PHOENIX — Former Friday Night Fever and Desert Vista High School star Devon Kennard always dreamed about playing in the NFL, just like his dad, Derek.
Kennard's dream went on to become true, as after high school, he went on to play for the USC Trojans in college and then spent eight years in the NFL, playing for the New York Giants, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals and Baltimore Ravens.
Kennard is now retired from the NFL and lives back home in the Valley, where he has turned to a new career that he actually started during his playing days: real estate investing.
"The first property I ever bought, I chose (in) Beech Grove, Indiana," Kennard told 12News journalist Tram Mai.
While Kennard was playing with the Lions, he bought a home in the Indianapolis suburb of Beech Grove. He bought the house for $89,000 and put just $12,000 — 13.48% — down.
He later sold that house — and made a profit — and now Kennard owns 29 properties around the country, with most of them in Tampa, Florida and Kansas City. But that's not all.
"I've invested in over 40 large projects across the country and I have my own private lending company where I'm lending to fix and flip investors here locally," Kennard said.
He added that his interest in finance dates back to his days at Desert Vista when he noticed how much more there was to life than football after his dad's 13-year NFL career, where he played for the Cardinals and won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys, came to a close.
"I realized that even if I have a career just like him, 13 years, hopefully win a Super Bowl, there's so much life on the back end of that," Kennard said. "And that made me ask myself a question, like, 'Do I want to be successful because of football or do I want to be successful period?' And my decision was like, I want to be a figure about how to find out or figure out finances regardless."
Kennard is now sharing his knowledge with everyone in not just one, but two books, "It All Adds Up" and "Real Estate Side Hustle."
"This book, 'Real Estate Side Hustle,' my most recent, it's really dedicated to the busy professionals out there who are trying to figure out how to invest in real estate and (are) looking for an investment vehicle. And many believe that they can't get into real estate because they're too busy. And I want to fight that notion because I was able to do (it) while I was playing in the NFL."
Kennard said he started by setting aside just five hours a week during the NFL season to focus on learning about real estate investing, listening to audiobooks and podcasts on the subject and taking calls during his lunch break.
During the offseason, he would increase his time spent on investing to 10 to 15 hours and would travel to visit his properties.
"You can only train so many hours in a day," Kennard said. "I'll handle my business and some of my leisure time instead of playing video games, I was working on my portfolio."
And even through he has now retired from the NFL, Kennard's life hasn't slowed down. He renovated his house, is working to grow his business with his wife, Camille, who is a real estate agent, and juggles work/life balance with raising his two young daughters.
And at the end of the day, Kennard said he is now where he always wanted to be.
"I didn't necessarily think it would look like this," Kennard said. "I love this avenue because there's not many people who look like me talking about finances. And I've read and scoured through every finance book and real estate book out there and, and there just wasn't many people that looked like me had the background I have as a professional athlete. So I'm really excited to take that mantle and take that on from my perspective and my vantage point and, and I hope I connect with a lot of people and help change lives."
As part of that mission to help save lives, Kennard has tips for those who want to become real estate investors.
Tip No. 1: Increase your spread
"So, your spread is essentially how much you make and how much you spend every month and you want to increase that as much as you can because that's gonna give you more money to invest," Kennard said. "So you do that by decreasing expenses concentrating on your fixed expenses, which is your housing and your transportation, but also figuring out a way to earn more. So in football, that was me getting as good as I could at what I did and I challenge every, everybody out there to do the same in their profession because that increases your spread and allows you to start to invest."
Tip No. 2: Find ways to cut back, but not on things like coffee or little things
"Those aren't the difference makers, you know, that can help," Kennard said. "But your housing, if you can go from a $3,000 home you're renting to a $2,000 apartment, you're talking about $12,000 in a year and now that's more money to be able to invest. So people kind of waste their time focusing on the, the lattes and Netflix and I think they should concentrate on housing and transportation. Maybe instead of renting the Mercedes, maybe get the Toyota and all the expenses that come along with an expensive house and an expensive car that decreases your spending overall."
Tip No. 3: Build your Core Four
"So, your core four, this is for people who are busy professionals," Kennard said. "So you're not gonna be able to invest in real estate by yourself. So there's four people you need: your deal, finder, your contractor, your property manager and your lender.
"Your deal finder's who's gonna find you the deals. But if you find a good deal finder, they're gonna introduce you to great contractors, to great property managers and to great lenders. So I've kind of figured that's your domino effect. Find people who could find you good opportunities and they're gonna help put you in place to find everybody else you need. And that really puts you in position to be able to invest in real estate."
Tip No. 4: Build out your S.O.Ps, or standard operating procedures.
"Yeah, that's really important because I was busy playing football. So I, I needed a, a structure of being able to invest and the S.O.Ps in place," Kennard said. "So what that looked like for me while I was playing, my deal finder, I would tell him I'm looking for a house in Tempe that's less than $500,000, like I'm giving him a criteria. So now he's only sending me those deals. So where I'm not seeing 100 deals every week, I'm seeing two or three. So now I'm able to evaluate those a little bit better and I have a structured system of how to do that so I can keep buying and growing my portfolio. So all of a sudden something that seems very intimidating, you break it down into increasing your spread, building your core four and building out your S.O.Ps and all of a sudden somebody busy working a 9-to-5 can start to build a real estate portfolio."
Tram Mai's full interview with Devon Kennard can be seen in the video below or streamed on 12+ on Roku, Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV.
>> Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone.
Watch 12News+ for free
You can now watch 12News content anytime, anywhere thanks to the 12News+ app!
The free 12News+ app from 12News lets users stream live events — including daily newscasts like "Today in AZ" and "12 News" and our daily lifestyle program, "Arizona Midday"—on Roku and Amazon Fire TV.
12News+ showcases live video throughout the day for breaking news, local news, weather and even an occasional moment of Zen showcasing breathtaking sights from across Arizona.
Users can also watch on-demand videos of top stories, local politics, I-Team investigations, Arizona-specific features and vintage videos from the 12News archives.
Roku: Add the channel from the Roku store or by searching for "12 News KPNX."
Amazon Fire TV: Search for "12 News KPNX" to find the free 12News+ app to add to your account, or have the 12News+ app delivered directly to your Amazon Fire TV through Amazon.com or the Amazon app.
Up to Speed
Catch up on the latest news and stories on the 12News YouTube channel. Subscribe today.