#47: How This Aussie Built A US Property Empire- with Engelo Rumora
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Episode Description
Steve sits down with Engelo Rumora, an Australian investor who sold down his residential portfolio 15 years ago and moved to the United States to chase a once-in-a-lifetime buying window after the global financial crisis.
Engelo started by picking up houses for 15 to 25 thousand dollars and selling them for around 60, and from there, he built a business that flipped over a thousand properties and now manages roughly 400 single-family homes out of Toledo, Ohio.
He talks candidly about the burnout that came with running 17 staff across property management, flipping, sales, legals and accounting, the sabbatical that pulled him back from the brink, and why he has deliberately shrunk the operation down to a lean, automated team.
The conversation covers how the US market actually works for foreign investors, the A, B and C class system, why scale matters when you invest there, and where Engelo thinks both the US economy and property management are heading as agentic AI moves in.
In this episode, Steve and Engelo discuss:
- How Engelo went from a 45K labouring income and ten over-leveraged properties in regional Australia to liquidating everything and moving to Kansas City, then Ohio, in 2011 when the Aussie dollar was at parity, and US prices were at rock bottom.
- The numbers behind his model, buying distressed and foreclosed homes for 15 to 25 thousand, putting 10 to 15 thousand into renovations, and selling them tenanted at fair market value to passive investors, he would then manage for.
- Why he scaled a business up to 17 staff across five service lines, burnt out around 2020, and made the deliberate decision to pull back to a small automated team rather than chase every ancillary service.
- How foreigners can actually buy in the US, owning in a personal name or through an LLC with no real restrictions, and why your network matters far more than finding an accountant first.
- The A, B and C class area framework, why B class is the sweet spot between safety and cash flow, and why D class areas are a different and far riskier game entirely.
- Why you need 15 to 20 properties to make a US portfolio worth the tax and legal overheads, and how buying in bulk and at scale lowers your risk rather than raising it.
- Engelo's warning on the US fiscal deficit, why he thinks the system has passed the point of no return, and what a reset would mean for the worldwide banks holding US treasury bonds.
- The Florida opportunity after Hurricane Ian, where canal front homes that sold for 400 to 500 thousand could be picked up for 50 to 100 thousand, and why insurance costs are currently holding that market back.
- How his team has automated leasing entirely with digital lockboxes and identity verification, removing the need for leasing agents, and why he expects property management fees to race to the bottom as agentic AI takes over.
- The shift from helping other investors build portfolios to keeping 70 percent of his deals for himself, plus his thoughts on giving anonymously, the influence of Chuck Feeney, and where human connection still matters in an automated world.
HOSTED BY:
Steve Palise
Ph: 0403 878 497
Email: steve@paliseproperty.com
LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/steve-palise
CONNECT WITH Dr Dan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/engelorumora
Buy His Book: https://therawtruthbook.com/
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