David Olds

He bought a foreclosure without knowing it, and never stopped.

David found real estate by accident. His first house, bought in Apopka, Florida, turned out to be a foreclosure he didn't know about until closing. He renovated it himself while working a building-materials job and sold it two years later for a tax-free gain. A second flip, the ugliest house on a beautiful street, netted even more.

A copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad sent him to his first investor meetup. He was too nervous to walk in. He drove through the parking lot, went home, and told his wife he couldn't find it. He came back two months later. That night's deal of the month was an investor in his sixties netting $40,000 out of state, and a 25-year-old immigrant flipping mobile homes. His words afterward, "if these people can do this, sure as heck I can do this."

The 2008 crash wiped out his last Florida flip. He moved his family to Chattanooga with what he calls the last five grand they had, into a half-powered, mouse-infested house. He rebuilt with bandit signs every Friday night and driving for dollars, no exceptions. "We would not let anyone outwork us." His first wholesale deal closed within three weeks. He's been investing here ever since, and he built ezREIclosings because dispositions and closing were the two things that kept killing good deals, his own included.