Ian DeFelice
I learned the hard way that showings are not a plan.
I bought my first home the way a lot of first-time buyers do: too fast, with too many houses in my head and not enough clarity underneath me.
That night in the driveway became the reason I built a slower, calmer way to help renters move toward their first home.
How I got here
I came up on the investor side.
I was a junior at IUPUI with no real picture of what came next. I fell into real estate through investor work: deals, rehabs, renters, marketing. I thought making money fast was the dream. I spent a year proving I could do it.
Cam was my best friend and roommate. We'd been renting near Holliday Park for about a year when rates dropped and he brought up buying. I'd spent two years helping investors flip houses, so I figured I knew enough to buy one myself. I didn't.
We got pre-approved at $250,000 at 2.875 percent (wild numbers looking back), and our agent (me) lined up an entire Saturday of showings. I walked into the first house at 9am thinking I'd remember everything.
The fourteenth house was the one. We wrote an offer that night: top of budget, forty-five minutes from where Cam worked, with an inspection report I barely understood. I told Cam I felt good about it. I didn't mention I'd been awake until 3am running scenarios in my head.
Three weeks later, I drove past the house at 11pm the night before walkthrough. I sat in the driveway and felt sick. I called Cam. We talked for an hour. Then I made myself zoom out. The rate was incredible. The neighborhood could grow. We could rent the third bedroom and split the mortgage three ways. The house didn't have to be forever.
It just had to be a stepping stone.
A year later
I did it again. On purpose, this time.
Cam moved in. We rented the third bedroom to another friend. The three of us split the mortgage. I paid more than the minimum every month and let equity quietly build.
A year later I used a first-time buyer program to buy a second home. Different reasons. Same playbook. A real plan first. Monthly comfort over max approval. A stepping stone, not a forever decision.
Five years later we sold that first house. The equity helped me pay down debt and start building for my family. The house did exactly what it was supposed to do.
That's when "stepping stone" stopped being a thing I told myself in a driveway at midnight and started being something I could draw on the back of a napkin for the buyers I work with now.
Mortgage split three ways
Same Playbook, Clearer Plan.
Debt down. Family forward.
Why I do this
I figured out who I actually wanted to help.
The investor side made me money. Helping friends and families buy their own first place gave me something else. The first time someone I'd helped texted me a photo of keys in their hand, it landed differently than any flip I'd ever closed.
I realized the version of me who needed help five years ago wasn't an investor. It was a 24-year-old renter who didn't know what he didn't know.
I changed direction. I started working only with first-time buyers in Indianapolis.
Purchased a long-term family home in Broad Ripple that fit both their lifestyle and future goals.
Avoided rushing into the wrong home and purchased one that truly fit their future.
Purchased a walkable downtown home with rental income that helps offset their monthly payment.
— Real buyers. Real first homes.
What I built
The path I wish someone had walked me through.
The Homeownership Blueprint is five steps. A two-minute readiness assessment. A coffee meeting. A pre-approval intro to Brooke, who treats first-time buyers like humans. A needs-versus-wants conversation. Then we look at homes.
Many of my buyers spend 60 to 120 days in the first four steps before we tour a single property — not because we're dragging our feet, but because clarity makes the search better.
That's the part I didn't have. That's the part that would have saved me from sitting in that driveway at midnight.
Readiness Assessment
A fast readiness check across the stuff that decides whether buying feels realistic.
Initial Consultation
We meet somewhere familiar and talk through what you want, what feels scary, and what pace fits.
Pre-Approval
We find the payment that feels comfortable, not just the biggest number a bank will approve.
Needs vs. Wants
Non-negotiables and nice-to-haves go on paper before listings pull you sideways.
Finding Your Home
Search, tours, offers, inspection, and closing happen with the plan already underneath us.
Want to see what the plan looks like?
The assessment gives you a simple starting report with your readiness score, strengths, and next steps.
Rooted here
This is home for me, too.
I still live near Holliday Park with Lex and our son Romeo. Most Sundays we're at Traders Point. Most weekends, I'm somewhere between the Monon, the canal, coffee, and showings.
I'm not selling Indianapolis from the outside. I'm building a life here too.
That's why I care about the little stuff. The Saturday breakfast spot. The trail you'll actually use. The neighborhood that feels calm when you pull in after work.
- Holliday Park
- Monon Trail
- Traders Point
- IUPUI ’19
- Family in Indy
When you're ready
Let's grab coffee.
Thirty minutes. We'll talk through where you are.