How to Get 10%+ Off Your Next Real Estate Deal Right Now

September 23, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Zach Lamaster bought his first duplex with a VA loan and no money down while serving as an Air Force optometrist in North Dakota. That was fifteen years ago. Since then, he has bought rental properties every single year—through low rates, high rates, boom markets, and uncertainty. Today he is the CEO of Rent to Retirement, and his central argument is that right now, in a market most investors find discouraging, there is an unusual and temporary opportunity to buy new construction homes at discounts of 10 to 20 percent. The catch is that you have to negotiate with builders, not sellers, and you have to understand why builders are willing to lose money on individual homes.

Why Builders Discount—and Sellers Don't

The key mechanism is inventory pressure. A homeowner who does not get their asking price can simply wait six months. A national builder with hundreds or thousands of completed homes on its books cannot. Builders operate on balance-sheet cycles, and many are approaching fiscal year ends where unsold inventory becomes a problem. This creates a structural mismatch between what builders need and what individual sellers need, and that mismatch is where the investor's leverage lives.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Opening & Guest Introduction** - Dave Meyer introduces Zach Lemaster, CEO of Rent to Retirement, who has been investing since 2013 and now consistently unlocks 10%+ discounts on new construction.
2 (01:38) **Zach's Origin Story & Early Mistakes** - Zach shares his path from military optometry to real estate, including a painful first out-of-state deal in Southside Chicago.
3 (04:32) **Lessons for Out-of-State Investing** - Zach explains why out-of-state investing is often better than local, and how to avoid his early failures.
4 (06:41) **Dave's Out-of-State Pivot** - Dave shares how moving to Europe forced him to invest remotely, which transformed his philosophy.
5 (07:58) **Matching Strategy to Goals, Skill & Time** - Zach and Dave discuss how to honestly assess your resources before choosing a strategy.
6 (13:03) **Break** - Advertisements.
7 (16:54) **Three Pillars of Zach's Success** - Zach reveals the three most impactful habits that built his portfolio.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Imagine getting 10% off your next rental property (on the low end). What about getting a rate in the 3% or 4% range, or putting only 5%-15% down on a property that’s not only affordable but also in the path of progress? As interest rates climb higher and buyers step back, investors have opportunities that haven’t been available in years, and in 2027, these opportunities could get even better.

Today, we’re talking with another rental property investing veteran (literally), Zach Lemaster. Zach spent years as an Air Force optometrist, using a 5%-down loan to kickstart his own investing journey. After buying properties every year, even while stationed across the country, Zach realized the massive effect rentals had on his net worth. He tried (and initially failed) at out-of-state investing before developing his own system to buy in the best markets with the best management so he could retire from his 9-5.

He did it, and in doing so created Rent to Retirement, one of the nation’s leading turnkey companies. Today, he’s sharing the actual strategy he’s personally using to get 10% (up to 15%) off rental properties, how he scores low (3%-4% range) interest rates, and builds his portfolio, and his customers’ portfolios, with loans as little as 5%-15% down.

The deals keep getting better for investors, and these might be some of the best we’ve seen.

In This Episode We Cover

How Zach replaced his optometrist salary with simple, high-demand rental properties

The real estate deals we’re seeing right now that are giving 10%+ discounts

Want financial freedom in a decade? Three steps Zach took to get there

The wrong way to invest out-of-state (and what to do instead)<