Business Innovators Radio - Interview with David Miller, Investment Broker with Atlas Real Estate

Episode Date: May 5, 2023

I purchased my first home in 2009. It took me 8 years to save for the downpayment. I had been working in TV production producing and directing shows since 2003. Most notably the first season of Pawn Stars, Paranormal State, and Psychic Kids. In 2019 I sold the property as an investment and did a 1031 exchange. At that time I was able to turn a 1,1000 sqft condo into 17 doors (3) quads and (1) 5-plex. That catapulted my investment portfolio.In 2022 I decided to leave my 15-year career as a TV director and become a broker to help teach others how to do the same thing. That’s what I specialize in now. Last year I did 27 transactions and roughly $16 million in sales, in my first year. I want to keep helping others learn more about the power and magic of real estate while continuing to grow my own portfolio. I am beyond passionate about this work. Not growing up with financial literacy, I see this as an incredible way to help teach others. This is a true blessing and honor.Learn more: https://realatlas.com/co/atlas-team/david-miller-real-estate-advisor/Colorado Real Estate Leaders https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/colorado-real-estate-leaders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-david-miller-investment-broker-with-atlas-real-estate

Welcome to the Colorado Real Estate Leaders Podcast, brought to you by Trailstone Insurance Group, bringing you interviews with Colorado's best real estate and mortgage professionals, empowering you to understand the current trends in the housing market so you can make the American dream your reality. Enjoy today's episode. That's a great day in Colorado and welcome to the Colorado Real Estate Leaders podcast. Today we have with us David Miller, who's an investment broker with Atlas Real Estate. David, welcome to the program. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. You are welcome. Hey, so get us started with your story. What's your background and how did you

get into the real estate industry? Yeah, so I actually started, I wasn't always in real estate. I used to be a TV director grinding away in New York City. Good for about 15 years or so. and I bought my first sort of primary home back in 2009 in Brooklyn, New York. And I don't think house hacking was a thing back then, but I ended up buying this place, and I underwrote it at the time so that I'd have a couple friends living with me. And that was truly the only way that I could afford to buy it. So back in 2009, bought my first place in Brooklyn, ended up having a few friends living with me, And that started my journey in real estate.

I watched how that could subsidize some of my hard costs of living, my debt threshold. And from there just kept growing, about a second place in Denver years later in 2016. And my business ethos back then was I want to find, you know, five to 10 single family, I'd say A-class homes. And I'm going to start renting them out. And that all changed in 2019 when I met Atlas real estate. And I can go into that if you'd like. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's always interesting to me to hear, you know, hey, one day I woke up and thought I'm tired of X, you know, industry that I'm in.

And I'm going to get into. And, you know, I can only imagine if we do not need to get into detail. But being a TV producer, director in New York City, you probably worked, what, half days and took weekends off, right? Yeah, totally. There's a really chill job. Right, right. So you probably were like, googly moogly, let's find a way that I can have flexibility, fun, and, you know, delve into relationship building and all of that.

And sure, we've all heard of and read rich dad poor dad. So real estate, you know, is one of those, you know, bastions of security. But maybe that first foray with some of your friends subsidizing that. And then you're like, hey, that wasn't too bad. And let me get this other place. And then now all of a sudden, you know, someone introduces you to someone. that, you know, at Atlas, and it's like, have you ever thought about? And here we are. So, how did that proceed? Yeah, a thousand percent. And you're spot on with everything you just said.

You know, I realized pretty quickly in my mid-20s when I was working in production, I realized like, oh, wait, how long can I do this for? You know, there weren't a lot of, it's, you know, there weren't a lot of people in their 60s other than, you know, network executives in that business. And I was like, how long can I do this truly? So as you noted, getting a taste in, you know, renting by the room, house hacking, that's when I started to kind of, you know, clue into, oh, real estate can be super powerful in a different way. And although my investment ethos has shifted over the years, that's really where it got started. So, you know, not to, well, basically, yeah. So in 2019, and this is kind of interesting and ties into some of my investing strategy.

I had an instinct, believe it or not, I had an instinct in 2009 that said, I think it's time to sell your Brooklyn place. And for no other reason then, I just had a feeling. I went back there. I sat in the apartment. I had a couple of friends living there. And I was like, I think it's time to sell. So I ended up meeting a realtor who's phenomenal out there. She got us all set up, you know, got the listing up.

And it was at that time where just the kind of mid-processed. through selling that home, she had said, hey, have you ever heard of Atlas real estate? I hadn't at the time. There was no real prompt for why she would have said that other than maybe she also had a feeling. He connected me to one of the owners at Atlas. And I said yes. And this kind of ties into something that we can talk about an hour later, but it's the power of saying yes. And when moments come up that kind of strike you or you get that sort of surge inside that says, I'm going to say yes to this moment, that one decision to reach out and contact this person she introduced me to was the defining shift in what started separating me from the path as an investor.

Well, I think that's really intuitive because this wasn't something out of left field. You had already bought a piece of real estate, you know, and house hat like you said. So it wasn't like, you know, underwater basket weaving and that's like what? It was something that was in your wheelhouse. At least you had been exposed to it. And then an opportunity presented itself. And sometimes luck is when preparation meets opportunity. And you just, you know, like Tony Robbins will teach about, you know, the velocity of money and, you know, making a decision in the moment.

And it's like, you say yes. And then now it's like, okay, now we're moving forward. I think that's a really huge, like a life coaching kind of a concept. A thousand percent. Yeah, I mean, that truly was it. I mean, that one, absolutely, I'll meet this person. We sat down, grabbed a cup of coffee, and I was intrigued. I was like, hold on, tell me more about the company you all have built.

It went from one coffee hangout session to him saying, hey, let me introduce you to our head of sales. Great. We sat down. We talked about real estate for maybe 20 minutes and then our passion for martial arts for about two hours. It went from there to me saying, tell me more. And then he's like, let me introduce you to one of our headbrokers. And I sat down with him and check this out. We ended up me throwing out my old ethos of buying five to ten single family homes,

A class homes, and it went to this. It went, I'm going to sell this one Brooklyn place. I'm going to 1031 exchange it. And what we ended up doing was we ended up trading that out in a 1031 exchange for four multifamily buildings, four quads and a fiveplex. And that was in within a three-month period of closing on that Brooklyn place. And what's wild is my last signature on the commercial on the Fiveplex was mid-March 2020. And we all know what happened about a week later.

And turned on the news and the world was imploding essentially. COVID was coming to our shores. And I was like, well, I either made the best or the most horrific decision of my financial future. and as we all kind of know in the space of real estate since then, things went really right. Because people need a place to live. And so you had it all in place, you had the connections and there it is. Yeah, really good. Awesome.

And the appreciation stories, the rent stories, the learning the business, granted, there is a lot of turnovers and things that you need to do. But man, the bigger picture, the 20-year picture of investing in real estate, I mean, my entire life changed in the matter of a few months based on a few yes decisions. And as a result, I've been able to switch out of my career in production and completely pivot into helping others learn this strategy, this model, and also find financial freedom. So, David, you'd mentioned the power of saying yes. And I want to get into that a lot more in a minute or two. But help the listeners understand what are the type of clients that you typically work with?

You know, you mentioned Atlas and everything else, but what is your specialty there? And what do you help your clients with? It's a great question. So I've been super fortunate, you know, from an investing perspective, I've been in it for several years. As a broker now, I'm just at my, I'll be at my two-year mark towards the end of this year as an actual broker. I spent the first year and a half working on our residential side. And then in between there, it transitioned over to our AIB team, which is our Atlas Investment Brokridge. So I've been super fortunate.

Atlas, you know, we have several revenue streams within the company. We have our residential division and partnership with other bigger companies. We have a partnership with a fund. We have property management where we manage over 9,000 doors in seven different markets. And then we have my division, which is the Atlas Investment Brokerage team. So to answer your question about who we work with, with, it's everything from a first-time investor who's in a $250,000 budget to somebody who's doing a multimillion dollar 1031 exchange looking to diversify their portfolio.

And having done a few of these myself, it's been really helpful to help other friends of mine who are like, well, I guess I'll just sell my home and get the tax hit. And I'm like, hold on, let's chat about other ways to defer some of those taxes, build some cash flow, build some equity, and create a real financial future path for you. Sure. Yeah. Well, awesome. So let's get back to the power of saying yes, because you said yes, and it sounds like

it's going well for you. It sure is. Yeah. I mean, you know, this concept, interestingly enough, came from a moment in my family's life well before real estate was even, you know, on the radar. It came from a moment to get personal or a little bit personal. when my mom's sister and I had lost my dad and we were on our first kind of trip as our little tripod. That's what we call ourselves. And we were on a little trip together. And the first one we had

taken and there was routes that had been rerouted because of weather out of New York. And we were trying to get to our destination. And finally after several little logistical hiccups, we ended up getting to our destination. And I remember the three of us were in a car together and we were driving was actually to Rincon in Puerto Rico. And we're sitting there and we made a pact together to whatever opportunity comes our way, whatever it is in personal life or in business or just an adventure to always lean into the yes, you know, to kind of quiet the mind of where we can quickly go know and to just say, hell yeah, let's do it.

So we made a pact and we've honored it. And it's really, it's really, it's been an incredible. journey from real estate and other things as well. So the power of yes is huge to step in with that optimism, to know that there's always going to be pitfalls. There's always going to be bumps. There's always going to be challenges. But attitude is such a big part of how you go into this space. And I think it's crucial. So David, a quick question on that. I always like to look at things from another, from the opposite perspective. So yes, the power of yes, I agree with that. When

should you say no because you should not say yes to every single thing? 100%. Yeah. No, that's a good point. We definitely, you know, if you've got undisclosed fire damage and all your trust is when you're doing an inspection, you might not want to, you know, you might say, yeah, we might pass. But even opportunities. You shouldn't just say yes to every single opportunity because many times when you're out there and you're a hustler, people are going to notice that and go, hey, you should consider and you're like, yes, yet, well, at some point, there needs to be a no. So how do you assess those? Yeah, I think that's a fair question too. And it's such a case-by-case thing. I think, you know, when I say yes, it might also be better translated as metaphorically. So I think when I think of yeses in my life, for me, it's less about say yes to everything. And it's more about tapping into your most authentic self, your instincts. So like, what are my instincts telling me? And a lot of times I think people can let fear override good decisions.

So for me it's less about yes, say yes, yes, yes, yes, yes to everything. It's, hold on, let me slow down. Let me take a breath. Let me pause. Does this make sense? Is my fear overriding what my truest self actually knows, which is a hell yeah? And that's what I'll lean into. So I think there's easy metrics to look at things that don't make sense and say no.

But I think the bigger thing is don't let fear get in the way. of opportunity. A hundred percent. You know, I think one of the things you all tie it into one of the previous kind of statements or concepts you made, which was when you were first talking to that real estate professional about listing your property. And it's like, you didn't know what really, why she mentioned that, but it's kind of, it was a feeling.

Sometimes we have that gut feel. Sometimes we have that, you know, intuition, sixth sense, if you want to think of it like that. And so I think that sometimes when we're assessing like in the, in the moment, split second assessing opportunities, sometimes it is that intuition to go, yeah, not really, but ooh, yes, tell me more. And then when I do assess that, then it's like all in, let's go. So I think those are some really neat traits to be aware of. Absolutely.

And, you know, that I think that gut instinct that you're kind of referring to and talking about, I actually think that's present in every part of our life. We are so incredibly, me included, distracted at times that we can't actually hear that. The sort of day-to-day takes over the noise, the noise takes over that. But internally, I believe we have an incredible gut system. We have an incredible instinct system. Now, granted, I use math. I use pro forma.

I don't want to come off as like. Yeah, you're just not like, you know, let the wind blow you whichever direction it goes. I'm not using dousing rods to figure out, you know, whether or not is a good deal or not. We're doing the math. But I think there is that other aspect of it that is extremely important to listen to what your gut says. And I think that's, yeah, I think that's super crucial as well. It's a holistic approach to investing. How about that?

Sure. So speaking of investing, you went from, you know, like just punching the clock, doing your TV work and living wherever you're living. And you kind of dipped your toe in the water in real estate by doing that. you know, bringing in some friends to, to buy that property. Great. And then in the back of your mind, you're like, okay, one day, what if I have this little portfolio of several, you know, a few, you know, of single family residences. But then that scarcity mindset went from, I'm just going to rent to, oh, I'm going to buy a house to then, oh, maybe I'll get a few. And then it just blew it out of the water when you were introduced to the concept of maybe some 1031 and buying several multifamily.

Talk a little bit about how that scarcity mindset went into taking some calculated risks, not risks with a capital R, but calculated. And then now as you've fine-tuned that, how you take that into working with your clients to help them do the same thing and build their real estate investment portfolio. Absolutely. Yeah, I think it's really easy to allow that scarcity mindset that you're talking about. to take over some what otherwise would be good business decisions. And, you know, I think finding the multi-family space, so much of that came from just curiosity. I don't think there's anything wrong with a single family strategy.

I think that's phenomenal. People do really well that way. I don't think there's anything wrong with building a short-term or a medium-term or a long-term rental portfolio or diversifying all three. You know, I think for me, such a big part of what I do when I work with clients, I would say 85 plus percent is education. There are so many tax benefits that are never spoken about. There are so many financial levers that we aren't taught if you don't come from a family who's done this before. And I would say such a big part of when I work with clients, be it friends or family or referrals.

So much of what I do is let's just sit down and chat a little bit about your goals, what you're trying to do, where you are, what your runway is for work, what your risk tolerance is. And let's kind of start to build a strategy that feels appropriate for your needs. And a lot of it is just education. I would like to start out, you know, you might be able to tell through this kind of conversation, I'm probably not a typical salesperson or a broker in the sense that I only want to do what serves. my clients and the people that I work with to their highest benefit. So a lot of it starts with education. And then once we kind of figure out, okay, this is what you're looking for, wait, let's start building a buy box around that.

What kind of markets do you want to be? What kind of home do you want? Where is that risk tolerance? And from there, we get to kind of play and we get to start to look through pro forma. And I got to say, it's so exciting for me to get to start to teach this stuff to people as well, because it is easy to. get kind of stuck in the sort of, as you noted earlier, the nine to find punching, you know,

punching the clock grind. And I had never heard the term mailbox money. I had never heard of passive income before. And then getting to firsthand experience it, I mean, I wanted to screen this from the rooftop. You all appreciate this. You know, within, I'd say the first six months of me picking up that portfolio, I ended up getting my mom into a quad out here in Wheatridge, Colorado. I ended up getting, helping get my sister into a Quadplex down in Mesa, Arizona. I ended up getting a best friend into property out here on Tennyson in Colorado. So, you know, it quickly, the reason I transitioned out of production into what I'm doing now, helping people learn how to invest, came from just me pausing for a moment and going,

hold on, I'm kind of like an unofficial broker just helping teaching people this. I want to do this. We'll get paid for it. That's what I'm saying. That's exactly it. And there was no better place. You know, when I talked to our head of brokerage at Atlas, he was like, I'll hire you in two seconds. And as soon as I got my license, that's where I, you know, that's where I went and have been

building and growing and developing from there. So the beauty of Atlas is we are truly, we are investors helping investors. That's one of our mottoes. My team is all comprised of other phenomenal, really intelligent investors. So, you know, we're not selling a BMW and driving something else. We are invested in the same product that we provide for our clients, which is so... You know, I think you said two things that is just spectacular that I want to draw attention to. And I'll preface it by saying that literally 30 minutes before we started this conversation on this podcast interview,

I was watching a recording of a marketing mastermind call. And this person was saying, you know, hey, I'm... I'm trying to build my business and I coach people how to use Facebook ads and I'm having trouble getting new clients because all I'm doing is cold calling. And the person on the call was like, wait a minute, you're cold calling and that's it. And you're teaching people how to use Facebook ads. Why aren't you doing Facebook ads to get business to do Facebook ads? And so that's exactly what you just said is if you worked a, you know, just a desk job and you're

teaching people how to do this, that'd be like, oh, okay, that's nice. But you're like, I've been there, done that. I'm doing it. I've got this many properties myself. Let me show you the ropes. Let me guide you because I'm doing it right now and all of my other colleagues on the team are doing it right now. Come join us. And when you have that approach of teaching and educating from the perspective of currently doing it, not just I've heard it done, that's a pretty magical recipe. Absolutely. Yeah. That's and I mean, you're 100% spot on. And having the team, having the network, having everyone who's seen everything throughout decades worth of investing knowledge is incredible.

I mean, today I've had three other phone calls with investors, including my managing broker because I was working through a referral lead source question and he's right there. So, you know, it's such a blessing to have this team and this network. And it, you know, Atlas in particular is a phenomenal company and how and how we view our investors, our clients, our team members. It's just, it's a special place. I've never seen a company be able to marry business acumen with humanity in such a, in such a cool way that just really resonates with who I am as a person. I love it. Well, David, it's been such a pleasure chatting with you. If someone is listening to this, go on, I want a little bit of that action. Let me learn more. Let me see what

it's all about. What's the best way they can learn more? And then also reach out and connect with you. Yeah, absolutely. You can email me. Just reach out. My email is David.com at real atlas.com. David. David.com and then you can provide, you know, whatever you want for my cell phone number or website link so people can get to know a little bit more about me. And then I would just say for anybody who's interested or even might think this is a little out of reach for me, every investor started with one property. Nobody jumped in and got one. 100 doors off the bat. They start with one and it grows from there. And that's what I'd love to help somebody do. Awesome. Well, it's been such a pleasure talking with you, David. Thank you so much for coming on today. Absolutely. Thank you all so much. Have a great day. Thank you for listening to the Colorado Real Estate Leaders podcast, brought to you by Trailstone Insurance Group. To learn more about the topics mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www.com.

Thank you.