A 24-year-old learned about real estate investing on TikTok. Now he plans to convert a $2 million motel into apartments.
Corvon Burgess first learned about real-estate investing on TikTok.
In 2023, he came across videos about wholesaling, a real-estate investing strategy in which people act as scouts for other investors. They search out under-the-radar properties, secure a contract with the seller, and then resell that contract to another buyer for a profit.
Burgess started out finding a home listed for auction on Zillow in Clinton, South Carolina, a small town of 7,700 an hour north of Columbia. He sold the contract to the home to another buyer through Facebook Marketplace, making a $5,000 profit.
That first deal opened Burgess' eyes to the potential of a career in real estate. At the time, he was enrolled at Francis Marion University and working at Waffle House.
"You can truly learn about building wealth and how opportunities can open up to you," Burgess, now 24, told Business Insider.
So far, Burgess has sold 10 contracts. His investment firm, Burgess Legacy Investments, also runs short-term rentals and invests in local businesses, including restaurants. Now, he's gearing up for his biggest project yet: buying a rundown motel and turning the rooms into affordably priced studio apartments.
The hotel conversion plan includes keeping rents low
Burgess launched what he's calling the Affordable Housing Project Initiative this year with the intention of buying an 80-room motel in his hometown of Manning, South Carolina, about an hour and a half south of Columbia.
He plans to turn it into 40 studios with rents under $950 a month, utilities included. Zillow only shows one home currently for rent in Manning, a four-bedroom house asking $1,700 a month.
"If we're seeing this need within the place that we grew up in, we've got to do something," Burgess said.
Burgess specifically searched for motels that appeared to be neglected by their owners, looking for outdated, spam -filled websites and non-working telephone numbers.
He found a 1980s-built hotel that was originally a Howard Johnson's before its previous owners took it independent. Burgess said that the building is showing signs of distress; photos from online hotel reviews show a rusty fence and dirty pool.
Currently, he's under contract for the property at $2.45 million, with a down payment of $300,000 set aside from his other investing streams, according to a November 2024 contract Burgess shared with Business Insider. He told BI that he has since negotiated the terms down to a $2.3 million purchase price and a $150,000 down payment, and that his expected monthly payment on the debt is $18,500.
Burgess is seeking additional funds for the hotel conversion
First, Burgess is asking local religious groups that have set aside money to support affordable housing to help fund the motel renovation.
Burgess also reached out to Peyton Vanest, a 26-year-old content creator based in Pittsburgh who has over 700,000 followers on TikTok. Vanest, whose content mostly centers on progressive politics, has urged his followers to donate as little as 50 cents or $1 to GoFundMe he set up if they support Burgess' vision.
@pvanny_
thank you for watching until the end. let's crush this❤️
♬ original sound - Peyton
Burgess launched a GoFundMe on March 19 with a goal of $500,000 to raise money for the motel renovation. Vanest than shared that link with his followers and, as of May 8, it had raised $345,329.
Vanest said some of his followers have reached out with plans to replicate Burgess' model in their states.
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Apple WWDC 2025 recap: Tim Cook shows off iOS 26 and new 'Liquid Glass' design coming to iPhone, Mac, and iPad
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Apple isn't sticking to the naming convention of its other software systems for Mac, instead naming it "Tahoe." It is, however, getting the "Liquid Glass" treatment. There's now the ability to change the color of folders on your Mac. "You can go with that sleek, clear look, or dial up" the dark aesthetic, Federighi says. Live Activity updates, such as Uber Eats delivery ETAs in the Dynamic Island on the iPhone, are now coming to Macs too. Apple TV's software is getting a "bold new look." With tvOS 26, Apple says the layout is getting more cinematic, with tools that are less distracting and new poster formats. It also gave a sneak peek of originals coming to Apple TV+, with star-studded offerings, and updates to the karaoke experience on Apple TV with the Apple Music Sing feature, which turns your iPhone into a karaoke microphone. "Your iPhone becomes the mic, amplifying your voice through TV visual effects that light up when you're with friends," Apple says. 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The "Liquid Glass" design language in iOS 26 starts off with the home screen and refreshes the look of apps while maintaining that familiar Apple feel, the company says. Say hello to "Apple Glass" Apple announces its "broadest design update ever" — "Liquid Glass," its new design language across all of its software. The new is inspired by the look and feel of the Vision Pro, Apple says. Apple teases a new iOS, saying the last major overhaul was years ago with iOS 7. Here we go.. Exec Craig Federighi recaps Apple Intelligence features. No new features yet, just a recap of what's already launched. Federighi says some of the Apple Intelligence features "needed more time to reach our high-quality bar" and more will be launched in the coming year. However, Federighi says there are more Apple Intelligence features that will be announced today. Tim Cook is now on the livestream Cook, speaking from inside Apple's headquarters, teases a slate of announcements. And we're off! Apple's WWDC keynote has begun We're starting with an F1-focused skit — Tim Cook is in it, as is Apple exec Craig Federighi. Apple's "F1" movie debuts later this year. Here's a look inside Apple Park for the event Curious where the audience will be? Photos from earlier this morning show inside Apple Park, where people will watch the keynote together before breaking off into various developer sessions. Further proof that Siri needs an overhaul? People are roasting its answer about WWDC. At WWDC 2024, Apple demoed a more conversational, personalized Siri that could take on more complex requests. The virtual assistant is still working on its communication skills after its overhaul was delayed to 2026. "I asked Siri if there's an Apple event today... she has no idea," tech reviewer Marques Brownlee said in an X post. Some users joined in to show how their Siri answered the question, and others compared it to rival chatbots. The assistant directed some to Apple's official website with event information. One user said Google's Gemini said yes and provided a brief summary of what the event is. "Gemini knows there is an Apple event today. How embarrassing," the user wrote. What Wall Street is saying ahead of the keynote Apple Intelligence made a big splash at WWDC 2024. Since then, it's had a challenging rollout with delays along the way. Analysts want answers on AI and what's next, but they aren't sure Apple will make any big announcements on that front. "The WWDC announcements will be relatively incremental and muted, perhaps except for a likely visual design overhaul of the user experience," Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee told Business Insider on Friday. Any updates on its AI strategy will be a topic of interest as it "ultimately unlocks the developer ecosystem, which remains the hearts and lungs of the Apple story," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note. 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For this year's conference, guests were invited to take a "sleek peek." A play on "sneak peek," reports have indicated Apple is going to show off a sleeker iOS software design that has been called "Liquid Glass." Read the original article on Business Insider
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- Yahoo
A Tampa cemetery is on sale again, reigniting debate over lost graves
Three years after the Tampa City Council unanimously rejected a land-use change for Showmen's Rest, a Tampa Heights cemetery, that would have allowed developers to build out the land, the parcel is up for sale again. This time, the cemetery isn't looking to change its zoning. But the City Council and nearby residents are still torn over a central question: Are there unknown bodies buried beneath the land? Owners of Showmen's Rest have said the portion of land up for sale has not been used for burials. But the Tampa City Council passed a motion Thursday to have city staff contact the property owner and ask if they could use ground-penetrating radar to address concerns about lost graves. 'Should there be graves there, individuals there, then we can look at steps forward,' said council member Guido Maniscalco, who made the motion. Maniscalco also requested a written report from city staff to update the council, which is due June 26. Although he did not mention the name of the property during the motion, Maniscalco confirmed with the Tampa Bay Times after the meeting that the report is about Showmen's Rest. Listed on Zillow for $750,000, the parcel of land at 3541 N. Blvd. is adjacent to the city-owned Woodlawn Cemetery. Showmen's Rest Cemetery hired a firm during the initial controversy more than three years ago that conducted two seismic studies that didn't find any lost graves. The Zillow listing states the seller will do another survey. 'The people that are going up against us keep insisting that there are bodies buried on this vacant parcel of land that we've never developed,' Showmen's Rest President John Perzia said. The cemetery has presented its seismic studies to the City Council, 'but nobody wanted to pay attention to it.' Perzia said the cemetery wants to sell this parcel, which was purchased from the city in 1971, to put it in a trust to keep up maintenance. They don't care who buys it, Perzia said, but they want to ensure their cemetery is preserved. 'I'm almost 70,' he said. 'When I pass away, who's going to take care of this place?' He said the city is welcome to buy the property, but city spokesperson Adam Smith said the administration is not looking to purchase. Perzia said neither he or his real estate broker had heard from the city on Monday afternoon. Maniscalco's motion on Thursday came after a previous council discussion of the cemetery on May 22. At that meeting, council member Bill Carlson also introduced the idea of setting aside city funds for ground-penetrating radar and addressing lost graves. 'What role can the city play? Because not everyone can pay for ground-penetrating radar and not everyone can afford just to give up their land,' Carlson said last month. The Tampa Bay Times reported in 2021 that there were 1,200 missing graves in the city, mostly those of influential Black residents, and the city is attempting to acknowledge and correct its role in erasing Black history. This year, the city erected a historical marker at Zion Cemetery, which was a Black burial ground before it was developed over. The city can't go onto privately owned land without the owner's permission to look for graves. If it does, the surveys are expensive. 'I was happy to hear the City Council is considering creating a fund for ground-penetrating radar,' said Rachael Kangas, director of the west central and central regions of the Florida Public Archaeology Network. 'That's usually the biggest issue we run into.' Kangas reviewed documents sent to her by Aileen Henderson, founder of The Cemetery Society, regarding the cemetery and its history, as well as research files her organization has on Woodlawn Cemetery and Showmen's Rest. 'According to the records I see, that entire block, including this parcel, were part of the original footprint of Woodlawn Cemetery and there is documentation from the newspaper that burials when the cemetery was first established were haphazard,' Kangas wrote in an email to Henderson that was shared with the Times. Additionally, Kangas wrote, the northwest corner of Woodlawn Cemetery was originally set aside for African American graves. She said documentation she read doesn't have details on the size of that area or where exactly the burials were. 'There is no reason to think this parcel of land is not part of a cemetery or that it doesn't contain unmarked burials,' Kangas wrote. Henderson said she also thinks Showmen's Rest could have lost graves and said she was excited to see the City Council take steps toward addressing the citywide issue. 'I don't blame the owner for doing what he has the right to do,' Henderson said. 'The reality is we have the supporting documentation that that is a cemetery.'
