In this episode of Dion Talk, host Dion interviews 22‑year‑old real‑estate investor Cody Davis, who has acquired 105 multifamily units primarily through seller financing. Cody explains his relationship‑first outreach strategy, describing how he contacts property owners not to pitch a purchase but to learn their personal stories, positioning himself as a student. He sources leads by scanning Google Maps for target properties, then uses online tools to locate owners’ phone numbers. After building rapport, he shares his own goals and asks owners for recommendations, turning the conversation into a mentorship exchange that builds trust. Cody evaluates potential deals with two core questions: how to acquire the property and how to ensure he never loses it. He focuses on cash‑flow analysis, the proportion of seller‑financed funding, and the impact of any required down‑payment with higher‑interest financing. For structuring deals, he prefers long‑term notes that cash‑flow at rates like 2‑3%, and uses balloon payments (typically 10‑year or longer, with some 5‑year balloons that can be extended) to align with sellers’ tax considerations. He notes that seller financing is attractive to sellers because notes are easier to transfer than properties and can defer capital‑gains taxes, though tax benefits are not the primary driver today. The conversation wraps up with a reminder that age is irrelevant to real‑estate investing, encourages viewers to explore Cody and Christian Osgood’s Multifamily Strategy course, and emphasizes finding a personal “one right way” to invest.
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Howdy, welcome back to Dion Talk.
Today I want to talk to my friend Cody Davis, who is killing it in real estate. And at the age of— are you 22 yet?
22.
22. Has how many units?
105.
105 units, all acquired, I believe, with seller financing. A very creative way to get around things like higher interest rates and your income mattering, your debt-to-income ratio mattering, things that are barriers for most people that want to invest in real estate. So what I want to do is just cut right to the chase, Cody, and ask you probably 3 different questions. The first one is, how do you find your sellers for your seller finance deals? Because that's something that's tripped me up a lot of times.
Yeah, so Dion, when I'm going out and trying to meet with property owners, people that could sell to me and seller finance, I'm actually not calling them to try and buy their property. I'm calling to learn how they got to where they're at. Because what I've found is that the story is more powerful than the real estate, and I can learn from that and use that to grow. As a byproduct of learning from their story, a lot of them got started with seller financing, and so I was able to leverage that story and go out and actually buy real estate from them and from others exactly that way.
Okay, so probably a little easier to talk to somebody if you don't come with a sales pitch on them when you take your asset from you.
Yeah, I don't ask anybody to sell to me. My goal is, hey, how did you get to where you're at? Because you've done something I've never done. And I approach it with the mind of a student instead of a buyer.
Okay, so that was the first question. Well, so that's how you approach them. How do you find them?
So I find everybody on Google Maps.
Okay.
Yeah, because there's a map online, Google Maps, that has every property I ever wanted to buy on it. So I figured, okay, I can just find the ones that I like, and then I just have to find their phone number online and give them a call.
Okay, so almost like skip tracing to find their phone number? Yep. Okay, and then you approach with the idea of building the relationship and seeing what you can learn from them. How do you transition from I'm learning from you to what kind of a deal would make it worth you selling your property?
So once they've gone out and they've shared their story with me and I've shared my story with them, we've shared goals, what we're working on, why we're working on it, I then ask how they recommend I'd go about accomplishing my goals. Because at that point, I've outlined what I'm trying to do, why I'm doing it, where I'm coming from, and I've learned about their story. I'm just asking them for recommendations on what to do next. How should I go out and apply what they shared with me? Because what I found is that one way to build trust is to get an actionable step and then go apply it and let them know you did it.
That actually works for me if somebody's ever reached out and asked for some mentoring or coaching. If you— if I give you advice and then you come back and say, hey, I did what you recommended, what's next? You're more likely to get some attention from somebody who you're trying to mimic. Okay, how do you determine if a deal is good enough to pursue as a seller finance deal?
Well, I only have two questions that I have to ask: how do I buy it and how do I never lose it? And so once I find the deal, I have to figure out the debt. If the seller is willing to finance 100% of it and it cash flows, then I'm going to buy it. Typically, they're not going to do 100%, so I have to figure out, okay, can I do a down payment? And if I borrow a down payment with expensive interest, will it still cash flow? Because it's one thing to go out and buy the deal, but if I can't hold it for super long because it's a short-term loan, it's not long-term fixed-rate debt, or it just doesn't cash flow, then I'm not going to be able to hold it very long because I've never had a real job.
I've had a lot of jobs, none of them are real. How do you pick the interest rate and the terms of your seller finance deals? Because I think this is something that we would do differently.
Yeah, I just make sure it makes sense. I don't want to lose the property, so I just write it where it cash flows. If it's 3% interest and it cash flows, I'll do it as long as it's a long-term note. I can afford to overpay for something on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage if they finance it at 2% interest. So I can compensate with that for time. I just want to make sure it cash flows.
Okay. And how are you handling balloon payments or those kind of things? Because that's something I haven't done. That's the one thing that has stopped me from getting into commercial loans or— yeah, or any type of loan where I don't know what's going to happen in 5, 7, or 10 years.
Yeah. So my typical balloon is 10 years or greater. I have some that have no balloons. They're fully amortized for 30 years. I've got some that are 15 years, but the way that I underwrite is I make sure that if I took all the cash flow and hammered the mortgage, I could pay it off in the balloon payment. So I have some 5-year balloons. I've got one on the 38-plex. I could pay it off in 5 years if that's all I focused on.
Okay. And this is, this is just my thought to you. When we're talking to the seller, sometimes they haven't considered seller financing and what we speak into existence is what happens. Yeah, and a lot of times people will say things like, well, I don't want to do seller financing because I have to pay more interest rates or higher interest rates. Well, there are people like Michael Zuber who's done a 0% interest rate because the price is what mattered. And for a lot of the sellers that I talk to, when I'm thinking of coming at them with the idea of seller financing, I only talk 30-year fixed rate debt because a lot of times they're trying to avoid that capital gains hit. So with your 5-year balloon payment, you're actually just postponing their capital gains hit 5 years. But it does depend on what the seller wants, and I think that's the main thing to look for.
And you can push the balloon back. It's not all set in stone. I have a 5-year balloon that we're likely going to extend 10 more years, and it's just a seller refinance. We can readjust the note terms, we can make addendums, we just have to all sign off on it. And what I found is that yes, you can do it for the tax benefits. However, that's not the main reason people would do seller financing anymore. It's a lot easier to pass on a note than it is to pass on a property because they don't have to manage them out.
And we'll give it a second because I'll edit this out. We'll wait for the moped to go by.
Yeah, these actually don't catch a lot of that. It's pretty— it's pretty amazing.
Nice. I've got the other mic in it. It picks up lawnmowers and stuff like that. Okay, so I'll still wait.
That's atrocious.
It is going like 2 miles an hour.
Yeah.
There's an outtake for us.
That's great.
Okay, so the main takeaway that I want people to look at is, first, you can be as old as a dinosaur or just starting out, or Dion's age. Exactly. And there is no one right way to do this. There's a one right way for you. So you need to look at different content, like check out Cody and Christian Osgood Multifamily Strategy. They have a course, they have a YouTube channel where they put out great content. If you're looking to do what Cody's done, and I think you should check it out, and I'll edit this out. Anything I'm missing? No, that's great.
All right.
So if you'll wrap up now by saying, until our next video, thanks for coming to his Dion Talk.
Until our next video, thanks for coming to his Dion Talk. Cool. Throw a little bit of humor out there.
