Cody Davis
Cody Davis has been a guest on Collecting Keys, the real estate investing podcast hosted by Mike DeHaan, Dan Austin and Dylan Koch.
Building a $25M Portfolio Through Seller Financing & Development Deals w/ Cody Davis
Cody Davis, 24, explains how he built a roughly $25M multifamily portfolio starting at age 19 using seller financing and no money of his own. He walks through his first 12-plex off the MLS, how he uses cold calls to build long-term relationships with property owners rather than chasing sellers, how he layered expensive second-position private debt behind cheap seller-carry firsts, and how cash flow from rentals funds his move into townhome development.
Key takeaways
- Seller financing works because the lender is underwriting the building, not the buyer — owners care where the money goes, how stable the collateral is, and how they get paid.
- Treat property owners as owners, not sellers: build the relationship first, and deals (including development opportunities) get brought to you. Cody says over 90% of his offers are accepted because he only offers to people he knows.
- Structure: Cody used cheap seller-carry debt for ~90% of the purchase and expensive private second-lien money (12% and 2 points) for the ~10% down on his first 30 units, then later brought in partners with planned buyouts via bank refinance.
- Fixed-rate seller-carry debt with margin is the goal — his first deal was a 30-year fixed at 6% with no balloon; later deals had 10-year and 5-year balloons he refinanced.