Kelsey Kaszas loves numbers.
But crunching numbers too much can be a crutch, rather than a tool.
Before she enrolled in Your First Rental Property (YFRP), Kelsey found herself stuck in analysis paralysis. She wanted to invest in rental property, but she kept crunching theoretical numbers without taking action.
“When people talk about how difficult it is to get over analysis paralysis, that is me, that is absolutely me, because I’m such a numbers person,” she said. “I love to analyze every single aspect of something new.”
She’s not alone.
Analysis is great. But analysis paralysis, when overthinking or overanalyzing leads to inaction, is one of the most common obstacles new investors face.
When you’re putting significant savings on the line, analysis paralysis is a normal fear-based response.
But it sidelines you. It shortens your time in the market and the compounding gains that follow.
Kelsey recognized this and enrolled in the course to learn how to rigorously analyze properties without succumbing to analysis paralysis.
She learned how to transform analysis into action.
“You level up your knowledge so much faster than you possibly could have if you were doing this all on your own and trying to figure it out as you go, stumbling through every decision.” — Kelsey Kaszas
The California resident began her search near the opposite coast, in Pittsburgh, Pa.
In 2018, Kelsey was introduced to Pittsburgh by her soon-to-be-wife, whose family lives in the area. She noticed that price-to-rent ratios looked promising, so she used the tactics she learned in YFRP to research the area from afar.
She started looking for off-market deals, including driving for dollars and working with wholesalers — “something I learned about in your course,” she said.
Yet something felt … off.
She decided to take a break and focus on wedding planning. She knew she had YFRP course and community access for life, and she could return to the course for knowledge, support and confidence whenever the time felt right.
Two years later, Kelsey had an epiphany while on vacation in Joshua Tree National Park. This is right, she realized. She wanted to invest in this area in Southern California.
She knew she’d need to be flexible, knowledgeable and innovative to make the numbers work.
Kelsey dove headfirst back into the course, refreshing her real estate knowledge by reviewing every module again. She joined a YFRP mastermind group. She attended Office Hours. She used the spreadsheets and other resources nearly daily.
“The course is just so comprehensive that when you … try to learn it and take all the quizzes and you’re engaging with the course material, you level up your knowledge so much faster,” she said.
She made offer after offer. Most didn’t pan out, but Kelsey was undeterred. She had the support of the YFRP community and the confidence that comes from deeply understanding the numbers.
“The last four months has been nonstop real estate for me,” she said.
The YFRP Analyzing Module features a robust spreadsheet that helped her make well-informed offers. She could calculate how much she’d need to pay for a property in order to get the profit margin she wanted.
During the hottest seller’s market in a decade — early 2021 — she made competitive offers, using tactics she learned in YFRP.
On March 11, 2021, Kelsey closed on her first rental property, located six minutes away from the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park.
We talked to Kelsey on the day of her closing. Here’s what she said:
“There’s so much – so many positive things I could say about my experience with taking the course … and getting to engage with the forums and with people in the mastermind group.”
“Office Hours were huge — getting face-time with you and being able to ask questions as they come up. And I know that’s been big for other people.
“And sometimes I’ll go back and listen to Office Hours recordings, because someone else will have a question that maybe I would have had. And so instead of having to ask it myself, I can just go listen to the recording and the information is all there. That’s support in a way that you wouldn’t really be able to find anywhere else.“Being able to interact on the forums, and if someone has a question, there’s a whole group of people who are ready to help, ready to answer these questions. I think that really shows what a strong community is being built with every single cohort that goes through the course.”
What’s next for Kelsey? She’s gearing up to renovate her property — as a long-distance investor — and she’s turning to the Renovation Module within the course to support her during this project.
The Renovation Module, she says, prepared her for intense conversations with her contractor, and she’ll be returning to this module repeatedly as she makes renovation decisions from her home in Los Angeles.
Watch Kelsey tell her story:
