BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast - 590: From Struggling Renter to Cash Flowing Landlord Using $0 Down Loans w/Andre Haynes

Episode Date: March 31, 2022

No money down real estate investing usually sounds too good to be true. It seems almost impractical that someone without much experience, money, or property can secure cash-flowing rentals without putting a dollar into the deal. Even more astounding, today’s guest Andre Haynes was paid a few thousand dollars to buy his first rental property. He shares his exact steps on how he did it on today’s show! While investing in real estate with no money down can seem like an advanced concept, Andre wasn’t some cash-flowing wizard from the start. If anything, Andre’s upbringing may have brought some hurdles to the financial side of his life. He had no credit, no cash, was faced with eviction notices, and generally was falling behind financially as a parent. He had to take a hard look at his life, redefine his goals, and reevaluate his choices. From there, it was a hard, yet incredibly valuable, climb upwards. Now, only a short time later, Andre has built a real estate portfolio worth over a million dollars. He has numerous cash-flowing assets that pay for his liabilities and has started to educate others about how they can do the same. He defines this easily repeatable process on today’s show but doesn’t gloss over the fact that the only thing stopping you from obtaining the wealth you desire, is yourself. In This Episode We Cover: How to invest when you come from an upbringing that lacks financial literacy  Giving up on your “dream” so you can pursue something much greater Andre’s 5-steps to get your life together and how you can start using them today Practicing delayed gratification and how simple sacrifices pay off big in the long run The zero down loan program that Andre used to build his real estate portfolio The importance of becoming a real estate investor before you buy your first property And So Much More! Links from the Show: BiggerPockets Forums BiggerPockets Podcast BiggerPockets Agent Finder BPCON 2022 NACA (Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America) MLS (Multiple Listing Service) Realtor.com Zillow Rich Dad Poor Dad seminar Airbnb Vrbo Turo Peerspace The Landlord Life YouTube series Landlord Life Season 3 Episode 2 with Henry Washington Mindset Matter Merch (No books here) Henry Washington's Instagram Brian Donnelly's KAWS Connect with Andre: Andre's Instagram Andre's Business Website The Landlord Life YouTube series Check the full show notes here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-590 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Bigger Pockets podcast show 590. The moment that I took action over the way that I was thinking and the way that I was speaking, probably in 24 to 48 hours, man, I noticed just an immediate change and just like the way that I felt. Like, I just didn't feel like there was like a black negative cloud hanging over me walking around every day anymore. You know what I mean? And it's all me.

Like, it's nothing anybody else is doing around you. Most times it's you and the way that you're thinking, your surrounding all of that. And if you're able to like change those things and identify those things, man, you can really like expedite your process to get to the next level. What's going on? Everyone is David Green, your host of the Bigger Pockets Real Estate podcast. The show where we teach you how to build wealth through real estate. If you're looking to have a better life, if you want more freedom, if you want more financial flexibility, if you don't want to worry about money, if you want to feel like you're actually making progress and you are in the right place. Bigger Pockets is a community of over two million members that are all on.

that same journey for themselves, trying to improve their lives and their finances through real state and doing it together. We bring lots of ways to help you accomplish that. The website has a forum where you can read about tons of questions that were asked and ask your own questions, amazing blog articles. We have an agent finder system to put you in touch with agents in your area that are familiar with real estate investing. And we have the best freaking podcast in the world when it comes to real estate. Today we are going to be talking with a very special speaker, Andre Haynes, as well as an amazing asset to your real estate investing journey, my co-host of the show, Henry Washington. Henry, welcome to the show.

Hey, man. Thank you for having me again. Glad to be back. You know, I always love chit-chatting it up with you, Mr. David. Yeah, and you brought some help with you today. One of your friends is who are going to be interviewing. He has an amazing story. Can you tell us a little bit about Andre? Yeah, man, Andre has a super inspiring story. Man, it's really a story of, of, you know, it's a genuine rags to riches story, right? He talks a lot about coming from nothing and had every excuse in the world to not be successful, right? And even when he pursued one path and didn't find success, didn't let that stop him from finally

achieving financial freedom. And so I just, I'm excited for you guys to hear how this young man literally took everything that was formed against him. him and used it to prosper. That is a great summary of what this is like. This is one of those shows where you're probably not going to build a multitask. You're not going to be doing other things while this is playing in the background. You're going to be sucked into Andre's story.

The adversity that he faced, the way that he handled it, he's very transparent in sharing how he used to think versus what he went through and how it changed the way he thought. And now what he's doing with some of this momentum and synergy to build an empire for himself. So it was an awesome time. And especially if you were a first time investor, so when trying to get your first property or someone who just feels like you're sucked into the undertoe of this current market and you're under the ocean doing circles trying to get your feet underneath you and you can't figure out which way is up this is a show for you. Here's why savvy real estate investors are obsessed with bonus depreciation.

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It's being revamped. So now if you like a show, you can go there and you can find other shows of the same topic listed on that site, as well as more thorough show notes. So if you hear a story like this one, and you think, man, I'd love to hear more inspirational stories. You can go there and you can have a list of other podcasts that were similar to that one. We are really ramping things up. So we'd love for you guys to check it out and tell us what you think.

All right. That's all I got. Henry, anything you want to add before we bring in Andre? Yeah, man, absolutely. I just really encourage people to to engage with this show, man. It is one of the realest, most raw kind of uncut conversations we had. And, you know, life isn't always pretty, David. And we are all faced with choices at some point. And we can let life circumstances knock us off our path and take us out. Or we can take literally those life lemons and make lemonade and choose success. No matter your circumstances, Andre's a real guy. He had some real situations and he turned it into real wealth. And so I encourage people to just take a list and try to put yourself in his shoes. And if you're really just getting started, just like David said, man, what an inspirational story to hear. Because truly, if this guy can go from nothing and then turn it into wealth in an expensive market, right, even in these expensive

times in real estate, then trust me, y'all, you can do it too. Very well said. Henry, look at you. Can we quite the wordsmiths yourself? I appreciate that, Mr. David. I've learned from the best. All right. Let's get to it. Andre. All right, Mr.

Andre Haynes. Welcome to the show, man. Hey, man. Thank you guys for having me. I appreciate it. Hey, man. No worries. Thank you for being here.

So you kind of got your start in real estate through kind of some counseling that somebody kind of pointed you in the right direction. But kind of before we get there, why don't you tell everybody, like a little bit about your background, like how you came up and like how, how, that story shaped who you are and where you are right now. Again, my name is Andre Haines. I am from the Southside Chicago, the Ida B. Wells Projects. I come from a non-financially literate background.

You know, everything pretty much was like government assistant. You know what I mean? When I was a child, my family was hit hard by the drug epidemic in the late 80s and early 90s. So my mom and dad were affected by that. I ended up being adopted, blessed enough to be into my own family. My aunt raised me in church. and, you know, that kind of like molded, like, my character and kind of, like, built me, you know what I mean, like gave me my foundation of just, like, spirituality and everything that I have now.

Yeah, man, just coming from that to be where I am now is, like, like, night and day compared to, you know what I mean, some of the people that I grew up with or grew up around or just, you know what I mean, some of my family members. And I'm extremely blessed, man. That's cool, man, because, you know, a lot of people didn't grow up with a silver spoon in their mouth. and had to fight just to get where they are. But what I like about your story is you didn't let any of that stop you from becoming financially free or even pursuing your goals, right? In your previous life, right? You went into even looking at like a music career as a way to try to gain some traction. And so like, how did what you learned when you started doing music guide you toward like starting to understand that you need to be doing something to build well?

I learned a lot of stuff in the music industry just about, like, ownership. You know what I mean? I looked up to a lot of guys like Damon Dash, Master P, JZ, you know what I mean, Sean P. Dicones, and they were all, like, had their own labels. And they all, like, had, like, clothing brands. They would start, like, liquor companies, like, all of these different things that stemmed outside of just them having a rap career. And I always wanted to, like, model, like, just my business after that. Like, I just didn't want to be, like, just in a single lane. I always wanted to be multifaceted.

And I always just felt like growing up because, like I said, there was no financial literacy. Sports and entertainment were my only options for me to really attain, like, well, and just have success because that's all I was seeing. And that's all I really would, you know what I mean, was around. And just being able to really, like, just maneuver the way that I have maneuvered and just really, like, get to a point where I have just starting in the music industry, That experience really taught me, like I say, how to just like operate like in an ownership space,

knowing that it won't be easy, knowing that I'm not like operating with a big major label behind me. You know what I mean? I was selling like CDs out of my backpack and out of my trunk, like all of those different things. Like it just really taught me a grind and the hustle. And I never lost that spirit and that energy when it came to real estate and business and entrepreneurship. So if I hear you right, Andre, what I'm hearing you say is you had a mindset before. This is really like the mindset part of your story.

that was, I'm not financially literate. I see two roads to success, entertainment, or sports. And if I can't make it happen, well, then there's no point of trying. I'm probably oversimplifying, but more or less, that's sort of the perspective. And then when you started your music career and you were not signed to a big label, if you're signed a big label, you're kind of more of a W-2 employees, do what they tell you. Hey, you go do this and we will take care of the details, right? When you do it yourself, you are an entrepreneur, which means you're a business owner,

even if the business is selling CDs out of a trunk, you still have to make the stuff, market the stuff, manufacture the stuff, price the stuff, keep your own books to know what your profit margin is, and that is what opened your mind up to, whoa, there's actually a lot more possibilities and routes than just the two that I was seeing before. Absolutely.

And I wasn't necessarily successful in that field as far as like on a famous or like multi-platinum level or anything like that. But as far as like you say, the mindset that it taught me and the hustle and the grind that it taught me. And it also like, it kept me humble because I was, wasn't successful. You know what I mean? Like, you know, rappers tend to have like these big egos and like these images like, but they're like this like famous person and they're like got all of

this money. And like really in all actuality, like you said, they're really an employee. They owe money to the label. They owe money to the car company. They owe money to the mortgage company. They owe money to the jeweler. They owe money to the clothing company. They're just like they're in a bunch of debt. And I was kind of like shaping up my life to be in the same way. I had to kind of like realize that it wasn't working for me after a while because I spent maybe like 10, 11 years chasing this dream. And sometimes you don't necessarily have to give up or quit, but you have to like pivot. You know what I mean? And I didn't give up on my dream of being wealthy because that's what I was using music for because that's all I knew because again, you find out you're not going to make it in sports pretty young.

Like, you know what I mean? Like once you get to high school, like once you get to high school, kind of realize like it's a rap. Like once you're like not starting on the varsity team and then like no college is coming to see you. Like, you know, that kind of stuff. It kind of like it gets to you early. Like, yeah. So this may not be my path now that I'm kind of seeing what's going on here. And yeah, I figured that out kind of early.

So I just started to like learn how to hustle, man, because I just didn't have a mindset of like stock market, real estate, all of that kind of stuff. So I would do little stuff like, man, sell sneakers, go and get a job here and there. Just like little stuff like to make money. And after a while, like I said, I had children, fell behind on my rent for so long. I mean, eviction notices, just, I mean, you name it. Just like all the problems that a person could possibly have.

And just like, it was time for me to just like really get my shit together, man. Well, that's why I wanted to ask you that question because, so it's funny that you mentioned sports. That was really where my journey started off as well. I just wanted to be a basketball player. I wasn't at the time wanting to be wealthy or famous, but I just loved basketball. And I hit a ceiling that was my athletic ability, right? I was more athletic than most people, but I was not more athletic than Division I college athletes, much less professional athlete.

Like you said, it becomes very obvious, very quickly. It doesn't matter what you do. You're not getting past this point with these limitations. But in the world of real estate or maybe entrepreneurship in general, what I tell people is that your athletic ability is your mindset. And what's amazing is that there are no natural limitations on it. It's only what you put on yourself, right? So I just kind of wanted to draw that of your story and make the connection for our

listeners that you had to have your mind opened and that came through a what you would call a failed endeavor. But what you gained in that failure is what opened up the doors where we're going to talk by now. So I'm going to throw it back to Henry and let you guys keep going into your story. Thank you for that. It's kind of a perfect transition because you talked about getting your together. You talked about like evaluating your situation and then using that to guide your next step. So I mean, you essentially have documented this process that you've used to go from where you were to financial freedom now. So kind of talk a little bit about what that is and like, you know, how this kind of ties into that step one. Yeah. And like you said, step one is the

self-evaluation process, which is typically for most people and for me as well, it's the hardest part because that's when your pride and your ego like gets the biggest blow because you got to take that look at the mirror and say, you know, like, I ain't going to the NBA. Like, I'm not going to be a multi-platiner rapper. Like, or even just like, even the level of responsibility just to say, like, you know what, I'm just not where I'm supposed to be in my life or where I want to be in my life right now. A lot of people just, you know, like I said, in certain lifestyles, they get caught up like with internet lifestyle and just like what's going on with other entrepreneurs, what's going on. Like I'll say, with rappers and ballplayers and they want to act like they're living in this lifestyle. The entire time, you're not taking care of your children.

You're behind on your bills. Like I said, you're behind on your car note. Like every dollar that you have is essentially like on your body with the clothes that you're wearing. Just like, you know what I mean? Like, it's bad. You know what I mean? I never thought about it like that. That's funny, though.

Yeah, like, and when you're able to have this conversation with yourself and be like, yo, I'm out here bad as hell right now. Like, I'm really, like, down bad. Like, I really need to just, like, sit down, reevaluate my situation and just kind of, like, replan. And a lot of it comes with just, like, unlearning a lot of stuff that we're taught, like, and, you know what I mean? And just, like, school, church and stuff like that, just, like, real traditional stuff that

we're taught a lot of times. And if we can like shake that mindset and just like open up our minds and like think outside the box just a little bit, because nothing is wrong with the stuff that we're taught in school and church. Just a lot of times it's like very limiting. You know what I mean? Especially the older stuff. Like, because I was raised by like I said an older church woman, you know what I mean, who was just like very traditional. Like a lot of times she would choose like church over sports and like that. And it was like, lady, I have the opportunity to go to college. Like this could be like my full-rise scholarship here. And she's like, nah, we're going to Bible study today. Like, are you serious? Like, I would have coaches coming by the house knocking on the

doors and everything. She's like, nope, we're going to church. So, like, you know what I mean? So certain stuff, man, like I said, we just like really don't get and understand. But for me, that was the first step, like, and just like understanding myself and knowing that I had to make a change. And it was taking that look in the mirror and being like, yo, you're not the person who you say you are. You're not the person who you think you are. You're not the person who you're like front out here acting like you are like, dude, like get it together. And the first step in doing that is like having that conversation with yourself. And that's a step that most people don't want to take because it's tough to say,

I'm just not that guy or I'm just not that woman right now, you know? Absolutely, man. And just so people know, like when I say you documented this process, you wrote a book, right? What did you call that book specifically because of this? Renaissance is five-step guide on getting your together. Right. And so first step, self-evaluation. Step two, what was next for you?

Understanding the power of your mind and your words, because typically that first step, it's kind of brutal. You're kind of beating yourself down a little bit. You know what I mean? You're kind of like identifying all your weak points. But after you do that, you have to tell yourself, you know what, but that doesn't have to be who I am for the rest of my life. Now it's time to make a change.

I'm a confident person. I'm a talented person. I can go out here and do whatever I want. I'm able to build wealth. I deserve to build wealth. I deserve to change my life. And the more that you start speaking like this and thinking like this and just like, you know what I mean, having these just like positive affirmations and speaking them into the universe, the more you'll get that stuff in return because the more you put it out there, the more you'll get it back. And that's just like the law of attraction at its best.

And that's how it works because the moment that I took action over the way that I was thinking and the way that I was speaking, probably in 24 to 48 hours, man, I noticed just an immediate change and just like the way that I felt. I just didn't feel like there was like a black negative cloud hanging over me walking around every day anymore. You know what I mean? And it's all me. Like it's nothing anybody else is doing around you. Most times it's you and the way that you're thinking, your surroundings, all of that. And if you're able to like change those things and identify those things, man, you can really like expedite your process to get to the next level. I like that.

And I think that a lot of people kind of gloss over mindset steps like this when they're trying to think about their big. or their real estate career. And I like to try to put some practicality behind it for people so that they can understand that this stuff truly does work. I know it sounds like, you know, oh, okay, just think about it and it'll be. But it's, it's not that. It's like our minds are powerful. And the things that we tell ourselves, that's why vision boards are powerful for people, right?

Like if you put something in front of your face every single day, you'll start to realize, that the actions that you're taking are going to be moving you towards those goals in small ways. It's almost like our subconscious takes over and we start moving ourselves in that direction. Now I'm not saying it's magic. You write it down and you make it happen. But what I am saying is that when you surround yourself with your goals, either visually or taking the action to write them down, your actions follow suit. And sometimes that's intentional actions.

And sometimes it's even subconscious actions. But so I challenge anybody, like if you have a goal of getting started with real estate investing and you're not quite sure exactly how you're going to get it done, take the first step of just writing down every day. I will be a successful real estate investor. I will be a successful real estate investor. Write it down five times every morning. If you do that consistently, what happens is, and we've talked about this on other episodes, David, it's like the red truck theory, right? You buy a red truck and then now all you see, is red trucks. Well, that's because your mind is open to those seeing those red trucks. If you tell yourself, I am going to be a successful real estate investor every single day and you're writing that down, you'll start to see opportunities that you weren't focused. Your brain wasn't focused on before. You weren't open to before. And then you'll start to act on those. And that's, that's how mindset really starts to practically take hold in your life. I agree with that wholeheartedly because I'm a prime example of just what you said, like you say, just writing it down because even before I was a

real estate investor, before I got my first property, before I really knew about real estate investing, I knew that I wanted to be a real estate investor. I just didn't have the right information to do it and get into the field. I was in the cubicle. When I first got my job, I had to step away from the music industry and like once I started kind of like getting my stuff together and we'll get into that. But I just wanted to like I piggyback off of what you just said. I wrote down into my cubicle that I would attain over a million dollars worth of real estate assets by January 25th of 2009, which was my birthday. But I clips that number probably 10 years earlier just by writing it down and having it

like in my face every single day and just believing and knowing that. Let's put some parameters around that for people. And so you left music because you said, this isn't going to get me where I want to be. And even the people that are where I want to be, when you. you really look at it on paper, they're not there, right? And so you then said, I got to go back to work and you went and you got a job. What kind of job did you get? Oh, man, dude, I was working at a telemarking company.

And I was, like, calling people putting them in, like, schools like that just, like, weren't accredited. Like, schools like you hear about them in the news, like, yeah, they just got shut down for education scams. Like, oh, shit. Maybe I shouldn't be working here. So you were doing telemarketing. How much were you making? minimum wage plus like a bonus sales bonuses you know whenever you get sales you get like an extra little bonus or whatever the case may be but the thing is dude i was like killing them

bro like i was like signing people up for these schools like i look back at it dude i probably have probably like a thousand people were just like you know uncredited degrees so you got a job at a call center you were making minimum wage living in what city in chicago in an expensive city and you you wrote down, you were going to do what? Attain a million dollars worth of real estate assets. Right. Like, that's powerful.

Like, people need to see that. Like, you had every reason to believe that you couldn't do that. And you went and you got a job. And as you're working at this job, you were trying to do the best you can at the job. And you were doing well. And you decided you were going to buy a million dollars in real estate assets. And most people who are in that situation, that would be so far out of their mindset. But you spent the first time in those two steps in trying to figure out how you were going to

get to your goals, right? You had to self-evaluate and then you had to look at the power of your words. And then that leads you to learning about real estate. And so tell us a little bit about how that came to pass. So how do you go from a call center to buying real estate assets? That will lead into step three. Once I knew what I wanted to do and once I started reading about it, I knew I needed some damn money. I'm like, all right, so real estate, I can't do this broke.

Like, you know, so I started reading a little bit more. I started saving, man, like every dime that I had. Because at the time I was reading, like, rich dad, poor dad, money master the game by Tony Robbins. This is maybe like 2010, 2011. And I'm just like picking up everything, just like digesting information like it's food, man. And I'm just like, I'm hungry for it. So I'm just taking in everything. And those two books were what, like, sparked the most interest in me and, like,

really taught me the most and, like, really lit the fire under my ass. And I'm reading that book by Tony Robinson just, like, really just, like, had me, like, turned up. So I started, like, I said, saving every single dollar from work. Like, I started eating noodles for, like, a year straight, just like. Which, for the record is step three, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I'm saying.

It was going into step three. And that was me understanding my money. And step three is, are you frugal or are you fraud? Because, again, a lot of times as we spoke about in my particular, like, culture and just background, we tend to want to look like we have money more than we actually have money. And it's a problem. And I was one of those guys. So I had to, like, really, like, evaluate, okay, am I frugal?

Am I saving money? Or am I actually doing what I'm supposed to do? Or I'm out here just, like, really being a fraud and looking like I am and acting like I'm financially responsible and just, like, tricking people. And I was, I was being a fraud, you know what I mean? And I had to, like, really evaluate that. So, like I said, I started saving money, making sacrifices, not buying Jordans every weekend, you know, all of that kind of stuff that was just, like, really, like,

taking big chunks of money out of my pocket. And over time, man, maybe after about a year, a year and a half, I had saved about $10,000, $12,000. And I just knew, like, okay, I'm on with something with this. And I need to do something with all this money because I never had this much money in my life just sitting there. But for reference, like, what were you making yearly? Ooh, maybe after tax, it's about $26,000 or something like that, like barely over the poverty line. Right.

And so I say that because I don't want people to not get the value of what you just said. You saved $10,000 while only making just under 30. That's, you know, that's almost half your salary. Yeah. Right. Just through self-realization and then putting yourself in checking on a budget. Like, that's amazing. It was hard.

Oh, it was real hard, man. Like, just, like, sitting in the house for, I mean, really, like, a year and a half straight, really only doing, like, yeah, like, really just, like, not doing nothing. I mean, like, the whole summer long, like, you know, Rukhanyi was like, man, imagine being locked in your room for three summers. Like, that's a different world. Like, bro, like, like, you're looking outside the window. You're seeing everybody having fun. Like, you're on Instagram. Everybody just said, like, at the concert, Drake concert came to Chicago.

Like, oh, it was lit. Like, but, you know, you have goals. And, you know what I mean? You understand, like, short-term sacrifice for long-term, you know what I mean, greatness. And that's really what I was on. And it worked out for me because after I did all of that stuff, man, and after I, like, made those sacrifices, my life just, like, took off just when I say, like, on a rocket ship. Like, it just, and I never looked back.

So it was just more so anything, man, just understanding that those sacrifices weren't going to be forever. I mean, it was just like, like, somebody told me, like, man, sometimes you just got to turn down steak on an empty stomach, you know what I mean? At first, it didn't make sense to me, but then it made sense to me when I was able to have a surf and turf buffet for the rest of my life. Like, you know what I mean? So it just was like the financial part of everything and just like me understanding my money and understanding what was smart to do with my money and what not to do with my money was just like a major step for me. That's very similar to my story. I did not do fun stuff when everybody my age was doing fun stuff. And this comes up a lot. So I've got a young

guy on my loan team. He's like 23 years old. He's my first hire. He's crushing right now. He probably has 60 loans in submission right now, 23 years old. And he will say the same thing. Like, sometimes I feel like I'm missing out, not hanging out with my friends. I relate to it because I was in the same boat. But I'll tell you, I don't have any regret about not going out to a fancy restaurant or not going to a concert now where I am in life, knowing that that would have stole like a house from me, right? If I had to pick, like, would you rather go back in time and go on a vacation with friends that you don't even have anymore? Because nobody stays friends with these people for 20 years, right? Or have a house that's going to pay for the rest of your life.

It's pretty easy decision. So I just want to encourage the other people that are in the situation like you were, Andre, that you're not doing this for nothing. It's worth it. And then the other part I really like is that you mentioned is now you eat a seafood buffet every night. See, when you spend your money on a car or on Jordans or something, you get the shoes, they get worn out, you don't get to wear them anymore, you got to buy new shoes. When you get the house, it buys you a new pair of Jordans every month for the rest of your life, and it doesn't matter, right? And you keep the house.

Like, that's the difference. When you get the asset first, it buys the car, it buys the dinners, it buys the shoes. All the things you want are taken care of because you sacrifice early to get it. and it doesn't stay where you're just depriving yourself all the time. And the last point I'll make is many things in life work this way. So if you think about like if you're out of shape and you first want to go start running, like you can't run very far. You get maybe like a quarter mile and you're done.

So you don't really burn that many calories. You don't see a result. Were you watching me workout this morning? You seem like you'd be probably in the gym, Henry. I don't really see you doing a whole lot of running. I see you pushing some weight. But that's the same thing. When you first go to lift weights,

You're not very strong. You don't work out very long before you get tired and you don't burn many calories. You're not building muscle. You are conditioning yourself to eventually run four miles where you're going to burn a lot of calories. And so what I'm saying is it does not suck the whole time like it does when you're starting. When you first start running, every single step is agony and it's terrible. You do it for a long enough time and like this isn't that bad. It might actually become fun because you've conditioned yourself.

So I just want to throw that in there that while this may sound not appealing when someone's like, man, I don't want to be sitting in my room watching everyone else have fun. It changes, right? Like now, Andre, I'm sure you're going to tell us about some of the ways you're finding deals, some of the empowered way that you feel where you're like, I'm walking around. I don't have to pretend like I'm wealthy. I am wealthy. And the confidence that comes from that where now you kind of recognize all the things that

at one point were temptations for you were because you wanted to look a certain way. And now that you don't need to because you are that person, the temptation just goes away. And that's kind of nice. And the crazy thing is just to like take it back a little bit. it was extra hard for me because, like I said, I had just come from a lifestyle again, like, while I was rapping, like, I was sitting next to Jayze and Beyonce at basketball games, doing shows with Fat Joe. And mind you, like, two of my closest friends play NBA basketball.

So I was, like, playing video games or, like, LeBron James and weddings with Kobe Bryant, like, just wild ass shit you wouldn't even believe. And to go from that to having to sit down in a cubicle where, like, the mindsets of the people who I'm sitting around every day just aren't like mine, just like the, very, very bottom of just like the work level. Like I said, I'm sitting in a cubicle calling people, putting them in schools that aren't accredited. So this was a very, very, very humbling and pride-killing experience for me.

And for a little while, I kind of like went through a little bit of a depression with this. But again, like, I realized that it was just a short-term sacrifice for long-term greatness. And as you said, man, I live my life on my own terms now. I buy all the Jordans that I want. I've learned about cool, like art and dope like that, whereas I can like use the money. that I make from my investments to make other cool investments so it's not like I'm just spending the money now so now like let's say I want to go buy a pair of jordan's i can buy two pair of jordan's i can buy one to wear and i can buy one to put up and they go up in value like stock even if you're watching this

youtube video these little art pieces behind me they're really dope they're by this artist named brian donnelly cause i collect his pieces man i learned about him i started collecting his pieces i'm paying two 300 bucks for a piece just because i think it's cool i start looking this stuff up man it's going up in value by like 30 and 40% every year. Like I bought these two things back here maybe like four years ago for 300 bucks each. Right now they're worth 1,500 each. And he's still alive walking around all good and healthy, man. And God forbid something happens to him, but you understand how this goes like when typically something happens to artists or anything like that.

And you own a piece of their like original work. Man, that stuff usually skyrocketed and values. So like I've learned like so much different cool stuff and I've been able to put my money and other cool stuff that are investments and not just like me wasting my money. So just like it'll pay off, man. Like David said, like don't think it's just like you just like eating just for no reason and you just got to do this for no reason. Nah, man, like over time, you'll be able to live a very, very happy life and just like,

you know, kind of like do whatever you want to do out here, which is the main, like, that's happiness. That's what happiness is, time freedom, going to your kids, baseball games when you want to, you know what I mean, taking a family on vacation. Like Henry say he's leaving to go to Hawaii for two weeks. Like, who's doing that? You know what I mean? You got to understand, but he had to make some sacrifices to get to that point.

Yeah, absolutely right, man. I'm glad that you were able to touch on that for people, because as soon as you start talking about sacrifice, people tend to tune out. So I like that we're able to put some color around that. For decades, real estate has been a cornerstone of the world's largest portfolios. But it's also historically been sort of complex, time-consuming, and expensive. But imagine if real estate investing was suddenly easy. all the benefits of owning real, tangible assets without the complexity and expense.

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estate? That was step number four for me, which like I say, was building a solid foundation and maintaining stability. Because after I started saving money, I also started to understand and learn how to keep the money because once you start to get like these big lump sums of money like I said again I'm speaking just like from my personal background from my culture what I come from like we tend to want to go buy big as gold chains big cars with rims that aren't worth anything just like spend our money on a lot of it just ain't worth nothing and depreciates and value as soon as we get the receipt for it you know what I mean and like I just wanted to like maintain where I was at and like have that solid foundation of just like financial literacy so like I said I kept educated myself on top of me having

that cash I started to build my credit man I started to learn about credit I started learning about how to use credit I started learning about how to leverage credit and all of these different things after that man it was time for me to go into step number five which is taking my leap of faith and buying that first property and once I was ready I reached out to a mentor of mine a big sister of mine um her name is keoki island she's a broker in Vegas I'm like hey I'm ready to buy house and she was like, eh, that sounds good, but you should consider getting a multi-unit. And you should consider getting a multi-unit with this program called NACA. And I'm like, NACA.

And she's like, yeah, it's a program that I feel like would be best for you because of all the benefits that they offer. And I'm like, hmm, I'm like, what are the benefits to this program? And she goes into telling me everything about this program. And I'm just like, wow. Wow. I just read the same thing in Rich Dad, Poor Dad. So just like, it really clicked to me just about buying assets and buying cash flowing assets, assets over liability. You know what I mean? All of these different things. And it's just like, this just like a real light bulb just went off in my head when she said this. And yeah, so I took the leap of Faith Man and I went ahead and I started looking into the program, NACA, NACA, Neighborhood Assistance Corporations of America. Awesome. So what were some of the benefits to you? And then how did you leverage that program to buy a property? So the benefits are for first-time home buyers, and the NACA program, first out, they offer the lowest interest rate in the country, regardless of what your credit score is. They're mainly concerned about the debt that you have in collections and your debt-to-income ratio.

In addition to that, they also offered to pay for your attorney, your agent, and most of your fees, the only thing you're liable to pay for is your, but your inspection costs. They pay for your appraisals as well. Also, they give you the option to buy the interest rate down lower than what it already is. In addition to that, you don't have to necessarily have substantial savings. What they will allow you to do a lot of times is what's called payment shock. So they'll say if you can afford rent, you can afford mortgage. So as long as you can show them that you're paying your rent on time for a certain amount of time, you can qualify for a property.

And if you want to qualify for a property that's more than what your rent is, you would just have to save the difference between what your mortgage would be and your rent would be for six months. It's just like a really, really powerful program when I heard all of these benefits, man. And also, you don't have a down payment. It's no money down, which is like the biggest benefits of the program. And when I heard all of this stuff, I'm just like, are you serious? Like, this can be real. She's like, I swear it's real.

I'm like, no, it's not. She's like, I swear it is. So I went to the meeting, man. Everything that she said, they confirmed it. And it's just like, wow. So I went ahead, signed up, met with my mortgage counselor. From there, dude, like, it was just, like, a mind-blowing experience. Because I walked into the office, and, you know, I wear a lot of, like, dope sneakers.

I collect sneakers. So I had on a pair of Jordans that had just came out. They were really hard to get. And my mortgage counsel was like, oh, man, I went through hell trying to get my son, those shoes. How'd you get him? It just, like, really started off, like, a great conversation between me and him, which, like, just built up into a really great relationship.

And he just asked me, you know, what I was trying to do, what my goals were. And he was extremely helpful throughout my process. And he was like, you know what? We're going to get you set up. He's like, the fact that you're looking for a multi-unit is amazing because that's what I suggest that most people do when they come through these kind of programs. FHA NACA, NACA, 3.5% down, no money down. Man, use it to leverage to get ahead.

Use it to get you a cash flow and asset. Don't go and buy something that's going to like, you know what I mean, have you in debt or have you, you know what I mean? Paying bills. Get something that's going to pay you monthly or at least. like take care of your mortgage for you. And the market that I'm in here in Chicago, we have a million multi-units. It's probably like 60, 40 houses just to multi-units. So it's not that hard to find multi-units here. And I went out into the market, man, and I got my first property. I got a brick

four unit in a beautiful Chicago suburb right outside of the city with amazing amenities, Walmart, churches, bus lines, trains, restaurants in the area, and great parks, great schools, system in the area, swimming, pools, all of this kind of stuff that you can find. And I knew about the area because I lived in the area for seven years before I purchased in the area. And I'm like, yo, I want to buy in Forest Park. And I was able to get the property for $360,000, which was well below what it was worth at the time. I believe it appraised out for $390. And that was as is. And that deal was really, really good. And I took advantage of every single benefit that they offer in that deal. Awesome, man. So you went,

from working in a cubicle, saving $10,000, getting ready to make the leap of faith. You make the leap of faith. You learn about NACA. And then you go and you find yourself a multifamily and you buy it. And so tell us a little bit more about that deal. So you bought the property and then did you move into it? And, you know, what were the rents like? How transitional was that for you?

So first off, it wasn't just that easy. It was a lot of searching. and I'm sure there are a lot of first-time home buyers that are going to listen to this. I just want to kind of like mentally prepare you for like what you're going to be dealing with in the process. And this was, I'm speaking seven years ago. So now today's market is way more hectic. So this is kind of what you want to expect in today's market. Because a lot of people have these, like I say, the internet has everybody like for some reason they think you're just going to go out and just like find this just magical amazing property.

It's just going to appear right in front of you and you're going to put it in the offer and it's going to get accepted and it's just going to go so smooth when it just is. does not work like that. All right. So you're going to go out, you know what I mean? With your age, you're going to start looking for stuff. And your first off, you're probably going to start looking for stuff that's like really out of your price range. Let's out the gate because you just don't know like, you know what you can afford. But a lot of times you, your eyes will trick you into saying that you can afford something that you really can't have. You know what I mean? Just because it's beautiful. So you're going to go out. You're going to look at all these nice properties and you're going to try to make these deals. And people just

aren't going to want to negotiate their prices. You know what I mean? Their prices, their price because they have 20 other people that are standing in line waiting to offer them more money than what you're offering, like even if you're offering what they're asking for. So don't expect like your first offer, second offer, all of the kind of stuff to be accepted. So you have to be really like diligent and just like persistent with this stuff. Like you got to go out here and like really like put in a ton of offers and like kind of work with sellers. And nowadays like you want to like try to build relationships because and my property, that's

what worked like building a relationship. My agent built a relationship with the other agent and we played. that card. In addition to that, you want to, like, run the numbers more than anything. Don't get caught out with how a place looks. Like, yeah, a place can be beautiful, but you'll be upside down on your mortgage if you don't run the numbers the right way because you want to get a beautiful place. You know what I mean? So make sure the numbers make sense, man. If you're not cash flowing, at least make sure that you'll get to live for free, meaning that the rent's coming from the place, they'll cover most of the mortgage, and you get to live in a place for free, not paying anything

at all, like pretty much essentially keeping all of the money that you work for that you make doing other stuff. In addition to that, man, you want to make sure you're finding a property that is cash flowing a lot of times because a lot of times that's how you'll get qualified a lot easier and a lot faster by the bank. So it needs to have tenants in it. Yeah, absolutely, that are already like under leases and it shows that what they're paying and all of that kind of stuff. It shows the rent roll. And that'll be a great benefit to you because a lot of people don't know because what I hear a lot of times is, oh man, multi-units are four. $500,000, I can't afford those.

But it doesn't just go based on what you can pay. It goes based on how much the building is already generating as well. So they'll take 75% of what the building is generating and add it to your income, which will make the property more than affordable most times. And that's awesome. How many offers did you put in on properties before you landed the one you got? Probably five. And on that deal, we just kept getting outbid.

We kept getting like just like rejected. And on the last one, even we, almost lost that one because what happened was, like I said, we put it in five offers previously and, like, I was just, like, tired and frustrated. It had been, like, two months. I was looking. And I told my agent, like, you know what, man, I want to get us a break. We're out here every day. We're not finding anything. Nobody likes us. Like, you know, if I'm taking everything personally. Like, they don't like us, man. So, like, I'm on the MLS, a realtor.com, or Zillow or something like that. It was like maybe like 11, 12 o'clock at night, one night. And this property just pops up, man.

It's in my desired neighborhood. It's a four unit. It has an apartment vacant ready for me to live in. The other three units are cash flowing. I'm like, oh, my God. Is this like, Jesus, what did you just do? And so I called my agent. Like, I started calling his phone recklessly.

Like, I probably called him 15 times. And the last time he finally picked up the phone, he's like, man, what the hell, man? You know I don't do business this late? Like, you know, he was really upset. But I'm like, I hear you. But check your email, though. Please just check your email. So he was like, man, give me a second.

So he looked in his email, he's like, oh, you're right. He's like, so I'm going to write this up right now. You know, he wrote up the offer, sent it back to me. I signed everything over. And he's like, I want to get this over to them tonight. So as soon as they come into their office, it's the first, like, people were still sending faxes and stuff at this time. Like, it's the first offer on their fax machine.

You know what I mean? It worked. They came into the office. They saw it. And it was like, you know what? We accept the offer. But the only thing was the wife was the one that was home. And she accepted the offer.

and I got excited, right? So I had a seminar to go to later that day. It was a rich dad, poor dad seminar. So I'm like, oh, man, I'm lit. I just got my offer accepted. I'm going to this seminar. You know how they pump you up at the seminar. So I'm just like, ah, yeah, I'm about to be rich as hell.

So as I'm doing all of this, I'm excited. My phone is just ringing, ringing, ring, and ringing, and I'm not answering because I'm like just gassed up at this seminar. So I go out and I check the voicemail. And it's my agent. He's like, man, give me a call back as soon as you can. So I give him a call. back. He was like, man, you know, the offer that we put in earlier? It got knocked out. I'm like,

knocked out. What you mean? I thought we got accepted. He's like, man, the husband was at work. And as he was on his way home to sign the contract, another offer came in and it was all cash. I'm like, what? He was like, yeah, so that knocks us out. Like, we don't have, like, it's not our property. Like, we don't have another contract. Like, I'm like, are you serious? So my heart drops into my stomach at this point. Like, mind you, because I just went from here all the way back down to here like i'm on a thousand so it's just like oh my god what's going on at the end of the day what happened was they came in with a cash offer the husband didn't sign the contract so like you said it was just that offer was really null and void but they didn't just say we're not going to take your

offer they was like hey guys this is what we'll do we'll give you everybody to the morning you are the last two offers that we're going to look at come with your highest and best offer first thing in the morning. So that's what we did. Luckily for me, the cash buyers, they came with the same offer. They're like, we're offering cash. Like, you know, we're going to stick to our guns. This is what it is. And I offered an extra 15 or 20,000, I believe it was on top of my agent. Like I say, playing in a relationship in an emotional card. He reached out to the agent. He's like, my guy's been living in this neighborhood for the past seven, eight years. His kids love the parks. They love the school systems. You know, they really, really don't want to leave.

And these guys are just investors. They're probably just going to come over here and knock the building down. And these people had an emotional attachment to their property. You know what I mean? So they're like, oh, man, you're right. Let us just sell it to a nice family who's going to take care of the place. We're getting extra money. And that emotion, that, you know what I mean?

That relationship card, it played out in our favor. We got the offer accepted, man. Everything was cool. I was able to get the property. Like I say, with no money down. I was able to buy the interest rate down to 2.5% from 3.5% because I got a $10,000 sellers concession and I used that money for that. I was able to keep all of my money.

In addition to that, I walked away from the closing table with a $5,000 check because I didn't need all of the money that they gave me to buy the interest right down. So I essentially walked away with the building that was paying me cash flow and I didn't spend anything on it. All I had to do was turn in the proper documents for a few months. Let them, you know what I mean, check my info, go through my bank accounts, the typical home buying process. And they were like, you know what?

Hey, we trust you enough. Take this building and keep all your money and take $5,000 with it. On top of that, the day that I closed, I walked into the property. It was the end of the month. I got checks on all three of my tenants because it was, like I say, the end of the money was time to pay the rent. And you know when you close that first month, you don't have a mortgage. So that was all my money.

So I essentially went from worth nothing to owning this four unit property where I lived for free, $22,000 cash. And I got my check from work. same day. It was the most amazing feeling in the whole high world. So now everyone listening to this is saying, okay, you hear that honey? I want one of those. They're calling their agent and they're saying, hey, find me that deal, right? And so what I want to ask you is, obviously you would do that over and over and over if you could. It's hard to do that. It's worth it, which is why we're talking about it, but it is not easy. It's just like the workout analogy we gave earlier. And it's like

to still for me, even as much real estate as I bought, there are emotional spikes. You get excited. you get crushed. You get excited. You get crushed. And that happens too many times and most people tap out. They just say, I don't want to do it anymore, right? Like I see this as the agent, trying to protect the client from that. And then I get it myself when I start to get excited.

And then, oh, turns out something changes, right? So what advice do you have for the people that are not accustomed to this entrepreneurial bipolarism that the three of us have sort of just embraced from the things that we've been through where we expect these big highs and lows so that they see. stay in the game and they don't miss out on this awesome deal when it finally happened. Man, just like a simple one liner, man, it gets greater later. As long as you understand that and as long as you can like stick it out and know that the reward later down the line is going to be just like way bigger than what you imagined

because I just never imagined that, you know, from that point of buying that first property I'd be here where I am where I'm like walking around doing public speaking. I have an apparel line. I have a book. We're hosting our own seminars. I'm investing in a stock. market, like I'm teaching people, mentoring people, just like all of these different cool things that set me free from the work system and allowed me to start helping people and just like

pouring into the world on a greater level and on a bigger scale, man. Like, I just wouldn't have thought that, but the fact that I made those sacrifices and I understood that even in the down times that I would be okay just as long as I stick this out, you know, like, it just, it always comes out like better than what you think it will. part of that story that I love is that like you made the sacrifices, you saved the money because your intent was to have to use that money to start building your real estate assets. And you didn't have to because you found this amazing vehicle. But had you not went through that sacrifice and made those mindset shifts, right?

When you come into money like that, you might have spent it differently, right? You might have blown that $10,000 on something else. And so I don't want people to hear like, oh, you save that money. he didn't have to know. Like the discipline it took for him to save that money, set him up to be able to continue to be successful once he was able to acquire that asset. Right. Absolutely.

It's just an amazing story. And I did have to save the money. I didn't have to use it. I had to save it. They want to see that you're responsible, that you're able to save money. The same process that you have to go through through any other lender, whether it be conventional, FHA, whoever. Like, it's the same thing.

They want to see that you're saving your money. They want bank statements. They want the check stubs every two weeks. they want all of those documents to show that you're doing what you're supposed to do and you're a responsible human being before they release a $300, $400,000, $500,000 property into your name with no collateral life. Because essentially that's what they're doing. They're just like, here, we're trusting you to take care of your business and do what you say

you're going to do. And we get absolutely nothing for this. So, hey, you better do right. And one thing before we move on to the next segment of the show, I want you to share with people is now you've found a way to even make more capital. on the asset that's already paying you cash flow. And so just give them a little teaser on like how you're additionally monetizing that asset right now.

Yeah, man. In addition to like I say, just getting rents and everything, man, they got a lot of cool stuff going on out here with these apps, Airbnb, VRBO. And I found this thing called PeerSpace where I get to rent out my property, man, like to people who want to shoot movies, music videos, photos and things like that. And for the past six months, man, my house has just been like a movie studio, it seems like, man, because I got people coming in doing everything. And it's just insane.

It pays a pretty penny. I'm really happy that I found it because it's like essentially been like a new ATM for me, man. Anytime I need some extra cash, I just go to peer space and I can make three, four, five hundred dollars, three, four hours easily. And the cool thing about it is it's like you don't have to own the property to do it. And on top of that, you don't have people staying overnight at your home. They come in for a few hours and you make money just like you would in an Airbnb without

people having to stay. I'm putting out a course on as soon to show people how to do it and how to really like maximize it. So like you guys check that out when it does come out, turn on your notifications on my Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and you'll be able to get that. Man, yeah, I mean, it's super, I mean, you put me onto it. I didn't know it was a thing until you told me about it. And now we're looking at putting some of our Airbnb's also on peer space because it's

essentially you can just rent a furnished space to somebody who may just want to use it for a couple of hours to do just like you said, shoot a video, maybe even just host a quick event or they have a meeting or something like that. And so if you've got a furnished space, it could be your space. It could be an Airbnb. I think it's just a really cool way to continue to monetize. Yeah, families host Thanksgiving dinner parties at your space. Maybe they don't have a big enough kitchen. They'll come and run out the space. Like, it's just used for a lot of different cool reasons. And it's a very, very short-term rental. Like I said, you can maximize the profits on it without having a deal with people for us

as long as an amount of time. You know, can I just say something from a kind of an overall perspective of the thought just went through my head? As technology like Airbnb, Turro, Peer Space starts to become more prevalent where it is easy to go find something to use that you used to have to own if you wanted to use it, owning these assets becomes even more valuable. So if it's kind of like, like if you're the rapper who can't afford the Lamborghini and you can go rent the Lamborghini,

well, the guy who owns a Lamborghini has a more valuable asset because it's not just him driving it. It's the rapper who wants to rent it for the video. But then when Turrell comes out and anybody can rent a Lamborghini whenever right now having a Lamborghini actually becomes a legit business because it's so easy for people to find you. Unique properties, really nice spaces, these type of assets will only become more valuable as it becomes easier to market them with these technologies like we're talking about right now, Andre. So I just kind of wanted to highlight. That's one of the reason you see the price of certain things that isn't going down.

It keeps going up. It's because technology is making it easier to make it cash flow. And even just to, like, add to that, like, how I was just telling you guys, I use my cash flow to buy these art pieces, like, and they go up in value. So the art pieces are one of the big attractions that draws people to my peer space. So they're even making me more money than going up in value. So, like, you know what I mean? It's just like, man, it's just one big circle of just, like, money.

coming in. You know what I mean? When you do this stuff the right way, man, it's just, it's insane. But again, it all starts with mindset and doing that first deal. Yeah, I think that's great. You know, one of the points that you mentioned there, Andre, was what I call synergy. So once you start to get momentum, which is another concept, I know everybody always wants to hear, well, how do I just buy the house? Like you said, just what website do I go to to just get a house and write an offer and have it be easy? And they don't want to go through the grind. But that's why these deals are available because people don't want to put the grind in to get it. and then when you get it,

it tends to be where they all sort of play off each other. Like what you're describing is, I make money off of art, then I teach people how to buy art, then that brings them to my peer space, and then I make money off of renting out my property. Now I have more money coming in, so I have more for the down payment for the next property.

Then I get better at buying properties, and then agents said it to me before other people, and then the contractor calls me back first and gives me a better price. Like, everything gets better as you build this momentum, and so many people at the beginning of the journey are sensing, Well, it's, I must be nice. I wish I could be Andre and I can have what he has going on.

But you built momentum. You were slinging CDs out of the back of your car, right? You were looking at everyone around you that was having the success you wanted and being tortured by that buffet that you felt like I can't get a seat in that buffet. I'm all around it. I can smell it, but I can't eat it. Right? Like you put in the grind and now that's why it's catching up to you. You look like you want to comment on that.

You just hit the nail like directly on the head. Like I said, I was around guys who were in the NBA, winning NBA. championships like god when is it going to be my turn like you have me here you have me around this like what are you trying to show me like something has to come from this like what the hell is going on because like you can't just be dangling this over my head and not like really like letting me having like you know what I mean and then like I say when I had to like divert back and start the whole nine to five process all over again I'm like oh my god like me and God were really into it at that point it was just like dude I'm about to come up there and we're going to fight

Like you really plan with my life. Like you said, David, like there comes a time when you start to like just be able to breathe a little bit more. And you can kind of see the light and you get the ball rolling. And then you can just like really like pick up pace. And it's just like, oh, man, yes. And it comes like a point where you're just not in survival mode anymore, man. For a long time I was in survival mode just really trying to figure out how I was going to eat, how I was going to pay my bills scrapping, trying to figure out how I will get my children the things that they need.

and that mind frame doesn't allow you to think in abundance. It has you thinking in like, okay, I need to do this right now in order for me to eat today. Like it doesn't allow you to think generational wealth for the future because you're hungry right now. Your kids need stuff right now. Like, you know what I mean? You don't have the luxury of thinking for the future. I think once like you get past that like survival mode and that mindset changes and you have the air to breathe and to be able to save a dollar.

to save $2. Most people, they aren't even in the position to save $0.50 out of their check. Like, unfortunately, that's just a lot of people's circumstance. But when you're able to start doing that, man, it shows you that like, yo, this is possible. And the moment that you see this is possible, like growth becomes addictive. It's like the most addictive feeling in the world, like doing better, feeling better, it's a high that you just never want to come down from. And once you taste it and once you get it like just a little bit of it, you want to keep going hard to keep going after it, man.

And I understand like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant's drive. Like they just never got enough of the success. Like no matter how many rings they got, no matter how many Olympic gold medals they got, like there's just a high that comes with that. Like just an amazing feeling when you like, you know what I mean? You reach your goals and you like you start making progress, man. And it's really almost an indescribable feeling. It's just your four. I love that you shared that.

because I think the majority of people are trying to figure out how do I get to that point because they're just like eating that frog every day and they're not, they're not tasting what it can be like on the other side. I have this analogy that I describe what it's like when you're trying to have success as a real estate agent, but applies to investing to really probably anything in life. It feels in the beginning like you're pushing this huge boulder up a hill. And to just get one inch takes so much effort. Your calves are screaming, you're pouring sweat, everything's burning.

You're asking yourself all the time, is it worth a lot? such as let this rock go and let it roll down and give up everything I did because it's not getting easier. And the Boulder blocks your view of where you're trying to get to. You don't know when you're getting to the top of the hill. It could be 10 years from now. It could be 10 minutes. There's no way to know. And you just push and push and push and you listen to this stuff and it keeps you encouragement to keep going. And you wonder, like, is God with me? Is the universe with me? Is it angry at me? Because it's not easier. But what's happening as you're pushing is your muscles are being built that is going to prepare you for when you actually get the success.

At a certain point, you crest that hill. And now it's sort of a flat plateau. So it's not as hard to push the rock, but you've still got to push. It's not just happening on its own. It just isn't miserable like it was. You start building some momentum. And at a certain point, you come to the other side of the hill, the rock starts going down. And then wealth starts coming at you so fast.

Opportunities start coming at you so fast. Like, the deals start flowing your way that you can't even keep up with them. Okay? So you're like running as fast as you can't. and keep up with that rock that you used to be pushing. And that's where you get to decide what you really want your life to look like. And the problem is you don't get to start going downhill. Everyone's journey starts going uphill.

And that's why nobody really follows it. But I really appreciate you sharing some of the details of what your story was like, Andre, for the listeners who are hearing this and they know what they want is to be chasing a rock at some point in their life with an abundance of things they want. But right now they're just grinding. I think you needed to be in your room looking outside of everybody else playing for a couple years because that's when you were being prepared. That was your uphill battle, right? That's when you're being prepared to handle what you have right now instead of immediately getting your first

deal selling it, making $80,000 profit and buying a room full of doings. Right? And now you've got to start back over. That rock went all the way down to the bottom. You got to start at the top. I really appreciate that. We're going to move on to the last segment of our show. It is the world famous. Famous For this is the segment of the show where we ask every guest the same four questions and we are going to alternatively throw them back at you. The first question is about a book. What is your favorite real estate book? It would probably be, like I say, a combination. And I don't know if they're necessarily real estate books. They're just like mindset and financial literacy books, but they do cover

real estate. Like I said, rich dad, poor dad and money master the game. They really like did it for me. They really put a lot into perspective for me. Money master the game taught me a lot. And I won't just say rich dad, poor dad, just the rich dad, poor dad education, because, you know, there's a plethora of books that come with just that education. And I read things. them all. So, like, I started with rich dad, poor dad, which was the mindset shift, and I, like, started going into the cash flow quadrants, you know, guide to investing that teaches you about, like, all the different ways to invest in real estate, the tax sales, you know what I mean, the reits, you know, all of these kind of different things. And the same thing with Money Master

the Game. I just learned just, like, money in general with that book. That just book just really opened my mind up to investing, just not just real estate, but just like investing in general. And it also just, like, expanding my mind, like I say, to all of the different ways that I can invest. in real estate and not just like buying like, you know what I mean, residential property, just like, you know what I mean, learning about commercial properties, learning about investing in real estate through the stock market, learning about investing through real estate through just like group economics, just like through funds, like all of these different things that it would talk about. And it just like really, really blew my mind. So those two would probably

be two favorites. Well, good. You're making my job easy because the second question was what is your favorite business book. But sounds like Money Master the Game was probably what that was for you. So we'll jump to question number three, which is, what are your hobbies? Man, I like creating content, bro. I love creating content just based around, you know, my business and my brand. So I have a series called The Landlord Life where I essentially bring people in on all the just like the jobs and stuff that I do and the problems that I'm having as a landlord because, again, I see the Internet tend to make being a landlord and just

involved in real estate. Yeah, they make it just like so glorified and like so like glitzy and glamorous. So with this series, I just really like tell people to truth and let people in like, yo, I just had a $30,000 plumbing issue. My roof just caved in like all of these different things like, yo, I'm tired of paying the plumber. So I'm going to go to Home Depot today and I'm going to buy me a rotter and I'm going to ride the toilet and the drains myself. Like just and I'm giving people a real inside look at this stuff and I'm, you know what I mean, documenting it and video on it. And at this point, I have about three seasons worth the content with that over like 40 episodes. Henry's actually guest on my series The Landlord Life. So y'all check him out on season three. I believe it's episode two or three. He's on that one.

And yeah, man, just like really trying to learn and grow and build my businesses, networking with guys like you, you know what I mean, now starting to come to like events like the Bigger Pockets Conference, things like that. I spend a lot of time where I'm doing a lot of investing in myself. That's how I like hang out and just like the things I like to do as far as hobbies now. Awesome. Okay. This is the money question in my opinion. What do you think that's apart successful investors from those who give up, fail, or never get started? I think that's it. They don't ever fail, give up, and they get started. You know what I mean? I think that's the answer. Like, that's in the question. Like, people like myself, like, I never let my circumstances stop me. I never let things that I've gone through any of the hurdles, just, you know what I mean? Any of the hard times really, like, hinder me from achieving. in whatever goals that I wanted to achieve. Yeah, they might have slowed me down.

Yeah, I might have had to take a break and maybe I had to pivot, reevaluate some things. But the thing is, like, we just don't give up. I think that's the main thing that separates any winner from anybody that's not successful. Like, we don't give up. Keep going and we push through until we get the results that we want. Awesome. I love it, man.

So tell us where people can find out more about you. Across all social media, I'm at Renaissance 1-25, R-E-N-A-I-S-S-S-A-N-C. E-125. I'm sure that's going to be a hard spill for a lot of people, so I have to spell that out sometimes. Dude, that is one of those words for me. Everybody has that word that they can't, no matter how many times they type it, they can't spell it right? That's the one.

I got to Google it every time. So that's me across all platforms, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. That's where on a lot of different podcasts, you can find me on a bigger pockets podcast and a lot of different podcasts across the country. I've been doing a lot of speaking, and I'm just doing a lot of events and stuff like that, man. also my website is www. the renaissance u.com.

I also have courses. I have a navigating NACA course where I teach the process and the tools and all of the stuff that I use to make it through the NACA program successfully, how I evaluated my deals through NACA, all of that kind of stuff. I also have an introduction to real estate course that kind of teaches people like all of the different ways to go out and attain real estate, how to evaluate different neighborhoods, how to understand like when the market's going up or down, like just understand when is a good deal or a bad deal, like a lot of different things. It's over 30 video

modules over four hours worth of content. Again, I have my merch mindset matters where I'm just kind of like helping spread awareness about, you know, just mindset. It's not about your circumstances more so about your mindset, man. And also have my book, man, Renaissance is five-step guide on getting your shit together, which is like I say, the blueprint to my life and how I really like got on this journey and like really got my life together. Just looking to do a lot more speaking and a lot more helping and a lot more mentoring man and i appreciate you guys for having me on and allowing me to you know what i mean tell my story get my word out there and just like tell people about my brand thank you mr and and dray one of my favorite parts about your story is that if you wouldn't have had all that pain and

frustration and carrot being dangled in front of you for so long you literally wouldn't have a story to put in a book that people would want to read you wouldn't have anything to say in a podcast like this so i'm looking back it it always makes sense right when you're looking back at why god brought you through what he did. You're like, oh, I get it now at the time. Like you said, you want to fight a lot of the time. Like, why are you doing this to me? Why? But it does make sense. So for everybody in that same situation, hang on, keep doing your best. Keep pushing that boulder. It's going to get better. Thank you, Andre. Henry, where can people find out more about you? You can find me on Instagram. I'm at the Henry Washington on Instagram.

It's the, not the, it's like the Ohio State University. Yeah, I mean, I just, I try to play it down a little bit, David. I don't want people, you know, just something that. You don't want to just completely overwhelmed people with the splendor of who Henry Washington raised. Very humble. All right. Well, thank you. This is David Green for Henry. Never met a Boulder.

He couldn't push Washington. Signing off. Thank you all for listening to the Bigger Pockets Real Estate podcast. Make sure you get all our new episodes by subscribing on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Our new episodes come out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm the host and executive producer of the show, Dave Meyer. The show is produced by Ian K.

Copywriting is by Kellogg. co content, and editing is by Exodus Media. If you'd like to learn more about real estate investing or to sign up for our free newsletter, please visit www.com. The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only. All host and participant opinions are their own. Investment in any asset, real estate included, involves risk. So use your best judgment and consult with qualified advisors before investing. You should only risk capital you can afford to lose. And remember, past performance is not indicative of future results. Bigger Pocket's LLC disclaims all liability for direct, indirect, consequential, or other damages arising from a reliance on information presented

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