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Tragedy Turns Into Triumph for One Real Estate Investor
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Added: 01/02/2004
Type: Summary
Viewed: 689 time(s)
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Tragedy Turns Into Triumph for One Real Estate Investor
, in a split second, 27-year-old Mike Podlesny’s life changed forever. On a rainy night around 11 O’clock in the evening as Podlesny drove through a busy intersection in Trenton, NJ he was hit in the side by another vehicle, driven by an individual who was under the influence of alcohol. Podlesny’s vehicle was completely totaled. “I don’t remember being hit at all,” says Podlesny, now 31. “I remember the traffic light turning green so I started to go. Next thing I remember was being pulled out of my car and put into an ambulance.” A few months went by and a few court dates later and the whole ordeal was practically behind him. The driver of the other vehicle was fined and ordered to community service. “I was upset at first when I saw the judge only give the driver of the other car community service,” states Podlesny. “Of course I realized, I could have been badly injured in the accident or even killed. I felt fortunate that I ended up with nothing more than a headache and a sore shoulder.”
Podlesny received a little more than $4,000 for his 1992 Chevy Camaro. “I was upset when I heard the car was totaled. It was the first car I bought brand new some 6 years earlier so there was some sentimental value there,” says Podlesny. It wasn’t too long after the accident; Podlesny purchased a new Jeep Cherokee, one that he still drives to this day. However he bought the vehicle prior to receiving the money for his car in the accident settlement. “I needed a vehicle quickly to get back to work and could not wait around for an insurance company to decide when to pay me,” Podlesny states. And wait he did, to the tune of nearly 7 months to receive compensation on the vehicle. By the time he finally received payment for his Camaro, he had already had about 6 months of car payments into the Cherokee. “When I received the money my first thought was to just apply it towards the new vehicle,” says Podlesny. “Instead, after thinking for a long time, I decided to put that money towards something a little more useful and make something good happen out of a nearly tragic situation.”
Podlesny used the $4,000 to jump-start a now successful real estate investing career. He used it as part of a down payment to buy a town home in Trenton, NJ. “I found a nice little home that I thought would be perfect to rent out and make some money on my $4,000 investment,” says Podlesny. Today that small investment has led to Podlesny owning nearly ¾ of a million dollars in real estate. “Real estate is something I was always interested in. I became very fortunate to be successful at it because of something that unfortunately happened to me.”
Podlesny has since decided to pass along his knowledge of real estate investing to other new and veteran investors, with his web site TenantAbstract.com. “I launched the site in March of 2003. I wanted to pass along as much as possible of everything I learned from investing to others.” The web site (http://www.TenantAbstract.com) is a free resource to help real estate investors. It provides free tools to help increase cash flow, decrease rent vacancies and retain good tenants.
When asked as to whether or not he would be where he is at in his life if the accident had never happened, Podlesny said, “If I had been given more in life, I would have undoubtedly ended up with less.” |
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