had the same countertop in his guest kitchen. So I was like, oh, I got hooked up, got the same countertop as Jerry Norton, that's legit. So anyway, I'm over, uh, we're over there hauling these cabinets over to the, um, his truck. This countertop, oh my goodness, was heavy. It took like 4 of us to to carry this thing. It was so, so heavy. So we put it in there, we put all the cabinets, we'd stack them up in his truck, and we start driving to my house. My house is probably 15, 20 minutes away from this guy's house. You won't believe what happened. And I tell my wife this every time we drive on this highway, um, but— and she's like, oh my gosh, stop telling me that, that this happened. You've told me 100 times. But it was a crazy experience. So I'm following behind the guy in the truck. We— I thought he, he did a— he did his diligence, his due diligence, and he tied the cabinets down well, but apparently he didn't. So he's driving, I'm behind him, and check this out. I'm like 40, 50 feet. I'm not falling too close. I see all of a sudden, I see one of the cabinets fall off the truck bed right in front of my car, and it starts flaming, sparking. Apparently one of the the metal parts of the cabinet that had fallen was just sparking. It was sliding all over the highway. And I'm like, oh my gosh, what I just bought is literally going to be not useful at all. But I was like, whatever. So I immediately pull over. I look behind me on the highway. I look up behind me. There's not— there's cars aren't that close. So I run over in the middle of the highway, grab the cabinet, and I just haul over to the side of the highway. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't even use this thing anymore. Because it just fell off a truck and it was sparking. Can you believe this? I look at it now that I'm a little cooler. It's perfectly fine. It's just it fell on the side of the cabinet where like it goes into the wall. So you can't even tell. And it was fine that the cabinets are built amazingly well. It just sparked a little bit. So I'm, whoo, thank goodness that it's still good. We get back in the car. I throw the cabinet in my little Honda Accord because He's gone. He didn't even know that it fell off. I just got— was— saw it fall. So I drive to the house, we unload that bad boy, everything's fine. We put it in the basement and I'm like, thank goodness. Whoo-wee. So, and again, it took like 4 or 5 guys for us to take that freaking large countertop down. Granite. I don't even know what the heck that thing was, but it was heavy. So the cabinet's down there. My wife is savvy. She's amazing. She's the best. She's more handy than I am. She paints. She buys little spray paint things, spray paints that, this cabinet, and put some nice new knobs on there. Thing looks good. It's a nice-looking kitchen cabinet set, everything down there. We get it all ready. We hired a guy from Chile, my, one of my boys. I can't really remember his name right now, um, but Cervantes or something. But he puts in the electrical and the plumbing, and that costs us like an additional $1,000. So we're in it, I think, like $3,000 for the split entry Okay, for the plumbing and electrical in the basement. Oh my gosh, my nose is itchy. Plumbing, electrical, and the cabinets and countertop. We're all in. $3,000. Can you believe that, guys? So we go ahead and I'm like, I can put the cabinets up. I got this, guys. I try for like maybe 3 hours. I'm getting frustrated because I, I'm nervous. I'm not stacking them high or at the same height. I'm not trying to mess around anymore. At 9 at night, I've been doing it since 6. I say, babe, forget this. I'm not doing this. I'm not going to spend any more time acting like I know how to put up cabinets, especially they're going to be all sideways. I go on Facebook on a Facebook group called Trabajos de Utah, like jobs in Utah. And I say, if anyone can come to my house at 9 o'clock at night on Friday, any, any vatos, any homies, and anybody that responds to this, I'll pay you to get it done. I didn't say what price, I said I'll pay you to get it done. I get a response from some guy who's a baller. He says, I'll come with me and my buddy and we'll get it done tonight. So they head over to my house at like 9:30, 10 o'clock they get there. These guys knock out that cabinet in like 30 minutes. They put all the kitchen cabinets up. They even, two of them, what took four or five of me and my guy, those guys to put that countertop on the kitchen cabinets, it took two of them. And these guys, I'm short guys, I'm like 5'7". These dudes were like 5'3". 2 of them, okay? 2 5'3 dudes, Mexicans, okay? I can say that, that's not offensive. Those are my pe— I'm not Mexican, but you know, we're Latinos. I'm half Chilean, half white, so we're tight. And they put it— they— it's 2 dudes, small guys, throw that cabinet countertop in there, no problem. They put those cabinets on there, no problem. I'm looking like a jabroni. I'm looking like I don't know what I'm doing. Obviously I don't know what I'm doing. But man, these guys worth their weight in gold. And it was like $300, $400. Okay. That's all they wanted. Or that's what we negotiated. I don't know. So I'm in it all $3,300, $3,400 to put a brand new kitchen, separate my basement entry so I can start renting out my basement. We then put this bad boy on Zillow and we, we rent it out and we rent it out for, um, I don't know, it's fluctuated over the years, but it's anywhere from like $1,300. I think we started at $1,300. Then it's like $1,550, whatever. But the cool thing about it, guys, is for a space that we did not really use because we didn't really go in the basement, it was— the house was fine for us to live on top. We were able to rent out our basement and leverage that space to not have a mortgage. And it's great. And then we can obviously use it to depreciate the home for obviously the, the, the square footage that we're renting it for. Anyway, for tax purposes, I don't want to get into all that because then you guys are going to find out that I really don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to tax. I'm not like super savvy on that. That's why we use tax accountants so they take care of us. But anyway, that is how I was able in 2000, around 2019, okay, I don't have the exact month, I can't, I have to look back, but how I was able to turn my basement into, uh, an apartment, okay, a mother-in-law apartment so we can rent it out. Now why am I telling you this? Again, this is not a flex, but this is to show you that if it if it wasn't for me getting into real estate, if it wasn't for me dabbling— not even dabbling, going all in and trying to learn— I wouldn't probably have the courage or the knowledge or the desire to be like, well, let's turn our house, our basement into a rental. So why I'm sharing this again with you is because if you guys get into real estate, if you dip your toes in there and you get— go even go all in, there's some really cool things that can happen. Okay. And it's been a great experience having that, that that income and, you know, the ability to rent out the basement. And I, I really invite all of you to do it too, if you want. You know, why not? If you got like a guest house or if you got like a, you know, a part of your home that you don't really use and you can split it off and Airbnb it, or if you can use it as a rental, why not use that space? Yeah. So anyway, guys, this has been Nathan Payne's Wholesaling Storytime. The reason why, again, I go through this is because you have to enjoy the journey. You have to enjoy the journey. This is not about always about the destination. It's about the journey and enjoying it and the ups and downs and what you learn. I've learned a lot. I've learned a lot of what to do, what not to do, and I'm here to share my wisdom, limited or not, whether it's a lot of wisdom or not. I mean, you decide, depends where you are on your journey. Maybe you think I know a lot, maybe you don't think I know anything. It's all good. But this is, this is for my posterity. Posterity. This is for my people so we can learn together. And if you like my stories, give me a thumbs up. And say, hey, Nate, great story. And if you're like, Nate, your stories blow, bro, that's fine. Give me a like anyway, because someone else can hear them and we'll get them, we'll get them out there. So anyway, everybody have a great weekend. This has been Nathan Payne's Wholesaling Storytime, Tales from the Trenches. So you can see my beginnings and where I'm at right now. And where I'm at right now is I'm still in the trenches, baby. Let's go. It's not like I'm hanging out in Hawaii or just chilling on the beach. I don't think I'll ever do that. Um, I like working. I like, uh, like striving and progressing. So that's what we do. So anyway, leave me a comment, like, subscribe, do whatever you want, uh, to help me grow. And, uh, you know, leave me a comment, let me know, you know, what you think. And if you, if you have a basement rental, let me know how yours went. Mine cost me about $3,300 to get to set up. How much did yours cost you? If you did it, uh, for more, maybe the next one you can go on KSL and, uh, get it from some guy who's you know, flipping the house and the, you know, maybe your cabinet can fall off his truck and spark up and, uh, you know, almost create a very bad situation. But thankfully nothing bad happened to my situation. So everybody have a great weekend. Peace out. I wish you the best of luck. My only desire is so you guys succeed. Check out painlessflipping.com so you can see how my done-for-you service is helping wholesalers, uh, with the hardest part of wholesaling so they don't have to. Used to have a mentorship. Now I'm saying screw, scrap mentorships. It's all about the done-for-you service that can help you overcome the problems versus me creating more problems by telling you everything that you maybe you don't know how to do and making it very confusing for you. I make it easy. Check out painlesswholesaling.com so you can see what I'm doing to solve the problems that a lot of wholesalers are facing and to take away the pain of wholesaling. Yeah, like that pain of wholesaling. I just tried to make it rhyme with Payne and wholesaling. You get it. Have a good weekend, everybody. Peace.