ALLENTOWN, Pa. – At just 20 years old, Manuel Casanova is well on his way to becoming a real estate investor.
“Me and my brother manage it and it’s my first investment property, so just learning how to deal with tenants and manage has been, you know, really fun and exciting,” said Casanova.
He already owns three properties with his brother, Andrew, at the 700 block of Chew Street in Allentown.
It all started with their enrollment in the Real Estate Lab. It’s a free, 12-week program that teaches the ins and outs of real estate to underserved communities, founded in part by City Center and Yusuf Dahl, who started a new life after prison investing in real estate.
“We believe that what was necessary to support underrepresented real estate entrepreneurs was knowledge networks and capital. And that’s what the real estate labs provides and that’s why we’re standing here in front of this investment property,” Dahl said.
“We just learned each step of real estate, like finding a property, looking for off market deals, how to finance them, how to write them,” Casanova said.
Already on its third cohort of students, the program now provides three credit opportunities at Lehigh Carbon Community College, where Casanova is continuing his education.
Most recently, the lab also became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
“Our hope is that we can find others in this community that want to invest with us, in the next generation of underrepresented real estate entrepreneurs in the Lehigh Valley,” Dahl said.
“The Real Estate Lab really help me I think catapult me where I wanted to be at a lot quicker time frame and I’m really thankful for that,” Casanova said.
