People usually find me one of three ways. A seller gets a letter or a call from Cash Property Offers. An investor sees a post in one of my Facebook groups. Or somebody reads Skill Up and wants to know who wrote it.
Whichever way you came in, here’s the straight version.
Where this started
I grew up in New Mexico. Nobody handed me a real estate portfolio or a rich uncle with a hard money fund. When I got into real estate investing, I had no money, no mentor and no system. What I did have was a willingness to get on the phone and talk to people other investors were ignoring.
So that’s what I did. I talked to sellers. I walked houses with a notepad and guessed at repairs, badly at first. I made offers that were too high and offers that were insultingly low because I didn’t trust my own numbers. I lost deals I should have won and won a couple I should have walked away from.
That stretch taught me the thing I still teach first: skills substitute for capital, but nothing substitutes for reps. You can’t read your way into being good at seller conversations. You have to have them.
Building Cash Property Offers
Over time the reps added up. I learned to pull comps the same way every time. I built a repair sheet I trust. I learned to ask about timeline and motivation before I ever said a number, and to let silence do some work.
That became Cash Property Offers, my buying business in the South Carolina Midlands. We buy directly from property owners in Columbia, Lexington, West Columbia, Cayce, Irmo, Newberry, Aiken, Orangeburg and the small towns in between. Some houses we renovate and sell. Some we keep as rentals — I hold renovated rentals in Newberry and Lancaster County. I finished a renovation in Lugoff, I have one underway in Irmo, and lately I’m doing more land and land-plus-mobile-home deals in rural Midlands counties.
If you want to see what I’m working on across the region, real estate investing in South Carolina lays it out.
As a South Carolina real estate investor, I play by the rules
When South Carolina revised its Real Estate Practice Act in 2024 and addressed wholesaling directly, a lot of investors looked for workarounds. I didn’t. I buy and close as a principal, I follow counsel, and I’d rather lose a deal than cut a corner. If you want the plain-English version of what changed, read wholesaling in South Carolina.
I’m not a licensed agent, broker, lender or attorney. I’m an investor. When a question needs one of those professionals, I’ll tell you so.
Why I built REI Boss
Here’s what nobody tells you about growing a real estate business. The deals don’t break you. The chaos does.
Leads in three places. Follow-ups in my head. Buyers’ criteria on a whiteboard somebody erased. A team meeting that turned into a complaint session. I tried the software that was out there. None of it ran a real estate investing business the way it actually needed to run.
So I built REI Boss. It’s the operating system I use myself, built on my BOSS framework — Blueprint, Ownership, Strategy, Score. It tracks the scoreboard, runs acquisitions and dispositions, structures the weekly Momentum Meeting, keeps quarterly Rocks visible, and includes an AI chief of staff that does real work. I break down the thinking behind it on the business systems site.
Why I wrote Skill Up
Every investor I’ve watched last a long time has one thing in common. They keep getting better at the fundamentals. Not the shiny tactic of the month. The fundamentals: talking to people, underwriting honestly, following up, managing their own head.
Skill Up is that conviction written down. It’s for anyone who’s tired of looking for a shortcut and ready to become the kind of person who doesn’t need one.
Why I teach for free
I run REI Skool, a free learning community, and I give away my playbook. People ask why.
Two reasons. First, I remember how expensive my early mistakes were, and most of them were avoidable with one honest conversation. Second, I believe in building things that outlast me. Knowledge shared well keeps working long after you’re gone.
If you’re new, start with the beginner’s sequence for real estate investing. It’s the path I wish I’d had.
What actually drives me
I’m a husband and a father before I’m anything else. My family recently moved into a property we renovated in Gilbert, out in Lexington County, and the best part of my day is still after five o’clock when the work stops and the kids take over.
My faith anchors how I do business. It’s why I’d rather walk from a deal than mislead a seller, and why I care about building a legacy, not just a portfolio. I don’t preach it. I just try to live it where people can see.
That’s the why behind all of this. Real estate is the tool. Family, faith and legacy are the point.
Get in touch
If you’re a property owner, a licensed agent, an investor with a property to move, or someone exploring a documented partnership in South Carolina, read how I work with owners, agents and partners first. Then reach out directly through my contact page. I read what comes in, and you’ll get a straight answer.
Questions people ask
Where is Ben Lovro based?
I live and work in the Lexington, South Carolina area and buy houses across the Midlands, with secondary markets in Sumter, the Upstate, Lancaster and Rock Hill.
Is Ben Lovro a licensed real estate agent or lender?
No. I’m a real estate investor who buys and closes as a principal. I’m not a licensed broker, agent, lender, attorney or CPA, and I tell people to use those professionals.
What is REI Boss?
REI Boss is the operating system I built to run my own real estate business — scoreboards, acquisitions, dispositions, Momentum Meetings and an AI chief of staff. You can see it at reiboss.io.