BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast - 779: How Delivering Pizzas Helped Me Build a 27-Unit Rental Portfolio w/Pamela Bardhi

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

The key to financial freedom? Work as a pizza delivery driver! Not only will you learn how to handle high-pressure situations, but you might also find your next property on a regular pizza run! At least that’s what Pamela Bardhi did to build her twenty-seven-unit rental property portfolio and reach financial independence in her late twenties! Pamela’s family moved to the United States when she was just five years old, thrusting her into the restaurant business before she realized that real estate was her true passion. Pamela did everything right. She studied hard, got scholarships, worked at internships, and built her own business, but she was still miserable. Working every day of the week, often twelve hours at a time, was eating away at her. She wanted some side income to help her dial back the time spent building her business, but when her first deal turned into a $100,000 profit, the property game was too enticing to resist. Since then, she’s scaled to massive heights and wants you to do the same. With twenty-seven rental units, over one hundred deals done, and a financially free lifestyle by thirty-one, Pamela knows what it takes to build a property portfolio FAST. But she also knows what can make it crumble. Pamela shares her three BIGGEST lessons learned from doing over one hundred deals and how she turned delivering pizzas into a passive income stream that will create generational wealth for her whole family. In This Episode We Cover: How to reach financial independence with rentals in under ten years  The three biggest lessons every real estate investor must learn to NOT get burnt on a deal Passive vs. active income and why the investor life isn’t for everyone  Becoming your own boss and quitting corporate to do what truly fuels you How the right mentor can immensely speed up your road to early retirement  Real estate partnership red flags that’ll lead to you losing money or pulling your hair out  And So Much More! Links from the Show Find an Agent Find a Lender BiggerPockets Youtube Channel BiggerPockets Forums BiggerPockets Pro Membership BiggerPockets Bookstore BiggerPockets Bootcamps BiggerPockets Podcast BiggerPockets Merch BPCON2023 Listen to All Your Favorite BiggerPockets Podcasts in One Place Learn About Real Estate, The Housing Market, and Money Management with The BiggerPockets Podcasts Get More Deals Done with The BiggerPockets Investing Tools Find a BiggerPockets Real Estate Meetup in Your Area David's BiggerPockets Profile David's Instagram David’s YouTube Channel Work with David Pick Up Some of David Greene’s Best Selling Books Rob's Instagram Rob's TikTok Rob's Twitter Rob's YouTube From DoorDasher to $1.5 MILLION in Real Estate (All at 22 Years Old!) The 30-Something’s Guide to Financial Freedom Flipping Houses: How to Get Started and Everything You Should Know Connect with Pamela: Pamela's BiggerPockets Profile Pamela's Instagram Pamela's LinkedIn Pamela's Website Click here to listen to the full episode: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-779 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email [e-mail]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Bigger Pockets podcast show, 779. I went from delivering pizzas to a nine-figure real estate career, which was absolutely insane. And she literally said to me, the words that changed my life, you're just too ambitious. This is big money and you could lose your damn shirt. Real estate is the freedom vehicle, period. What's going on, everyone is David Green, your host of the Bigger Pockets Real Estate podcast, the biggest, the best, the baddest real estate podcast in the world. joined today by a fellow bad man, Robert Alas Solo. Rob, how you feel today?

I'm feeling good. I'm feeling energized. I walked 10,000 steps today. I worked out. I launched a company. I did. You know, it's like the running joke on on Instagram where they're like, start an LLC by 6 a.m. I actually did. Not by 6, but like later on. So it feels good. I'm feeling like I got a new, a new vibe about me. How about that? Apparently walking 10,000 steps can completely change your life. So there you have it. This is what Rob considers exercise. And, and, well, no, I also worked out, cool it, pal. Okay.

I thought you were saying the workout was the 10,000 steps, and I was a little disappointed. That's in addition to the workout. Now I'm getting excited. Okay. And, and, and very important. I, I, through new company, I was able to save us $400,000 to $600,000 in taxes on our Scottsdale property. through cost segregation and bonus depreciation and all that good stuff. So yeah, it always feels nice to lower your tax bill.

Oh, yeah. And I love that you took credit for it. Like you invented cost segregation or had the crazy idea to utilize it for the situation when that's one of the reasons we bought the house. That's true. However, however, my company is a cost segregation company and thus. Oh, I did not know about this. You have a cost segregation company now.

I do. All right. Well, slow down over there, Turbo. You're making all the rest of us feel inferior. Well, you have like 18 company. You start LLCs by like 15 LLCs by 5 a.m. That's me. I'm that guy.

Jocco's up doing a workout and I'm up starting an LLC. That's exactly right. In today's show, we interview Pamela Barty, who has a fascinating story, who went from delivering $9 pizzas to owning a nine-figure real estate portfolio. And you can too. We interviewed Pamela and she shares a lot of practical advice as well as sort of the emotional parts of her story where her brain clicked, things changed, and she got off of the wrong path and on to the right path where she's now living her best life. And we are excited to bring this to you. Rob,

what were some of your favorite parts of today's show? I think it's honestly, it's a really great story because we get right into why she wants to build generational wealth. A lot of people just sort of toss that out there. But she gave us the motivation on how to do that. She talked about how she found a mentor that helped guide her through a lot of her first deals and how that led into a lot of the successes. She's done a hundred deals and she's like 31. I mean, it's like a very motivating guest to have on the pod. And very fun too. You guys are going to love this one. You're going to want to go follow her when you're done. Before we bring in Pamela, today's quick tip is you've got the skills. Now go put them to work in real estate. Many people listening to this. Yes, you as you're listening

right now, have specific skills that you develop through life experiences or workplace experiences or a combination of the two. Those will help you in your real estate. career, just look for the right opportunity to use them. And a bonus quick tip to listen for, your pizza delivery guy may help you build a deal funnel for deals. Listen to today's show to find out how. All right, let's bring in Pamela. Pamela, welcome to the Bigger Pockets podcast. How are you today? I am doing lovely, my friend. How are you? I am wonderful. And I'm excited to dig into your story here. There's so many cool parts of it. So people have a little understanding of your background, you have done over 100 deals between flips and renovations, currently owned 27 units,

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Get a quote in minutes at biggerpockets.com slash landlord insurance. Steadily, landlord insurance designed for the modern investor. So Pamela, what are your dogs in names first off? Let's give them a shout out. Absolutely. Ria, who's five years old and blue, who's a year and a half. They are hilarious. Okay.

This sounds like the makings of a country song already. We're up to a great start here. Do you call them Old Blue by chance? I feel like you got to call the dog Old Before Blue. I have not yet, but I've definitely got to mention that to him. He is a spunky dude. All right. So tell me, how has real estate investing transformed your life up to this point?

Where do I even begin? I mean, it's transcended generations from me at this point, which is, I think, the most beautiful part of it all. by the time I was 27, I went from delivering pizzas to a nine-figure real estate career, which was absolutely insane. And, you know, in the development game, getting in the development game, the construction game, learning about how to add value to properties and all these different things. And then building my own portfolio in this realm has really enabled me to kind of be financially free at such a young age and also create generational wealth for my family to come and

generations beyond that, if they're smart with it, of course, and maintain what I've established. But yes, that's, I think, the most powerful thing about real estate. It's a long game, right? You guys say that all the time. Like, it's a long game. Aside from that, too, is also community, right? Like, how cool is it that real estate is the space, like, as developers, and as people in real estate, we help to define communities, right? We help get people into those homes. We create those homes. you know, there's a whole, you know, ideology that I have all about all of that, but it's just the coolest thing in the world for me. That's really cool. Well, I don't want to, I don't want to glaze over what you said, which is like you went from delivering $9 pizzas to building a nine

figure real estate business. That's really cool. One thing that you mentioned was generational wealth. And I was just sort of curious on, is there a particular reason why you want to build generational wealth? Because that is something we talk about a lot in real estate, but I don't think we ever get into why that's important to the actual individual. Is there anything in particular that that resonates for you why that's such an important goal? Totally. So, I mean, I came to the U.S. when I was about five years old and my parents came here with nothing to build the American dream. And really, everything from such a young age for me in my ear was build for your family, build for the future, do all of that stuff. And then my parents, you know, getting into business and all of that.

and then me eventually getting into real estate, I saw the impact of all of that kind of in the long run. And I understood how powerful real estate truly is. I mean, you know, we all think about like, oh, let's make money, let's do this, let's get into real estate, let's do this long term. And then we really look at it. And most people don't ask themselves like, why am I doing this? You know, like, why hustle so hard? Why do this? Why go crazy over all of this? And the answer is legacy, right? Why are we working our tails off at this point? It's so. that our generations can then have something we didn't have and continue to elevate the generational line continuously down the line because real estate builds that wealth. I mean, last stat I read was

76% of the U.S. Their main source of wealth comes from their primary residence, which is insane. You know, they take equity lines of credit to pay for college. I mean, there's all kinds of stuff. Like, this is a powerful wealth vehicle for Americans. So as we mentioned, you're in Boston now. is that where you grew up? Yeah. So when I was five years old, we moved to Boston Mass, and that's where we've been kind of this whole time since we came from Italy, because I was born in Tehran, Albania, which is right above Greece, moved to Italy when I was about six months old. And then we won the visa lottery when I was about five to come to the U.S. and we came straight to Boston. Okay. So you were five years old when you came here. So most of your life you've lived here, how did you avoid picking up the Boston accent? I don't hear any of it right now. I don't know. I see the thing. is, Dave, a lot of people tell me that I do have it. They're like, oh, you must be from Boston. And I'm like, I don't want to have an accent. Tell me that you parked the car near the water. No, neither have it, Yard. I parked the car near Harvard Yard. See, I see my R's and everything. I'm like, I don't know what. Where do the people say I get the Boston accent? It's hilarious.

All right. So you avoided a Boston accent, but you did not avoid being exposed to entrepreneurialism. I understand that you went to college. What was your major in school? So when I went to undergrad. I went to Stonehill College. And I literally thought, so my parents came here when I was about five years old. My dad ended up buying a restaurant when I was about 10. He spent many, many years working like three jobs. I barely saw my dad when we were growing up. So my dad worked all types of jobs and eventually ended up buying a restaurant because his best friend gave him a down payment to do so. And he said, hey man, you know, the way that you build wealth in America is one of two ways. A, you own real estate, B, you own your own business.

He's like, I know you don't have the credit to buy real estate right now, but keep that in mind for the future. But here's a down payment go out and buy a restaurant. So my father bought a restaurant when I was about 10 years old. And it was the coolest thing ever because I just wanted to hang out with my dad. And so I dragged myself to work with him. When I went to college, though, ironically enough, my parents said, hey, Pam, you know, we really, like, we want you to get into something that's more secure.

like we don't want you like working 12 to 14 hours like we do in our business and like, you know, just so that you can get married, do, you know, start a family, do that stuff, which is interesting coming from entrepreneurs, right? But the restaurant business is really tough, especially, you know, and growing up in the immigrant mentality of like, you know, how much you physically work determines your success levels. That's a whole other thing. So when I went to college, I actually went in for marketing.

I got like a full scholarship to Stonehill and I was wicked pumped, say that Boston came out. And so, you know, and then I'm taking the supplied calculus class. And first off, like, I don't even understand algebra one, let alone algebra two and then get into calculus. So I get to the middle of the semester and I have like a 40 in this class. And I'm like, I'm going to lose my scholarship. Like, I need to drop this class. I'm thinking that I went in for marketing was then, you know, going to graduate stone ill and work corporate and then get into. And then get into. to, you know, a nine to five. And then when I was 40, like, started business or something.

That was not the case. I dropped this class and I thought my entire world ended, basically. Because I could no longer take that major because I needed that class. Isn't it funny how certain classes click and they make all the sense in the world and other ones for the life of you no matter how hard you work? Something just doesn't fit. Like very smart people can struggle with. certain topics. I think a lot of people that go through an experience like yours, they feel there's

something wrong with them. It crushes their confidence. They think I'm just not meant for this. Other people are good at this, not me. And then the saddest thing ever happens, they quit. They say, all right, well, I'm just going to resign myself to being a secretary or playing small in some way because I tried and I wasn't smart enough. I didn't make it. Did you have a moment like that where you questioned your ability to start a business, to be an entrepreneur, to be successful, or did you just have an unflappable confidence that carried you through that? Well, you made a lot of interesting points there. Now, some classes struck more than others, and it was so interesting to me how, like, I loved geometry. I was a beast at chemistry.

Like, I had 101 average in chemistry. Like, it's not even, like, I should have been in Breaking Bad. Like, I should have been casted for that at this point, to be honest. But it's, I really got to a point where I got super down to myself. I'm like, dang, like, why don't I get this? No matter like how much I try, it seems like I'm like beating myself against a wall and it's just not working. And, you know, I just, you know, I've always been surrounded by incredible mentors and incredible souls in my life that were like, Pam, like, just because that doesn't work for you means that you just meant for something else. And that is totally cool and totally okay. And don't freak out. So I decided to then be dramatic.

and changed my entire major to communications in which I loved because I love people. I absolutely love people. And then shortly thereafter, I was missing the whole business piece because I love that. Business, you know, it's something that was kind of inherent to me. Like imagine like you're in the restaurant business since you were 10 years old. You develop all these business skills. I mean, my parents were making me pay bills by the time I was like 12. They're like, Pam, you call them and make the payment over the phone. And I'm like, I don't know what to say. They're like, well, we can't speak English, so you're going to have to do it, you know. And so these like skill sets that, you know, as a kid, you know, I was like, oh my God, this is so annoying. Like, no other kid has to do this, but it built me into business. So reflecting back on that when I was in college, it was kind of like, well, I'm missing the whole business element of this. I love entrepreneurship. So that's when I decided to go into Stonehill and say, hey, I want to double major and I want to create. my own major in entrepreneurship. And I remember as Professor Ubertasio. And he's like, Pim, you'd be the first

in school history to do that. I mean, we've had minors, but never a major. So that's when I combined the two. But even still at that point, still at that point, I didn't think that I was going to be an entrepreneur right when I graduated. I had another moment, another one. Okay. All right. So, well, first of all, I just had like a flashback to my childhood because my parents are also immigrants. And I used to always have to call companies and pretend to be my dad or my mom, you know, whenever I had a higher voice. I did that. I've never met anyone else that had to do that. So small connection there. But I know you were helping your parents out occasionally with the restaurant. You picked up another sort of side hustle or another part-time job in college too, right? I created it for

sure. I've always loved music. I've always been at parties like under 21s, anything that I can get into I was there. I was vibed. That was my jam. So come college days, you know, I'm a freshman going out on campus at Stonehill. And I'm blown all these parties. I'm like, this music is horrendous. Like, you can't even dance to this. Like, who are these people? Who are, who's DJing these things? And so went back to my room with my three roommates. And we just threw a party and it just got super wild. And from there, my name spread around campus. And all of a sudden, I became DJ Pammy B. and was getting paid stupid money per night to DJ and get free drinks and get free food and everything. And back in 2009, that was a lot of money, like 300 bucks a night plus food plus

drinks was unreal. I was like, guys, I've made it. So it's something I did all four years and it was a blast. It was cool because it was like, you know, you control the energy of the room. You're bringing different cultures together. It's some vibe. And the story. stuff you see from the DJ booth is hysterical. You get the best view of all of it. So this experience broke you out of the like paint color by number go here, go there, go there. Here's the box you fit in.

Then you move to this one and this one. The kind of the corporate world that you were preparing yourself to get into to seeing creativity, to seeing opportunity, to making your own way. Like I guess as a DJ, you can create the environment you want. as opposed to in the corporate world, you bounce around looking for the environment you want. What was the turning point where you decided you were going to do your own thing that you weren't going to wait until you were 40 to start that business? Yeah, so it happened on accident.

It was my junior year I was entering into. I was still fixated that I was going to be in marketing when I graduated undergrad. So I was like, you know what? Spring semester, I'm going to do an internship and I'm going to rock it. And so I got the internship, which was extremely difficult to get into. The end of the internship, I go in for my final. review for my internship. And my supervisor's like, oh yeah, Pam, like, you know, thank you so much for everything throughout the semester, you know, and I'm like, oh, yeah, don't know, thank you guys,

learned so much. This is so cool. Like, what a different experience for me. You know, what's my grade? And of course, I'm the kid that showed up every single day. I was going above and beyond, was crushing it, participating in everything, like, like teacher's pet level type stuff. but I'm just built to do things at a very high level and to always be doing multiple things at once. Like, I can't sit still, right? And so she's like, oh, Pam, it's a B minus. And I was like, can I just ask why? You know, the interior of me was like filled with rage, right?

Because I'm like, dude, I showed up. I did all the things. Why did I get a B minus here? Like, I get punished for doing the right thing. Like, I don't get it. And she literally said to me the words that changed my life. life. You're just too ambitious. And I remember hearing that and just like going ballistic in my mind, like, you know, but still got to keep your cool in front of people, right? Like, you're like,

you're just too ambitious. Like, I like lost my mind. I'm like, that's the one thing my parents always said to do was just to be ambitious and go out there and get it and whatever it is that you want and go get it. And that's what I did my whole life, whatever I wanted. I got it, period, because I worked my tail off for it. Now, if it was meant for me or not, you know, dictates itself in the future. But, you know, I remember walking out of that room and, you know, I said, thank you so much. And, you know, I was walking out of the office threshold door. And I remember, you know, just like a little tap on my shoulder that was like, hey, Pam, you're not meant to work for anybody when you graduate. You're meant to do your own thing. This is why this didn't work out. And I felt this immediate relief. And I was like, oh, I get it. And later that summer, you know, my dad had a vacancy coming up in his building next to his restaurant, which is where I had been like my whole life.

You know, that's where I worked and helped my parents and all of that. And I had the opportunity to present a business plan to my dad. And so that's what I did and got prepared for a senior year. Okay. So, so you tried too hard and you crushed it too hard at your internship. And they're like, hey, we don't like, we don't like overachievers over here. We only do the status quo. And so that sort of lit this fire in you to be like, all right, I'm going to be too ambitious but for myself.

I feel like I said that weird, myself. And then you called your parents and you're like, hey, guys, I'm never going to work for somebody. And somehow miraculously, I mean, I imagine they understood the grit that you had, but they were on board. And this sort of like, did real estate come right into the picture as soon as the vacancy opened at your dad's place? or was it sometime after that? It was sometime after that. So ironically, I had two restaurants by the time I was 21 because I was super young in college. So I graduated like a year early from everyone.

So I opened my first restaurant, which was Rhea. And then I was offered a partnership opportunity on another restaurant in downtown Boston. So I had two restaurants that I was running by like my senior year. At 21? Uh-huh. And one of them, the one in downtown Boston was like, the biggest food operations in the entire country. So like if you know where the hatch shell is in Boston where they do July 4th, like the pops and all that. So my partner, we ran that. So we ran

every food vendor from like the mass app. So from the Museum of Science to the Mass Ave bridge, which is miles. So we controlled that. And then we had a brick and mortar location as well. So and I had another restaurant on top of that. So this was me at 21 hustling around. Like I mean working every single day because events, you know, primarily weekends, right? And it's like 12 to 14 hour days and I'm sitting here like, man, this is craziness. I'm like, I started two of my own businesses. I thought this was going to be the dream and like, here I am, still hustling, still grinding, still working. Like, what is going on? Right. I still wasn't fulfilled and it felt so messed up. This is another moment that I felt like down and out and failure on myself because I'm like,

this is like people's dreams to open their own business. And here I am not fulfilled. I felt like an ungrateful like little kid. I'm like, but I wasn't happy. And then, you know, these real estate developers started to come through our stores and my restaurants. I'm like, who are these dudes, man? They come in like whenever they want, they have the nicest cars, the nicest clothes, are talking about their vacation. and how they're going to leave on Thursday night to go to their, you know, vacation house. And I'm like, there is no way that they do anything legal. Like, these are drug dealers, 100,000 percent.

These are drug dealers. Like, there's no legality in what they do. And then I started talking about, I'm like, what do you guys actually do? You know, and started getting into it. And they were telling me about making your money work for you. And just like concepts that you've never heard before. And here it was, you know, I went through undergrad, a very expensive undergrad. luckily I had it full scholarship there but you know did all the things that society told me to right like

you know it even started my own businesses and just all these things and yet I still wasn't exposed to these ideologies and these types of businesses were you know making everybody work for you investing like what is what is that you know as an immigrant we knew that hustle determined your success levels like if you weren't working then you weren't successful period and that's just the way it was and so that's when I decided to go into real estate investing because I was like, what is this game that they're talking about? Like, I don't know. I don't get it. Like, this is pretty, pretty cool. It's like, let me look into this. And that's when I dove in. So again, a whole other accident that kind of just happened on its own. Wow. That's crazy. Well, you know, an accident, quote unquote, but I think really

it's your ability to adapt, I'm sure, is sort of really what forms your entire career. It's really cool to hear this unfold. So let's get into your early deals. First, it sounds like from our previous talk, you had a mentor. So what made you choose to get a mentor diving right into real estate? Well, I mean, so my game plan and getting into real estate and the reason why I got into it was not for me to get out of restaurants. My whole game plan was like, hey, I want to do a flip or two per year so that I can have some additional income, you know, aside from my restaurants. And it's something that I can do because I don't have to be on site every day and, you know, all these things. So my uncle was a GC and all of that.

And so I remember thinking about getting into it. And I literally went to every networking event that I possibly could, connected with everyone that I possibly could. And everything, and this was around the time that HGTV was really blown up, flip or flop, and all those shows were coming out and all of that. And I remember just thinking of myself, I'm like, Pam, you have so much to lose. like you need to hire a coach and my mentors were telling me the same thing

they're like Pam you know this is a brand new game for you you've got a lot to lose you have two restaurants you've got employees and things you can't just like try to figure it out this is big money where you could lose thousands like yes it's high risk high reward but you also it's high risk and you could lose your damn shirt and so that that was that was the best move I ever did literally yeah learn from someone else's experience right

And so obviously it sounds like you were able to avoid a ton of mistakes, but you said that you wanted to do a couple of flips every single year to start making some extra income every single year. You landed on flips. How did you land on what to look for in a flip, really not knowing much about the real estate landscape? So everything ran by my coach. Like I was trained by him like every like every single move that I made was always like audited. And I like to say, I'm like, okay, so show me the way. How do I get to these deals? How do I make this happen? Like, it was like a step by step. I got like the hand holding the whole time. So he told me, you know, Pam, the number one thing is you fall in love with numbers and not the actual house.

And you run numbers and analyze every single property. He's like, but first you've got to figure out, like, what are you going to buy? You know, what's your budget? What are you going to buy? And then from there, you can work numbers. But if you're kind of in the unknown, like, you're, like, you're, going to be all over the place, right, which is what happens with most investors as they're starting. They want to do everything, everywhere. You know, they live on the East Coast, but they want to do a deal on the West Coast because they think magically somehow it's going to happen, right? So, you know, you told me you get very focused on what it is that you want, figure out your asset class, your budget, and then move from there. And I said, well, you know, I'd like to start with a single

family. It seems manageable. I don't want to go into like a two or three unit property when it's my first, like, rehab, you know? I want to be as low risk as I possibly can in single family was that. So that's what we were looking for. And we came across an awesome deal from a local wholesaler actually and picked that deal up. That was like that was the deal that made me go all in in real estate, to be honest with you. It sounds so obvious when you say it because it's sort of like hiring a personal trainer at a gym. They just know how to guide you immediately. Hey, this is what you do. This is what you don't do. You do this and this and this. If you do all these things, you'll have results. And I kind of feel like sometimes coaches get way too much of a bad.

shake in this industry, but it sounds like it ended up working for you pretty, pretty fantastically. So I do want to hear about your first flip. Tell us the story. How did it all pan out? Sure. Well, the first day that I pulled up to it, I couldn't find it. I drove by it like 17 times. And I was like, what is this thing? And I remember going in and it was like terrifying. Like it had fallen apart. And the family, so the story was that the family had, so the kids were out of state. They're older. they moved out of state and the parents had gone to a nursing home. And so the house had been sitting vacant for a while and serious disrepair, which was super sad because I could see so many different beautiful characteristics in the house like cathedral ceilings and all this gorgeousness that I had and all

the potential that I had. And I remember, you know, the sellers really, you know, the son was mainly handling it and he said to me, he said something to me and he's like, Pam, you know, please just one thing, like, please restore this house the way we remember it as kids, you know, because that was like our home that we grew up in and we really like, we just want to see it come back to life because it's so sad to see it and disappear. So pick that thing up at like 150. It was an awesome deal. You know, I'm like, I wish we could do 150s here in, uh, around the Boston mass market. And then it was, it was a full gut rehab. You know, we added another bathroom and all the things. It ended up being a three-bed, two-bath, and it came out absolutely gorgeous. And I'll

never forget, I sent those photos to the family in the video walk-throughs when we were done, and they were absolutely mind-blown. They're like, how did you do that? Like, it looks absolutely unreal. Like, Pam, thank you so much for restoring that, you know, and our family legacy can now continue, you know, that we're happy that it's at the stage now. And then I'll never forget, I'm sitting there at the open house. And I'm like, I'm just soaking it all in. Like, I'm just like, I see the family that actually ended up buying the property and they're interacting with it. They're engaging with it. They're loving it and like, you know, talking about all the details, like all the things and all like the heart and soul that I put into it. They're talking about it. And I'm like,

wow, this is the coolest thing in the world. It was like a very surreal experience for me. Kind of sitting back and being like, holy crap. Like, this is how you, this is how you impact. people, right? Like, you literally are creating the homes or the properties that people create memories in. Like, that's the craziest thing in the entire world. Like, the coolest thing and the greatest privilege. So that was the affirmation. Like, this is where I'm supposed to be. I'm doing the right thing. Oh, my God, yeah. Now, I'm curious because you grew up in the restaurant industry, trying to figure out how do we use space, how do we create an environment that people want to make memories? They're kind of coming here. They're going to eat. You want them to feel welcome. You

want them to be in an environment that they're comfortable, they're going to laugh, tell jokes. You sort of applied that same logic to housing. Do you think that was just happenstance? Or do you think that some of your background in the entrepreneurial world made it so that designing homes clicked for you? Totally. So it was something that I didn't even realize that I had. Like I can literally walk into a space and see it all.

You know, for me, it was like, nothing scares me. He still doesn't. And people are amazed by that. Like, it'll be just like the crappiest, dingiest. and they're like, Pam, I like. And I'm like, oh, if you take them this wall and this wall, I'll keep this open concept and this and this is like, I can see the final product up here in ways that other people can't.

Like, my visualization skills are on a whole other level when it comes to that. And that's what happened with that property. And to add some figures and some backdrop on that one, I made 100K on that deal. I put in about, I think it was like 125, and then we had some holding costs and stuff and ultimately sold it for over 400. So on my first deal, you know, making pretty much 100K profit. You know, I'm thinking of myself as somebody who owns

two restaurants, like, how many dinners or sandwiches do I have to sell to net 100K? It's a lot of sandwiches, right? So it all started clicking for me. And, you know, designing out my restaurants, I didn't realize that I had that skill set in designing places and things and how that really applied to what was going to happen down the line in real estate, you know, through development and all of that. So it was all connected. I see it now. But at the time, I was like always so super confused. So Pam, you have now done over 100 deals like we said when we started the podcast here. What are some lessons that you can share that you've learned along the way? So the top three, I would say is financial forecasting, operational efficiencies, and partnerships.

So those three things have been the most critical that I've learned. And starting with financial forecasting, now, I tend to be a very optimistic human being. And the thing is, I'm like, oh, I can get it done within six months. I can get it done, you know, with X amount budget. Found out a couple of times that that really wasn't the case, right? Like I over, under budgeted where I was supposed to and realized that cash flow is really important right cash is king to keep all the deals moving and flowing so you don't run into any issues however how did i mitigate that right and what was the lesson learned there number one is

make sure you're opting in for a contingency on every single one of your deals create a cushion for yourself in every deal that you do i don't care if it's a flip i don't care if it's a buy and hold i don't care if it's anything like that make sure you're allocating 20 to 25 percent like hey if this goes south I'm going to make sure that I have this in my budget to allocate for that. And guess what? If the project goes awesome and you're just as optimistic as you thought you were going to be, then amazing. You get to keep that money at the end of the day,

but at least allocate that when you're analyzing the deal from day one. Tying into the financial forecasting model, another item that I would like to add in there is making sure that you have several different exit strategies when it comes to a property. We're in a market where things seem to be changing on a month-by-month basis. So if you're purchasing something as a flip, make sure that you are also running it as a long-term hold just in case that property for some reason isn't selling or it's going to sell for less than what you thought it would so that you're not losing money on the deal. So make sure that when you're running your numbers from

day one, you're analyzing different ways that you can get out of that deal with your shirt on. So if it's going to be a flip or buy and hold, make sure you at least got two ways, ways out. So operational efficiencies, what I found was whenever I would have a deal that was more than 30 minutes away from each other, I would have operational inefficiencies. For example, I'm in Boston and there's North Shore and South Shore. And typically, there's no contractor who works on the North Shore that's going to go to South Shore. It's just they don't cross certain highways. They work in their zone and that's it. And I found that I lost a lot of time that way, which means I lost a lot of money. So the key here is to make sure that you're centralized in operation. So if you've got one project

going on and you're looking to scale some more, try to keep them within like 15, 20 minutes of each other. I keep the same contractors on the job. It's going to keep things moving much faster. So that is definitely lesson number two. So number three, partnerships and pretty much all the clan of people that you're going to have around you, surrounding you during these projects, which is a whole lot of people. making sure that you vet them correctly, right? Make sure that your goals are aligned. And for example, like ask yourself question number one, would I have a drink with this person? Would I actually party with this person? The answer is no, most likely you're not with the right. You're not with the right partner. You want to enjoy the company and build long-term relationships, right? You don't want to just,

for example, start with one lender and then move on to the next and move on to the next. You want to stay solid with one partner, like one attorney, one lender, that kind of thing, so that that way you're cranking out efficiently and building for the long term together and have aligned goals. That's super important for long term growth and scaling. So what's a red flag that you look for in partnerships? Some red flags to look out for when you are vetting your partners is like anybody who's really trying to like throw themselves at you, I find is like very uncomfortable and strange and never really works out well.

like if they're trying to throw themselves at you and get very salesy and you can feel that right away you're like okay this is probably not the partner and then you're going to ask yourself that question like what I actually want to hang out with this person probably not because they're like seem very very clingy right just like all of these things are things to think about you know when you're vetting your partners because you're going to be dealing with them nonstop and typically they say that 10% of the people in the market do 90% of the deals and that's the truth like the big dogs, the ones who are out there doing deals, are the ones who really don't say much, right? Like, it's a referral basis. They do things, you know, on their own and that kind of thing.

That's who you want to be affiliated with, for sure. That's awesome. 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. That's the power of the Funrise Flagship Fund. Now, you can invest in a $1.1 billion portfolio of real estate, starting with as little as $10. The portfolio features 4,700 single-family rental homes spread across the booming sunbelt.

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What would I say to new real estate investors or those who are just simply interested in real estate in general? Well, first things first is you've got to ask yourself, Do you want to be a passive or an active investor? Right? That's the first place to start because real estate is a very overwhelming type of industry. You can make money everywhere. The question is, how do you want to make it? And how does it suit your lifestyle and fit your needs? So are you going to go passive, which means you're investing in a fund and then you get your dividends in return and you're kind of hands off on the deal? Or is it that you want to be an active investor and like purchase

properties and be hands on and kind of do the thing, right? Whether it's buy or buy and hold or do fix or flip deals. So that's the question to start with baseline. Like, hey, passive or active and then before you do absolutely anything else, that's step number one. Now, for step number two for advice for new investors is how do you choose your market? Because I, oh my God, this has been one that I've had to guide so many, so many people on. And I'm like, listen, it doesn't have to be super complicated. Just start in your market. When I started literally, the best market that I knew was West Roxbury here based in Boston, Massachusetts, because that's where I delivered pizzas. And literally, I was like, well, this is where I have the relationships the best. This is where I know

every street. This is where I know all the things. So why would I now start here? You know, when I've become super big, then I can go crazy and go everywhere else. The third piece of advice for new real estate investors, anyone interested in getting into the real estate game is surrounding yourself with like-minded people and creating partnerships off of that, right? Because in the beginning, like, when I had absolutely no idea what I was doing in real estate, didn't know anything about it, I started going to networking events. Essentially, I wanted to surround myself with real estate developers, because that's what I knew I wanted to do. I had decided that I wanted to be an active investor, that I wanted to flip a couple of houses a year. I knew I wanted to do

it in my market, which was in Boston. So I looked for events in Boston, that I could go out and meet like-minded people and people who are doing deals in that market. So that's super important. I mean, if you're connecting with people, like say you're on East Coast and you're connecting with people on the West Coast, it'd be a little bit different because those are different markets, right? So surround yourself with like-minded people that are doing the things that you want to do in your market, most specifically, and if not, somewhere close by. And from there, you can start to meet your lenders, your attorneys, there's contractors, there's other real estate investors, and you start to get all these tips. And sometimes in the very beginning, you can't,

you may not be equipped to handle a deal completely by yourself. So maybe there's somebody that you can partner with at one of those events that you meet. I hear that all the time. So those are definitely the top three things I would suggest when getting started. What are some of the skills that you gained working in your family's restaurants and then running yours that you feel translated into real estate? And what I'm hoping for here is people that are in a position right now. They work for a CPA. They're a paralegal. They're a nurse. They have something where they're They've built skills, and we want them to understand how that could translate into real estate success and make the transition easier for them.

So first and foremost, I think that everyone who wants to start a business or get into real station have the prerequisite of working as a bartender and or waitress or waiter before they do that because that is like the biggest pressure test of all time. So being in restaurants since I was 10 years old, I was taught to improvise. I was taught customer service skills, how to connect. with people, like how to manage a million different things at once, operations, things, like all these things that I didn't even know were like, became second nature to me. And so translating into real estate, you know, managing people, you know, motivating people,

helping them when there was deals, you know, because in real estate we have, we put out fires all the time. That translated over beautifully, all of it, because all the skills that I built in the restaurant world completely translated over. even though it seems like completely different industries, it touched on the same things, right? You're problem solving at the end of the day. You're literally problem solving in relationships, which I love. And so for anyone who's out there that's looking to transition into real estate, I mean, I say this all the time to everyone that I know. I'm like, guys, real estate fits into your life differently, right? Whether you're a nurse, doctor, whatever.

If you want completely passive income, invest in a fund and just close your eyes and that's how you're going to get invested in real estate. If you want to be hands on, then it's going to be a little bit more different than that. But just know that there's different ways for you to get involved in real estate that there could be ways that doesn't work for most people would have works for you, right? Like maybe you side hustle on the side and you want to be a real estate agent because you want to get closer to the deals. Maybe you partner with a local developer and invest in their deals. I mean, there's a million different ways you get involved with real estate. And just because like your nurse or doctor, you're in a totally different industry does not mean that it can stop you from investing in it.

I mean, listen, your primary residence is real estate right there. So, you know, you choose how active, how passive and how deep you want to go. Just don't be afraid of it. And if you are afraid of it and if you are afraid of that risk, then just kind of back up and say, who can I align with that can make this a little bit easier, right? like maybe it's a local developer like I was mentioning or something something that you're taking the risk off yourself because there's people that I've heard that are like oh p.m, you know, to be successful in real estate, I've heard you've got to quit everything and put all this money in and do all this. I'm like, guys, no, that is like the biggest lie ever. Like just because one person did it

one way doesn't mean it's going to translate the same for you, you know? Question for you, because I worked in restaurants all the way through college. Do you still get those anxiety-fueled dreams where you're in the restaurant and you're trying to put the pizza in the box and you drop it on the floor and then you try to open the next box and it won't open. And then you realize you left the pizza in the oven and it's burned and the phone's ringing it and like everything is going wrong and you can't get your hands to work. Like, am I the only one that has those terrible nightmares or have you had those two? I have completely had those two, Dave. Honestly, I absolutely have. And it's so funny because I used to

deliver pizzas as well. So like sometimes I would drive too fast and the cheese wasn't fully settled on that top layer. And if it had toppings and I'll like open it and I'll be like, oh my God, the green peppers are everywhere. Like, you know, you're not alone. You're totally not alone on that one. Rob, did you ever have anything like that similar nightmares in your past jobs? Never. You didn't have a marketing dream where they're like, Rob, what is your great idea? And you're just, oh my God, I don't have one. And everyone's staring at you disappointed. Yeah, I guess my nightmare was that I would be so successful at my nine to five that I'd keep getting promoted and then settle into the status quo of just living day to day for,

you know, the corporate, uh, the corporate machine that bogs us down and doesn't really ever let us spread our wing and fly away. And so, yeah, that was my nightmare for a long time, but thank goodness I'm a real estate investor. So your nightmare was that I, you were too good at what you did and you just got too comfortable that they would tell me I was too ambitious. All right. Well, thank you for it. Those things are real, dude. When you work in the service industry, you are dealing with so much pressure and anxiety that's like building up and you just don't realize it. It all comes out in your dreams. And years later, I was doing that a long time ago, like 20 years later, I'm still having these nightmares.

I'm glad it's just not me. This inspires me to start a YouTube series with you because, you know, we always get the headlines. Like, I'm sure the headline for this podcast is like from $9 pizzas to nine figure portfolio. But we never, we never hear like, it's always like from waiter to a million. but we never hear from millionaire to waiter. And so maybe you and I do a YouTube series where we go back to our grassroots and become a waiter again. That could be fun.

And see if we still have the chops. Yeah, see if we still have what it takes. Maybe like make an instructional video for other people. I could do that. Here's how you learn how to be a good waiter. I've often thought of that because like everybody wants to be the millionaire. But sometimes you've got to be good at what you're doing to build the skills like what Pamela was just saying.

She got good at this, which translated to this, which translated to this. that ultimately led you, Pam, to where you are today versus trying to skip that whole process and not given your best. And that's my philosophy is you have to pursue excellence with where you are. That will open up doors to get you somewhere new. So let's recap your current portfolio, 27 properties, the president of a real estate consulting and development company, a nine-figure net worth by the age of 30. What's next?

So it's interesting. That, yes, that was a beautiful recap. It's been a hell of a journey, though. You know, going into flips that I got into construction because that was boots on the ground the whole time and then getting into brokerage because people are like, Pam, you're leaving money on the table by not getting involved in these deals. Everyone's asking you for advice. So that's kind of how the trifect of all three came up. And that's how I really built this career was through diversified revenue streams in real estate, not just development. And kind of when I got to my first net seven figure year is when I had this little tap on the shoulder that's like, hmm, Pam, this is when I was 27. you're doing great things for yourself. What are you doing for the world? And I was like, well, damn. And then that's when I started kind of soul searching and, you know, dove into wanting to get into the coaching space because, again, realizing that real estate changed my life, right? And so that's kind of what has been happening alongside all of this, you know, the development, the construction,

all that stuff. The consulting and the coaching side of this is really helping people get to the next level. and then really thinking about intention has really been the next thing that I'm really like honed in on and Rob I'm so interested because I know you're in this space to hear what you say about this, but building with intention and kind of studying like what is the world need now? Like anyone can build condos, anyone can build, you know, build new construction, anyone can flip, anyone can do all of that stuff, right? You just need to learn the skill set. But I really want to build with intention and what is it that I want to build?

I want to get into affordable housing. What I mean by that is things that can be reasonably built for a reasonable cost, which really doesn't exist in the construction industry right now. I've watched it for the last decade. I've been part of it. One project can last you an entire year, whereas if you get into creating a tiny home development or a shipping home container development, you are kind of accelerating the pedal much faster. you're not dealing with as much construction overhead.

Most of all, you save time. And so that's kind of what I'm working on next is how do we develop these communities that people can actually afford that can be done fairly quickly and that we build with intention. How do we build these communities kind of across the country? So that's where my mind is next, to be honest with you. And, you know, I am expecting twin girls in August. So that's a big one in terms of family. Yay, congrats.

Thank you. But in terms of real estate and business, the investment side, I really want to be building with intention and then on the real estate front. I mean, I'm always helping people elevate through real estate, which is whether it's through coaching, consulting, you know, still building up my portfolio as well. But that's kind of where where it's all at right now. I mean, it's just, it's such a legacy builder. Real estate is the freedom vehicle, period. Well, let me ask you, let me ask you this, you know, as we as we wrap up here, why should you be looking for deals from your pizza guy? Oh my gosh. Remember.

real estate is a local business. When I first started in real estate, I'm not even joking. I printed out like, I want to buy your house, put myself whenever and I was like, text me or call me, and I printed these out and put them on the pizza boxes at my family's restaurant because my family sold this restaurant about a year and a half ago. So they've, they had it when I first started in investing and I put it on every pizza box. And believe it or not, I'd have agents call me, homeowners call me. They're like, hey, Pam, like, we didn't know you were in real estate. Like, this is super cool. Like, I have an uncle who's looking to sell us two family or whatever. And I'm like, all my deals happened organically through by relationships, which was amazing.

And that's how I got a steal of a deal, even at the biggest height of the market, which was insane. But yeah, the total valuable tool, small businesses are so key for the locations that you want to get into. And the local pizza guy is the guy. He's going to get you the deals. All right, Pamela, thank you so much for share. your story. I think this is awesome. It's a wonderful, like, American success story. You started off with an entrepreneurial family. Your father starts a business. He's not afraid to start in the trenches, delivering pizzas himself, bringing you in the car with them. You guys, he's bringing you to work and you're making these memories and bonding together as you're jamming out to the music of DJ,

Pammie B. You go from cassette tapes to CDs to MP3s and eventually start your own business, realize you're too ambitious for the corporate world, follow in their footsteps, but amplify the success that your family had, making it even bigger, not afraid to do things differently, like putting your information on a pizza box and finding the right mentors.

I love hearing this. I hope more people are inspired by this and copy it. Rob, what do you think? I agree with that. I think we have a story of adaptability and how that helped create a nine-figure portfolio. So Pamela, for people that want to know more about this fascinating journey you've been on.

Where can they reach out and find out more about you? Absolutely. So I'm on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook all over Pamela Barty, B-A-R-D-H-I. It's also my website, www.

www.pamla-bardi.com to reach out and find me there. DM me, like I'm always floating around, just live in life. So please reach out to me anytime any way that I can help you. I'm here, man.

I just want to see people rocket and slay it. I mean, what real estate is done in my life, I mean, from delivering pizzas to a nine-figure real estate career featured in Forbes and Time magazine by the time I was 27. Like, if that can happen for me, a kid that came to this country with absolutely nothing and was able to build that just to hustle, it can totally happen for you. It all started with avoiding that Boston accent. I really think that the skills that you built resisting the urge led to the amazing success you have now. Rob, where can people find out more about you? Oh, they can find out more about me on the Apple podcast store where you can leave us a five-star review.

And we appreciate it. I appreciate it so much that I'm not even going to plug my channels because I would rather you just go there. Just give us a quick little, oh, hey, five-star Rob and Dave are so funny. We love these guys. We learned so much about real estate. That way we can get served up to new audiences and hopefully inspire more people to have amazing stories like Pam. David, what about you? Well, I need a pity follow because Rob has so many more followers on YouTube than me.

So I will ask for a pity follow. I am not too proud to beg. Please go to YouTube.com at David Green 24 and subscribe to my channel there or check out David Green24.com or David Green 24 all over social media. The most boring screen name in all of the real estate space, which forces me to make up for it with better content. Pam, thanks again so much. This was a blast.

Thank you for sharing your story. We'll have to have you back on again. This is David Green for Pamela. The Life of the Party Barty and Rob Salt Bay Abasolo, signing up. 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 Calico content. And editing is by Exodus Media. If you'd like to learn more about real estate investing or to sign up for you. 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 in this podcast.