the Cal American Homes real estate agency, which buys, sells, and invests in southern California residential prop- erties. Rodriguez also recently founded Claremont Cap- ital, his private fund that’s been created to acquire more homes to purchase, renovate, and flip. The real estate industry experience he gained years prior was what led HGTV to offering him a TV show in the first place. His guest appearance on “Flip or Flop” alone likely wouldn’t have landed him “Vintage Flip.” The combination of that appearance and his house-flipping background is what made HGTV confident in rolling the dice with him. The journey to co-hosting a TV series was a long and educational one, however. His interest in real estate goes
back to his childhood. Rodriguez’s parents own a few commercial buildings and some rental houses, so he’s always been in the real estate world. “My dad always talked about real estate and how you can become financially free,” Rodriguez said. “He defi - nitely put that into my head. It’s interesting because now my parents are 80 years old and don’t have a retirement plan or a 401k, but own a few million dollars worth of free and clear real estate that pays them a nice monthly income. It worked out really well, and I had that back- ground knowledge.” Coming from a real estate background got Rodriguez into the industry while he was still in college, work- ing in a loan office. At 21, Rodriguez got licensed and
20 | think realty magazine :: may 2021
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