My Story
Some people see what is. I've always been drawn to what could be.
I didn't come from the kind of background that would have predicted a career in finance.
But looking back, I think the experiences that shaped my life also shaped the way I see properties, problems and possibilities today.
The beginning didn't look like the destination.
Growing up, addiction was part of my life through my mother's struggles with drugs. My childhood wasn't stable, and I learned at an early age what it felt like when the people and circumstances around you weren't something you could always depend on.
Then, when I was 15 years old, my father died by suicide.
Not long after that, I dropped out of high school. I ran away. For roughly a year and a half, I bounced around Florida, living in hotels and trying to figure out life long before I was really old enough to understand it.
On paper, there wasn't much about that story that said mortgage professional.
There certainly wasn't anything that said I'd eventually spend more than two decades in this business.
But life has a strange way of teaching you what you're built for.
I learned to see potential differently.
When you've experienced things falling apart, you learn something important:
Current condition and future potential are not the same thing.
Maybe that's one reason renovation lending has always resonated with me.
I can look at a house that hasn't been updated in 40 years and understand why someone else might walk right back out.
They see the outdated kitchen.
The damaged flooring.
The old bathrooms.
The repairs.
The work.
I see what it could become.
And over the years, I've realized that I've learned to look at people, businesses and difficult situations much the same way.
That became my career.
I found my way into the mortgage business and eventually discovered that I was drawn to the transactions other people often considered complicated.
Properties that needed work.
Renovation loans.
Unusual scenarios.
Deals that didn't fit neatly inside the standard mortgage box.
Over more than two decades in mortgage lending, renovation and complex property financing became an increasingly important part of what I did.
FHA 203(k). Conventional renovation financing. Construction. Investor rehab. Hard money. And the countless unusual situations that come with financing properties based partly on what they're going to become — rather than simply what they are today.
Over time, it became more than something I knew how to do.
It became something I genuinely loved.
Because renovation lending is ultimately about possibility.
The house isn't finished yet.
Neither was I.
That's probably the simplest explanation for why this business means something different to me.
A house can have a rough history.
It can have damage.
It can be neglected.
Someone can look at it and decide it's too much work.
None of those things necessarily determine what that property can become.
You have to be able to see past its current condition.
Potential doesn't always look like potential at first.
That's something life taught me long before I ever learned how to structure a renovation loan.
And it's become part of the way I approach this business today.
When someone brings me a difficult property or an unusual financing scenario, my first question isn't simply:
"What's wrong with it?"
It's:
"What's possible?"
The Reno Game
See the opportunity. Then figure out how to build it.
That's the Reno Game I've spent my career learning.
It's not simply about financing construction.
It's about understanding the property, understanding the financing and seeing the opportunity that may exist on the other side of the renovation.
Sometimes the best opportunity isn't the finished house everyone wants.
Sometimes it's the one everyone else overlooked.
Why I Built This
Why I Built The King of Reno
Over the years, I kept running into the same problem.
People couldn't find the information they needed — or the lender who actually understood what they were trying to do.
A buyer who wanted to purchase a fixer-upper but couldn't get a straight answer about how renovation financing worked.
A Realtor who had a client with a great deal but couldn't find a lender who knew how to close it.
An investor trying to understand the difference between a hard money loan and a renovation mortgage — and why it mattered for their exit strategy.
A homeowner who wanted to renovate but didn't know a renovation loan even existed.
The information was out there. But it was scattered, incomplete, or written by people who didn't actually do this work every day.
I built The King of Reno to fix that.
Not as a marketing exercise. Not to generate leads for their own sake. But because I genuinely believe that when people have access to clear, honest information about renovation financing, they make better decisions — and better deals get done.
That's the whole point.
Don't just look at what is.
Think about what's possible.
More than a website.
The King of Reno is a resource — built for the people who are actually in the middle of a renovation deal.
Whether you're a buyer trying to understand your options, a Realtor working a complicated listing, or an investor running the numbers on a rehab — this is built for you.
Detailed guides on every major renovation loan program.
Calculators built around the actual math lenders use.
Real case files showing how renovation deals actually come together.
Straight answers to the questions people actually ask.
For Buyers
Understand your renovation financing options before you make an offer. Know what's possible before you walk away from a property.
For Realtors
Close more deals. Understand renovation financing well enough to identify opportunities your clients might otherwise miss.
For Investors
Run the real numbers. Understand the financing structures that make renovation deals work — and the ones that don't.
For Homeowners
Finance the renovation you've been putting off. Understand what's available and what it actually costs.
The Philosophy
Don't just finance the house. Finance what it can become.
That's the idea behind everything I do.
Renovation lending isn't just a product. It's a different way of thinking about property, value and possibility.
When you can see past the current condition of a property — when you can understand what it could become and structure the financing around that future value — you can do deals that other people can't.
That's what I've spent more than two decades learning how to do.
And it's what The King of Reno is built to help you understand.
Don't just finance the house.
Finance what it can become.
— Dustin Swigart, The King of Reno
Let's Talk
If you've got a deal, I want to hear about it.
I've spent more than two decades working on renovation deals that other lenders wouldn't touch — or didn't understand.
If you've got a property, a scenario, or a question — send it to me. I'll give you a straight answer.
No runaround. No generic responses. Just an honest conversation about what's possible.
— Dustin
Explore the Reno Game →