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Kevin Paffrath
Born	(1992-01-28) January 28, 1992 (age 32) Germany
Nationality	American
Other names	Meet Kevin
Education	Ventura College, University of California, Los Angeles
Occupation(s)	YouTuber, real estate broker, landlord, investor
Years active	2008–present
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Lauren Paffrath
YouTube information
Channel	MeetKevin
Years active	2010–present
Genre(s)	Real estate, finance
Subscribers	1.62 million (May 25, 2021)
Total views	362 million (May 25, 2021)
Creator Awards 100,000 subscribers 2019 1,000,000 subscribers 2020
Last updated: May 25, 2021
Website	www.meetkevin.com

Kevin Paffrath (born January 28, 1992), also known as Meet Kevin, is an American YouTuber, real estate broker, landlord, and investor. Paffrath started posting regularly to his YouTube account in 2018, with videos discussing real estate and finance. He was described by Curbed as a "landlord influencer". In May 2021, Paffrath announced his candidacy for Governor of California in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election as a member of the Democratic Party. In doing so, Paffrath became the 26th person to officially enter the race, and one of six Democrats.

Personal life

Paffrath was born in Germany on January 28, 1992. His parents immigrated to the United States when he was 18 months old, and later divorced when he was six years old. As a teenager, Paffrath initially wanted to work in law enforcement, and participated in a law enforcement explorer program in which he rode along with police officers and learned about the career. While on a high school trip to Paris, Paffrath met his future wife, Lauren. In the summer before his senior year of high school, Paffrath moved to California to live with Lauren and her family while finishing high school. Lauren's parents worked in real estate, and Paffrath became interested in the field.

Paffrath attended Ventura College, then the University of California, Los Angeles. He and his wife Lauren have two sons. Lauren, who began to manage properties when she was 18 years old, works as a property manager for The Paffrath Organization. As of May 2021, Paffrath lived in Ventura, California.

Career

Paffrath earned his real estate license in 2010 and the same year purchased a condemned house with his future wife and fixed it up. They then began renovating additional homes and renting them out. Paffrath and his wife Lauren own the real estate business The Paffrath Organization, through which they buy, renovate, and rent properties in southern California. In 2017 they began to offer construction services through their organization, but ended the venture 18 months later after losing $1 million, which Paffrath attributed to narrow cost margins not allowing room for error. As of May 2021, Paffrath and his wife owned 22 properties, including one in which they live.

Paffrath began his YouTube channel, Meet Kevin, in September 2010. The channel reached 1 million subscribers in December 2020 and had over 1.6 million as of May 2021. His videos have discussed topics including real estate, the stock market, COVID-19 stimulus checks, cryptocurrency, and airline points. Paffrath also teaches online courses on the Teachable platform.

Steven T. Wright publishing in the real estate website Curbed about "landlord influencers" included a profile of Paffrath. In the article, he described some of Paffrath's "arguably incendiary opinions on landlord-tenant relations", including Paffrath's requirement that his tenants have a credit score of 700 or higher, and his advice that property owners should mislead tenants by concealing the fact that they own the property, or are the sole owner. Wright continues, "The overwhelming majority of Paffrath's content consists of mundane tips that have a neutral or even positive effect on tenants... However, there's a vast gulf between unlawful and unethical, and that's where viewers have to draw their own conclusions. None of these ever speak publicly about the moral hazards of landlording, such as how evictions often perpetuate the cycle of poverty, or how non-violent felons struggle to find housing". In response, Paffrath said to Wright, "I separate ethics from business in terms of screening tenants, in that I don't think they're one and the same. I don't think having stringent principles in the way I screen tenants is a matter of ethics at all. I think I'm a very ethical landlord in that all my properties have excellent safety standards, they're quality properties, but to me, a lot of this stuff that people talk about is activism. I don't think activism should be mixed with your business principles... It's just not my problem. I'm not going to rent to someone with a 600 credit score because I feel sorry for them, or because I think it's the politically right thing to do". In November 2020, Paffrath's channel and real estate career were featured on CNBC's Millennial Money, which publishes profiles of millennials and how they earn and spend their money. CNBC found that Paffrath earns most of his income from YouTube advertising revenue and affiliate programs, not real estate or stock market investing. Paffrath was among a group of finance YouTubers profiled by Adlan Jackson in a March 2021 New York Times Magazine article, which discussed their shift during the COVID-19 pandemic from offering advice on becoming multimillionaires towards creating videos to provide "any little update" on stimulus payments. In the article, Jackson said that Paffrath was "exceptionally talented at talking to a camera, a natural salesman", but later wrote that he was "a multimillionaire landlord who once extolled the virtues of misleading tenants and vigorously refusing to rent to people with suboptimal credit scores".

California gubernatorial candidacy

On May 17, 2021, Paffrath announced his candidacy as a Democrat in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election, which will likely be held in November 2021. If elected, he would be the youngest California governor. At the time of his announcement, he was one of six Democrats who had joined the race, and the 26th candidate.

Instagram briefly removed Paffrath's campaign announcement post from their platform. According to Paffrath, Instagram notified him that they had removed his post, in which he described Newsom as a "weanie baby", under its harassment guidelines. Paffrath told Fox News he suspected the post was taken down intentionally, and that the removal was related to its parent company Facebook's donations to Newsom's causes. A Facebook spokesperson clarified that the company's donations had gone towards coronavirus relief, not the governor's campaign. The Los Angeles Times has reported that such donations by Facebook and other social media companies were "behested" payments, or indirect payment's to government causes on Newsom's behalf. Shortly after Fox News inquired about the removal of the post, it was restored, and a spokesperson said it had been removed in error.

Legal issues

Ramsey Solutions, a media company owned by finance personality Dave Ramsey, sued Paffrath in 2018 for alleged breach of contract, stealing trade secrets, and disparaging the company. Paffrath allegedly made videos mocking Dave Ramsey and criticizing his business practices, including one video entitled "Dave Ramsey: Exposed" where Paffrath asserted Ramsey's business provided "cold-as-ice leads" and collected a fee for "doing nothing". Paffrath stated that he had ended his relationship with Ramsey Solutions before making the videos, and therefore did not violate a contract. Paffrath also claimed the lawsuit was an attempt at censorship which violated his right to free speech. The case moved to federal court in 2019, and was settled privately out of court later that year. The videos mentioned in the lawsuit are no longer on YouTube.

Paffrath has made numerous YouTube videos "exposing" the business model of real estate personality Grant Cardone. In an efforts to bring more attention to his other videos, in 2018 Paffrath delivered flowers to Cardone's office staff while dressed as a Christmas elf, reportedly running through Cardone's offices. Paffrath was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct, but the charges were later dismissed. In a May 2021 interview with Fox40 discussing his gubernatorial candidacy, Paffrath expressed regret for the "YouTube prank" and said he had gotten "carried away with the entertainment aspect of YouTube".

References

1. ^ "Kevin Paffrath on Facebook". Retrieved May 25, 2021.
2. ^ "John & Ken Show Hour 4 (5/21)". May 21, 2021. Archived from the original on May 24, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2021 – via iHeart Radio.
3. ^ "About MeetKevin". YouTube.
4. ^ Jackson, Adlan (March 24, 2021). "Why Finance Gurus Switched Their Bait From Millions to Thousands of Dollars". The New York Times Magazine. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
5. Lambert, Lance (May 20, 2019). "Falling Stars: You Won't Believe the 10 Cities Where Home Prices Are Down the Most". Realtor.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
6. Jackson, Jon (May 17, 2021). "Kevin Paffrath, "Meet Kevin" YouTuber, becomes 26th candidate to announce challenge to Newsom". Newsweek. Retrieved May 27, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
7. ^ Wright, Steven T. (November 15, 2019). "Meet the newest YouTube stars on the block: landlords". Curbed. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
8. ^ "Meet Democrat California Gubernatorial candidate Kevin Paffrath". KUSI. May 20, 2021. Archived from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
9. ^ Seitz-Wald, Alex (May 24, 2021). "In California's recall, Democrats would rather not have a backup plan". NBC News. Retrieved May 25, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
10. ^ Martin, Emmie (November 19, 2019). "This millennial couple earns $6 million a year from YouTube and real estate—here's how they spend their money". CNBC. Archived from the original on May 24, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
11. Fishman, Scott (September 28, 2008). "Explorers on target". Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on May 24, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
12. "Meet Kevin's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile)". SocialBlade. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
13. Hake, Mark R. (February 11, 2021). "VG Acquisition Corp's SPAC Deal With 23andMe Is Too Speculative". Nasdaq.com. Archived from the original on May 24, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
14. Competiello, Christopher (December 24, 2019). "'My net worth went up at least $100,000 on each purchase.' A 27 year-old real-estate expert shares how he sniffs out the perfect deal with 'virtually no risk'". Business Insider. Archived from the original on May 24, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
15. "Millennial Money". CNBC. August 20, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
16. "Who filed a Statement of Intention to run for What State Office? (Filers may not have qualified for the ballot)". Secretary of State of California. May 23, 2021. Archived from the original on May 24, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
17. John Myers (April 26, 2021). "The exact date of the Newsom recall election is still unclear. Here's why". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 22, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
18. ^ YouTuber Kevin Paffrath talks about his candidacy for governor (Video). Fox40. May 23, 2021.
19. Gutierrez, Melody; Moore, Maloy (April 27, 2021). "Big companies donate millions on Newsom's behalf, raising concerns about corporate influence". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
20. Ruiz, Michael (May 20, 2021). "Newsom challenger calls embattled guv a 'weanie baby,' post briefly censored from Instagram". Fox News. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
21. ^ Blois, Matt (October 11, 2019). "Ramsey Solutions sues real estate YouTuber". Nashville Post. Archived from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
22. Blois, Matt (January 8, 2020). "Ramsey Solutions settles with online critic out of court". Williamson Homepage. Archived from the original on May 24, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2021.

External links

• Official website
• Kevin Paffrath's channel on YouTube

• 1992 births
• 21st-century American businesspeople
• 21st-century American politicians
• American financial analysts
• American landlords
• American real estate brokers
• American YouTubers
• Businesspeople from California
• California Democrats
• German emigrants to the United States
• Living people
• Male YouTubers
• Naturalized citizens of the United States
• People from Florida
• People from Ventura, California