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Meet Frankie Levangie of La Casa Levangie

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Frankie Levangie.

Frankie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In 2013, I was living in a 200-square-foot beach shack in Venice but spending most of my time staying at the larger, more comfortable home of an ex. I didn’t want to give up my tiny space completely, so I did some research and came across a vacation rental platform called Airbnb.

After learning about the company, I saw it as a perfect way for me to still maintain having a place of my own as I experimented with what would become a viable business. Before any of that could happen, though, I knew that I would have to fix up the shack given its current bohemian-style interior. I found myself reading every DIY blog I could find and started watching home improvement YouTube videos on autoplay instead of Netflix. It was hard work sacrificing couch time with shows like House of Cards or Breaking Bad, sure, but I spent time upgrading the shack interior and listed it online. Within a year, I hit over fifty thousand in revenue.

The seed I planted that year has now grown into a full-service real estate business which includes: Acquisition, Construction, and Interior Design. I didn’t think it would turn into a career. My goal was to only supplement income to pursue other creative projects while keeping a nine-to-five job at bay. I was building start-ups at the time, coding all night, and most of them had not taken off. However, my little Venice beach shack, which I still considered secondary in my journey, was not only making money consistently but also drawing all kinds of new friends and interesting people who seemed to enjoy my hospitality.

I decided to dive deeper into vacation rentals and put together a business model that consisted of buying single family and multi-family homes. I started looking for homes that were on the market for 100 days, 200 days, asking myself: “Why aren’t they selling?

These places have huge potential. How do I unlock the equity?” When I thought I had figured out the logistics to acquire one of these properties and make it profitable, I put together the numbers in an Excel spreadsheet, went to investors and family, and was able to put a down-payment on a house. Towards the end of the first year, the home continued to successfully pay off the mortgage and taxes and beat the projections from my spreadsheet – a sign to do more.

I immersed myself in all the mechanics including designing, building (framing, plumbing, electrical, flooring) and investing while also managing each of the new rental properties. It was challenging at first; I had no idea how to build a house, let alone change a doorknob, but I tossed myself into this Mt. Everest-like project and soon found myself becoming not only a capable builder but also incredibly fortunate to learn.

Remodeling houses goes well beyond business and has become a creative therapy of mine. I love handling my own construction, deal-making, and interior design the way I re-imagine these dilapidated gems. Luckily, I became mindful of ways I could be environmentally conscious and genuinely care about how we leave a carbon footprint.

I began repurposing waste from the construction site and transforming the excess wood into a piece of furniture, such as a new coffee table or chair. I transformed old plumbing poles into legs for a shelf or nightstand. These ideas started to flow out of my head; I’d wake up every day with new ideas. My theory is that everything should serve a purpose and try to be built with intention. Five years later and 14 doors under my belt, all of these endeavors allowed me to land where I am today – investing, building and designing. I went through failure to success in finding my passion and creating this business as my career, while expanding with many more projects.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Struggles are opportunities to grow. I learned from my many, many mistakes and was physically and mentally exhausted at the end of each day from the building, but the more effort I put in, the more invested in the project I became. The entire business offered many of these as blessings in disguise. There are so many factors involved: construction, remodeling and build-out involves hiring a trusted team of contractors. That’s really number one. Get the right people; pay them what they’re worth. I had to put all my time and energy into learning how to build without any background.

Then there’s the management aspect – the houses are living, breathing children of mine and each has its set of issues. It never ends! Finally, the acquisition process – which can sometimes be the most stress of all. It’s difficult to get one of the properties, like finding the person you love and then convincing them you’re the one. Also, there are not too many places out there that make sense, then trying to find out how that fits into the model you’ve created, and when you find one, you’ll struggle to figure out how to get it, and need capital and proper credit – one giant cluster of a struggle, but possible.

Please tell us about La Casa Levangie.
I work in real estate as an investor, builder, as well as a designer of my properties inside and out. I am most proud of finding under-managed assets in up-and-coming areas and reimagining them into vacation rentals. I’m building and expanding into a boutique hotel business that is reinventing itself in a more environmentally conscious way while creating unique spaces that are more connected with the community.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
My experience doesn’t have to be unique. The lesson for others is to think big. No matter how modest your ‘shack’ is, make it a place that is cool. Fix and improve the area that is closest to you. Redesign it. Better to recycle pipes into table legs than contribute to more waste.

Design and redesign and create and build and repair and fix your shack so well that when your friends come over they don’t want to leave. And if something is working, no matter how small-scale, don’t ignore it, embrace it.

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Image Credit:
Albert Benjamin

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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