Brad Dumas
Brad Dumas has been a guest on Collecting Keys, the real estate investing podcast hosted by Mike DeHaan, Dan Austin and Dylan Koch.
The Insanely Simple Steps To Early Financial Freedom with Brad Dumas
Brad Dumas, a Cleveland wealth manager and former Notre Dame football player, walks through how he built 24 doors in about five years by living in five properties and converting each into a rental before moving to duplexes and larger multifamily. He explains his simple 1.25% underwriting rule, why he keeps marketable securities and cash on his balance sheet to stay easy to lend to, and what changed when he finally handed properties to investor-minded property managers.
Key takeaways
- Brad's first deal was a roughly $26,000–$27,000 Cleveland condo bought with about $4,000 down using a regional bank's low/moderate-income product; it rents for $850 with an all-in payment around $350 and is now paid off.
- He used the "house trading" method five times — buy a primary with low down payment financing, live in it, then rent it out and move to the next one — before switching to duplexes and small multifamily with roughly 25% down.
- His underwriting was deliberately simple: if a property hit the 1.25% rule and he could paint it, replace flooring and make it livable, he bought it. He never bought for appreciation, only cash flow.
- Keeping liquidity and marketable securities alongside real estate, plus W-2 income, makes lenders more comfortable and can get a hairy deal financed. Mike shares how his own lender backed out a week before closing on his primary because of debt-to-income, forcing a 30-day extension and a new lender who understood Schedule E, K-1s and adding back depreciation.