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Madusanka here from RE Riches.

Reginald Calloway rented a building for his partner's daycare in Kentucky. With the next year's rent check in his hand, he asked the owner one question: "What would you sell it for?" He says the owner named a price, agreed to count the year of rent already paid as the down payment, and carried the loan himself. Today, by his own account, there are three buildings and a $1.3 million appraisal. But that number is not a return on $12,000, and the same story includes a flip where he says he still doesn't know whether he made money. All figures are his, from one interview, and we mark what we could not check.

✔️ The question that turned a lease into a purchase — and the one sentence he used to make the numbers work

✔️ A year of rent counted as the down payment — and the 10% interest rate that came with it

✔️ An auction flip bought sight unseen — and why "a check at closing is not profit"

✔️ The $1.3 million figure, taken apart — what it includes and what it doesn't

Meet Reginald Calloway.

He was a tenant,

He asked a question,

A year of rent became the down payment,

And the price of that deal was 10%.

2009 onward.

Reginald moved from Miami to Kentucky during the recession. He ran a mobile car wash that was not the business he expected, and his partner worked in a daycare. When she wanted her own, he found a warehouse, converted it with all their savings and a small loan, and opened it. The loan was from a program for people without good credit, up to about $20,000 to $25,000, which he says came through a mentor.

The lease.

The owner of a building his partner had once worked in offered it to them on a three-year lease, at $1,000 a month the first year, $1,500 the second and $2,000 the third, with a renegotiation at the end of year three. An economics professor, who was also a real estate investor, kept asking Reginald why he wasn't investing. He explained land contracts, seller financing and quitclaim deeds, and told him there were owners who needed someone to take their property off their hands.

The question.

Reginald went to pay the next year's rent and asked the owner what he would sell the building for. The answer: $124,000, and he would not take less. Reginald said that was high, then proposed: keep your price, but count the year of rent we have already paid, $1,000 a month, as our down payment. The owner agreed. Our arithmetic: 12 × $1,000 = $12,000, so the amount owed was $124,000 − $12,000 = $112,000.

The terms. A land contract: 15 years, 10% interest, no balloon payment, with the interest "top-loaded" toward the start. Our arithmetic, if it amortizes normally: about $1,204 a month and about $105,000 of interest over 15 years on $112,000. In 2014 he could have had a conventional loan around 4%, he says; he took the owner's offer because he lacked the credit and reserves.

The mistake he names. He signed without showing it to a lawyer. "It worked out in my case, but it was a very big lesson."

Three buildings. The same owner later sold him a second building, which he turned into a preschool, and then a third, an afterschool center. He calls it a childcare campus. He says the owner was repaid early through a refinance in 2025, and that the third building cost about $175,000 to renovate.

Three ideas carry the story, and only the first is his signature move.

The flip. The bank covered 85% of the $157,000, so he needed about 15% down, our arithmetic $23,550. The house was a total gut, with renovation of about $90,000 to $100,000, which he put on credit cards and a store card with six months of no interest. He listed it in spring 2025. Three days later, Hopkinsville flooded, and although his house stayed dry, he says agents steered buyers away from the whole area. News reports confirm the early-April 2025 flooding in Christian County, including roughly 150 homes affected by the city's early count.

It sold. But by then the no-interest periods had ended. "I know I paid the bank back. I just don't know if I made any money." We print no profit figure because he has not calculated one. Check your card: a deferred-interest promotion can charge interest back to the purchase date if a balance remains, which differs from a true 0% offer.

The next deal. He joined a mastermind group, ran a mailing campaign and got his first 20 calls as insults, then a seller asking $69,000. Reginald offered $55,000 and waited. Days later, before the seller said a word, he told him he could go to $65,000. The seller replied they had agreed on $55,000. His rule: never negotiate against yourself. The house came with a tenant of 12 years and was appraised at $142,000; our arithmetic: $142,000 − $55,000 = $87,000, which he calls "a little over $80,000 in equity". His bank gave a $125,000 line of credit instead of a cash-out refinance. He says it "cash flowed from day one".

The $1.3 million. The three buildings "appraised for 1.3 altogether", he says. That is an appraisal, after a refinance and about $175,000 of work on one building. The headline "$12K into $1.3M" is the publisher's framing, not a return on $12,000, and we do not repeat it as one.

Three disclosures, in the body. Reginald runs a childcare business, a real estate company, has written a book with another coming, and credits a mastermind he belongs to. He gains when you buy his books or follow his work, which is a reason to weigh his advice, not to ignore it.

LESSON #1: ASK WHAT THEY WOULD SELL FOR

No for-sale sign,

One question,

One yes,

You don't know what the seller is thinking until you ask.

LESSON #2: PRICE THE TERMS, NOT JUST THE PRICE

$112,000 owed,

10% for 15 years,

About $105,000 of interest (our arithmetic),

Seller financing is faster than a bank. It isn't automatically cheaper.

LESSON #3: SET YOUR CEILING BEFORE YOU BID

An auction,

A rival,

One dollar over, again and again,

Write your maximum down and stop there.

LESSON #4: A CHECK AT CLOSING IS NOT PROFIT

Reno on cards,

Promos that expired,

A flood three days after listing,

Count the interest, the fees and the months before you call it a win.

His record is unusual for a reason: a daycare building bought with rent already paid, a $55,000 house that appraised at $142,000 and a campus appraised at $1.3 million. But those are his numbers, from one interview, his 2014 and 2025 prices are not coming back, and a 10% land contract signed without a lawyer, an auction bought sight unseen and renovations on promotional cards can each cost you real money. Copy the question, not the deal.

How Did You Find Today's Edition?

So here's this week's question, and nobody publishes the answer.

If you've bought from a seller who carried the loan, hit reply with the interest rate, the term and whether a lawyer reviewed the contract.

I'll add up the replies and show the split in a future edition, only if you tell me I can use yours, and without your name.

To your steady success ahead, — Madusanka, RE Riches

RE Riches is educational and informational only. It is not financial advice, it does not sell investments, and nothing in it is a prediction. Real estate carries risk, including the loss of the money you put in. Land contracts, seller-financed loans at high interest rates, buying at auction without inspection, and paying for renovations on credit cards or store cards can each cost you far more than the property earns. Land-contract rules and forfeiture protections differ by state: ask a real estate attorney. Figures are as reported by the subject in one public interview (2026) and have not been independently audited; calculations marked as ours are our own arithmetic. Do your own research or consult a qualified professional before investing.